What is the truest test of our faith?

"The way we are with each other is the truest test of our faith. How I treat a brother or sister from day to day, how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how I respond to the interruptions from people I dislike, how I deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence for life than the antiabortion sticker on the bumper of my car."

~ Brennan Manning (from his book The Ragamuffin Gospel)

Who Am I? Only God knows

"Am I really what I ought to be? Am I what, in the bottom of my heart, I honestly wish to be? Am I living a life at all like what I myself approve? My secret nature, the true complexion of my character, is hidden from all men, and only I know it. Is it such as I should be willing to show? Is my soul at all like what my kindest and most intimate friends believe? Is my heart at all such as I should wish the Searcher of Hearts to judge me by? Is every year adding to my devotion, to my unselfishness, to my conscientiousness, to my freedom from the hypocrisy of seeming so much better than I am? When I compare myself with last year, am I more ready to surrender myself at the call of duty? am I more alive to the commands of conscience? have I shaken off my besetting sins?" These are the questions which this season of Lent ought to find us putting fairly and honestly to our hearts."
~ Frederick Temple

Fasting from

"A spiritually awake person would see everything as gift, even suffering. We deserve nothing and yet we so often act as though we deserve everything. Nothing should be taken for granted. We should say thank you every day to God and to each other for all that is provided for us. This is one reason why fasting is such an important spiritual discipline. Not just fasting from food, but also fasting from cars, shopping centres, the news - whatever we have an inordinate attachment to. Fasting can help re-kindle our gratitude for all that we have been given."

~ Glen Argan

Take a Stand

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

~ Martin Niemoller (1892-1984)
Dachau Concentration Camp Survivor

Are you ready for your appointment?

"Is death something so terrible and absurd that we are better off not thinking or talking about it? Is death such an undesirable part of our existence that we are better off acting as if it were not real? Is death such an absolute end of all our thoughts and actions that we simply cannot face it? Or is it possible to befriend our dying gradually and live open to it, trusting that we have nothing to fear? Is it possible to prepare for our death with the same attentiveness that our parents had in preparing for our birth? Can we wait for our death as for a friend who wants to welcome us home?"

~ Henri J. M. Nouwen (taken from his book Our Greatest Gift: A Meditation on Dying and Caring)

Do you really listen?

"Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking where they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God, either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God, too. This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life, and in the end there will be nothing left but spiritual chatter and clerical condescension arrayed in pious words... never really speaking to others."

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God calls, we obey

"Rest in this - it is His business to lead, command, impel, send, call, or whatever you want to call it. It is your business to obey, follow, move respond, or what have you... The sound of "gentle stillness" after all the thunder and wind have passed will be the ultimate Word from God."

~ Jim Elliot

Sorrow into Joy

"Your sorrow itself shall be turned into joy. Not the sorrow to be taken away, and joy to be put in its place, but the very sorrow which now grieves you shall be turned into joy. God not only takes away the bitterness and gives sweetness in its place, but turns the bitterness into sweetness itself."

~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Steering Wheel or Spare Tire?

Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?

~ Corrie Ten Boom

What do we really need?

"This perpetual hurry of business and company ruins me in soul if not in body. More solitude and earlier hours! I suspect I have been allotting habitually too little time to religious exercises, as private devotion and religious meditation, Scripture-reading, etc. Hence I am lean and cold and hard. I had better allot two hours or an hour and a half daily. I have been keeping too late hours, and hence have had but a hurried half hour in a morning to myself. Surely the experience of all good men confirms the proposition that without a due measure of private devotions the soul will grow lean. But all may be done through prayer -- almighty prayer, I am ready to say -- and why not? For that it is almighty is only through the gracious ordination of the God of love and truth. O then, pray, pray, pray!"

~ William Wilberforce

Do you need a kick in the pants?

"Sometimes we don't need another chance to express how we feel or to ask someone to understand our situation. Sometimes we just need a firm kick in the pants. An unsmiling expectation that if we mean all these wonderful things we talk about and sing about, then lets see something to prove it."

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"True faith does not contradict its words by its conduct."
~Anonymous

Filled with God and His Love

As you and I are filled with God, we will be filled with His love, not only for Himself, but for others – which includes our spouses or the incompatible people with whom we are struggling. God has promised to pour out “his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us” (Romans 5:5)

~ Anne Graham Lotz (from her book Life Is... Just Better ...with Jesus)

Price of Love

"So you say you can't take it, the price is too high. The feelings are gone it seems the rivers run dry. You never imagined it could turn out so rough. You give and give and give and still it's never enough. Your emotions have vanished that once held a thrill, you wonder if love could be alive in you still. But that ring on your finger was put there to stay, you'll never forget the words you promised that day. Jesus didn't die for you because it was fun, He hung there for love because it had to be done, and inspite of the anguish his word was fulfiled, cause love is not a feeling it's an act of your will."

~ Don Francisco

What is love?

"Love is an act of endless forgiveness."

~ Jean Vanier

Christian Community

"In a Christian community, everything depends upon whether each individual is an indispensable link in a chain. Only when even the smallest link is securely interlocked is the chain unbreakable. A community which allows unemployed members to exist within it will perish because of them. It will be well, therefore, if every member receives a definite task to perform for the community, that he may know in hours of doubt that he, too, is not useless and unusable. Every Christian community must realize that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of the fellowship."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Serve God

"So many times we say that we can't serve God because we aren't whatever is needed. We're not talented enough or smart enough or whatever. But if you are in covenant with Jesus Christ, He is responsible for covering your weaknesses, for being your strength. He will give you His abilities for your disabilities!"

~ Kay Arthur

Fear Nothing but...

"Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth... God does nothing but in answer to prayer."

~ John Wesley

God's Best...

"We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."

~ C. S. Lewis

How does a person become a better Christian?

"Persecution has always produced a better Christian - a witnessing Christian, a soul-winning Christian. Communist persecution has backfired and produced serious, dedicated Christians such as are rarely seen in free lands. These people cannot understand how anyone can be a Christian and not want to win every soul they meet."

~ Pastor Richard Wurmbrand (taken from his book Tortured for Christ)

Focus on the Positive

"I feel that we too often focus on the negative aspects of life, on what is bad. If we were more willing to see the good and the beautiful things that surround us, we would be able to transform our families. From there, we would change our next-door neighbors and then others who live in our neighborhood or city. We would be able to bring peace and love to our world, which hungers so much for these things."

~ Mother Teresa (from the book In the Heart of the World)

What do we really hear?

"The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says. But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be profoundly changed."

~ Oswald Chambers

Hear what God is saying...

"The ability to hear what God is saying, to see what God is doing, and to move in the realm of the miraculous comes as an individual develops the same intimacy with and dependence upon the Father. How did Jesus do what He did? The answer is found in His relationship with the Father. How will we do the “greater works than these” which Jesus promised? By discovering the same relationship of intimacy, simplicity, and obedience."
~ John Wimber

What is true?

"I need to be reminded of what is true. God’s Word gives me a dose of reality. There is right and wrong; there are consequences for making wrong choices; the Ten Commandments are still the standard for life; I am not to repay evil for evil….My morning briefing in the Word gives a perspective that I don’t get in the world. I need God’s commentary on my life every day. A Christian...in this society is swimming upstream. Without the constant nutrition of the Word, he will soon tire and be dragged off by the sheer force of the current."

~ Steve Farrar, Point Man

Cosmic battlefield

“We must envision ourselves on a rather vicious, cosmic battlefield. Our lives are not about ourselves. This life, the “three score and ten” we live here on earth, is not about our desires and dreams, our personal fulfillment, or our happiness. Our lives are part of a much larger reality – victory over darkness both in and around us. Your life is about nothing less than the glory of God.”

~ Stu Weber, Spirit Warriors

Note

I just logged on and found out my music was somehow changed without my permission to music I do not know or appreciate. I removed that option for the time being until I have time to investigate further and changed my password.

Great Faith

We often think of great faith as something that happens spontaneously so that we can be used for a miracle or healing. However, the greatest faith of all, and the most effective, is to live day by day trusting Him. It is trusting Him so much that we look at every problem as an opportunity to see His work in our life. It is not worrying, but rather trusting and abiding in the peace of God that will crush anything that Satan tries to do to us. If the Lord created the world out of chaos, He can easily deal with any problem that we have.

~ Rick Joyner

Faith is significant only when

"Faith is significant only when it promotes action. Faith without action is useless. This is the basic principle of everything everywhere, and it is true in every case. It would be true in the matter of farming. It would be true in the matter of insuring a home. It would be true in the matter of conducting a business. If we say that we have faith in anything and we do nothing about it, our faith does not amount to a thing."

~ Manfred George Gutzke (taken from the book Signs of Life by David Jeremiah)

God gave you

"God gave you the color of eyes you have. He gave you the color of skin your have. He gave you the DNA that you have – your genetic makeup. He gave you the intelligence that you have, the ability to commune that you have, the personality you have. God designed you perfectly for the assignment on your life."

~ Paula White (taken from Simple Suggestions for a Sensational Life

Give Thanks

"We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts He has in store for us, because we do not give thanks for daily gifts. We think we dare not be satisfied with the small measure of spiritual knowledge, experience, and love that has been given to us, and that we must constantly be looking forward eagerly for the highest good. Then we deplore the fact that we lack the deep certainty, the strong faith, and the rich experience that God has given to others, and we consider this lament to be pious. We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts. How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?"

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

give whatever it takes...

"I must be willing to give whatever it takes to do good to others. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me."

~ Mother Teresa