Different Choices

"What we love, how we think, how we forgive, our priorities, how we treat others, our appetites, our desires, our choices should be as different from the world as day is from night." ~ Nancy Leigh DeMoss

HE is Incomparable!

"If Christ truly is incomparable, He deserves to be the supreme object of our attention and affection. And—astonishingly!—it is in beholding Him that we are transformed." ~ Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Prayer...

“Prayer breaks all bars, dissolves all chains, opens all prisons, and widens all straits by which God’s saints have been held.” ~ E.M. Bounds

Hindrance to Revival

"Pride is the number one hindrance to revival, and the basis of pride is comparison. Humility comes by comparing yourself to only One, the Lord Jesus.” ~ Richard Owen Roberts

Don't Worry About What Anyone Else Thinks...

"Holy Spirit, Spirit of truth, tell me the truth about myself. Help me see what you see, and then enable me to become the image of your dream for me. ~ D.E. Whitney

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. ~ Romans 12:3 (NIV)

Prayer

“He who interrupts the course of his spiritual exercises and prayer is like a man who allows a bird to escape from his hand; he can hardly catch it again.” ~ St. John of the Cross

Obstacle to Prayer

“It seems, then, that the greatest obstacle to prayer is the simple matter of beginning, the simple exertion of will, the starting, the acting, the doing. How easy it is, and yet, between us and the possibility of prayer there seems to be a great gulf fixed; an abyss of our own making that separates us from God.” ~ Emilie Griffin (Clinging—The Experience of Prayer)

Satan's Broken Promises

"Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honor, and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure, and pays with pain; he promises profit, and pays with loss, he promises life, and pays with death. But God pays as he promises; all his payments are made in pure gold." ~ Thomas Brooks

Listening = Loving

"Let me be blunt: to stop listening is to stop loving. Love is not about what you don’t do; it’s about your movement toward someone. The opposite of love is not hatred; it’s apathy." ~ Gary Thomas (Sacred Parenting)

Follow the Evidence

"The evidence for our Lord's resurrection is not merely the New Testament account of it. The best evidence for the resurrection is that there is a New Testament, that there was a community to produce it, that there was a faith to produce the community, and men and women to preach that faith." ~ Maurice

The Joyful News

"The joyful news that He is risen does not change the contemporary world. Still before us lie work, discipline, sacrifice. But the fact of Easter gives us the spiritual power to do the work, accept the discipline, and make the sacrifice." ~ Henry Knox Sherrill

Self-Denial Anyone?

"Today’s culture knows little of voluntary self-denial. We have grown to love ourselves too much and to enjoy the comfort of self at ease." ~ Duarte

The Second Mile

In the realm of personal relationships and spiritual adjustments the philosophy of the "second mile" is particularly effective. It is amazing how quickly hard hearts are softened, strained feelings are alleviated, and misunderstandings dissolved when one persists in going the "second mile." ~ E. S. Mann (The Things That Count)

Prayer

“Prayer is grounded in the conviction that God speaks as we listen, God gives as we receive, God leads as we follow and God acts as we respond.” ~ Pasquarello

We All Die...So Every Year You Live...

‎"Let us strive, every year we live, to become more deeply acquainted with Scripture." ~ J.C. Ryle

Who Are You in a Crisis?

"Trust entirely in God, and when He brings you to the venture, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis; only one out of a crowd is daring enough to bank his faith in the character of God." ~ Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest)

Be Positive

"Enthusiasm is contagious. It's difficult to remain neutral or indifferent in the presence of a positive thinker." ~ Denis Waitley 

Being An Example Worth Following

"Growing in godliness is not about trying to achieve heaven but rather about leaving an authentic example for others to follow—beginning with our children." ~ Gary Thomas (Sacred Parenting)

Needed: Rich Prayer Life

‎"It is an indubitable fact that the deeper and richer our prayer life becomes, the less are we misled by appearances and professions, and the clearer becomes our insight into the hidden soul of the man before us.” ~ H.A. Walter

Children Teach Us

"In many ways, kids become indicators for us, making clear the places where we’ve gravitated toward extremes. We see our sharp edges, our weaknesses, and the convincing evidence that we are not yet fully rounded people. Children come along and point out where we need more work. They unmask our prejudices and uncover our most glaring weaknesses, the areas where we find it most difficult to love, accept, and forgive." ~ Gary Thomas (Sacred Parenting)

Let HIM Change You

“It is in the moments when we embrace the downward turns in marriage that God gives us the marriages we had dreamed of; not because he has changed our spouses, but because we are allowing him to change us.” ~ Justin and Trisha Davis (Beyond Ordinary)

What Does Trouble Do to You?

"I can let troubles make me bitter and angry. Or I can let the pain make me more sympathetic to others." ~ Rob L. Staples

In Defense of Religious Liberty

"Religion, or the duty we owe to our Creator, and manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence, and, therefore, all men should enjoy the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience, unpunished and unrestrained by the magistrate, unless under color of religion any man disturb the peace, the happiness, or safety of society, and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love and charity toward each other." ~ James Madison (1751-1836), 4th President of the United States

Tithe at Home

"There are three major food stores in our town. You can't go to one & get your groceries and pay for them at another. You must pay where you get your food. The same should be true with the church. You pay your tithe where you are a member and where you get your [spiritual] food each week." ~ Blair H. McKim

A Stronger Back

"I do not pray for a lighter load, but for a stronger back." ~ Phillips Brooks

Forgive...

"People who can’t forgive when they are slighted face a future of bitterness, anger and frustration. Whether the offense is real or imaginary, an inability to forgive harms the one who has been offended more than the offender.” ~ Graham Tomlin

Deadly Foe...

“Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted.” Desiring God means we live an active faith, one that looks at a holey life and recognizes that grace can fill the holes. When we experience the fires that refine our faith, we can choose to go through the–to grow through them.) ~ A.W. Tozer (Excerpt from Holey, Wholly, Holy: A Lenten Journey of Refinement)

What Do You Believe God is Capable of?

“When you believe that nothing significant can happen through you, you have said more about your belief in God than you have said about yourself.” ~ Henry Blackaby

Serve...

"Christian love serves God by serving those in the community; you might call it holiness in action." ~ Warrick

Respect Helps People

"If you have some respect for people as they are, you can be more effective in helping them to become better than they are." ~ John Gardner

Parents: Children Become What You Are...

‎"Children are keen observers, and are much more powerfully affected by what they see--than by what they hear. It is of little use to talk to them of the gospel--if we do not adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in our lives. Thousands of children are ruined by the conduct of their parents--and many of them professing Christian parents!" ~ James Smith

Your Call

‎"The Great Commission has been given to every Christian. Thus, our 'general call' as Christians includes not only following and obeying, but also 'going' -- to someone, somewhere, even if only across the hall. Therefore, let no Christian ever say, 'I have received no call.' The call has been given; you don't need to wait around for it." ~ Thomas Hale, "On Being a Missionary"

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” ~ Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV 1984)

Step by Step

"I don't know Who -or What- put the question, I don't know when it was put. I don't even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone -or Something- and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in selfsurrender, had a goal. ... As I continued along the Way, I learned, step by step, word by word, that behind every saying in the Gospels stands one man and one man's experience. Also behind the prayer that the cup might pass from him and his promise to drink it. Also behind each of the words from the Cross." ~ Dag Hammarskjöld's

Never...

"Never, "for the sake of peace and quiet," deny your own experience or convictions. The only kind of dignity which is genuine is that which is not diminished by the indifference of others. Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for. Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was." ~ Dag Hammarskjöld's

Time is Too Precious to Waste

“Wasting time is unbecoming of a saint who is bought by the precious blood of Jesus. His time and all he has is to be used for the Lord.” —George Muller

Actions Speak Loudest

"Let us preach you, Dear Jesus, without preaching . . . not by words but by our example." ~ Mother Teresa

Celebrate Womanhood

‎"The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian. But, the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman." ~ Elisabeth Elliot

If You Died Tonight

"Intellectually we all know that we will die, but we do not really know it in the sense that the knowledge becomes a part of us. We do not really know it in the sense of living as though it were true. On the contrary, we tend to live as though our lives would go on forever." ~ Frederick Buechner

If You Died Tonight by Big Daddy Weave

Desire Christ

"Thou, O Christ, art all I want
More than all in thee I find!
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
Heal the sick, and lead the blind;
Just and holy is thy name,
I am all unrighteousness;
False and full of sin I am
Thou art full of truth and grace."

~ Charles Wesley

Things Permitted

He can only come and give us the richest blessings of transformation and strength and power by allowing us to come into difficult places, even so difficult that we stretch our hands to Him and He can thus come in. Thus we meet the things He permits, welcome them, use them, climb up by them, make them so many ladders to the heights of God." ~ Phineas Bresee

His Strength

"Do not strive in your own strength; cast yourself at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and wait upon Him in the sure confidence that He is with you, and works in you. Strive in prayer; let faith fill your heart-so will you be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." ~ Andrew Murray

Pray for Others

"We are never more like Christ than in prayers of intercession." ~ Austin Phelps

National Prayer for Peace

"In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail; all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen." ~ Thomas Jefferson (March 4, 1805 ~ National Prayer for Peace)

Question Your Assumptions

"Begin to take charge of your mind; feed it with God’s truth; question your assumptions; ask God to help you think more clearly and more Biblically. Make your mind your servant instead of your master." ~ Gary Thomas

God Answers Prayer

"We never know how God will answer our prayers, but we can expect that He will get us involved in His plan for the answer. If we are true intercessors, we must be ready to take part in God’s work on behalf of the people for whom we pray.” ~ Corrie ten Boom

Pray First

“If we could learn to pray first and plan afterward, how different would be our homes,our churches, our Bible studies. Maybe we are planning in one direction and God’s will is in another direction.” ~ Evelyn Christenson

No Matter How Difficult

"I firmly believe that in every situation no matter how difficult, God extends grace greater than the hardship, and strength and peace of mind that can lead us to a place higher than were we were before." ~ Andy Griffith

Bathe Everything in Prayer

“From strength, patience, and endurance, to protection, health, and finances, every work and every worker involved in the Great Commission needs bathed in prayer.” ~ Leah D. Farr

You Are An Ambassador for Christ

‎"To a significant degree, the lost world determines its view of God based on the lives of those who profess to know Him. I wonder how many people have been dissuaded from believing in Christ because something they have heard or experienced from those of us who bear the name of Christ."

~ Nancy Leigh DeMoss

What Is Your Reason for Living?

"When we make Christ our reason for living, no matter what or who we lose, our reason for living still lives! " ~ Debra White Smith