The Wilderness

"The wilderness is not just a desert through which we wandered for forty years. It is a way of being. A place that demands being open to the flow of life around you. A place that demands being honest with yourself without regard to the cost in personal anxiety. A place that demands being present with all of yourself." ~ Lawrence Kushner (Eyes Remade for Wonder)

I Wonder

"I wonder what would happen if
I treated everyone like I was in love
with them, whether I like them or not
and whether they respond or not and no matter
what they say or do to me and even if I see
things in them which are ugly twisted petty
cruel vain deceitful indifferent, just accept
all that and turn my attention to some small
weak tender hidden part and keep my eyes on
that until it shines like a beam of light
like a bonfire I can warm my hands by and trust
it to burn away all the waste which is not
never was my business to meddle with."

~ Ivor Smith- Cameron (Pilgrimage, An Exploration Into God)

Answers Aren't Enough

"God doesn't give us answers. He gives us himself." ~ Frederick Beuchner

Teach Me

"My Father, teach us not only thy will, but how to do it. Teach us the best way of doing the best thing, lest we spoil the end by unworthy means." ~ J. H. Jowett

Prayer

"Prayer—secret, fervent, believing prayer—lies at the root of all personal godliness." ~ William Carey

Your Calling

“It is true that God may have called you to be exactly where you are. But, it is absolutely vital to grasp that he didn't call you there so you could settle in and live your life in comfort and superficial peace.” ~ Francis Chan (Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit)

Sanctification

"Entire sanctification is primarily the final settlement of the sin question." ~ P. F. Bresee

Most Powerful Tool

“Prayer may just be the most powerful tool mankind has.”~ Ted Dekker

Marital Difficulties

"Whose job is it to work out marital difficulties? It’s yours my friend—in cooperation with God’s plan and God’s power." ~ Toler

May We Have

"May we have:
The mercy of God to forgive us.
The strength of God to make us resolute to do His will.
The grace of God to be kind, tender, and affectionate one to another.
And the patience of God to believe in the ultimate triumph of thy Kingdom.
This we ask in His name in whom all peace resides. Amen."

~ Peter Marshall

What Do You Worship?

"Just as God created man and woman in His image, the gods we choose to worship manifest their attributes in the worshiper. So in deciding what or whom to worship, you are making life decisions regarding our values, your priorities, and how you are to live." ~ Jack Hayford

What People Need

"What people need is Jesus Christ, not the Christian religion. Religion is just another futile attempt to reach God by trying to be good. Jesus Christ is the life of God in us, and no human can ever achieve it without Him. This is how ordinary men live extraordinary lives." ~ Jim May

A Christian Is...

"A Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble - because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat the kind of voluntary death which Christ himself carried out." ~ C. S. Lewis

Transformed

"Could it be that if we turned our faces toward the light of heaven, we would be molded to the image of Christ more swiftly and surely? Could it be that if we finally placed all that we have, all the we aspire to, all that we are before God on the altar of worship, that He would return it to us filled with His light and transformed by His glory? ~ David Jeremiah

Follow the Call

"Keep doing whatever God has called you to do regardless of how hard it is or how much opposition you may face." ~ Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Are You Afraid to Die?

"Am I afraid to die? I am every time I let myself be seduced by the noisy voices in my world telling me that my ‘little life’ is all I have and advising me to cling to it with all my might. But when I let these voices move to the background of my life and listen to that small soft voice calling me the Beloved, I know that there is nothing to fear and that dying is the greatest act of love, the act that leads me into the eternal embrace of my God whose love is everlasting." ~ Henri J. M. Nouwen

Want a Makeover?

"Kindness and compassion - along with humility, quiet strength, discipline, and love - provide the foundation for the best makeover you'll ever have. Clothing yourself in those qualities automatically and immediately improves your appearance - and your life." ~ Marcia Ford (Essentials for Life for Women)

World to Come

"We must meet the uncertainties of this world with the certainty of the world to come." ~ A. W. Tozer

Discipleship is Commitment

"Discipleship is commitment to the suffering Christ. Whether we really have found God’s peace will be shown by how we deal with the sufferings that will come upon us. There are many Christians who do, indeed, kneel before the cross of Jesus Christ, and yet reject and struggle against every tribulation in their lives. They believe they love the cross of Christ, and yet they hate that cross in their own lives." ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

What Is Your Greatest Care?

"A man's greatest care should be for that place where he lives longest; therefore eternity should be his scope." ~ Thomas Watson

Seek God First

"I find that if I seek God first, it saves so much time, worry, and uncertainty." ~ Fiona Castle

Rebuke Well

"It is difficult to rebuke well; that is, at a right time, in a right spirit, and in a right manner." ~ John Henry Newman

Ask According to His Word and Will

"Prayer is the request for things befitting for God to give and for us to receive." ~ John Damascene

God Is Stronger

Life will knock us down. It’s not “will” the storms come but “when.” We have the choice of saying, “I will stand, I will walk forward and believe God’s presence with me is stronger than the problem.” ~ M. Brown

When You Feel Bereft, Robbed, Decimated

"The life we’ve expected and planned, abruptly ends. Even surrounded by a crowd, we feel bereft, robbed, decimated. We might still be standing but we have come through a storm and no longer know who and what and where…to be, to do, to go. It is there, at the outer edges of ordinary–there, at the gate of not sure–that we are most vulnerable to resurrection." ~ Kayla McClurg

Fall in Love with God

"To be a worshiper is to fall in love with God, the Author of love, and accept the love He has for you. He adores you. God gave you His Word as a living love letter that contains everything you will ever need to get through this life and beyond." ~ Darlene Zschech

Boring...

“There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees.” ~ Michel de Montaigne

More Acquainted with Scripture

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

Without Being Troubled

"A meek spirit gives no trouble willingly to any: a quiet spirit bears all wrongs without being troubled." ~ John Wesley

Fears Leave...

"When a man has quietly made up his mind that there is nothing he cannot endure, his fears leave him." ~ Grove Patterson

Will You Follow Him Anywhere?

"I am not a follower of Jesus Christ if I live with Him only in Bethlehem and Nazareth, and not in Gethsemane and on Calvary, too." ~ Brennan Manning

Give Him All the Pieces

"God will mend a broken heart if you give Him all the pieces." ~ Myrtie Stanton

Called to Live

“We need to stop giving people excuses not to believe in God. You've probably heard the expression 'I believe in God, just not organized religion'. I don't think people would say that if the church truly lived like we are called to live.” ~ Francis Chan (Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God)

Conviction

“Never disregard a conviction that the Holy Spirit brings to you. If it is important enough for the Spirit of God to bring it to your mind, it is the very thing He is detecting in you. You were looking for some big thing to give up, while God is telling you of some tiny thing that must go.” ~ Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest)

Undivided Attention

“You always have God’s undivided attention.” ~ Charles F. Stanley

Clear Convictions Required

"A person without clear convictions will learn simply to give in to the greatest source of pressure rather than courageously do what is right." ~ John & Susan Yates (Character Matters: Raising Kids with Values that Last)