Prayer...

"Prayer opens the heart to God, and it is the means by which the soul, though empty, is filled by God." ~ John Buchan (Scottish novelist and historian)

...Playground...Battleground...

“The Christian life is not a playground; it is a battleground, and we must be on our guard at all times.” ~ Warren Wiersbe (The Bumps Are What You Climb On)

Have Patience

“Have patience with all things, but chiefly with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the task anew.” ~ Saint Francis de Sales

Chorus of Praise and Prayer

"The Psalms offer us a way of joining in a chorus of praise and prayer that has been going on for millennia and across all cultures. " ~ N.T. Wright (The Case for the Psalms: Why They Are Essential)

Believing Prayer

"Every single believing prayer has its influence. It is stored up toward an answer which comes in due time to whomever perseveres to the end. " ~ Andrew Murray (South African pastor and author)

Good Can Be an Obstacle to Better

"Even when a need exists and we are well qualified to meet it, we are not necessarily called to respond to it. Something may seem logical for us to do, but that does not mean that God calls us to do it…Similarly, simply because a task or undertaking is good to do does not mean that we are called to do it or that we should continue doing it. To be doing what is good can be the greatest obstacle to doing something even better." ~ Suzanne Farnham et al (Listening Hearts)

Love Is...

“Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.” ~ Mother Teresa

Listening, Responding, Acting...

"God is not only a listening God but a responding God who acts." ~ Robert McAfee Brown

Real Hospitality

"A good host not only has to be poor in mind but also poor in heart. When our heart is filled with prejudices, worries, jealousies, there is little room for a stranger. In a fearful environment it is not easy to keep our hearts open to the wide range of human experiences. Real hospitality, however, is not exclusive but inclusive and creates space for a large variety of human experiences." ~ Henri J. M. Nouwen 

Don't Keep a Chip on Your Shoulder

"In the pure, strong hours of the morning, when the soul of day is at its best, lean upon the windowsill of the Lord and look into His face, and get orders for the day. Then go out into the world with a sense of a Hand upon your shoulder and not a chip." ~ E. Stanley Jones

Your Thoughts

"The fingers of your thoughts are molding your face ceaselessly." ~ Charles Reznikoff

Possibilities & Challenges

"You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope." ~ Thomas Merton

To Love Means...

"To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless." ~ G. K. Chesterton       

Giving Up

"It must be an act of grace, or of something beyond the individual will, which enables certain people to give up at certain times. Whether the giving up occurs gradually or swiftly, with great fanfare or absolute stillness, giving up is not something that can willfully be done. It can be allowed or it can be resisted, but it cannot be done. And that is where hope lies. Not hope in continuing effort, but hope for some kind of mercy. Hope that today or next month, or five years from now there will come a time when the struggle will be sacrificed." ~ Gerald May (Simply Sane)

Good Sense

“We hardly find any persons of good sense save those who agree with us.” ~ Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Worship Is...

"Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have, Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship." ~  Oswald Chambers

Where Is Your Security?

"Where does your security lie? Is God your refuge, your hiding place, your stronghold, your shepherd, your counselor, your friend, your redeemer, your saviour, your guide? If He is, you don't need to search any further for security." ~ Elisabeth Eliott

An Hour to Prepare for Eternity

"...we have such a short time to prepare for such a long time. By that I mean we have now to prepare for then. We have an hour to prepare for eternity. To fail to prepare is an act of moral folly. For anyone to have a day given to prepare, it is an act of inexcusable folly to let anything hinder that preparation. If we find ourselves in a spiritual rut, nothing in the world should hinder us. Nothing in this world is worth it. If we believe in eternity, if we believe in God, if we believe in the eternal existence of the soul, then there is nothing important enough to cause us to commit such an act of moral folly." ~ A.W. Tozer

Stand for Something

“Give us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for – because unless we stand for something we shall fall for anything.” ~ Peter Marshall

It Is Time to Stop!

"Sabbath is not dependent upon our readiness to stop. We do not stop when we are finished. We do not stop when we complete our phone calls, finish our project, get through this stack of messages, or get out this report. We stop because it is time to stop. Sabbath requires surrender. If we only stop when we are finished with all our work, we will never stop—because our work is never completely done." ~ Wayne Muller

The Way of Jesus

"The way of Jesus cannot be imposed or mapped - it requires an active participation in following Jesus as he leads us through sometimes strange and unfamiliar territory, in circumstances that become clear only in the hesitations and questionings, in the pauses and reflections where we engage in prayerful conversation with one another and with him." ~ Philip Yancey

Love and Seek

"Grant, most gracious God, that we may love and seek you always and everywhere, above all things and for your sake, in the life present and at length find you and for ever hold you fast in the life to come. Grant this for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord." ~ Thomas Bradwardine

Hellholes of the World

"We’re about going into the hellholes of the world and saying you are not alone! Jesus has not left you! He loves you! He can redeem and transform you!" ~ David Busic

Only Love...

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." ~  Martin Luther King, Jr.

Failures Occur Because...

"Suppose our failures occur, not in spite of what we are doing, but precisely because of it." ~ Dallas Willard

Give It Away

"Instead of guarding power, Jesus gives it away; instead of rational discourse, he tells stories; instead of claiming status, he reaches to the lowliest; instead of excluding the rabble, he includes them—even at table fellowship! Even the tax collectors, sinners and prostitutes seem at home in his presence. This is not merely a male Jesus with soft edges. This is a Jesus whose very identity is radically different from the norm of human personhood that prevailed at the time. Relationality rather than rationality illuminates his entire story." ~ Diarmuid O'Murchu

Love Your Spouse Well

“If your spouse is not loved well, he or she may not live out their potential for good in the world. This goes back to the self-developing and empowering realities of true love…As we learn to love and therefore give to our spouse, we not only become the best version of ourselves—we offer our spouse the chance to become the vest version of him or herself as well. Love, then, is giving for the sake of our spouse’s becoming.” ~ Tyler Ward (Marriage Rebranded)

Most Profound Product of this World...

"I am not saying that suffering exists in order for God to reveal himself. I am only saying that where suffering exists and is consciously accepted, there divine love shines forth brightly…. I have often suspected that the most profound product of this world is tears. I don’t mean that to be morbid. Rather, I mean that tears express that vulnerability in which we can endure having our heart broken and go right on loving." ~ Cynthia Bourgeault

Be Careful

“Be careful what you set your heart upon – for it will surely be yours.” ~ James Arthur Baldwin

Contact with the Poor...

"By globalization we totally lose contact with the poor that we know personally. We work in the abstract toward the liberation of a social category that we never meet. We know the political leaders of this class, who are no longer poor themselves. And this globalization, this de-personalization of the poor, surely means that a person who is poor simply because he is sick or is mourning the loss of a loved one or has been humiliated by a failure in life arouses no interest." ~ Jacques Ellul

Not in the Limelight

"If you want your church to be a place that loves, disciples, and serves, then you need to love, seek to be a disciple, and find places to serve, even if you're not in the limelight." ~ C. Hosher

Believe in Him

"Talk what we will of faith, if we do not trust and rely upon Him, we do not believe in Him." ~ Anthony Farindon

No Easy Street...

"When Jesus talked about the kingdom of God, he was not prophesying about some easy, danger-free perfection that will someday appear. He was talking about a state of being, a way of living at ease among the joys and sorrows of our world…. This state of being is not something alien or mystical. We don’t need to earn it. It is already ours." ~ Stephen Mitchell

Dangerous Man...

"Jesus wasn’t just a naïve dreamer who hiked around Galilee mouthing sweet platitudes. He fearlessly confronted a world that was no less filled with danger than is ours…. And yet he commanded, repeatedly and unequivocally, “Put down your swords, and love your enemies.” This man was dangerous. What if the people gathered around him actually started taking him seriously?" ~ Don Mosley

Incomprehensible Holy Mystery

"God is always doing something more. Incomprehensible holy mystery is always giving more, revealing more, communicating more. The only limit to that giving has been creation’s capacity to receive." ~ Judy Cannato

He Calls You by Name

"The devil knows your name, but calls you by your sin. Jesus knows your sin, but calls you by your name." ~ Ricardo Sanchez

If Only...

"There are many of you who think to yourselves: “If only I had been there! How quick I would have been to help the baby!” … You say that because you know how great Christ is, but if you had been there at that time you would have done no better than the people of Bethlehem. Why don’t you do it now? You have Christ in your neighbor." ~ Martin Luther (The Martin Luther Christmas Book by Roland Bainton)