Standing in the Gap

"Standing in the gap can be risky business. But in God's faithfulness, someone has stood in the gap for you. Are you willing to stand in the gap for someone else?" ~ David Busic

Love is the Foundation

Let us learn that love is the foundation—Christian love—of all real Christian experience, and let us hear the aged apostles say, "Little children, love one another." ~ Phineas F. Bresee

Live Within Your Income

“The practice of thrift is not outdated. We must discipline ourselves to live within our incomes even if it means going without or making do. The wise person can distinguish...between basic needs and extravagant wants. Some find budgeting extremely painful, but I promise you, it is never fatal.” ~ Marvin J. Ashton

The Riches of His Grace

"I am not left to find my destiny in this boundless sea; but He bears me up with the certainties of His revelations and the riches of His grace." ~ Phineas F. Bresee

His Likeness

"Being formed into the likeness of Christ is a molding, shaping, sculpting work of the Spirit that happens as we practice the essential disciplines of the Christian life." ~ Harnish

Hardest Lesson...

"Love is the hardest lesson in Christianity; but, for that reason, it should be most our care to learn it." ~ William Penn

Chief Motivation

"The chief motivation behind Paul’s service was not love for others but love for his Lord. If our devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and broken-hearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another." ~ Oswald Chambers

Tend Your Spiritual Fires

"No matter how strong our experience of God may be, no matter how great our past, how intimate our relationship with God...if we do not tend our spiritual fires, we will eventually grow cold." ~ David Busic

Don't Have to be Perfect

“The realization that I didn’t have to perfect strengthened my faith.” ~ John Olerud

Death = Passage to God's Presence

"The resurrection of Jesus changes the face of death for all His people. Death is no longer a prison, but a passage into God's presence. Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there." ~ Clarence Hall

Love that Cannot Help But Love...

"I want the love that cannot help but love; Loving, like God, for very sake of love." ~  A. B. Simpson

HIS Results...

"If, in faith, we are willing to cooperate with God's methods, we may expect God to achieve His results." ~ J. Coleson

Controversy and Contension

“Controversy and contention are weakening habits. If Satan can succeed in creating in us the pastime of arguing, quarreling, and contention, it is easier for him to bind us with heavier sins which can destroy our eternal lives. Anger is a poor substitute for self-mastery and compassionate service.” ~  Marvin J. Ashton

God's Instructions

"Do not wait until everything fails before you follow God's instructions." ~ Eugénio R. Duarte 

No Patience for Hypocrisy

"Jesus had no patience for hypocrisy, especially religious hypocrisy." ~ David Busic

Something Is Wrong...

"Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers." ~ Francis Chan

What Will I Allow?

I teach people how to treat me by what I will allow. ~ Stephen R. Covey

The Whole Purpose...

"The whole purpose of God in redemption is to make us holy and to restore us to the image of God. To accomplish this He disengages us from earthly ambitions and draws us away from the cheap and unworthy prizes that worldly men set their hearts upon." ~ A.W. Tozer

Complex World

“We live in a complex world. There are many forces calling out, ‘Love me.’ A sure way to set our guidelines for that which we choose to serve and learn to love is to follow the admonition of Joshua: ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” ~ Marvin J. Ashton

Don't Try to Domesticate God

"We need to stop trying to domesticate God or confine Him to tidy categories and compartments that reflect our human sentiments rather than His inexplicable ways." ~ Francis Chan & Preston Sprinkle

Growing Relationship

"God desires that we grow in our relationship with Him continually— to love Him with our whole bodies, souls, minds, and strength." ~ D. Graves

Holy Living

"To know Christ is the way to grow in holiness. Christianity is not a religion of rules. It is the religion of the divine example. Try to follow the blessed steps of the most holy life. Take His advice. Ask yourself, in the moment of perplexity or temptation, what would He do if He were here? Nothing else will so surely lead us into the way of holy living." ~ George Hodges

Day by Day

"Holiness is the everyday business of every Christian. It evidences itself in the decisions we make and the things we do, hour by hour, day by day." ~ Chuck Colson

Sanctification

"Sanctification makes me one with Jesus Christ, and in Him one with God, and it is done only through the superb Atonement of Christ. Never put the effect as the cause. The effect in me is obedience and service and prayer, and is the out come of speechless thanks and adoration for the marvelous sanctification wrought out in me because of the Atonement." 

~ Oswald Chambers

Remember Your Past Sins...

"It is a good thing for a man to remember his past sins when that memory brings a loathing for evil. It is still better when the memory brings gratitude for the cleansing, and a deeper dependence upon God for power to live a holy life. This ministry of memory is one of the blessed ways that the Holy Spirit works in us." ~ A.F. Harper

Holiness Through Surrender

"Holiness is inwrought by the Holy Spirit, not because we have suffered, but because we have surrendered." ~ Richard S. Taylor

Team Players

"God doesn't have many superstars in his kingdom. God uses many team players who all work together in ministry to do God’s work." ~ D. Graves

Obedience

"All we need to do is obey." ~ David Busic

Greatest Union

"The union Christ had with the Father was the greatest that we can conceive of in this life—if indeed we can conceive of it. Yet we have no indication that even Jesus was constantly awash with revelations as to what he should do. His union with the Father was so great that he was at all times obedient. This obedience was something that rested in his mature will and understanding of his life before God, not on always being told "Now do this" and "Now do that" with regard to every details of his life or work." ~ Dallas Willard

Greatest Disease

"The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty—it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God." ~ Mother Teresa

Shiny Tools

"It's funny: I always imagined when I was a kid that adults had some kind of inner toolbox full of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the hammer of wisdom, the sandpaper of patience. But then when I grew up I found that life handed you these rusty bent old tools—friendships, prayer, conscience, honesty—and said 'do the best you can with these, they will have to do'. And mostly, against all odds, they do." ~ Anne Lamott

Small Matters Become Large Fears

"Our imaginations have the propensity to grow small matters into large fears while reducing and infinite God to our size."~ Blaise Pascal

What You Worship

"A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshiping we are becoming." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Let Go & Let God

"We are so used to being very effortful. We are a people out to succeed, to accomplish, to do. It is hard for us to let go and let God do. And after all, if we do, if we expend great effort, then when it is done we can pat ourselves on the back and salute ourselves for our great accomplishment." ~ M. Basil Pennington

A Strong Heritage

"In order to build a strong heritage for our children we must be committed to God ourselves. We must be in His word, seeking Him daily, and longing for His guidance." ~ J. Walker

We Are the Church

"We are the church; let's bring back the warmth and nurturing of hospitality." ~ G. Fothergill

Love Is...

"Love is not just a sentiment. Love is a great controlling passion and it always expresses itself in terms of obedience." ~ Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Life Lessons

"Remain grateful and teachable. Be on guard for careless choices or comments. Listen well. Lead courageously. Give yourself and others a break. Laugh as often as possible." ~ Janine Metcalf

Be Who You Are

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” ~ Dr. Seuss

Poverty of Spirit

"Only through poverty of spirit do humans draw near to God; only through it does God draw near to humans. Poverty of spirit is the meeting point of heaven and earth, the mysterious place where God and humans encounter each other, the point where infinite mystery meets concrete existence." ~ Johannes Metz

When I Need Answers

“Over the years I have learned that when I need answers to deal with crises, people, and issues, I must go to God. God will help us in everything we do if we stay in tune and if we will call on him. We must each plan our future with him in our homes, our families, and our relationships with others. If we make him our senior partner, our lives can be successful.” ~ Marvin J. Ashton

Nothing So Damaged...

"There is nothing in the world so damaged that it cannot be repaired by the hand of Almighty God....without this certainty, we should all of us be mad." ~ Hercule Poirot (Appointment with Death) 

Follower of Jesus...

"As a follower of Jesus—whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever your circumstances—you are not alone. He is with you in the midst of your service, in the face of uncertainty, or in the moment of crisis." ~ Jesse C. Middendorf