Cycle of...

"Life really was a cycle of remembering and forgetting." ~ Rachelle Dekker (The Choosing)

Think on This

"If I allow my mind to think upon the things that the enemy wants me to think, or the flesh wants me to think, or what the world wants me to think, then it's constantly going to produce death in me, and death is separation from life." ~ Gerald Fry

Play Acting

"Too many of us are caught acting as Christians. We live a 'spirtual' life talk 'spiritual' language, adopt 'spiritual' attitudes, but we are doing the whole thing ourselves. Perhaps we are doing it fairly well, but it's the effort involved that should warn us that something is wrong." ~ Watchman Nee

Confronted with a Choice

"I'm confronted with a choice: either trust God by waiting patiently and asking His Spirit for His power to love God and love others even while feeling empty and alone, or fill myself up any way I can." ~ Larry Crabb

A Disciple Is...

"A disciple is a person who learns to live the life his teacher lives. And gradually he teaches others to live the life he lives. So discipleship is not a communication of knowledge or information. It is a communication of life." ~ Juan Carlos Ortiz

Giving with Glad and Generous Hearts

"Giving with glad and generous hearts has a way of routing out the tough old miser within us. Even the poor need to know that they can give. Just the very act of letting go of money, or some other treasure, does something within us. It destroys the demon greed." ~ Richard J. Foster (Money, Sex & Power)

Support & Influence

"We can't be the quarterback of another person's life. But we can be members of his team,supporting and influencing him to become a better life player." ~ Mike Bechtle

Let Go...

"God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them." ~ Augustine of Hippo

Abandoned into His Hands

“There are very few people who realize what God would make of them if they abandoned themselves entirely into his hands, and let themselves be formed by his grace.” ~ St. Ignatius

Conflict...

"The strongest church, the most effective mission, can be ruined when one person allows offense into his heart. It is one of satan's primary weapons." ~ Gerald Fry

15 “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. 16 But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. 17 If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector. ~ Matthew 18:15-17 (NLT)

Proof of Christianity

"The proof of Christianity is not a book but a life. The power of Christianity is not a creed but a Christian character; and wherever you see life that has been transformed by the grace of God, you see a witness to the resurrection of Jesus." ~ William Woodfin

Fear God

"When you fear God, you fear nothing else....If you do not fear God, you fear everything else." Oswald Chambers...."When we fear the things that seem to steal our lives away, we are placing them on a higher pedestal than the One who gives us life." ~ Chris Tiegreen

Excellence

"Success bases our worth on a comparison with others. Excellence gauges our value by measuring us against our own potential. Success grants its rewards to the few but is the dream of the multitudes. Excellence is available to all living beings but is accepted by the . . . few." ~ Dale Carnegie

New Direction

"God knows not only how to put together the pieces of what may look like waste, but He also gives new form, new look, new content, new purpose, new direction, and even new use to what might otherwise be of no value."  ~ Eugénio R. Duarte 

Rules for Self Discovery

1. What we want most;

2. What we think about most;

3. How we use our money;

4. What we do with our leisure time;

5. The company we enjoy;

6. Who and what we admire;

7. What we laugh at.

~A.W. Tozer

The Only Thrill

“The only thrill worthwhile is the one that comes from making something out of yourself.” ~ William Feather

Don't Stop Laughing

"You don't stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing." ~ Michael Pritchard

Share the Loving Heart of God

Time and Money

"Our culture is built around time and money. In our relationships with God, we have failed to adequately commit either to Him." ~ Tyler Edwards

Human Nature

"Human nature wants it all. We want to live forever in God's presence, but we're reluctant to sacrifice anything in the meantime. We want heaven on earth as well as heaven in heaven. The fact that this is a spiritual impossibility doesn't faze us. We want it anyway." ~ Chris Tiegreen

Revival Is...

"Revival is the full manifestation of the life of Christ in every believer. Revival is God stirring, shaking, and changing His church from apathy to passion for Christ, from indifference to humility, and idolatry to holiness." ~ Joy Dawson

Living, Praying, Giving and Going

"If missions languish, it is because the whole life of godliness is feeble. The command to go everywhere and preach to everybody is not obeyed until the will is lost by self-surrender in the will of God. Living, praying, giving and going will always be found together." ~ Arthur Tappan Pierson

Go and Give

"Do not think me mad. It is not to make money that I believe a Christian should live. The noblest thing a man can do it, just humbly to receive, and then go amongst others and give." ~ David Livingstone

Revival of Prayer

“The evangelization of the world depends first upon a revival of prayer. Deeper than the need for workers; deeper far than the need for money; deep down at the bottom of our spiritual lives, is the need for the forgotten secret of prevailing, worldwide prayer.” ~ Robert Speer

Plateau

"Most of us plateau when we lose the tension between where we are and where we out to be." ~ John Gardiner

Weaker and Stronger

"The weaker we feel, the harder we lean on God. And the harder we lean, the stronger we grow." ~ Joni Eareckson Tada

What is the Point?

"On this rapid mortal journey, if our focus is self, we’ll never be satisfied. Enough is never enough. Never enough power, prestige, things, or money will satisfy. At some point, we reach the point of realizing we missed the point." ~ B. Brown

Strength, Courage, Confidence

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

The Lord is my light and my salvation—
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?

~ Psalm 27:1 (NIV)

Valuable Currency

“Money is but one venue for generosity. Kindness is an even more valuable currency.” ~ Alan Cohen

The Holiness of Your Life

"Believers witness to God's deliverance by declaring His word and by the holiness of their lives." ~ Daniel Powers

Privilege of Being a Pastor

"The awful, precious, glorious privilege of being a pastor-preacher is beyond expression. There is probably no joy that a soul ever felt that is superior to that experienced by a human heart in this process of fusing of the divine truth, by the divine spirit, and being the avenue of its outpouring. This is especially so when it is for and given unto a people carried upon the heart of the preacher, where every joy and sorrow, despair and hope, are part of his own life." ~ Phineas F. Bresee

Stewardship

"Whatever possessions the Lord puts in our hands we are to hold for Him and use unto Him. Great and prayerful care should be taken in reference to the investment of the Lord's money He has entrusted to our care." ~ Phineas F. Bresee

Cause of Atheism

“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” ~ Brennan Manning

The Final Analysis

"In the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have...is the ability to take on responsibility." ~ Michael Korda

Pinnacle of Human Emotions

“An understanding, loving heart is the pinnacle of all human emotions…. We come closest to becoming Christlike when we are charitable and understanding of others. One may have many talents and knowledge but never acquire wisdom because he does not learn to be compassionate with his fellow man. Christlike love must be continuous and contemporary.” ~ Marvin J. Ashton

Money Doesn't Change Men

“Money doesn’t change men, it merely unmasks them. If a man is naturally selfish or arrogant, or greedy, the money brings it out; that’s all.” ~ Henry Ford

A Child of the King

"Next time you look in the mirror and criticize yourself, stop. Remind yourself of how beautiful you are to God. Next time you mess up and think you'll never get things right, stop. Remind yourself that God has chosen you for His purpose. Next time you feel worthless, stop. Don't believe the lie. You are a child of the king." ~ Stan Toler (Minute Motivators for Women) 

What Are You Full Of?

Accountability Checklist Used by John Wesley

Accountability Checklist used by John Wesley with a group He called The Holy Club.

1."Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you..." (2 Corinthians 13:5a)
2. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
3. Do I confidentially pass on to others what has been said to me in confidence?
4. Can I be trusted?
5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work or habits?
6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
7. Did the Bible live in me today?
8. Do I give the Bible time to speak to me every day?
9. Am I enjoying prayer?
10. When did I last speak to someone else of my faith?
11. Do I pray about the money I spend?
12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
13. Do I disobey God in anything?
14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?
17. How do I spend spare time?
18. Am I proud?
19. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
22. Is Christ real to me?

"This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." John 15:8 (NIV)

Answered Prayer

"What is it about us that we can remember who insulted us decades ago but cannot remember the deliverance God gave us last year. We can hold a grudge for a lifetime, but when asked how God has answered our prayers in the past, we struggle for a response." ~ Chris Tiegreen

Suggestion: Keep a prayer journal, so you can read back and see how God has answered prayer over the years.

Assess Your Situation

“Some mothers seem to have the capacity and energy to make their children's clothes, bake, give piano lessons, go to Relief Society, teach Sunday School, attend parent-teacher association meetings, and so on. Other mothers look upon such women as models and feel inadequate, depressed, and think they are failures when they make comparisons... Sisters, do not allow yourselves to be made to feel inadequate or frustrated because you cannot do everything others seem to be accomplishing. Rather, each should assess her own situation, her own energy, and her own talents, and then choose the best way to mold her family into a team, a unit that works together and supports each other. Only you and your Father in Heaven know your needs, strengths, and desires. Around this knowledge your personal course must be charted and your choices made.”
― Marvin J. Ashton