THE SINGLE HEARTED Blessed are the single hearted, for they shall see God. Blessed are those who recognize Him in hungry, angry and discouraged people, and with unrighteous familiarity carry Him into all the places some say He does not go. Blessed are these passionate lovers of God whose clear sight and undiluted love keep …
Blessing | Concern | Consecration | Devotion | Love | Poetry | Spirituality Read More »
SPIRITUAL VITAMINS A TO Z Anxious? Take Vitamin A “All things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Blue? Take Vitamin B “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.” (Psalm 103:1) Crushed? Take Vitamin C …
HOTHOUSE CHRISTIANS HAVE NO ROOT Most Christians in North America are “hothouse Christians” who bloom as long as they are kept in a protected and carefully controlled environment far from fear, distress, or persecution.” God forbid that it should ‘cost’ us something to speak the name of Jesus.” But time and again, we have seen …
LET JESUS RUB OFF ON US Our two-year-old daughter Kaitlyn is really cute. That is a given… no brag, just fact. People in our congregation love to pick her up and hold her before, during, and after worship. I have begun to recognize my parishioners by the scent of their perfume or cologne. When I …
FLEXIBLE PRAYER STYLES Brad Kent writing about prayer, “What I’ve discovered is I can be with God in many different ways. I don’t have to come to God’s presence with head bowed and hands folded. I now know that prayer can be as simple as breathing, as active as dancing, as noisy as singing, as …
CATERING TO CULTURE Joan Chittister writes, “An authentic spirituality does not cater to culture; it calls culture to accountability.”
PRAISE SHOWS LIFE Not only is praise commanded of the living, but it is also a measure of spiritual vitality. Those who are alive in the Lord, and know they draw their very breath by His grace, delight to praise His name. Praise then, is not only commanded of those with life and breath, but …
Attitude | Godliness | Life | Praise | Purity | Spirituality | Vitality | Worship Read More »
AWAKENING First thought – as in “first light” let me be aware that I waken in You. Before I even think that I am in my bed let me think that I am in You /Each hour wake me further to find You. Let me relish in you, exhult in You, Play in You, be …
SPIRITUAL QUALIFICATIONS The real qualifications for ministry are spiritual, not scholastic. The Lord seems to delight in shaking up the theological world by revealing truth to unlikely candidates like A. W. Tozer, or to a British Army officer like Major Ian Thomas. God, it seems, is well able to make his own channels for disseminating …
THE GREATEST STUDY Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life. Taken from the 1642 Rules and Precepts of Harvard University
MEASURING MORAL QUALITY As water cannot rise higher than its source, so the moral quality in an act can never be higher than the motive that inspires it. From the Root of the Righteous, by A. W. Tozer
PURIFIED SILVER Some time ago, a few ladies met in a certain city to read the scriptures, and make them the subject of conversation. While reading the third chapter of Malachi they came upon a remarkable expression in the third verse. “And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” One lady’s opinion …
SCRAPS OR GOURMET John MacArthur describes a man who went on a cruise. The man spent his entire life to save enough for this cruise. The man finally earned enough money to take the cruise. He went to the travel agent and studied the brochures. He finally picked a one-week ocean cruise on a luxury …
FINAL STEP TO FAITH The last step of reason is to see the need for faith. By Soren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher
FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD In his book, Joy That Lasts, Gary Smalley gives reasons to make God your best friend: 1) Friendship with God is security [through commitment]. 2) Friendship with God is prayer. 3) Friendship with God is identification. 4) Friendship with God is dependency. 5) Friendship with God is gratefulness. From Joy That Lasts, …
SPIRITUAL INVENTORY W. E. Sangster describes the realities in his world when he concludes that he is spiritually dried out (P. Sangster, Doctor Sangster, pg. 90): “I am a minister of God, and yet my private life is a failure in these ways: a. I am irritable and easily put out. b. I am impatient …
PAST OUR PERCEPTIONS We are like flies that crawl across the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. We cannot see what angels and gods lie underneath the threshold of our perception. William I. Thompson
EMPHASES OF SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP In his article, “Fit to Lead: Making Leadership Christian,” James E. Means warns against the adoption of “Madison Avenue” leadership strategies that are more manipulation than spiritual leadership. To establish spiritual leadership in the church, Means suggests the following emphases (plural of emphasis) on the part of its leadership: Character First: …
ANGELS EVERYWHERE Calvin & Hobbs are discussing the current interest in angels. Calvin says to Hobbs: “I think angels are everywhere.” Hobbs replies: “You do?” Calvin continues: “They’re on calendars, books, greeting cards . . . almost every product imaginable.” Hobbs has the last word: “What a spiritual age we live in.”
BEST WEAPON IS PRAYER In the raids, of a multitude of activities we must let nothing encroach upon our prayer time. The devil will allow us to be as busy as we please if only he can get us prayerlessly busy. He knows he has no counter-weapon against prayer. Keep your prayer time with all …
Faithfulness | Godliness | Prayer | Priorities | Satan | Spirituality | Time Read More »