Look closely at what tempts you with God at your side.
Don't walk away in fear. You will learn something valuable about
yourself. Face the temptation, and don't be downcast if you fall into
it. Study yourself through the pain and failure and consider what it is
that has such a hold over you. When you see it hand it over to God, and
ask for his supernatural strength. Ask him to hold you even as you
totter and stagger in weakness. The temptation will diminish in strength
in God's timing. But you must stand where you are and face it.
Thank you Jesus for everything that came, that is coming, and that will come.
I connect with you so that I may convey a blessing to you. If I connect with you to bless myself I have not connected meaningfully.
Say thanks for everything that you can still do. Pray about everything that you still cannot do. Leave the rest to God. And rejoice in his faithfulness.
Do everything gratefully today and you would have done everything required of you.
The mind that seeks to correct another person without showing love is not motivated by God.
When you do something without hurry, you will learn more about what you do and will be able to do it more effectively.
Believe this. Anything and everything can be corrected with love. Love is what God shows to transform us into his own image. He corrects us only in love, and is very patient with us, even as we struggle to learn. Some of us may not even want to learn. But God is amazingly patient towards us and he gradually helps us recognize what we need to change. Then he also gives us the supernatural grace to overcome what we could have never done without him.
Take the edge out of your voice when you rebuke someone today. Whatever the mistake, correct someone with love, just as God corrects you. Let your words and deeds help a person grow rather than give that person a feeling of hopeless inadequacy.
A strong mind is one that can ignore the weak irritants.
Don't do it in a hurry. You won't be able to savour the thing you do.
Be grateful for everything, even a little thing.
Don't overdo even a good thing.
To believe in God means to believe in love.
The church is the body of those who believe in God and his son Jesus Christ and his Spirit, with Jesus himself as the head and we the people as the various parts of that body. The church may have divisions. But all divisions are contained within a single body.
God wants people to be saved. As a servant of God I want what God wants.
God can be found anywhere and everywhere. He can be found in places where you did not even suspect he lived. Most of all he can be found near you. And if you should desire to know him, he will be very happy to give you that knowledge. However, knowing God is neither instantaneous nor predictable. The experience of knowing God is many layered, and enlightenment comes after much confusion. Human understanding is a great barrier. But if you persist doggedly you may get to know a little bit of him.
We search for God only when we find what is in us. And when we are revolted by what we see in us we search for all that is not in us. And God is that person who is nothing like us. We can begin by reading about him in the Bible. But it is only a beginning. We will have to live with him to know him. And when we desire to live with him, he will come to live in us.
To seek God is to seek what validates you. We humans have no purpose in life until we find it in God. And this is the purpose. We were made to be loved by God. We must get into that position where we will receive the love of God. For this we must strip away everything that hinders the search for God.
You are a human being, worthy of respect and attention. For this reason alone it is good to meet you. I hope that you are also a child of God. You are made in his image. And I hope you are seeking him. This is a greater reason to welcome you.
To give, the only motivation required is to know that one has received. We give because we have received. We give in gratitude for what we have received. We should not give to receive even more. The one who gives will always receive. He does not even have to try.
It is after I make the biggest mistakes I am most wise.
It is said that our boast must only be in God. I would say it is better not to boast. For to boast will send the wrong signals to the one without God. It is best to be happy in the humblest way. God is with us and we did nothing to deserve him. Let our happiness reflect that.
Have a low opinion of yourself and what you can do without God. Only then will you find God working through you.
If you can love yourself after knowing yourself you have learned to love like God.
Love yourself first. Only then can you love others.
Celebrate who you are. Others may be reluctant to do it.
A great mind is one that has learned to appreciate little things.
If you find it hard to respect someone who loves you, then respect love. For it is the most precious thing on earth, and then think. Anyone who can give away such a precious thing must be precious too. And then you can begin to appreciate the giver of love and respect will follow.
Accept love even from someone you cannot respect. For love is the most precious thing and cannot be bought. It must be had at any cost from any source.
Don't discard love even when you find it in places that do not please. Love is hard to get, and when you get it don't let it go.
If God loves the world so much, then he must love everyone in the world, regardless of the person's race, nationality, religion and creed. This is why I believe that God looks at all of us in the same way. The way he looks at a believer is essentially the same as the way he looks at a non-believer. He looks at both with the same love. Nevertheless unbelief in God has certain consequences just as belief in God has consequences. The one who believes has chosen to belong to God. The one who does not believe has chosen to be apart from God. So those who will go to heaven and hell ultimately do so by the act of their own freewill.
Don't call me "son" and fail to act like my mother. Don't call me " a great prophet" and fail to give me your immediate attention.
To desire Light one should walk in darkness. To desire health one should endure sickness. To attain the pure, one should taste the impure. One should ask for black so that one may appreciate white. One should lust for that which is not sacred so that one may long for that which is sacred.
All misspent energy is misbegotten. The instinct to love comes from God. As He is holy, His instinct is also holy. Every act of love is an exercise of holiness. And this I will bear in mind as I give to and receive from others. My energy will be begotten of God. My desire will emerge from His heart. My embrace will be holy and my kiss will be chaste. My desire will be legal, and my love will give without the intent to receive.
May the Light that shines in us dispel the darkness that surrounds us.
You know your Lord. He lives in you. His beauty shines through you. Your thoughts, your words and your love testify to this.
We know and love Christ. And Christ loves us. We know this because the thought of Christ brings us joy. And if Christ loves us, He surely understands us. Though we fall short of His glory, He justifies us in the sight of God. The purpose of Christ is to reveal God's love to Man. His desire is not to condemn but to justify. His intent is not to abandon the lost child, but to seek and return him to the Father.
Be careful when you walk on rocks. Be careful when you take something delicate on a rock. You may drop it and break it. Be very careful when you walk through life. You are fragile. You need help. You need the comfort of a discerning friend. May you find that discerning friend today. If your heart is aching today, may you find that person who will calm you, and who will let your fears be blown away, and who will fill you with confidence and with the strength to go on, and who will assure you of love - not only the love of Man, but also the love of God. May you meet that person today. May you be happy today.
Instead of dreading the worst, hope for the best as far as God is concerned. He is good and wishes to do only good. And he has a good plan for all his children. His plan cannot harm for it can only do good. Trust in him and all will be well, no matter how dreadful it looks now.
If God answers all prayers quickly and affirmatively, he will not ask us to wait and trust in his goodness. Ultimately we must give God the right to act any way he chooses any time he wants. We believe that he will act in our best interest, and even if this is not apparent as we wait on him to answer our prayers, we must hold on to this belief tenaciously. Even in times of great darkness, when God appears discouragingly silent and uninterested, we must trust in his goodness and affirm it joyfully. And if we maintain this attitude we can be confident that God will act suddenly and decisively in the manner that is most advantageous to us.
God wants us to trust him for it is not easy to cast our cares on him and simply wait for him to act. He usually takes time, and this can be quite nerve-wracking, as I have found out myself on a few occasions. But if we are to know God's goodness, we need to trust him. And we cannot trust him without going all the way. And sometimes the way to God seems utterly perilous. And you will have fears for your own safety, as you abandon yourself to God. But going through this terrible ordeal is essential to verifying the strength of your determination to believe in God's promises, and this is the way you yourself know how firm your trust in God is. Ultimately as a writer put it, God will never fail us, though he will surely scare us to death a few times.
And so this work goes on as precariously as my life. I have no intrinsic goodness or holiness or perfectness to carry on a task for God. I'm just a human who has been sanctified by God by the spilling of His Son's blood on the cross. I have fallen so many times during these last seven years of service to God, and embarrassing as this is, it is uplifting to note that I have always risen and walked in a strength that could not be mine. For I still speak, still write, still hope, and still desire a place in God's world, doing God's work. And this seems to me to be no ordinary thing.
He who gave up his own son for us, he who bore our sins on his shoulders, and suffered terribly for us, will he be deterred by our man-made religious distinctions? I don't think so. He has risked so much that denominational and doctrinal differences will not pose him any trouble in finding the heart that truly seeks his grace. This is my final message. God loves you and he will have you if you let him. This is the essence of my work for God. May God be with me as I do his work and grant me the grace to do it.
I believe that God looks at the heart and not at denominations and doctrines that divide us. Ultimately everyone who accepts Jesus Christ is God's child, and no man-made distinction is ever going to change that. I accepted Jesus Christ. He is the way to God for a simple reason. Without him we will have an incomplete picture of God. The Old Testament on its own cannot bring out the essential nature of God. And that is love. His love supersedes everything. His justice which looms large in the eyes of doomsday prophets is satisfied by his supreme act of love, his own death on the cross, when he came down to earth as Jesus Christ. I believe this to be true. God looks at the heart in which Jesus resides as master. Everything else is not important.
God will not let your good work stop. This is my hope. He has seen your struggles, and answered your prayers.
Any good thing is possible today because our God is good, and he loves to do good. So expect God to do good in your life today. Expect him to do even better than that. Expect him to surprise you. Expect him to delight you. Expect him to give you what you long for. Just expect him to show up today like you've never seen him before.
What one sees now is only what one has been allowed to see.
I do not work for humanity. I work for God. And as far as he takes me forward, I shall gladly go.
I study the Bible. I read Christian authors. I read experts on religion. I even read the atheists. I speak for God. I speak and write about my own experiences. I try to enthuse others about God. I do little else.
"What am I doing with my life?", I have often wondered. Am I frittering my life away pursuing an imaginary goal set by an imaginary god? Or am I truly following the voice of the living God? I try to speak for God and about God as well as I know him. I want to be as honest as possible about my knowledge and experience of God, so that I am not unworthy of my calling. But do I really succeed? Is my message really heard? Is anyone really benefited and guided to God through my voice? These questions are being answered even know as I speak.
Many of us are addicted to the flesh. So don't be alarmed by it if you are an addict. I know the feeling too well. It seems that the more we are drawn to God the more we are also drawn to the flesh. The conflict does seem hellish. But we need to trust in God, who will not let us go through this suffering if it will not ultimately benefit us. But this is the starting point. Don't be afraid. Don't lose heart. He holds us firmly in His grip, whether we believe in it or not. He will not let us slip beyond retrieval. And whatever we've done we can never shock Him.
The spokespersons of Satan believe that they speak the truth. They may even believe that they speak for God.
There is no manual to show you how to approach God. Just believe that there is a God, and that he wants the best for you. Speak to him and ask him to reveal his thoughts to you. Ask him to reveal his plan for you. And wait as long as it takes for him to show that to you. When he shows you, you will surely know. And when he tells you to act you will surely act.
When others realize their dreams rejoice in that. Your dreams will also bring you joy someday when they are realized. But let your dreams be the ones God wants you to have.
Let your dreams be the ones God wants you to have. Then you will not only realize them, you will also not be disappointed with them.
It doesn't matter what size of a player you are. Just play for God. And be happy that you can play for him.
I have no longer any dreams of my own. My dreams have merged with those of God utterly.
Be happy to be where you are right now. You will not be here again.
What we need to see most is the smiling face of God. The God of the Bible seems to wear a frown most of the time. It is difficult to like a God who frowns. It is more difficult to love a God whom you fear. If people spend most of their time worrying about how God must disapprove of them, there is little likelihood of their ever loving him To love God then you must feel no fear. Respect God but do not be terrified of him. He is your friend, the very best friend you will ever have. Is it sensible to be afraid of your very best friend?
From a distance everything looks different from how it really is. You will have to go close and examine everything in detail to know what it really is. And when you know something well, you can safely accept or reject it.
You will be well with God no matter what happens. Remember that. For God is with you.
Praise God at all times. Praise God even when darkness
surrounds, and the devil seems to have you in his grip. Praise God even
as you succumb to a repetitive sin. Praise God even as you lie in shame
after the sinful act. Praise God even as you rise from this fall. Praise
God because he is still at work. He will not leave you or forsake you.
So as you fall and rise repeatedly believe in a God who has already won a
victory for you. Believe in this victory, which is yours by faith.
Believe first, and the experience of victory will follow. He will
complete his good work in you. And you will know it when it is done.
Till then praise God.
Repetitive sin, as long as it is not a deliberate revolt against God is an outcome of a bondage to sin. Jesus Christ not only understands those who are struggling with sin in this way, but he also gradually frees them from such bondage, if only they will allow him to work in their lives.
God forgives every sin except one: the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What a person must do is to confess his or her sins honestly and humbly. And he must receive the forgiveness of God by faith. God is ready to forgive those who confess their sins. One more thing a person must do is to forgive everyone who has hurt him or her, as the Bible makes it clear that there can be no forgiveness from God if we fail to forgive those who have hurt us.
Jesus is here because the Spirit of Jesus is here. The Spirit of Jesus lives in every believer testifying to the Son of God and revealing the Way, the Truth and the Life. The apostle Paul declared that Christ lives in him and in every believer.This is the the Jesus Christ who is now living in every one of us revealing his gracious love through us. This is the Jesus who demands our attention today.
"Don't worry. Trust in God. He will provide." This may sound like hopeless theory to the one who is in dire need. But it is this theory that will lead you to victory in the end. Trusting God is hard work. But it pays.
What we think we want may not be what God wants for us. What we think God must do may not be what God wants to do. When we submit to God and ask for his will to be done, we also surrender our will to him, and say, "God, I trust you with this. Whatever you do about this, even if I don't agree with it, will be ultimately good for me."
You must learn to wait. I have waited many months for some prayers to be answered. First you must submit your request to God. Furthermore submit your life to God, and entrust it in his hands. Believe that he has a good plan for you, and that he will most certainly carry it our, if you will place your trust in him.
God can help you any way he chooses to. He knows how to provide. Just trust in him, and wait.
A sin is a sin. Even a little sin can stand in your way. But the Lord Jesus Christ has erased all your sins away. Just accept his forgiveness and desire his mastery over you. Ask him to be the lord of your life. Your sins will certainly be behind you though you may sin every day in your life. As long as we remain in the flesh we will not be able to stop sinning.
Will God give you a second chance? Yes he will. But first go to God and confess your mistakes. Admit your inability to do anything without God. Seek his wisdom and wait for him to guide you. When he gives you a second chance, you will have to do it with God. You must let God guide you as you attempt to repair the damage that you inflicted earlier. But beware, not every damage can be repaired.
Instead of looking at a Jesus who is coming, look at a Jesus who is already here. And submit to him now and let him do his will in you. There is a Jesus Christ among us right now, whom we cannot ignore, even as some of us are making frantic attempts to get ready for a Jesus, whose coming at a time no one even knows. Jesus is already here. We should be ready now.