Quotable Quotes

Here's an excerpt from one of my devotionals today . . . really hits home.

What a need there is to counsel our hearts according to the truths of God's Word, "to teach them diligently" to our children (Deut 6:7) and to "write them" into our lives (Heb 8:10).  Both we and the generations coming behind us must endure a world that is often dark and distressing. We are confronted by challenges that seem to leave no other option than worry and panic. But His word is our sanity.  It is what keeps us from losing our equilibrium when all around us appears to be spinning out of control.  It tethers us to truth, mentally and emotionally, protecting our minds, and reorienting our perspectives.

Store up God's Word in your heart.  Memorize it; meditate on it; allow the Spirit of God to personalize it to your life.  And be continually renewed as God uses it to transform you into the likeness of Christ.

Taken from "The Quiet Place: Daily Devotional Reading"

Food for Thought

In my devotional for today....

"A commitment to holiness calls us to have a life, by the grace of God, that can stand up to unannounced scrutiny-whether by God or by others.  What do your downtimes look like, those moments when the public persona is turned off, the doors are closed, and no one (humanly speaking) is watching?"

--"The Quiet Place"

Reminders...

Currently doing a Beth Moore Bible study on Esther and a few things she's said has struck me doing this week's homework:

"Some crises are too important for saving face.  Saving lives is worth losing face every time.  When was the last time you had to risk losing face to try to save something more precious than pride."

"Of all the rights bestowed on us as the children of God, perhaps none exceeds the right to repent and turn back to the Lord."

"In daily living, strength comes from muscle, and muscle develops with a workout.  This is as true spiritually as physically.  What we don't use, we lose."

"We are not the fragile flowers we've considered ourselves to be.  We, like Esther, are the warrior princesses of God."

"Sometimes we fear that fighting for what is right will kill us.  Then again, it occurs to us that to stand by and do nothing out of self-preservation is to be dead already."

"God has profoundly used the conviction that those heightened times of decision in my toughest trials could be 'make it or break it' moments in my destiny....in the times of greatest struggle when you make the Godward decision over convenience, earthly comfort, or carnal pleasure, you too have come to a critical moment in the fulfillment of your destiny.  A defining moment.  A war is being waged over your head in the unseen realm.  You have no idea what's at stake."

"Sometimes our most important moments come hand-in-hand with our willingness to reveal that we aren't really who we've seemed to be." 

We are all a little weird . . .

"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."
                                                                           -Dr. Seuss

How would you love someone without prayer?

"I woke up in the middle of the night recently with this rather odd question in mind:
How would you love someone without prayer?
I mean, what would it look like if you loved someone but couldn't pray for that person?
It was a puzzle to me.
I couldn't figure out what it would look like.
Love without being able to pray feels depressing and frustrating, like trying to tie a knot with gloves on.
I would be powerless to do the other person any real good.
People are far too complicated; the world is far too evil; and my own heart is too off center to be able to love adequately without praying.
I need Jesus."
 - A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller

Quotable Quotes

" If you are not praying, you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent, are all you need in life."

-A Praying Life, Paul E. Miller

I've Been Feeling Disconnected . . .

. . . and reading this gives me peace that I can never stray too far.

Do You Feel Spiritually Dull?

John Bunyan:

Sometimes when my heart has been hard, dead, slothful, blind, and senseless, which indeed are sad frames for a poor Christian to be in, yet at such a time, when I have been in such a case, then has the blood of Christ, the precious blood of Christ, the admirable blood of the God of Heaven, that run out of His body when it did hang on the Cross, so softened, livened, quickened, and enlightened my soul, that truly, reader, I can say, O it makes me wonder!

The Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded (London, 1708), 183.; Taken from the Desiring God blog

Praying a very selfish prayer tonight: asking for passion, growth, repentance, and wisdom.

Remind yourself that . . .

Life is too short to wake up with regrets.

So love the people who treat you right.

Forgive the one's who don't.

Believe everything happens for a reason.

If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.

If it changes your life, let it.

Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.

Quotable Quotes

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops; What if Your healing comes through tears; What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near; What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise.    - Laura Story

I'm Letting Go

Trying very hard to let go of my life's plans, ideas, and expectations .... and just LIVE

I’m letting go
Of the life I planned for me
And my dreams
Losing control
Of my destiny
Feels like I’m falling and that’s what it’s like to believe
So I’m letting go

This is a giant leap of faith
Trusting and trying to embrace
The fear of the unknown
Beyond my comfort zone . . .

Giving in to your gravity
Knowing You are holding me
I’m not afraid

Feels like I’m falling and that’s what it’s like to believe
Feels like I’m falling and this is the life for me
 
 - "I'm Letting Go" Lyrics by Francesca Battistelli
from the album My Paper Heart

Quotable Quotes

"Do you feel more loved by God because He makes much of YOU, or because He enables you to make much of HIM."

- John Piper
Getting to the Bottom of your Joy

Quotable Quotes

I started reading a new book a few days ago and honestly if I could quote every other sentence, I would, it's that good. Allow me to share one sentence that struck a chord with me:

The very thing we are afraid of, our brokenness, is the door to our Father's heart.  -  Paul Miller, A Praying Life

Quotable Quotes

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.  ~ Les Brown

Reminders...

I was looking through some of my old journaling this past week and I came across a devotional that I had read about a year ago today.  It was very pertinent to things going on in my life at the time.  More recently, I shared it with two friends as an encouragement for things they are dealing with in their own lives, but re-reading this just reminded me that I need to align my thoughts with these truths again....

For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you.
-Psalms 71:5-6

When the psalmist asked God to be a refuge and rescuer in Psalm 71, he boldly proclaimed his dependence on the Sovereign Lord. When we feel weak-kneed and lack confidence, we are most open to relying on God. The Bible gives us affirmation after affirmation of God's strength in the face of our limited ability: "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13). "Nothing is impossible with God" (Luke 1:37). "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Nothing silences the voice of timidity as powerfully as the voice of Scripture. If you find yourself in a new situation today, make sure you don't rely on your own limited talents or skills, but that you place your unshakable confidence in the limitless God.

The Power of the Holy Spirit

Sometimes I look for guidance in all the wrong places.  It's crazy how much I rely on me, myself, and I to get me through difficult situations and circumstances.  I forget that there's an amazing power freely given to me to overcome any sin and any worry. 

I read this post from James MacDonald yesterday morning and am reminded of this power that is freely given to us.

"Every good thing God wants to shower on your life comes through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit.

Everything.

The fruit of the Spirit, understanding of God's Word, love of worship, strength in a trial, grace to forgive, compassion for the lost, comfort in heartache, boldness in witnessing, power in ministry; all of this is yours when you live the Christian life in the Spirit's power."

                                                      - James MacDonald

Amen to that! The key word I often fail to understand here is "everything".  The Holy Spirit can guide me in everything.  It's a wonder why I make things so difficult and continue to use my own devices when the Lord asks us, even implores us, to trust in the Holy Spirit.

Worry . . .

something I've been doing in overtime lately....the following are some thoughts on the subject from a article I recently read...

"Do you know what the greatest help has been for me when it comes to anxiety? It is this truth: "Worry is sin". When we are anxious it shows that we really don't trust God. It means that either I believe God is not capable or that God does not care. Neither is true. So when I realize that I am beginning to be filled with anxiety I ask myself an important question, "Do I trust God, or don't I?"
-Rev. Bruce Goettsche

Quotable Quotes

"Wrong believing brings fear. Right believing brings faith."

Quotable Quotes

"If you look for truth,
you may find comfort in the end;
if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth
only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin,
and in the end, despair."

- C. S. Lewis

Quotable Quotes

Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.

 - C. S. Lewis

Does God Really Love Us?

"Does God really love us? I say look to the crucified Jesus. Look to the old rugged cross. By every thorn that punctured His brow. By every mark of the back lacerating scourge. By every hair of his beard plucked from his cheeks by cruel fingers. By every bruise which heavy fists made upon His head. God said, "I love you!" By all the spit that landed on his face. By every drop of sinless blood that fell to the ground. By every breath of pain which Jesus drew upon the cross. By every beat of His loving heart. God said, I love you."
-Billy Lobbs

It's hard to imagine that a day where we remember unimaginable cruelty inflicted on a man that was sinless and perfect, as being called "good".  But can you imagine the consequences if these events never did transpire?  We'd be left to our own devices, to suffer the consequences of the depraved sinful creatures that we are.  But instead, because of his sacrifice, we are made clean, freed from the bonds of sin, and even made righteous....and what do we have to do? Just believe.

Indeed it is GOOD.