Kingdom perspective

We must understand and welcome the tension that is inherent in Christ’s teaching. Christ is imposing the standards of a perfectly pure kingdom culture into a fallen and treacherous world. If at times the Sermon (on the Mount) seems to contradict this present world’s sense of what is reasonable, it’s because this world’s point of view is inevitably in conflict with the kingdom culture of Christ. The fault is not with the Sermon but with the imperfect world. True wisdom belongs to the King. ~~ Joe Stowell president of Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Abandonment

God often, as it were, hides himself, and will not hear; yea, will not suffer himself to be found. ~~ Martin Luther

Force

Do not force Jesus on anyone; just explain how Jesus is a healer and a peace giver. He will do the rest!

In line of God's will

John “Praying” Hyde (1865-1912) lived so near the Lord that he was sensitive to the slightest promptings of His will, and he seemed to know at once when the Lord was not with him. How everything fitted together because all was under the direct control of God for the good of His servant! ~~ J. Pengwern Jones

Instrument

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console...to be understood, as to understand...to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is dying that we are born to eternal life. ~~ St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) Founder of the Order of Franciscans

Show Heart

We have the message – and God has given us the means – to speak to ethicists who promote the idea that people are “better off dead than disabled.” It is fundamentally at this level that a nation’s heart is healed.
It’s how my heart was healed when I despaired of life as a quadriplegic. Thank God there were advocates. There were friends and visitors, neighbors and family members who showed heart. They came into the institution where I rehabbed for two years. These dear people spoke up for and gave voice to my plight, as well as the need of my roommates. They advocated for us, whether to the floor supervisor when our sheets were soiled and left unchanged, or at the University of Maryland where I needed access to second-story classrooms. These wonderful Christian friends took time to shake salt and shine light. They were God’s hands... they were his advocates for one weak, depressed, paralyzed girl. And I am still feeling the repercussions of their love. ~~ Joni Eareckson Tada

Diversity

As I read accounts of the New Testament church, no characteristic stands out more sharply than this one. Beginning with Pentecost, the Christian church dismantled the barriers of gender, race, and social class that had marked Jewish congregations. Paul, who as a rabbi had given thanks daily that he was not born a woman, slave, or Gentile, marveled over the radical change: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
One modern Indian pastor told me, "Most of what happens in Christian churches, including even the miracles, can be duplicated in Hindu and Muslim congregations. But in my area, only Christians strive, however ineptly, to mix men and women of different castes, races, and social groups. That's the real miracle."
Diversity complicates rather than simplifies life. Perhaps for this reason we tend to surround ourselves with people of similar age, economic class, and opinion. Church offers a place where infants and grandparents, unemployed and executives, immigrants and blue bloods can come together. Just yesterday, I sat sandwiched between an elderly man hooked up to a puffing oxygen tank and a breastfeeding baby who grunted loudly and contentedly throughout the sermon. Where else can we go to find that mixture?
When I walk into a new church, the more its members resemble each other—and resemble me—the more uncomfortable I feel. ~~ Philip Yancey

Gratitude

The most important thing I know of is I must continue to work on relationships. To deal with broken relationship one might want to ignore sin, but nothing resolves the problems between two persons like asking forgiveness. We have all heard that confession is good for the soul. When we confess our sins one to another, Jesus forgives and purified us. The doors often open for reconciliation. The most significant way to develop these relationships is to be thankful for the smallest and most obvious answers to prayer. Relationships are spiritual blessings that open and soften our hearts. Sometime back, I read this notation on expressing gratitude by Bill Hybels.
“One summer I took my son Todd to the county fair. We enjoyed some rides, and my tired little by fell asleep in the back seat as we started home. A few minutes down the highway, though, he had his arms around my shoulders. ‘Dad, I want to thank you for taking me to that fair,’ he said. His words moved me so much, I felt like turning the car around and going back for round two! God is our Father, and he, too, is moved when we express our thanksgiving.”

Inmaturity

Immaturity is a person who wants God’s gifts without God

Get to God

“For through him we both [Jew and Gentile] have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Ephesians 2:18, KJV). The Wycliffe Bible Commentary note the emphasis on the word both (vv. 14,16,18). Both made one, both reconciled to God, both having access.
The Work of Christ provides us with a royal summons that we can have an audience with the King. The work of Christ gives us the right of access. The work of the Holy Spirit gives us the power of access. The work of the Holy Spirit conducts us into the presence of a kind Heavenly Father. ~~ W. V. Grant

Sweetness

Oh! come, the sweetness of God, fill me with your gentleness and love, causing me to love even my enemies. Even, that the lost may see love in me beyond normal measure. I know Lord that the quality of sweetness is so important to you, that you require me to be doubly- sweet – to overflow with the kindness, gentleness and love of Christ. ~~ Unknown Author

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

“We can do no great things – only small things with great love.” ~~ Mother Teresa (1910-1997)

Being Uncomfortable

Being uncomfortable is the time that you grow the most! To be successful, you must get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Being comfortable causes you to take fewer risks, accomplish the ordinary and arrive at a mundane level in life.
When comfort is your priority, you will become gripped with fear at each new encounter in life. To be successful, a person must run into their fear and not run from the fear.
The next time you feel uncomfortable, uncertain or fearful, press forward. Practice conquering the fear in your mind. Learn to live with uncomfortable feelings. The feelings may never go away. In spite of these feelings, do something positive in the midst of your discomfort. Watch God grow your potential while you are on this uncomfortable path! ~~ Barbara Wentroble

Stand and make a difference

Someone has said that the minute hand is at about 11:58, two more minutes to midnight. We need to call forth the same anointing for intercession that was upon John “Praying” Hyde, E. M. Bound, Andrew Murray, and Rees Howells. At such a time as this, we must ask, where are the prayer warriors, the prophet who will speak for God, and the people with great power and authority to bind and loosen powers and principalities. True deliverance comes in the realm of the Spirit, not in the realm of man.
Yes, give me the martyrs, the Friedrich WeiBler, Corrie ten Booms and Fritz Graebes, the righteous of our day that will stand for what is right. The Dietrich Bonhoeffers who will stand up and declare the truth even in the face of public indifference and personal danger.
Call forth the servants of God who are willing to weep and sob before God for lost souls. As John Hyde pleaded, “O God, give me souls or I die!”
I was born for such a time as this. So were you!

Coming apart

If a man’s Bible is coming apart, it is an indication that he himself is fairly well put together. ~~ James E. Jennings

Watch and Pray

Biblically, watchmen on the walls were posted in high places to watch every route of approach and announce ahead of time the identity and purpose of those who approached the city.
Watchmen today are the intercessors. They are to watch and see what the Lord is doing locally and among the nations. Spiritually, they are posted in high places to watch and announce ahead of time the identity and purpose of those who approach the community of God – whether the visitors are ambassadors of good will or enemies approaching with evil intent. ~~ James W. Goll, The Coming Israel Awakening

Church

The church has never been a building. Christ did not die for property. …The church—God's family—is going to go on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. If God has called you to serve in a local church ... don't you ever step down to become the president of the United States or anything else for that matter, because nothing matters more ... [than] the privilege of guiding and guarding and shaping and sharing and encouraging and helping the flock of God. …We are to love the people of the world no matter what they believe; we are to not love the value system of the world. And the problem today is a lot of Christians are getting that reversed. They love the value system and hate the people. God has never met a person He didn't love. ~~ Saddleback Church senior pastor Rick Warren, addressing the hundreds gathered earlier this week to mark the formation of the Anglican Church in North America, a new conservative network of congregations that broke from the increasingly liberal Episcopal Church [AP, 6/23/09]

Between God and man

For men's religion to God is between God and themselves. The king shall not answer for it. Neither may the king be judge between God and man. Let them be heretics, Turks, Jews, or whatsoever, it appertains not to the earthly power to punish them in the least measure. This is made evident to our Lord the King by the scriptures. ~~ Thomas Helwys ( ? -1616)

Just content to be a son

No words to say... but what He says;
No work to do... but what He does;
No fear or worry, anxious care,
I live with Him, His yoke I share...
No name to make, He writes His own
Upon the heart’s pure glistening stone;
No life to live, I lay it down,
I’ll share His cross... and live again.
~~ Author Unknown

Journey

“Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.’ They didn’t ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed” (Mark 1:17, 18, Message).
Walking with Christ is about the journey not about the arriving to a point of maturity. If you have spent any time walking with the Holy Ghost you will soon realize some of your fellow seekers are crawling, some are stumbling, some walking and some are at a fast pace. I have been at a dead end and that is when, as I look back, that Jesus was the closes to me. At these times, I have grown and my life has changed course. There is no course completed. There is no book with immediate answers. We are to be encouraged. We are never alone. The Holy Ghost is with us continuously, giving comfort, encouragement and guidance.
Who has arrived? I want to know that person. I believe the longest distance in the world is between the come and the follow me.
I have dropped my nets and said, “I will follow, show me the new way of travel.”

Deathless

The deathless Book has survived three great dangers: the negligence of its friends; the false systems built upon it; and the warfare of those who have hated it. ~~ Isaac Taylor

What about Heaven?

“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his [the Son of Man’s] voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:28-29, NIV).
The revelation of a Judgment Seat for believers is a further evidence that the fullness of heaven is not entered upon and enjoyed by any until after the advent and the resurrection. Christians, who throughout these nineteen hundred years have passed on, have not yet been judged as to their faithfulness or unfaithfulness. That does not take place when we die, but will do so on the eve of the consummation of redemption, of that state which will be perfect, serviceable and eternal. ~~ W. Graham Scroggie, What about Heaven?

In Christ Jesus

“We need to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal places in our hearts that cause us to “panic, pine, or murmur” when presented with new challenges in our life and ministry. One of the keys to leaving behind the slave mentality is to come to and understanding of who we are in Christ and perhaps more importantly, who He is in us.” ~~ Author unknown

Zinzendorf and the Moravians

In 1727, Count Nicolas Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760) established a vibrant community of Moravian believers on his estate in Herrnhut, Germany. To this day many of us know about their wide-ranging missionary endeavors, which were supported by 24/7 prayer – a prayer meeting that went on for more than a hundred years. ~~ James W. Goll, The Coming Israel Awakening

Christ Great Commission

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations... and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20, NIV).
Not teaching but inspiring. Many ministers dilute this scripture by insinuating that knowledge equates doing. We work harder at equipping then at propagating the good news. The Holy Spirit reveals and instructs us as to what to do, then giving us the ability to follow through. Christ did not commission us to know more but to do more with His help and our obedience, knowing He is with us every step of the way. Being a disciple involves more than enjoying His grace and mercy. We are to affirm what God says to us by holding His mission above our own commitments to home, work and happiness.
A missionary friend of mine recently wrote these words, “If only everyone could know the joy of investing themselves in others and the eternal rewards that come with that. If the church would spend as much time, effort, and resources building lives instead of building churches and "kingdoms"... how quickly God's kingdom would multiply, for the whole earth to know Jesus.”

Obedience

Jesus said to His followers, “If you love me you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). “We are to be obedient in all God has commanded, even as Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).
We in the church talk about obedience but have discovered that obedience is more difficult than we think. Why? Because we think too much about how people think of us rather than becoming obedient. Become authentic about your sin and stop pretending and being concern what people might think of you. It is very hard to live up to the standard you pretend to be. As people really know who you are, you have no choice but being humble.

Supernatural

My dictionary says, “Supernatural is powers and events that cannot be explained through human or natural causes.” The supernatural does not seem logical. It is the acts and ways of God that are beyond nature. Living in the supernatural is living life in such a way that your life does not make sense if God did not exist. When we do this, then it will be easy to prove God’s existence. People will just have to look at our lives to see the love of Jesus, therefore witness the change, kindness and mercy flowing through us. Oh, what excitement! We are not racial but the result of our faithfulness is radically different because of our witnessing the unnatural, which becomes the natural to a very few.

If they humble themselves

Revival can start with you if you are one of God’s children and if you will humble yourself and repent to a place that moves God to intervene in this wicked ...society. Just observation and criticism of our evil day will only cause an individual to be more self-righteous. The cause and reason of God not moving in our day is people – the children of God! The sinful condition of the world today is not the cause of no revival; the cause is an unrepentant church, an unrepentant Christian. When we get right with God, He will make even our enemies to be at peace with us. He will do more than we could imagine. It is not our self-righteousness that brings revival but our humility before God that will bring miracles and missions.
It is not how good His church gets but how humble she becomes in His presence; how humble she remains in His absence! ~~ Jack M. Skinner editor of Miracles & Missions Digest

Stand in prayer

Prayer will be powerless if we trust in ourselves. However, if we trust in God, who has all power, we will see results. We simply have to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit. The best part is that the Holy Spirit is leaving crumbs a long the way that will lead us right to the place where the portal of heaven opens up. God is calling for intercessors not pleaders. Watch and pray. Will you respond to His call?

Anointing

is the act of smearing or rubbing over with oil. The term used to describe the spiritual presence of God. The anointing is the Holy Ghost oil that brings a particular empowerment. This tangible evidence is enhanced by entering into a deep relationship with Father God trough worship, consecration, obedience, and faithfulness. Such an aroma, Oh, such a sweet smelling sacrifice.

Jail time

Do not ruin my way of life by a God who has everything backward. Who gives you no options but asks you to live in a manor that can get you jail time, mocked or the electric chair. Didn’t you hear living radically different from the norm gets you crucified?