Guidance

...The will of God will neer take you where the Grace of God will not protect you. ~~ Author Unknown

Thine will

Your son felt a sadness in his soul unto death, and a reluctance, even fear, as that hour approached. But he had an antidote too: "Yet not my will, but thine be done." And captionhough you have not made us, your adopted sons, immune from infectious temptations, neither have you delivered us over to them, or withheld your mercies from us. ~~ John (Jack) Donne (1572-1631)

The harvest

The harvest is plentiful. God is looking for those who will labor to bring in that harvest. His way has always been through the demonstration of His love and power that is available through the gifts of the Holy Spirit – human initiative and divine sovereignty. ~~ Fran Lance, “You Can Minister in the Spiritual Gifts”

Prayer

The prayer of faith is the only power in the universe to which the great Jehovah yields. Prayer is the sovereign remedy. ~~ Robert Hall

Unspeakable joy

If we renounce ourselves, we’ll know unspeakable joy. Always turn to Jesus Christ, asking him for his grace that makes everything easy. Neither finesse nor learning is required to approach God, only a heart resolved to devote itself exclusively to him, loving him only. ~~ Nicolas Herman (1614-1691)

God's heart revealed

“I continually discipline and punish everyone I love; so I must punish you, unless you turn from your indifference (repent) and become enthusiastic about the things of God” (Revelation 3:19 TLB).
The New Testament by J. B Phillips reads as following, “Therefore shake off you complacency and repent.” This moves us to the real heart of the matter – repentance. When the Lord told these churches to repent, He was revealing His love for wayward saints. His goal was not to condemn but to restore them to intimate fellowship with Him.
And don’t miss the fact that each letter ends with a specific promise for the “overcomers.” Clearly God desires to reward these who live lives that are pleasing to Him.
What’s He saying to you today? ~~ Joe Stowell, Chancellor of Cornerstone University

Conversation with God

Andrew Murray wrote, “It is under a deep impression that the place and power of prayer in the Christian life is too little understood. I feel sure that as long as we look on prayer chiefly as the means of maintaining our own Christian life, we shall not know fully what it is meant to be. But when we learn to regard it as the highest part of the work entrusted to us, the root and strength of all other work, we shall see that there is nothing that we need to study and practice as the art of praying aright.”

Doctrine of hell

Our real problem in the church is that we start with the doctrine of Hell rather than with the doctrine if God’s character. ~~ Brian Mc Laren

Foolish

I want to spend my time with believers who are actually foolish enough to believe things and live them.

Ear that hears

We will never know the mind of God until we learn to know the voice of God. We will never have the ear that hears God until we surrender our will.

Faith

Faith must be tested, because it can only become your intimate possession through conflict. What is challenging your faith right now? The test will either prove your faith right, or it will kill it. Jesus said, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” (Matthew 11:6). The ultimate thing is confidence in Jesus. “We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end...” Hebrews 3:14). Believe steadfastly on Him and everything that challenges you will strengthen your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith up to the point of our physical death, which is the last great test. Faith is absolute trust in God – trust that could never imagine that He would forsake us (see Hebrews 13:5-6). ~~ Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Do not be deceived

“He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy” (Proverbs 28:13, NIV).
You cannot know His fullness if you are harboring conscious un-confessed sin. The deception is that it is okay to tolerate sin for it not that dreadful. However, the Holy Spirit nudges us to renounce secret and shameful ways so to bring us to a spacious place of joy, freedom, authenticity and transparency.

Outpouring

I found out that almost every revival in the history of the church has started in a small and obscure place.
Until we become desperate after God, nothing much will happen. Until we become so desperate that we are willing like those poor Welsh coal miners, to assemble in an obscure place and repent and pray until there is an outpouring, nothing much will happen.
It is significant that the history of revival shows that it is very seldom that rich communities experience dramatic interventions and outpourings of the Holy Spirit. The reason is that if we want to see God move we must need and desire it very, very badly. ~~ Johannes Facius, We need an Intervention by God

Total devotion

The motto for every missionary, whether preacher, printer, or schoolmaster, ought to be 'Devoted for Life. ~~ Adoniram Judson (1788-1850)

Bright

The future is as bright as the promises of God. ~~ Adoniram Judson (1788-1850)

Rational

While we can't reason our way to God, I've long believed that Christianity is the most rational explanation of reality. ~~ Chuck Colson

Admonishment

For many years, I have read the “Miracles and Missions Digest.” The editor of this magazine most likely would not accept me as one of the brethren but I like what I read.
“Sister Skinner and I desire your prayers for the work that was place in our hands. We both consider it an honor to labor for Him and thank God for putting us in the ministry. There is certainly true joy and peace when one is involved in His harvest of souls no matter what position we are filling. Our enemy would like to destroy each of us but our God is faithful to deliver us from all evil if we but follow His directive. We thank our God for His Word that never changes and which has been magnified above His name. In Psalms 138: 2, it reads, “I will worship toward the holy temple, and praise they name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.”
...There remains much work for this ministry to accomplish as we continue forward being faithful and fervent to proclaim a Holy God by the power of the Holy Ghost preaching His Holy Word by the protection of a Holy life. I do not intend to change along with the world not the apostate church but intend to stand on my knees while pleading for mercy and not judgment for those who have turned back and have forsaken the only way. I encourage each of you to make this determination and become involved in this work of evangelizing the world.” ~~ Brother Jack M. Skinner

I am touched

Enthralled with Jesus the Christ is caring for those who are at risk, helpless and unreceptive.

Reason

The supreme function of reason is to show man that some things are beyond reason. ~~ Blaise Pascal, Pensees

God Seeker

When you are a “God Seeker”, you no longer need human applause. You don’t need an assignment, a plan, or to be involved in some great work. You don’t need a degree or ordination. You don’t need a congregation or a church building. The only ministry that satisfies your soul is your prayer and worship to the Lord. You’d rather be alone with Jesus the Christ, feeding Him with your praises and worship, than to be admired as a great minister. You know all ministry to others flows out of ministry to him. Therefore, you’ve given yourself completely to a single thing: “My one calling on this earth is to minister unto the Lord.” ~~ Author Unknown

By Grace only

Everything God does for me is provided solely on the bases of grace;
a) Salvation (Eph. 2:5)
b) Healing (1 Cor. 12:9, 30 – gift literally portion of grace)
c) Faith (Eph. 2:8)
d) All Spiritual Blessings (Eph. 1:2,3)
How does love differ from grace? Love is why God helps us; grace is how He does it. Love is the only motive in His heart; grace is the only method in His hand. Love is the reason. Mercy is love experienced; grace is the means.

Isn't true

As a dedicated Christian, if it doesn’t make sense it probably isn’t true.

Temporary

Although I am a clunk of clay and temporary. I am most wanted by God who is hopelessly in love with me, drunk with love for me.

The person of Christ

A. W. Tozer walked to the beat of a different drummer. His focus was on the person of Christ and he did everything within his power to sharpen that focus. He spends much of his time worshipping. Nothing else so occupied his mind and life. Worship was not something tacked on to a busy schedule. Everything revolved around it. He was completely committed to worship and He pursued it with passion. He eagerly shared the lessons learned in worship with anyone who would listen. His preaching and writing were simply declarations of private sessions with God. Emerging from his prayer closet, dripping with the fragrance of God’s presence, he was eager to report all he had witnessed.
Tozer said, “In my private sessions with my Father, I ask the Holy Spirit to created an atmosphere saturated with the felt presence of the reality of God and to graciously assist me in my thoughts while I am worshiping. His presence changes the atmosphere. He is eager and able to bring the experiential presence of the reality of God directly into the midst of His gathered people. When that happens the glories of heaven intersect the mundane realities of earth and the greatest experience of mortal existence take place.”

The Martyedom of Polycrap

"But the proconsul urged him and said, 'Swear, and I will release thee; curse the Christ.' And Polycarp said, 'Eighty and six years have I served him, and he hath done me no wrong; how then can I blaspheme my king who saved me?'"

A Miracle in the hand of God

Therese Sapone wrote in her autobiography titled, “A Miracle in the Hand of God” that as a German girl born in 1939 how people shaped her life – surviving World War II and being stripped from her well-to-do home in Holland, living a working-class life in Germany. It is a story of survival, courage, dignity and forever learning and fitting into new countries, cultures, languages, customs, religions and even foods.
She writes in the book that it was a French Canadian woman in New Hampshire who helped her with the birth of her first child. It was a Jewish family who saw that she had enough to eat; a man from Puerto Rico and his wife who provided her a place to stay; a Lebanese woman who gave her employment in Texas; a black woman who told her about Jesus; a Polish woman who presented her with her first Bible; and many Italian women that took her into their hearts and homes.
God has surrounded this Catholic woman with caring and loving people. But mainly, she hopes her readers will learn how the Lord saved her and will be touched by this book through laughter and tears.Therese Sapone wrote in her autobiography titled, “A Miracle in the Hand of God” that as a German girl born in 1939 how people shaped her life – surviving World War II and being stripped from her well-to-do home in Holland, living a working-class life in Germany. It is a story of survival, courage, dignity and forever learning and fitting into new countries, cultures, languages, customs, religions and even foods.
She writes in the book that it was a French Canadian woman in New Hampshire who helped her with the birth of her first child. It was a Jewish family who saw that she had enough to eat; a man from Puerto Rico and his wife who provided her a place to stay; a Lebanese woman who gave her employment in Texas; a black woman who told her about Jesus; a Polish woman who presented her with her first Bible; and many Italian women that took her into their hearts and homes.
God has surrounded this Catholic woman with caring and loving people. But mainly, she hopes her readers will learn how the Lord saved her and will be touched by this book through laughter and tears.

Pain

Pain is God’s megaphone to a deaf world. ~~ C. S. Lewis

Disparity

My Father knows the disparity of my heart. Yet, He hears my heart, that I am so desperate for Him.

Father's Heart

A Father’s Heart (AVI); “But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of they hand” (Isaiah 64:8, KJV). James Moffatt translation says; “Ah now, thou art our Father, O Eternal, Thine own hands have made us all; we are but clay, thou art the potter.”