The Lord’s Timing

When I began trying to teach my son how to hit a baseball this year, onlookers would have thought either I was Nolan Ryan or my son was destined to break the all-time strikeout record. It was the greatest effort in futility I had witnessed in some time. What made such a frustrating moment for […]

Twenty One Skills of Great Preachers

The one thing most of us would rather do than preach, is hear another great preacher. I mean a “Great” preacher. I’ve learned plenty from hearing the best preachers, especially in a live setting. For most of my life, when sitting under a great preacher, I’ve taken dual sets of notes, including content on one […]

Everyone Needs a Getaway Place

I just finished reading the U.S. News & World Report article on “Escapes from the White House, a behind-the-scenes history of presidential hideaways.” The article is based on the book From Mount Vernon to Crawford: A History of the Presidents and Their Retreats. Many of our nations Presidents had their own estates as they were […]

Sanctified by Correction

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17). Second Timothy 3:16, 17 tells us that the Word of God is profitable for doctrine (what is right), for reproof (what is not right), for correction (how to get right) and for instruction in righteousness (how to stay right.) The word “profitable” means that […]

Christian Classics Ethereal Library

www.ccel.org – Christian Classics Ethereal Library. It’s a library of works from every major Christian grouping (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant just to name a few. www.ccel.org 2ProphetU2ProphetU is an online magazine/website, started by Warren Wiersbe and Michael Catt, to build up the church, seek revival, and encourage pastors. […]

Ambassador Agency

www.AmbassadorAgency.com – one of the leading companies representing speakers for churches, Christian schools and faith-based organizations. www.AmbassadorAgency.com 2ProphetU2ProphetU is an online magazine/website, started by Warren Wiersbe and Michael Catt, to build up the church, seek revival, and encourage pastors. […]

We Have Fellowship

By Vance Havner We have fellowship…(1 John 1:7).Precious indeed is the fellowship of those whose citizenship is in heaven. 1. We have fellowship with the Saviour: “God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:9).2. We have the fellowship of the Spirit (Phil. 2:1).3. There […]

Thanks for the Victory

By Vance Havner Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:37). 1. Observe the source of our victory – “Thanks be unto God.” The Blesser is greater than the blessing.2. Consider the nature of our victory – “which giveth us the victory.” It is the gift […]

"There’s more gossip passed around under the guise of prayer request than anything I know." - James T. "Jimmy" Draper, quoted by Baptist Press

"Prayer, as St. Theresa tells us, consists not in speaking a lot, but in loving a lot." - Charles De Foucauld, Silent Pilgrimage

"We pray best when we are no longer aware of praying." - Cassian, quoted in John Howard Griffin, The Hermitage Journals

"As the floor is swept everyday, so is the soul cleansed everyday by confession." - Hugh Connolly, The Irish Penitentials

Those people who pray know what most around them either don't know or choose to ignore: centering life in the insatiable demands of the ego is the sure path to doom.. . . They know that life confined to the self is a prison, a joy-killing, neurosis-producing, disease-fomenting prison. - Eugene Peterson, Earth and Altar: The Community of Prayer in a Self-Bound Society

I am reminded that one old saint was asked, "Which is the more important: reading God's Word or praying?" To which he replied, "Which is more important to a bird: the right wing or the left?" A.W. Tozer, Jesus, Our Man in Glory

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach: "Full experiences of God can never be planned or achieved. They are spontaneous moments of grace, almost accidental." Bo Lozoff: "Rabbi, if God-realization is just accidental, why do we work so hard doing all these spiritual practices?" Rabbi Carlebach: "To be as accident prone as possible." - Bo Lozoff, It's a Meaningful Life - It Just Takes Practice

We must distinguish prayer from prayers. Saying prayers is one activity among others. But prayer is an attitude of the heart that can transform every activity. We cannot say prayers at all times, but we ought to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17). That means we ought to keep our heart open for the meaning of life. Gratefulness does this, moment by moment. Gratefulness is, therefore, prayerfulness. – David Stendl-Rast, Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer

Prayer is not a convenient device for imposing our will upon God, or for bending his will to ours, but the prescribed way of subordinating our will to his. It is by prayer that we seek God's will, embrace it and align ourselves with it. Every true prayer is a variation on the theme, "Your will be done." Our Master taught us to say this in the pattern prayer he gave us, and added the supreme example of it in Gethsemane. – John Stott, The Letters of John

"Who one believes God to be is more accurately revealed …in the way one speaks to God when no one else is listening." – Nancy Mairs, Ordinary Time

"Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at his disposition, and listening to his voice in the depths of our hearts." – Mother Teresa

Prayer

"I believe that you measure the health or strength of a church by its sending capacity rather than its seating capacity. The church is in the sending business. One of the questions we must ask when evaluating a church's health is: 'How many people are being mobilized for the Great Commission?' This conviction, one I've held from Saddleback's beginning, led me to design the process for turning members into ministers and missionaries that is described in The Purpose Driven Church." - Rick Warren

Missions

A belief that God acts with purpose in this world must lead to attempts, however feeble, to discern how my own actions might be attuned to God's one action. – William Barry in Presence

Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck; your profession is what you're put here on earth to do - with such passion and such intensity it becomes a spiritual calling. - Vincent Van Gogh, quoted in Edward C. Sellner, Mentoring

Discerning and acting on God's will does not mean you'll never have difficult days or feel lousy sometimes. But choosing to live in alignment with God makes you more joyful, compassionate, and peaceful, even on bad days. – Debra K. Farrington, Hearing with the Heart

God guides us first through his Word, then through our heartfelt desires, then the wise counsel of others, and then our circumstances. At that point we must rely on our own sound judgment. . . . God gave each of us a brain, and he expects us to put it to good use. – Bruce K. Waltke, Finding the Will of God

A talent may be so great that it propels a person forever down one path, as is the case with some artists. But even for these extraordinary folk, call determines whether and how they use their gifts. – Elizabeth O’Connor, Cry Pain, Cry Hope

The Basic decision, after all, is to let God be God, to say "yes" to the work of the Lord, which goes before the church's ability to understand or even perceive it. – Luke Timothy Johnson, Scripture and Discernment

Circumstance and coincidence may cause us to be in the right place at the right time to do God's work in a specific way. – Suzanne Farnham, Listening Hearts

God is always calling us! But there are distinctive moments in this call of his, moments which leave a permanent mark on us – moments which we never forget. – Carlo Carretto, Letters from the Desert

The fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. – Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

Our only task is to seek willingness. This radical willingness will, if we are faithful to it, shatter every idea we have about ourselves; about our inner growth and transformation; about living a Christian life; about contemplation and our relationship to the world; about God. – Maggie Ross, The Fountain and the Furnace

In His will is our peace. – Dante, The Divine Comedy: Paradise

God’s Will

We are One in the Bond of Love

By Jim WatkinsTop 10 Signs Your Church May Be Prejudiced 10. To avoid a split, your church now has two services: the Hymns and Hymnal service and the Praise Choruses and Video Projector service. 9. Your church voted to spend the budget excess on new softball uniforms rather than a wheelchair ramp. 8. Pastoral candidates […]

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