"Are you proving that the Christian life is a joyful, happy thing? Do you look glad that you are a Christian? Does your life radiate joy and enthusiasm? Check yourself carefully on this before you teach it. Make the Christian life contagious." - Henrietta Mears in Dream Big: The Henrietta Mears Story
"The modern world has had far too little understanding of the art of keeping young. Its notion of progress has been to pile one thing on top of another, without caring if each thing was crushed in turn. People forgot that the human soul can enjoy a thing most when there is time to think about it and be thankful for it. And by crowding things together they lost the sense of surprise; and surprise is the secret of joy." - G.K. Chesterton
"The Bible talks plentifully about joy, but it nowhere talks about a 'happy Christian.' Happiness depends on what happens; joy does not. Remember, Jesus Christ had joy, and He prays 'that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves." - Oswald Chambers in Run Today's Race
"Joy is not the same as pleasure or happiness. A wicked and evil man may have pleasure, while any ordinary mortal is capable of being happy. Pleasure generally comes from things, and always through the senses; happiness comes from humans through fellowship. Joy comes from loving God and neighbor. Pleasure is quick and violent, like a flash of lightning. Joy is steady and abiding, like a fixed star. Pleasure depends on external circumstances, such as money, food, travel, etc. Joy is independent of them, for it comes from a good conscience and love of God." - Fulton J. Sheen in Fulton J. Sheen's Guide to Contentment
"I once shared a platform with the nearly blind theologian Joseph Sittler, a man who really saw, and heard. He was asked, 'If you had to reduce a call for reformation of the church to one sentence, what would it say?' His answer: 'Watch your language.' The rest - including action for justice - follows language, speech, encouragement, judgment, and the like." - Martin Marty in Context, April 15, 1998
Joy
"Honesty is not only the best policy, it is rare enough today to make you pleasantly conspicuous." - Charles Brower
Honesty
"There's a lot of spiritual smog in the churches. Nothing will blow that out except the same wind that blew at Pentecost." - Vance Havner, quoted in SBC Life, Nov. 1996, pg. 3.
The following quotes on the Holy spirit are taken from Christianity Today: May 24, 1999
"There is no need for us to wait, as the one hundred and twenty had to wait, for the Spirit to come. For the Holy Spirit did come on the day of Pentecost, and has never left his church. Our responsibility is to humble ourselves before his sovereign authority to determine not to quench him, but to allow him his freedom. For then our churches will again manifest those marks of the Spirit's presence, which many young people are specially looking for, namely biblical teaching, loving fellowship, living worship, and an ongoing, outgoing evangelism." - John Stott
"When we know we have most of Christ, when we love Him most, live for Him most, we know that the Holy Spirit is within us in power." - F. B. Meyer in A Castaway and Other Addresses
"Spell this out in capital letters: THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A PERSON. He is not enthusiasm. He is not courage. He is not energy. He is not the personification of all good qualities, like Jack Frost is the personification of cold weather. Actually, the Holy Spirit is not the personification of anything. He is a Person, the same as you are a person, but not material substance. He has individuality. He is one being and not another. He has will and intelligence. He has hearing. He has knowledge and sympathy and ability to love and see and think. He can hear, speak, desire, grieve and rejoice. He is a Person." - A. W. Tozer in The Counselor
"Waste of power is a tragedy. God does not waste the great power of his Spirit on those who want it simply for their own sake, to be more holy, or good, or gifted. His great task is to carry on the work for which Jesus sacrificed his throne and his life - the redemption of fallen humanity." - Alan Redpath in The Life of Victory
"When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, it wasn't dynamite, it was a dynamo! Dynamite makes a loud noise, kicks up a lot of dust, and is over. A dynamo is a continual source of power. It builds and builds and builds, and the power never stops flowing." - Ken Hutcherson in The Church: What We Are Meant to Be
"The Spirit will teach us to love the Word, to meditate on it and to keep it. He will reveal the love of Christ to us, that we may love him fervently and with a pure heart. Then we shall begin to see that a life in the love of Christ in the midst of our daily life and distractions is a glorious possibility and a blessed reality." - Andrew Murray in Every Day with Andrew Murray
"Every time we say, 'I believe in the Holy Spirit,' we mean that we believe that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it." - J. B. Phillips in Plain Christianity
"Immediately the Holy Spirit comes in as life and as light, He will chase through every avenue of our minds; His light will penetrate every recess of our hearts; He will chase His light through every affection of our souls, and make us know what sin is. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, man does not." - Oswald Chambers in Biblical Psychology
"Do not pray for more of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity and is not in pieces. Every child of God has all of Him, but does He have all of us?" - Julia Kellersberger in Presbyterian Journal (May 11, 1983)
"If a person is filled with the Holy Spirit, his witness will not be optional or mandatory - it will be inevitable." - Richard Halverson in Pentecostal Evangel (Aug. 12, 1979)
Holy Spirit
"Most men is this world live out their lives in quiet desperation." - Henry David Thoreau
"Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." - Mark Twain, Christianity Today, March 2, 1998
"Be simple in your needs and you will have peace in your heart…be humble in what you demand of life and you will have peace in your heart…be giving in what you take to life and you will have peace in your heart…stop the wars within yourself and you will have peace." - John Chittister, Wisdom Distilled from The Daily
"If God does not enter your kitchen, there is something wrong with your kitchen. If you can't take God into your recreation, there is something wrong with your play. We all believe in the God of the heroic. What we need most these days is the God of the humdrum, the commonplace, the everyday." - Peter Marshall, Sr.
"Our calling and purpose as followers of Christ is to love God completely, to love self correctly, and to love others compassionately." - Kenneth Boa
Life/Lifestyle
"The Christian who is ambitious to be a star disqualifies himself as a leader." - David Watson
"A leader is a person with a magnet in his heart and a compass in his head." - Vance Havner
"The great illusion of leadership is to think that man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there." - Henri Nouwen in The Wounded Healer
"As a leader, you provide for people only what they can't provide for themselves."
"Awkwardness is natural. If people aren't feeling awkward doing something new, they're not doing something new."
"Do not punish a learner. If you do, you'll immobilize him."
"In change, people feel alone, even if everyone is going through it."
"The biggest addiction we have to overcome is to the human ego. Why? Because ego stands for 'Edging God Out.'"
"Everyday, do something in relation to everything that is important to you."
"Change agents aren't loved, so you'd better get centered that you are loved (by God), that you're fabulous." - Willow Creek Leadership Summit (8/95)
"Leadership is character and competence - if you have to be lacking in one, let it be competence, because you can't be a leader without character." - General Norman Schwarzkopf
"And all the time such is the tragic comedy of our situation - we continue to clamor for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect virtue or enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the gelding be fruitful." - C. S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man
"When I bear the major load of responsibility, I am going to be in the middle of it." - John Maxwell
"Leadership is accepting people where they are, then taking them somewhere." - C. W. Perry
"Consensus is a poor substitute for leadership." - Charlotte Beers, CEO of Ogilvy & Mather worldwide ad agency
"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality." - Max Depree in Leadership Is an Art
"The nation had the lion's heart. I had the luck to give the roar." - Winston Churchill
"Two army rules: 'When placed in command - take charge. Do what's right, not what you think the high headquarters wants or what you think will make you look good. There is no such thing as a born leader…most great leaders are ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances." - Norman Schwarzkopf
"According to George Barna, only 6% of pastors say they have the gift of leadership. If other terms like 'shepherding, pasturing, and administration' are included the figure rises to 30%. Yet of these pastors only 2 out of 100 could articulate their church's vision. Barna does not assert that the other 98% can't articulate such a vision, but that up to this point they haven't." - Leadership, Summer 1995
"The church's successes of yesterday are killing us today. In times of great success, leaders feel little need to be reflective. Rather, the impetus is to go, go, go. But to go, go, go when the congregation is headed in the wrong direction will only get it there faster." - Norman Shawchuck and Roger Heuser in Leading the Congregation (quoted in Circuit Rider, May 1993)
Leadership
"We don't have a clue as to what people's limits are. All the tests, stopwatches, and finish lines in the world can't measure human potential. When someone is pursuing their dream, they'll go far beyond what seem to be their limitations. The potential that exists within us is limitless and largely untapped…When you think of limits, you create them." - Robert Kriegel & Louis Patler
Limitations
"So I say to you, seek God and discover Him and make Him a power in your life. Without Him all of our efforts turn to ashes and our sunrises into darkest nights. Without Him life is a meaningless drama with the decisive scenes missing. But with Him we are able to rise from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope. With Him we are able to rise from the midnight of desperation to the daybreak of joy. St. Augustine was right - we were made for God and we will be restless until we find rest in Him." - Martin Luther King, Jr., in The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr., compiled by Coretta Scott King
"Remember - Christianity proposes not to extinguish our natural desires. It promises to bring the desires under just control and direct them to their true object. In the case of both riches and of honor, it maintains the consistency of its character. But Christianity commands us not to set our hearts on earthly treasures. It reminds us that 'we have in heaven a better and more enduring substance' than this world can bestow (Heb. 10:34)." - William Wilberforce in Real Christianity
"Holy Spirit, think through me till your ideas are my ideas". - Amy Carmichael in The Doubleday Prayer Collection
"For one who has made thanksgiving the habit of his life, the morning prayer will be, 'Lord, what will you give me today to offer back to you?'" - Elisabeth Elliot in Love Has a Price Tag
"We and Christianity are the same in one thing only: We demand the entire person!" - Nazi Judge Roland Freisler quoted in For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest Against Hitler, by Victoria Barnett
"He who loves God with all his heart dreads neither death, torment, judgment, nor hell, for perfect love opens a sure passage to God." - Thomas a Kempis in The Imitation of Christ
"If we can live one day with Jesus, we can live life every day with Him, each one as it comes. Immanuel, a name for Christ, means 'God with us.' Human life was meant to be dramatic. We are meant to be God-inhabited. Our religion is not organized around keeping God at a distance. It allows us to go see him when we want. If I really want God to be with me, then my life will be extremely different from ordinary human life. The outcome will be far greater than the efforts." - Ingrid Trobisch in The Confident Woman
Lordship
"Most men is this world live out their lives in quiet desperation." - Henry David Thoreau
"Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." - Mark Twain, Christianity Today, March 2, 1998
"Be simple in your needs and you will have peace in your heart…be humble in what you demand of life and you will have peace in your heart…be giving in what you take to life and you will have peace in your heart…stop the wars within yourself and you will have peace." - John Chittister, Wisdom Distilled from The Daily
"If God does not enter your kitchen, there is something wrong with your kitchen. If you can't take God into your recreation, there is something wrong with your play. We all believe in the God of the heroic. What we need most these days is the God of the humdrum, the commonplace, the everyday." - Peter Marshall, Sr.
"Our calling and purpose as followers of Christ is to love God completely, to love self correctly, and to love others compassionately." - Kenneth Boa
Life/Lifestyle
"We don't have a clue as to what people's limits are. All the tests, stopwatches, and finish lines in the world can't measure human potential. When someone is pursuing their dream, they'll go far beyond what seem to be their limitations. The potential that exists within us is limitless and largely untapped…When you think of limits, you create them." - Robert Kriegel & Louis Patler
Limitations
"So I say to you, seek God and discover Him and make Him a power in your life. Without Him all of our efforts turn to ashes and our sunrises into darkest nights. Without Him life is a meaningless drama with the decisive scenes missing. But with Him we are able to rise from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope. With Him we are able to rise from the midnight of desperation to the daybreak of joy. St. Augustine was right - we were made for God and we will be restless until we find rest in Him." - Martin Luther King, Jr., in The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr., compiled by Coretta Scott King
"Remember - Christianity proposes not to extinguish our natural desires. It promises to bring the desires under just control and direct them to their true object. In the case of both riches and of honor, it maintains the consistency of its character. But Christianity commands us not to set our hearts on earthly treasures. It reminds us that 'we have in heaven a better and more enduring substance' than this world can bestow (Heb. 10:34)." - William Wilberforce in Real Christianity
"Holy Spirit, think through me till your ideas are my ideas". - Amy Carmichael in The Doubleday Prayer Collection
"For one who has made thanksgiving the habit of his life, the morning prayer will be, 'Lord, what will you give me today to offer back to you?'" - Elisabeth Elliot in Love Has a Price Tag
"We and Christianity are the same in one thing only: We demand the entire person!" - Nazi Judge Roland Freisler quoted in For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest Against Hitler, by Victoria Barnett
"He who loves God with all his heart dreads neither death, torment, judgment, nor hell, for perfect love opens a sure passage to God." - Thomas a Kempis in The Imitation of Christ
"If we can live one day with Jesus, we can live life every day with Him, each one as it comes. Immanuel, a name for Christ, means 'God with us.' Human life was meant to be dramatic. We are meant to be God-inhabited. Our religion is not organized around keeping God at a distance. It allows us to go see him when we want. If I really want God to be with me, then my life will be extremely different from ordinary human life. The outcome will be far greater than the efforts." - Ingrid Trobisch in The Confident Woman
Lordship
"I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when feeling it not. I believe in God even when He is silent." - Inscription on a cellar wall in Germany where Jews hid from Nazis
"The only thing that can defeat the faith God has given you…is you. You must use your faith, exercise your faith, engage your faith. Until it is pressed into service, faith is only potential. To use the old exercise cliché, you must 'use it or lose it!'" - Andrew Merritt in My Faith Is Taking Me Someplace
"Remember it is the very time for faith to work when sight ceases. The greater the difficulties, the easier for faith; as long as there remain certain natural prospects, faith does not get on even as easily as where natural prospects fail." - George Mueller, quoted in Streams in the Desert
"At its best, our age is an age of searchers and discoverers. At its worst, it is an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it. The fiction that celebrates this last state will be the least likely to transcend its limitations, since, when the religious need is banished successfully, it usually atrophies, even in the novelist. The sense of mystery vanishes. A kind of reverse evolution takes place. The whole range of feeling is dulled." -Flannery O'Connor in "Mystery and Manners", Christianity Today: February 9, 1998
The Just Shall Live By Faith
Charles Wesley in The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, Vol. II"O that I might the power receive
The simple life of faith to live.
A stranger by the world unknown,
To live, shut up with Christ alone!
Jesus, my real Life Thou art,
Inspire
Thyself into my heart,
And fill'd with purity drive
I live, thro' endless ages thine.""I feel like God's leading me out, so I'm kind of sleeping with my shoes on. When God parts the sea, you don't want to say, 'Oh rats, where are my sandals?'"
"The amazing thing about the whole joy of Christianity is it's something you can't find, it's something that has to find you. Once we submit ourselves to God, the things of God chase us down like dogs, and you can't escape them. I think we can stifle the Spirit. We can thwart the work of God in our own lives. We can choose to nourish that which should be crucified and ignore that which should be nourished, but God ain't done with any of us."
"Faith is walking with God. The biggest problem with life is that it's just daily. You can never get so healthy that you don't have to continue to eat right…Spiritually, we're in much the same place…it's not what you did, and not what you say you're going to do, it's what you do today.'"
"Our faith becomes real when we focus on what never changes instead of our ever-changing opinions." - Rich Mullins, CCM November, 1997
"We have now moved from the burden of raising money to the adventure of trusting God." - Author unknown
"If our faith is something that really does not make a very big difference, if it is actually not crucial that we or others believe, no wonder it seems boring to our young. Anything we don't care much about can't be very interesting. The things we do care about, however, we inevitably talk about…If faith is real, it seeks expression. It will communicate and profess. It will have the energy of passion." - John F. Kavanaugh in The Word Encountered
"Faith in God will not get for you everything you may want, but it will get for you what God wants you to have. The unbeliever does not need what he wants: the Christian should want only what he needs." - Vance Havner in By the Still Waters
"At various times, Jesus publicly denounced sinners as snakes, dogs, foxes, hypocrites, fouled tombs, and dirty dishes. So that His hearers would not miss the point. He sometimes referred to the objects of His most intense ridicule both by name and by position, and often face to face. Christ did not affirm sinners; He affirmed the repentant. He well understood that sometimes it is wrong to be nice." - Theologian Michael Bauman, quoted in Tabletalk, June 1996, page 58
"Faith is the vitamin that makes all we take from the Bible digestible and makes us able to receive it and assimilate it. If we do not have faith, we cannot get anything." - A.W. Tozer in Rut, Rot or Revival
"It is your living faith in the adequacy of the One who is in you, which releases His divine action through you." - W. Ian Thomas in The Saving Life of Christ
"Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man's power ends." - George Mueller
Faith
"According to a survey conducted by Robert Half International, Inc., working parents are willing to cut their pay and hours by as much as 21 percent to spend more time with their families; 76 percent would also forfeit career advancement for more family or personal time. The simplicity trend has almost become its own religion." - Leadership Winter 1997
"With the appearance of the two-bathroom home, Americans forgot how to cooperate. With the appearance of the two-car family, we forgot how to associate, and with the coming of the two-television home, we forgot how to communicate." - Dr. John Baucom, quoted in New Man, Jul/Aug 1997, page 15
"Despite the pessimistic headlines announcing that the strong family in America is an endangered species, I refuse to give up hope. Who says 'endangered' means 'doomed'? If we're ingenious enough to preserve the bison, whooping crane, and humpbacked whale, I'm convinced we can preserve the family." - Charles Swindoll in The Strong Family, Zondervan, 1994
"The family is not one of several alternative lifestyles; it is not an arena in which rights are negotiated; it is not an old-fashioned barrier to a promiscuous sex life; it is not a set of cost-benefit calculations. It is a commitment for which there is no feasible substitute. No child ought to be brought into the world where that commitment from both parents is lacking." - James Q. Wilson, quoted in Readers Digest, March 1996, pg. 32
"When we envision the church as an idealized family, we are not capable of welcoming the stranger. When family is the only metaphor we use, people with whom we cannot achieve intimacy, or with whom we do not want to be intimate, are squeezed out. Since intimacy often depends on social and economic similarities, church then becomes a place of retreat rather than true hospitality. Such a church does everything in its power to eliminate the strange and cultivate the familiar. Such a church can neither welcome the stranger nor allow the stranger in each of us to emerge." - Molly Marshall, quoted in The Other Side, Nov/Dec 1996, page 57
"A survey reported in the Wall Street Journal found that out of 100 CEOs 85 say they would like more family time, but only seven said they actually expect to make it happen. - Vital Ministry, Sep/Oct 1997, page 49
"Fathering is not a pure science. All fathers fail, but the mark of a true father is what he does after he fails. - Ken Canfield, quoted in Ministries Today, May/Jun 1996, page 106
"Kevin's father used to say, 'If the son's not a better man than his father, they're both failures.' - Kevin A. Miller, editor of Leadership
Family