November Quotes

The Bible, as a revelation from God, was not designed to give us all the information we might desire, nor to solve all the questions about which the human soul is perplexed, but to impart enough to be a safe guide to the haven of eternal rest. 

-Albert Barnes

Only he who can say, “The Lord is the strength of my life” can go on to say, “Of whom shall I be afraid?” 

-Alexander Maclaren

If Pastor John Piper has coined the phrase, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him,” then I would like to (by way of complement) coin the phrase, “God is most satisfied in himself when Christ is most glorified in us.” 

-Mark Jones

If you kill Him, He dies to redeem. If you bury Him, He rises again to bring resurrection.

-Spurgeon

God loves you. His eyes are upon you every moment (2 Chronicles 16:9). You are never out of His thoughts (Isaiah 49:15). He loves you“with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). And nothing will ever “be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). You did nothing to deserve His love. You don’t do anything to maintain it. You didn’t earn it, so you can never lose it. God has chosen to set His love on you, not because of who you are but because of who He is. He is your Father, and you are His child. 

-James MacDonald

The battle after the battle is real. 

-Nancy Leigh DeMoss

There is a wonderful wideness in God’s mercy. Meditate on the rich truth that God abundantly pardons. Take it personally.

-Joseph M. Stowell

It is enough that the man who refuses to assert himself, seeking no recognition by men, leaving the care of his life to the Father, and occupying himself with the will of the Father, shall find himself, by and by, at home in his Father’s house, with all his Father’s property his.

-George MacDonald, The Hope of the Gospel

The only hope for the sin-sick soul is the mortal wounds of the substitute Savior. 

-H.B. Charles, Jr.

Some unbelievers don't walk in Christianity because they don't accept their sinnerhood. Some Christians don't walk in victory because they don't accept their sainthood.

-Unknown

October Quotes

The gospel is like a caged lion; it does not need to be defended, it just needs to be let out of the cage. 

-Spurgeon

The Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.

-C.S. Lewis

Our Lord commands that all His followers be evangelistic fishermen. The command “follow Me” in the Greek literally means “come here.” The original text also has the term “after,” which indicates the place we must come to: “Your place is following after Me!” This is His chosen place and posture for you.

-John MacArthur

If God entirely inspired Scripture, then Scripture is vested with His authority. No other power could either bestow or take away that quality. 

-René Pache

No matter what happens to you, no matter the depth of tragedy or pain you face, no matter how death stalks you and your loved ones, the Resurrection promises you a future of immeasurable good. 

-Josh McDowell

These many years of waiting will only be a sentence in the story. This long day will come to an end, and I believe it will end in glory, when we will shine like suns and stride the green hills with those we love and the One who loves.

-Andrew Peterson

Truth only seems old fashioned nowadays because we've grown so accustomed to deceit and manipulation. But Truth is eternal, so it can never be old or new. It never 'was' or 'will be.' It just 'is.' It always 'is.' Truth never grows old, and if you believe in it and try to live by it, you will always be, in some ways--the only ways that matter--the youngest, freshest, most energetic rebel on the block."

-Matt Walsh

God is completely sovereign. God is infinite in wisdom. God is perfect in love. God in His love always wills what is best for us. In His wisdom He always knows what is best, and in His sovereignty He has the power to bring it about. 

-Jerry Bridges

My job isn’t to curse the darkness; it’s to light a candle. 

-Nancy Leigh Demoss

You don't fight for victory. You fight from it. Start living in that power. 

-Greg Laurie

Happy Reformation Day! 

Remember that you are saved 

by grace alone (sola gratia),

 through faith alone (sola fide), 

in Christ alone (solus Christus), 

according to Scripture alone (sola Scriptura), 

for the glory of God alone (soli Deo Gloria).

September Quotes

God's plan will continue on God's schedule. 

-A. W. Tozer

In your struggle against your sin, the victory will be won or lost in the battlefield of your mind. 

-Mary Kassian

We are not at liberty to take one statement of Holy Scripture out of its context with the whole. When we do we exchange the Word of God for our ignorant babble, we must beware.

-Calvin in "The Betrayal" by Douglas Bond

False religions will always attempt to distort Scripture because they must eliminate God's truth before they can justify their own lies. 

-John MacArthur

Death is but a passage out of a prison and into a palace.

-John Bunyan

The pulpit is mightier than any word, so long as the pulpit is where the Word of God is preached. 

-Al Mohler

Let us today go down to Bethlehem, and in company with wondering shepherds and adoring Magi, let us see Him who was born King of the Jews, for we by faith can claim an interest in Him, and can sing, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." Jesus is Jehovah incarnate, our Lord and our God, and yet our brother and friend; let us adore and admire.

-Charles Spurgeon

Keep your heart with all diligence and God will look after the universe.

-A. W. Tozer

I have one desire now - to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy into it.

-Ed McCully

It is our fight. It will not end here. With every victory this evil will grow. If your father has his way, we will do nothing. We will hide within our walls, live our lives away from the light and let darkness descend. Are we are not part of this world? Tell me, Mellon, when did we let evil become stronger than us? 

-Tauriel, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (film)

September Quotes

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable. 

-CS Lewis

Christ clothes us with the cloak of His righteousness, covering our nakedness and shame, and says to us, “Neither do I condemn you.

-R.C. Sproul

What makes a warrior is not his ability to escape fear, but to look death in the face absolutely terrified and still move forward. 

-Unknown

We work for a glorious future which we are not destined to see. We are only morning-stars shining in the dark, but the glorious morn will break.

-David Livingstone

If we are not in Christ, we are born losers. If we are in Christ, we are reborn victors.

-R.J. Rushdoony

God wants to bring us to the end of ourselves so that we would see our need for a relationship with him as well as with others. Every painful thing we experience in relationships is meant to remind us of our need for him. And every good thing we experience is meant to be a metaphor of what we can only find in him.

-Timothy Lane and Paul David Tripp

No half-heartedness and no worldly fear must turn us aside from following the light unflinchingly.

-J.R.R. Tolkien

There are endless treasures of grace waiting for those who will make even the most feeble attempts to pray. The weakest prayers yield grace.

-Paul Washer

Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he shall become as he can and should be.

-Johann von Goethe

By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Don’t ignore the Spirit’s attempts to engage you, my friend. The conviction, the stirring, is the call of your Father, drawing you back to Himself, inviting you to put an end to your running, to start what needs to happen for things to get turned back around. 

-Priscilla Shirer

The truth is that the more intimately you know someone, the more clearly you’ll see their flaws. That’s just the way it is. This is why marriages fail, why children are abandoned, why friendships don’t last. You might think you love someone until you see the way they act when they’re out of money or under pressure or hungry, for goodness’ sake. Love is something different. Love is choosing to serve someone and be with someone in spite of their filthy heart. Love is patient and kind, love is deliberate. Love is hard. Love is pain and sacrifice, it’s seeing the darkness in another person and defying the impulse to jump ship. 

-Unknown

The high noon of God’s glory will be the second coming of Christ. And that is where the sun will stay forever. 

-John Piper

Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame.

-movie quote, unknown

If you know why you believe what you believe, then leadership is inevitable. 

 -Dr. Jeff Meyers

God of Comfort

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 

who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 

For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 

If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 

Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

2 Corinthians 4:7-10

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 

persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 

always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

2 Corinthians 5:6-10

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 

for we walk by faith, not

by sight. 

Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

August Quotes

Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.

-Benjamin Franklin 

Arrogance doesn’t come from having convictions; it comes from having the wrong convictions about how to treat people who don’t share them with you. Humility doesn’t come from not having convictions; it comes from having the right convictions about the importance of gentleness and respect.

-Unknown

There must be those among whom we can sit down and weep and still be counted as warriors.

-A. Rich

We live in a culture that exalts human autonomy above God's sovereignty and sets the individual’s freedom of expression above God's law.

-Paul Washer

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

-Winston Churchill

Ministry is… 

Giving when you feel like keeping; 

Praying for others when you need to be prayed for; 

Feeding other souls when your own soul is hungry; 

Living truth before people even when you can’t see results; 

Hurting with other people even when your own hurt can’t be spoken; 

Keeping your word even when it’s not convenient; Being faithful when your flesh wants to run away.

-Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth

Trust is earned, respect is given, loyalty is demonstrated. Betrayal of any one of those is to lose all three.

-Unknown

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.

-Elizabeth Stone

Rest in this—it is His business to lead, command, impel, send, call or whatever you want to call it. It is your business to obey, follow, move, respond, or what have you.

-Jim Elliot

It is sweet to know that our tears are understood, even when words fail. Let us learn to think of tears as liquid prayers, and of weeping as a constant dropping of importunate intercession which will surely wear its way right into the very heart of God's mercy, despite the stony difficulties which obstruct the way. My God, I will "weep" when I cannot plead, for You hear the voice of my weeping! 

-Charles Spurgeon

In the pursuit of joy through suffering, we magnify the all-satisfying worth of the Source of our joy. God himself shines as the brightness at the end of our tunnel of pain. 

-John Piper

Loving one’s enemies leads disciples to the way of the cross and into communion with the crucified one. 

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We should learn to look at the blemishes and faults of others--only through the eyes of love, with sympathy, patience, and compassion. We do not know the secret history of the lives of others around us. We do not know what piercing sorrows have produced the scars we see in people's lives. We do not know the pains and trials which make life hard, to many with whom we are tempted to be impatient. If we knew all the secret burdens and the heart-wounds which many keep hidden beneath their smiling faces--we would be patient and gentle with all people.

 -J. R. Miller

Faith is neither a trust nor a belief in the unknown, but the firm knowledge that God is God, that He is true to His word, and, that what He has promised He will bring to pass.

R.J. Rushdoony

I have learned that breezes are always the precursors to wind. And winds usually push in storms. And we all know Who can calm storms. 

-D. Harrison

A Bigger Picture, Part Three

The assignment I'm sharing here today is one question from a larger assignment. I was required to read Mark 5:21-43 and then note the differences and similarities between the stories of Jarius and the woman who had been sick for 12 years. See if you can find the comparisons and contrasts before reading my answers. It's a bit challenging at first, but the more you think about it, the easier it is. Enjoy! :)

Mark 5:21-43 (NASB)

When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and so He stayed by the seashore. One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and on seeing Him, fell at His feet and implored Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live.” And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him.

A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse— after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Himand touched His cloak. For she thought, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of heraffliction. Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the powerproceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”

While He was still speaking, they came from the house of thesynagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?” But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.” And He allowed no one to accompany Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James. They came to the house of the synagogue official; and He saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing. And entering in, He said to them, “Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep.” They began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and entered the room where the child was. Taking the child by the hand, He said to her, “Talitha kum!”(which translated means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded. And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that something should be given her to eat.

	Jairus	Bleeding Woman
1	a man	a woman
2	goes to Jesus for help publicly	goes to Jesus for help privately
3	Likely well-to-do financially	Spent all she had on medical doctors
4	Needed healing for daughter	Needed healing for herself
5	Daughter gets worse and dies	Woman  suffers more and gets worse
6	Wanted Jesus to place hands on daughter	Wanted to touch Jesus herself
7	Led the crowd	Followed in/with the crowd
8	Daugher  had shorter sickness	Sick for 12 years
9	Weaker faith	Strong faith
10	Wailing and mourning for girl	Silent suffering
11	Girl lying down	Walking/standing to get to Jesus
12	Called “little girl” by Jeuss	Called “daughter” by Jesus
13	Family all around her	No one else with her (that we know of)
14	Outward sickness/death	Inward bleeding
15	Pleaded verbally for daughter’s healing	Silently touched Jesus’ clothing
16	Daughter 12 years old	Sick for 12 years
17	Only 3 disciples witnessed	Witnessed by crowd
18	Daughter healed after death	Healed before death
19	Jesus laughed  at by mourners	Jesus scoffed at by disciples
20	Synagogue ruler	Poor woman
21	Daugher’s physical healing	Woman’s faith healed her
22	Falls at Jesus’ feet while pleading	Falls at Jesus’ feet while trembling
23	No internal dialogue recorded	Internal dialogue recorded
24	Saw Jesus in the crowd	Heard about Jesus
25	Daughter dies first	Instantaneous healing
26	Jesus questions the crowd as to who touchedHim	Jesus questions mourners as to why they were wailing
27	Jesus went up to dead girl	Went up to Jesus herself
28	Jesus healed girl by speaking	Jesus healed her by power leaving His body
29	Ordered not to tell anyone	Healing observed by crowd
30	No apparent fear of Jesus’ presence	Trembled with fear

June Quotes

You feel now that you have no reason to hope. But the night is darkest before sunrise. Christians believe that the dawn will come. Faith can be put in two words: “though” and “yet”. In the Book of Job we read, “Though the Lord slay me, yet I will trust Him.” Many times these words come together in the Bible. They tell us to have faith in the darkest moments.

-Richard Wurmbrand

Have you ever heard the wonderful silence just before the dawn? Or the quiet and calm just as a storm ends? Or perhaps you know the silence when you haven't the answer to a question you've been asked, or the hush of a country road at night, or the expectant pause of a room full of people when someone is just about to speak, or, most beautiful of all, the moment after the door closes and you're alone in the whole house? Each one is different, you know, and all very beautiful if you listen carefully.

-Norton Juster

Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right. 

-Charles Spurgeon

You ever heard that saying 'He's so heavenly minded, he's no earthly good'? Well, most people are so earthly minded, they're no heavenly good.

-Paul Washer

Oh restless heart, that beat against your prison bars of circumstances, yearning for a wider sphere of usefulness, leave God to order all your days. Patience and trust, in the dullness of the routine of life, will be the best preparation for a courageous bearing of the tug and strain of the larger opportunity which God may some time send you.

-Oswald Chambers

What is sin? 

It is the glory of God not honored. 

The holiness of God not reverenced. 

The greatness of God not admired. 

The power of God not praised. 

The truth of God not sought. 

The wisdom of God not esteemed. 

The beauty of God not treasured. 

The goodness of God not savored. 

The faithfulness of God not trusted. 

The commandments of God not obeyed. 

The justice of God not respected. 

The wrath of God not feared. 

The grace of God not cherished. 

The presence of God not prized. 

The person of God not loved. 

That is sin. 

-John Piper

Peace is not absence of conflict; it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means. 

-Ronald Reagan

We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend. 

-Robert Louis Stevenson

You don’t need to hoard today what you can expect God to supply in his mercy on the morrow. 

-Dr. Bob Jones Jr.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never tasted victory or defeat.

-Teddy Roosevelt

For those of us who are in trouble and are trying to keep our eyes on Christ our refuge, a word of encouragement:

The day is coming when we will be in the presence of the Lord. Fully, finally, forever delivered from all trouble. But until then, we have a God who is our refuge, our strength, and a very present help in trouble, amen.

-Nancy Leigh DeMoss

When people are deeply affected by the Word, they tell it to other people. God has willed that we should seek and find God’s living Word in the testimony of other Christians, in the mouths of human beings. Therefore, Christians need other Christians who speak God’s Word to them. They need them again and again when they become uncertain and disheartened. 

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life that I may burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life but a full one like You, Lord Jesus. 

-Jim Elliot

The same God which had brought us thus far, would not forsake us even now. 

-John Geddie

Legalism says “what a shame”.

Grace says “that could be me”.

Humility says “that IS me”.

-Unknown

May Quotes

God has a purpose for your life. You have something to do here. 

-Pendragon (movie)

And wars are exhausting — especially long ones. That’s why you are often tired. Most soldiers who experience the fierceness of combat want to get out of it. That’s why you feel urges to escape or surrender. That’s why there are times you’re tempted to give up.

"But don’t give up. No, rather “take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded” (2 Chronicles 15:7).

-Unknown

Live as though Christ died yesterday, rose from the grave today, and is coming back tomorrow.

-Unknown

When a man comes to the point that he will no longer receive anything except from the hands of him who has the right to withhold, and in who giving alone lies the value of possession, then is he approaching the inheritance of the saints in light, those whose strength is made perfect in weakness. But some, for the present, can in no way comprehend such matters any more than the chickens in the yard. Their hour will come; in the meantime, they are counted the fortunate ones of the earth.

-George MacDonald (The Laird's Inheritance)

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.

-Unknown

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. 

 -J.R.R. Tolkien

If two friends ask you to judge a dispute, don’t accept, because you will lose one friend; on the other hand, if two strangers come with the same request, accept because you will gain one friend. 

-Augustine of Hippo

Times will come in life when you’ll realize you’ve made a mistake. At that moment, you have two choices: You can swallow your pride and “pull a few nails,” or you can foolishly continue your course, hoping the problem will go away. Most of the time the problem will only get worse. …When you realize you’ve made a mistake, the best thing you can do is tear it down and start over.

-Joshua Harris

It is in the unknown that fellowship with my Lord is sweetest. It is in the unknown that God's mercy is most beautifully manifested. It is in the unknown that our faith is refined and comes forth shining more brightly.

-Unknown

Never did the Church so much prosper and so truly thrive as when she was baptized in blood. The ship of the Church never sails so gloriously along as when the bloody spray of her martyrs falls upon her deck.

-C.H. Spurgeon

Why did you do all this for me?' he asked. 'I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.' 

'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.' 

-E.B. White

He is your friend who pushes you nearer to God.

-Abraham Kuyper

Prayer is the greatest of all forces, because it honours God

and brings Him into active aid.

-E.M. Bounds

A Christian home should be a place of peace, and there can be no peace where there is no self-denial.

-Elisabeth Elliot

Because in the end, any book that comes the closest to the themes of good and evil in Scripture will always ring closest to our own hearts. The triumph of Ultimate Good is the theme of eternity. And God has written eternity on the hearts of men.

-Schuyler McConkey