Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
We even refuse to be our true self with God- and then wonder why we lack intimacy with him.
Childlike surrender and trust, I believe, is the defining spirit of authentic discipleship.
The gospel will persuade no one unless it has so convicted us that we are transformed by it.
On the last day, Jesus will look us over not for medals, diplomas, or honors, but for scars.
Trust is that rare and priceless treasure that wins us the affection of our heavenly Father.
The way you are with others every day, regardless of their status, is the true test of faith.
The ancient spiritual tradition is that God gives himself fully to us in silence and solitude.
The dominant characteristic of an authentic spiritual life is the gratitude that flows from trust
God is enough. That is the root of peace. When we start seeking something besides Him, we lose it.
To lend each other a hand when we're falling, perhaps that's the only work that matters in the end.
Ruthless trust ultimately comes down to this: faith in the person of Jesus and hope in his promise.
Do you honestly believe God likes you, not just loves you because theologically God has to love you?
The trouble with our ideals is that if we live up to all of them, we become impossible to live with.
If asked whether I am finally letting God love me, just as I am, I would answer, 'No, but I'm trying.
Jesus comes for sinners, for those outcast...and those caught up in squalid choices and failed dreams.
When being is divorced from doing, pious thoughts become an adequate substitute for washing dirty feet.
God loves you unconditionally, as you are and not as you should be, because nobody is as they should be.
Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.
Real freedom is freedom from the opinions of others. Above all, freedom from your opinions about yourself.
All I have learned through trial and error is to stay alert and aware, especially God smiling @ our silliness.
I could more easily contain Niagara Falls in a teacup than I can comprehend the wild, uncontainable love of God.
Childlike in faith means the daily acknowledgment of utter dependence and that I owe my life and being to another.
Only reckless confidence in a Source greater than ourselves can empower us to forgive the woulds inflicted by others.
Tragedy is that our attention centers on what people are not, rather than on what they are and who they might become.
God loves us as we are...not as we ought to be. because we are never going to be as we ought to be." --Brennan Manning
In my experience, self-hatred is the dominant malaise crippling Christians and stifling their growth in the Holy Spirit.
There is an extraordinary power in storytelling that stirs the imagination and makes an indelible impression on the mind.
When we wallow in guilt, remorse, and shame over real or imagined sins of the past, we are disdaining God's gift of grace.
My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.
The gospel declares that no matter how dutiful or prayerful we are, we can't save ourselves. What Jesus did was sufficient.
Without fear I can acknowledge that the authentic Christian tension is not between life and death, but between life and life.
We must go out into a desert of some kind (your backyard will do) and come into a personal experience of the awesome love of God.
I knew there was only one place to go. I sank down into the center of my soul, grew still, and listened to the Rabbi's heartbeat.
The Good News of the gospel of grace cries out: We are all, equally, privileged but unentitled beggars at the door of God's mercy!
Our culture says that ruthless competition is the key to success. Jesus says that ruthless compassion is the purpose of our journey.
For me the most radical demand of Christian faith lies in summoning the courage to say yes to the present risenness of Jesus Christ.
The men and women who are truly filled with light are those who have gazed deeply into the darkness of their own imperfect existence.
There is a beautiful transparency to honest disciples who never wear a false face and do not pretend to be anything but who they are.
Hope knows that if great trials are avoided great deeds remain undone and the possibility of growth into greatness of soul is aborted.
Don't try to understand it. You won't succeed. Don't try to see it. You can't. Try to live it, and you will be living out of the center.
The deepest desire of our hearts is for union for God. God created us for union with himself. This is the original purpose of our lives.
Though it is true that the church must always dissociate itself from sin, it can never have any excuse for keeping any sinner at a distance.
Today on planet Earth, may you experience the wonder and beauty of yourself as Abba’s Child and temple of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ
Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try and find something or someone that it cannot cover. Grace is enough.
I you think you've done it, then you're wrong. Because you're not finished until you have achieved everything that you never thought you could.
Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try and find something or someone that it cannot cover. Grace is enough...
Authentic Christianity should lead to maturity, personality, and reality. It should fashion whole men and women living lives of love and communion
Genuine self-acceptance is not derived from the power of positive thinking, mind games or pop psychology. IT IS AN ACT OF FAITH in the God of grace.
When our inner child is not nurtured and nourished, our minds gradually close to new ideas, unprofitable commitments and the surprises of the Spirit.
One of my realizations in such an earthy atmosphere was that many of the burning theological issues in the church were neither burning nor theological.