Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
When we place our discontented egos on the altar of gratitude, we develop contented altar egos filled with thanksgiving.
God's Word instructs us, teaches us, guides us, encourages us, convicts us, and helps conform us to the image of Christ.
Most leaders are trying to figure out the right strategy. The best leaders are obsessed with empowering the right people.
When you accept the fact that your true identity includes being an overcomer, you will never settle for less than a miracle.
With prayer, you may be able to start one discipline or habit that will overflow into many more positive, God-honoring traits.
God could have programmed us as robots to do whatever he tells us, but then we'd never have the freedom to love and worship him.
There is no sin too great for God's grace. There is no habit too big for his healing. There is no label too strong for his love.
Gentleman, God created you with the heart of a warrior. Until there’s something you’re willing to die for, you can’t truly live.
Don’t worry when you meet opposition for obeying God. Worry when you don’t have opposition, because you’re probably not obeying God.
Be careful not to blame yourself if someone rejects Christ. If you do, you might be tempted to take credit when someone accepts him.
Our greatest priority as Christian parents is to gradually transfer our children's dependence away from us until it rests solely on God.
Our thoughts are either focused on what's eternal, life-changing, and true, or lost in the details of our temporary, selfish, false beliefs.
The fact is, you can't marry the best when you're dating the runner-up. While you're searching for Mr. Right, don't settle for Mr. Right Now.
Because God loves us, he gives us the freedom to make choices. That's good news if we choose wisely. But it also gives us the capacity to sin.
Belief overflows to behavior. First we need to change what we believe. when we truly change what we believe, we'll gladly change how we behave.
Tragically, many people have this faithless, wishy-washy mindset, which causes them to lose the battle in their minds before they ever fight it in the world.
When happiness becomes our standard for judging truth, things that make us happy give us permission to do some things that otherwise would be considered wrong.
God has blessed me with more than I need. I'm rich. I will not trust in riches but in Him who richly provides. Because I have more, I will give more and do more.
You can't change in your own power. If you feel overwhelmed by something bigger than you, let the one who is bigger than all things be the power you need in your weakness.
It's not easy to trust in a God you can't see. That's why so many want God to prove himself so we can trust him. In reality, God wants us to trust him so he can prove himself.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
There is no vacation, no experience, no dream home, and no thing outside of God that can bring rest in the essence of who you are. Your soul will be restless until it finds rest in Him.
The things that make us sad, the things that make us righteously angry, or the things we care about that others don’t are often a key that unlocks our reason for living. It’s our burden.
I believe Christians often perceive obedience to God as some test designed just to see if we’re really committed to Him. But what if it’s designed as God’s way of giving us what’s best for us?
The truth: you have what you need. Watch out for excuses. Whenever you're tempted to whine about what you don't have, remember that God has given you everything you need to do everything He wants you to do.
God's will is clear about many things. We're to be holy. I like the metaphor that his Word is a lamp to our feet. A lamp may help guide my next one or two steps, but it's not a crystal ball into the future.
When we look at other people comparatively and competitively, we're not seeing them as our brothers and sisters. We're not loving them more than we love ourselves, and we we're definitely not seeing them as God sees them.
The problem is that many bitter people don't know they are bitter. since they are so convinced that they are right, they can't see their own wrong in the mirror. And the longer the root of bitterness grows, the more difficult it is to remove.
Lord, use me today, use me for your glory, make me bold, stir me up, give me eyes to see the needs of those I work with, give me a heart sensitive to those who are hurting, give me a prompting of the Spirit to minister to those who are around me.
Life is uncertain. Eternity is not. Unforgiveness cannot be allowed to last another day. Are you holding a grudge? You will never be more like God than when you forgive. Let it go. Kill the root of bitterness. Let the hurt go and set yourself free.
Scripture teaches us that we should trust God and not lean on our own wisdom or understanding. To do this, we have to strive to know God intimately, walking by faith and not by sight. This may not be easy at first, but it starts with simple obedience.
The New Testament is peppered with "one another" reminders. While Scripture says to love another, encourage one another, offer hospitality to one another, be kind to one another, many people are content tolerating one another, if not ignoring one another.
As an organization changes your mindset as a leader also has to change. This becomes the lid to you organization. Whenever my organization starts to settle I believe I have to lift my lid, my capacity I have to think and act in a different way to achieve different results.
Obedience is our responsibility. The outcome is God's responsibility. As we learn to trust him with our future, trust him with those we love, trust him as our provider, and trust his sovereign plan, that gives us the foundation to step out in faith. We can trust that he'll always be faithful.
Unfortunately, the Bible won't tell you directly, "Thou shalt take the new job in marketing..." or "Thou shalt go directly from undergraduate school to honor me in graduate school." While the Bible doesn't speak to some of our specific decisions, it does speak to every decision about who God wants us to become.
You see, religion alone can only take a person so far. Religion can make us nice, but only Christ can make us new. Religion focuses on outward behavior. Relationship is an inward transformation. Religion focuses on what I do, while relationship centers on what Jesus did. Religion is about me. Relationship is about Jesus
A keystone habit leads to other positive habits and disciplines. These positive traits start a chain reaction that produces other positive outcomes. The presence of these important habits help you become more faithful in other areas of your life. On the other hand, the absence of these key disciplines can impact you negatively.
Personally, I hate flossing. So this is the first discipline I quit when I am stressed. But if I stop this one important habit, then I might be tempted to cheat on my eating plan, stay up too late, or skip my Bible reading. If I stay faithful in doing something that I don't enjoy, I tend to believe that I'm disciplined. Therefore, I eat better, go to bed on time, and stay in God's Word.
When we generally make healthy choices about food (or wise choices about life), we tend to move in the right direction, living as we believe God wants us to live. If we make an intentional exception for a special treat or for a diversion, that might not be a big deal. But if we step off the best path, we're tempted to detour into more unwise choices. In that case, your decision does matter.
Twenty-nine years ago, I came to faith in Christ after a gentleman from the Gideon's International gave me a free copy of the New Testament Bible. I started in Matthew and read all the way to Ephesians 2 when it finally clicked for me. After reading about salvation by grace through faith, I cried out to Jesus for his forgiveness and surrendered my whole life to Him. At that moment, I became a new person.
Shame usually follows a pattern—a cycle of self-recrimination and lies that claims life after life. First, we experience an intensely painful event. Second, we believe the lie that our pain and failure is who we are—not just something we’ve done, or had done to us—and we experience shame. And finally, our feelings of shame trap us into thinking that we can never recover—that, in fact, we don’t even deserve to.
If you want your ministry to have ‘it’, more important than anything else we’ve discussed, you must have ‘it’. When it has filtered through your heart - the rare combination of passion, integrity, focus, faith, expectation, drive, hunger, and God’s anointing - God tends to infuse your ministry with ‘it’. He blesses your work. People are changed. Leaders grow. Resources flow. The ministry seems to take on a life of its own.
Some decisions are obviously much more inconsequential than others. For example, let's say you choose the blue shirt over the red one; not much is likely to change. Red meat over white meat once a week won't likely make a huge difference in your health. But if you believe that grilled chicken is healthier than a cheeseburger, your lunch choice might cause you to pause; especially if you know that the cheeseburger also comes with fries and a large chocolate shake.
When something goes wrong, what's the best course of action? To change your direction. The word repentance means to stop going one direction (your own way) and turn toward the right direction (God's way). Your past may be a part of who you are, but it certainly doesn't have to define your future. Or if you feel stuck and unable to change directions and move toward God, think of this transformation another way. The Bible says that God is the Potter and we are his clay (Jer. 18:2-6).