Faith

One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. In every department of life it marks the transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing. The best thing, where it is possible, is to keep the patient from the serious intention of praying altogether. What you must always remember, that they are animals and that whatever their bodies do affects their souls.  It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds; in reality our best work is done by keeping things out. Some are lukewarm and complacent, and then it is our business to [...]

We were created to love God and have a relationship with him. The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless.  We have almost forgotten that God is a person, and, as such, the relationship can be cultivated as any personal relationship can.  A.W. Tozer Sacred Pathway—the way we relate to God, how we draw near to him.  Do we have just one pathway?  Not necessarily.  Most of us, however, will naturally have a certain predisposition for relating to God, which is our predominant spiritual temperament. The aim of this book is to help people understand the [...]

The modern age has perfected means but confused ends.  Albert Einstein One has only the choice between God and idolatry.  There is no other possibility.  For the faculty of worship is in us and it is either directed somewhere into the world or into another. We should look at every human relationship as a tool for character formation. I could summarize my entire spiritual pilgrimage as an effort to move the operating center from myself to God. Jesus reserved his hardest words for the hidden sins of hypocrisy, pride, greed and legalism. Greed is the economic engine of our nation, [...]

Jesus apparently wasn’t interested in marketing himself to the masses.  His invitations to potential followers were clearly more costly than the crowds were ready to accept, and he seemed to be okay with that.  He focused instead on the few who believed him when he said radical things.  And through their radical obedience to him, he turned the course of history in a new direction. I could not help but think that somewhere along the way we had missed what is radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable.  We were settling for a Christianity that revolves [...]

Hebrews 12:14: Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy, without holiness no one will see God. God has called every Christian to a holy life.  There are no exceptions to this call. Many Christians have what we might call a “cultural holiness”.  They adapt to the character and behavior pattern of Christians around them.  As the Christian culture around them is more or less holy, so these Christians are more or less holy.  But God has not called us to be like those around us.  He has called us to be like himself.  [...]

Executive summary:  Philip Yancey deals with controversial topics of living a Christian life with brutal honesty.  Yancey’s niche is writing about subjects that are challenging and difficult to understand.  He puts in words, what many Christians are feeling but are afraid to articulate.  In this book Yancey communicates his thoughts on tough questions like; what is prayer? Does it change God’s mind or ours—or both?  If God knows everything, what’s the point of prayer?  Why do answers to prayer seem so inconsistent, even capricious?     Yancey stated that to him, prayer is the area where two themes of struggle [...]

I know of no other person in the Bible, aside from Christ himself, who had a more profound influence on his world and ours than Paul. Grit—firmness of mind or spirit, unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.  CS Lewis We confuse conversion with maturity.  We’d rather these new converts clean up their act straight away before we grant them our genuine seal of Christian approval.  How sad.  Somewhere [...]

The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either. A story is a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it. What I’m saying is I think life is staggering and we’re just used to it. We all are like spoiled children no longer impressed with the gifts we’re given—it’s just another sunset, just another rainstorm moving in over the mountain, just another child being born, just another funeral. If the point of life is the same as the point of a story, [...]

Disciple: says we are people who spend our lives apprenticed to our master, Jesus Christ.  We are in growing-learning relationship, always.  A disciple is a learner, but not in the academic setting of a schoolroom, rather at the work site of a craftsman.  We do not acquire information about God but skills in faith. Pilgrim: tells us we are people who spend our lives going someplace, going to God, and whose path for getting there is the way, Jesus Christ.  We realize that “this world is not my home” and set out for “the Father’s house”. No literature is more [...]

The impact of a church’s evangelistic effort is directly proportional to the health of its corporate life. Christians are to be good news before they share good news. The greatest force in evangelism is a healthy marriage. Reply to critics:  I like the way I do it better than the way you don’t. God is not in the business of putting healthy babies in malfunctioning incubators.  Churches must become candidates for God’s blessing. I am a leaky vessel and I need to keep under the tap.  DL Moody Poor people need to take rich people out to dinner and listen [...]