God often does His best work in us when He catches us by surprise and introduces a change that is completely against our own desire.
Discipline is training that corrects and perfects our mental faculties or molds our moral character. Discipline is control gained by enforced obedience. It is the deliberate cultivation of inner order.
Many seducers clutter the simple message of the gospel with legalistic additions, with convoluted attempts to legitimize moral compromise, and with psychological theories that turn churches into relational support groups instead of houses of worship.
Focusing intently on Christ naturally results in a lifestyle of increasingly greater selflessness. And it has another benefit. Gazing on Christ gives us greater ability to look past life’s trials and remain calm in the midst of what others would call chaos.
First impressions never have a second chance.
When we attempt to find meaning in the pursuit of pleasure, the commitment to a job, or through plumbing intellectual depths, we all eventually find in each of these pursuits a dead end.
Adversity is a good test of our resiliency, our ability to cope, to stand back up, to recover from misfortune. Adversity is a painful pedagogue.
God’s heavenly plan doesn’t always make earthly sense.
In spite of the extent to which Solomon went to find happiness, because he left God out of the picture, nothing satisfied. It never will. Satisfaction in life will never occur until there is a meaningful connection with the living Lord above the sun.
When you pray, pray so that you may know Him. When you seek to simplify, do it as a means of knowing Him more. When you surrender, or behave with humility or sacrifice, do it with the sole purpose in mind to know Him.
The best tests of my Christian growth occur in the mainstream of life, not in the quietness of my study.
Next time you’re faced with a credit-purchase decision, wait. Don’t say no necessarily. Just wait. I challenge you to present your need to the Lord before presenting it to a bank, and see what He does with it.
Give us an intense distaste for things that displease You and a renewed pleasure in things that bring You honor and magnify Your truth.
People who are close to God cultivate a personal intimacy with Him like a good gardener cultivates beautiful flowers.
Like sin itself, Satan appeals to the senses. He originated and perfected the art of disguising evil as good.
Two words will help you cope when you run low on hope: accept and trust.
Christlikeness is a journey, not a destination. The joy is in the journey.
Allowing anger to seethe on the back burner will lead to a very large lid blowing off a very hot pot.
When you suffer and lose, that does not mean you are being disobedient to God. In fact, it might mean you’re right in the center of His will. The path of obedience is often marked by times of suffering and loss.
The happiest people I know are the ones who have learned how to hold everything loosely and have given the worrisome, stress-filled, fearful details of their lives into God’s keeping.