Life only works when Jesus is everything and we are fully submitted to Him.
While we were at rest, Christ was in rescue mode. While we were doing nothing, He was doing EVERYTHING. He was down in the depths of the earth fighting for our freedom.
Brokenness is the bow from which God launches the arrow of healing.
Whether it’s an attorney or a bond trader or a journalist, or a musician or pastor, you want to do your best. You don’t want to seek acclaim. You don’t want to seek awards. You want to seek to do your best at what God’s given you.
Be careful whom you fall in love with, because your better judgment can be overwhelmed by your emotions. You know when a situation isn’t God’s best, so don’t just drift along and tell yourself, “I can always fix the problems later.” Before you know it, emotion kicks in and there goes your judgment. All of a sudden, you are in a serious relationship with someone whom – if you thought about it honestly – you know you shouldn’t be with.
When you’re in the midst of a storm, it’s hard to remember that God is always good and glorious, and that God’s plans will always prevail, even when yours don’t.
Think of it this way instead: I got better and I have a story and I want to tell the world what Jesus has done in my life because I want Jesus to be glorified. God may use counselors, medications, doctors, and all that, but it’s Jesus who heals you.
God is not confined by what you can imagine.
Heaven will be full of the songs of worshipers who had once been broken people in a broken world, picked up and used for God’s glory.
Jesus must increase and I must decrease.
What a way to walk through life: entering every environment with every intention to shine as little light as possible on me and as much light as possible on the Son of God.
God, as much as I’ve needed your power to kill the Enemy, I need your power to fix me. It’s not enough that power goes out from me; I need the power of God to work in me.
That’s when we lean on God and constantly seek his face and heart and thoughts, because there’s no way we can ever swim in the deepest part of the ocean unless we know the one who holds the seas in the palm of his hand.
Joseph understood that the overall purpose of his life was to fit into a small part of God’s larger plan for the world. Joseph understood that his life’s purpose was bigger than simply playing out his own dream, even a God-given dream. He knew he was on earth to be part of God’s story. This was a game changer for Joseph, and it can be a game changer for us too.
But what clouds our view is the Enemy’s skill at cropping photos.
The Enemy, however, was working in his life just like he does in ours: waiting him out. The Enemy is a patient foe and deceives us into thinking we can manage. We assume if Satan can’t take us out on night one, he’ll give up. But Satan will wait us out for decades if necessary.
Meaninglessness woos us into spending our one shot at life on insignificant and trivial things. If we are not vigilant, we drift from God’s glorious ambition for our lives, losing sight of anything remotely grand, trading God-instilled passion for an easier and more often traveled road. And if our hearts aren’t awakened by majesty, our lives soon shrink into little bits of nothingness.
Comfort and familiarity are not what God points us toward. Jesus isn’t in the business of flying to and fro for the rest of our lives, hand-delivering spiritual baby food to us.
Jesus isn’t dependent on natural provision. If we need something, as a matter of first things first, we don’t need to ask the people who have enough if they will provide for us. Corporations and rich people aren’t in charge of the kingdom of God.
Our lives are always safest, not when we have a good paying job or a big retirement account or when we live in the suburbs with a white picket fence, but when our lives are firmly placed in the hands of God.