John Newton looked across the kitchen table and said to William Cowper, “I’m not what I ought to be. I’m not what I want to be. I’m not what I hope to be. But thank God I’m not what I used to be.
The power of the Holy Spirit cannot be successfully duplicated. If a person is supernaturally changed and given a love for God’s glory, God did it.
When the Spirit is absent, our excuses always seem right, but in the presence of the Spirit our excuses fade away.
A full relationship is what God offers to those who come to God by Jesus. Imagine this! An open invitation to become a member of the royal family and a joint-heir with the Son of God.
God is predictably unpredictable.
I want to inspire people to desire to see the praise that comes from the one and only true God. Above all else. That is what God has laid on my heart and the message that I bring to you.
God made only one you and He threw the mold away.
Martin Luther spent two hours a day in prayer. John Wesley spent two hours a day in prayer. According to a recent poll taken on both sides of the Atlantic, the average church leader, pastor, priest, evangelist, teacher today spends four minutes a day in prayer and you wonder why the church is powerless.
If you do nothing but read your Bible, you will dry up; if you only pray, you will blow up; but if you read your Bible and pray, you will grow up.
Time with God will open up His ways. Reading books won’t do it. Reading theology won’t do it. Studying the creation won’t do it. Going to church won’t do it. Listening to religious music won’t do it. Listening to great preaching won’t do it. Even worshiping through hymns and songs won’t do it.
The worst thing that can happen to a man is to succeed before he is ready. – D. MARTYN LLOYD-JONES.
The Bible was not given to replace the supernatural or miraculous; it was given to correct abuses.
As C. S. Lewis put it, “Aim at heaven and you will get the earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
The Kingdom cannot be learned like other subjects, such as science, geography or history. The Kingdom is learned only through revelation by the Spirit. It cannot be explained, contained or controlled – thus it is unexplainable, uncontainable and uncontrollable. It is not taught as much as it is caught – and only through the Spirit can it be caught. It cannot be embraced, explained, applied, pursued or entered without the Spirit of God.
When speaking to or about another person, ask yourself if what you are about to say will meet their need: Necessary – Is it necessary to say this? Encourage – Will this encourage? Will it make them feel better? Edify – Will it edify? Will it build them up and make them stronger as a result of what you would say? Dignify – Will it dignify that person? That’s the way Jesus treated other people; he gave them a sense of dignity. Criticism.
I cannot imagine a greater motivation to pray than that God enjoys having me in His presence. He enjoys my company. He delights in listening to me! He doesn’t get bored with my repeated requests. He doesn’t moralize me if I get it wrong in what I ask for. He doesn’t laugh at me if I put out silly, even impertinent, requests. He never makes me feel stupid. There is no rejection, only total acceptance.
Holy Spirit, please overrule in my life that I will never quench the fire that You have caused to burn. Let me never pour water on wood You may want to ignite. I pray on bended knee that You will come unquenched into my heart and stay there without any hindrance from me. In Jesus’s name, amen.
Not keeping a record of wrongs is also a refusal to keep a record of the things you have done right. It is just as dishonoring to God’s grace to keep a record of your rights as it is to keep a record of others’ wrongs. Why? Because it is a form of self-exaltation. You are implicitly saying, “I told you so,” in order to make someone else look bad. It takes spiritual maturity to refrain from saying, “I told you so.
Forgiveness is worthless to us emotionally if we can’t forgive ourselves.
Be absolutely aware that you are self-righteous and that this is the root of your problem.