Net-burst.Net
Sampler
Part 3
Thought Provoking Christian Quotes
An Entertaining Way to Expore this Vast Website
To Receive Daily Inspirational Quotes Click Here
![[logo]](./images/logo50.jpg){kind=logo}
-
Whenever God miraculously spares people from temptation – a heavy smoker instantly losing all desire to smoke, a porn addict never again tempted to lust, a junkie suffering no withdrawal symptoms, and so on – GOD is glorified and the recipients of the miracle are denied the opportunity to win glory for themselves. In contrast, if he lets us battle temptation, his name is blackened whenever we lose and when we win we bring OURSELVES eternal honor. Such battles build Christlike character like nothing else can achieve. Until our appetite for Godliness matures, however, most of us would rather be spoilt brats than Christlike. We crave a soft life, but that is not how anyone becomes a spiritual champion. In the short-term we might prefer to be lazy, but the King’s goal is to make his children regal.
For more see God, Counselors & Inner Healing
Net-Burst.NetThe world is so perverse that Jesus had to say even of his own highly devout society, “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight,” (Luke 16:15). And the Lord Almighty said:
Isaiah 66:2 . . . This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.
That might describe David the giant-killer, but not some modern day Rambo.
Most people in our society presume that no one can be a real man if he excels in qualities that the Almighty highly prizes, such as gentleness, patience, kindness and humility, not to mention sexual purity. One scrambles to the top of the heap by being a beer-swilling, self-serving loudmouth who incites lust in women and envy in men. Can you see how our society is as spiritually primitive as a tribe of savages? We must let Christ rise up within us and boldly defy the perverse notions of manhood thrust upon us from our most impressionable years.
Taken from Husband, Head of a Submissive Wife?
Net-Burst.Net“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst,” Jesus told the woman who had five husbands and was now living with yet another man (John 4:13-14). The woman at the well was driven by a craving that was clearly not being satisfied. At an exorbitant emotional cost, her restless searching had taken her from man to man to man to man to man to man, with her heart being repeatedly shattered into smaller and smaller pieces.
Sadly, this is disconcertingly close to what most modern Christians, even those with high morals, suffer today. They call it dating and vainly hope the habit they have concreted into their lives will somehow magically disappear after signing a marriage license. The mentally dangerous habit commonly nurtured by modern Christian singles is that of going from heartbreak to heartbreak in a blind search for a drug-like euphoria known as being “in love”. Those who seem to succeed in this quest usually find themselves hooked on romantic highs that scientists insist can only last with one partner for a probable maximum of thirty months (See The Chemical Cocktail of Love). Like the woman at the well, hoping for lasting happiness through romantic highs just keeps its victims aching for more.
Taken from Satisfied: The Christianity that Most Christians have Missed
Net-Burst.NetLove thinks the highest of a person; forever viewing the beloved in the best possible light; always giving the beloved the benefit of the doubt. It sees beauties and finds treasures in the beloved that others miss.
Love longs to know and understand everything about the beloved so that it can best serve the person.
This love is forever grateful. It keeps on appreciating; never taking the beloved for granted; continually singing the beloved’s praises. It always treasures and values the beloved. It keeps no count of wrongs nor of cost. It is hopeless at remembering pain but never forgets when the beloved brought joy.
Love seeks not to get but to give and give; not to be served but to serve. It craves not its own but the achievement and fulfillment of the beloved. It longs to exalt the beloved; not to put down but to lift high; not to control but to empower; not to manipulate but to liberate. In the eyes of love, to win at the expense of the beloved is to lose. It seeks not to win arguments but for the beloved to be proved right. Its happiness rests in the happiness of the beloved. It rejoices in the other’s success more than its own. When the beloved is honored, it feels honored; when the beloved is hurt, it feels pain. It willingly sacrifices everything for the beloved.
Love keeps opening its heart. It is gentle but strong; soft but enduring; pliable but rock-solid. It is faithful and loyal, steadfast and true. It is dependable and pure. It stays as reliable in secret as when it is seen. It never stagnates but grows stronger by the year.
This love is as eternal as God; as selfless as Christ. Empowered by the Spirit, it lets earth glimpse heaven. This love is sacred, its source is divine. It delights in God and is God’s delight.
Taken from God’s View of Marriage
Net-Burst.NetI grew up believing a real man never cries and that Jesus was the perfect Man. Since Jesus openly cried, one of those beliefs had to go, and yet I wanted desperately to cling to both beliefs. Even after decades of trying to reshape my thinking I’m not totally free from my childhood presumptions. Shedding tears is inconsequential. Christian men in our society, however, typically face similar conflict over far more serious matters.
A man’s man is not someone who can handle emotional and physical pain without crying, but someone who can handle it without anger or violence or defeatism. To control tears is only a selfish attempt to save face. To control anger, however, is to exercise true authority, allowing us to fulfill our protective role by making those around us feel more secure. Men rarely realize how unsettling or even terrifying it is for family members to live with a man who is given to outbursts of anger, even if the anger is never directed at family members. Ironically, what makes loved ones feel secure and protected is not a man’s physical strength, but his strength of character.
Proverbs 16:32 Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.
Taken from Husband, Head of a Submissive Wife?
Net-Burst.NetIMPERFECT CHRISTIANS
Christians are people who consider themselves such moral failures that they have come to Jesus for help and forgiveness. Making it spiritually depends not on how popular or nice we are, but how much we want God to rule our life and change us. Whether it be through quirks of nature or upbringing or whatever, becoming likable is harder for some of us. What matters most, however, is not where we are now, but where we are headed. Though they may have started far behind many non-Christians, people who have opened their lives to Jesus, have commenced a spiritual journey that will end in divine moral perfection in the next life. This, they insist, will not result from their own efforts, but from an utterly undeserved miracle of God – a miracle freely available to anyone who dares ask Jesus for it.
Taken from Issues that Make Christians Squirm
Net-Burst.NetBe totally devoted to Jesus. Anything less than total devotion is actually nauseating to him (Revelation 3:16). You are called to be a ‘100 per cent-er’ in a world of ‘50 per cent-ers’.
The Bible says, ‘Whatever you do, do it with all your might’ (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Those who are dedicated get immensely more out of life than those who are not. This is especially true of Christianity. And do it for the Lord (1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17,23).
Our dedication must be such that, for Jesus’ sake, we would be willing to lose all our possessions (Luke 14:33; Hebrews 10:32-36), suffer pain, and even die (Hebrews 11:35-38; Acts 20:24; Luke 17:33).
If you suffer because of your relationship with Jesus, you will share his glory. That glory will far outweigh any suffering you could possibly experience in this life (Romans 8:17,18; 2 Corinthians 4:17). ‘But as for the cowards . . . their place is in the lake burning with fire and brimstone which is the second death’ (Revelation 21:8). In other words, those who are not prepared to suffer severe persecution for their Divine Lover will suffer for it for the whole of eternity in Hell. That is a very sobering thought. But Jesus is worth dying for. He has already suffered and died for YOU. Just trust him. He will give you the strength for every situation. (See Matthew 5:11-12; 10:16-39; 1 Peter 1:6-8).
Taken from Developing Your Love Affair With God
Net-Burst.NetWe are called to be like Jesus, who kept on loving Judas, knowing from the beginning that he would betray him. We are to love like the one who did not wait until his heathen torturers showed any remorse but forgave them while they were in the very act of killing him (Luke 23:33-34). What chance have we of doing this if we cannot even show our marriage partners such love?
Taken from God’s View of Marriage
Net-Burst.NetTo illustrate the consequences of being spiritually united to Jesus, let’s put it in financial terms, whilst remembering that it applies to your abilities, moral achievements, wisdom, in fact everything about you. You have $154.75 in the bank. Jesus has trillions. He wants to have joint bank accounts with you so that you can enjoy his trillions and delight in them as being your own.
Instead of being excited, however, you see problems. You worry about what Jesus might do with your $154.75. And if Jesus really kept his word and you gained his riches, you’re concerned that everyone would know that those trillions became yours only because of Jesus’ generosity and love for you, not because of your hard work or skill. Although you could spend the trillions as if they were yours, you could never be credited with the honor of having earned them. If, however, you refuse to merge Jesus’ assets with yours, you can continue to boast that you have earned every cent you possess. So you have a choice: risk your $154.75 and lose your right to boast that you earned all your money and you will have trillions, or retain your right to boast and you will have $154.75.
This creates a dilemma: we like the thought of being rich, but boasting makes us feel good. The Lord gave us feelings and he would like us to enjoy even the nice feeling that boasting creates. Here’s how to do it: “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:31; 2 Corinthians 10:17). When we truly understand the utter oneness that we have with Christ, boasting about his greatness and perfection will excite us even more than when we used to boast about our own puny achievements.
Taken from Mysteries in Jesus’ Teaching
Net-Burst.NetThough offered with the best intentions, much sentimental waffle is sometimes uttered about returning to one’s ‘first love’, as if the starry-eyed euphoria of new Christians is greater than the mature depths of your average older Christian. Poppycock! Most spiritual honeymooners are radiant primarily because they think they have entered a blissful world of near-perfect Christians, instant answers to selfish prayers and a life forever free from pain, heartache and trials. Theirs is most likely mere puppy love, relative to the ardor moving you to tough it out.
Taken from When Things Get Tough
Net-Burst.NetI’m sure you’ve read about the Bible’s ideal wife but please look at it with fresh eyes:
Proverbs 31:11-30 Her husband has full confidence in her . . . She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. . . . She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. . . . She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. [Note: even her physical strength is valued.] She sees that her trading is profitable . . . She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes. She is clothed with strength and dignity . . . She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. . . . Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” . . . Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. . . .
This is one highly capable woman! Her husband esteems her intellect, talents, economic prowess and even her physical strength. Such is his faith in her that he even lets her buy property! You might lament that your wife is not as capable as this amazing woman, but if you don’t see your wife as having that potential, your very perception is most likely what is keeping her from achieving it. The mother of your children needs you to believe in her. No one has the power to shape her destiny like you have.
Taken from Husband, Head of a Submissive Wife?
Net-Burst.NetTo take up our cross and follow Christ sounds horrific, until we discover that following Jesus takes us not only to crucifixion but to resurrection; not only to the death of self but to a gloriously new and superior life. It is only the spiritually corrupt part of us that we are asked to let die. Once that goes we find ourselves tingling with life like never before. It’s the death of the grub so that butterfly wings might be stretched and soar heavenwards. It’s the death of the sin-addict, the groveling sin-slave, the despicable weakling, and the rising of the glorious conqueror. It’s the death of pollution and the emergence of purity; the death of lonesome self-infatuation and the release of true love.
Taken from Spiritual Secrets
Net-Burst.NetYou are right to reject a religion that’s a list of dos and don’ts, or a gathering of dour-faced, self-righteous Bible thumpers. Jesus would reject it too. Anything Jesus is involved in is vibrant, liberating, compassionate, powerful and supernatural.
Taken from Issues that Make Christians Squirm
Net-Burst.NetIf we really think the one we can never hide from and who has the power to torment us for all eternity is cruel or heartless, why would we risk the fury of the Omnipotent One by raging against him? That he lets us get away with this shows that God is extraordinarily loving and patient. Astoundingly, it is this mind-blowing love and patience that not only lets us rage but is the reason for our rage. We foolishly want God to execute instant justice without stopping to realize that instant justice would have sent us to hell. Ironically, what infuriates us about God is the very thing we should be most grateful for. No, we should not be grateful for all the evil in this world – it grieves, hurts and infuriates God even more than it does us – but God’s decision to give time to repent rather than instantly executing justice is the very thing that has given us time to come to our senses before it is too late.
Taken from Angry at God
Net-Burst.NetOne of the most powerful forces pushing humanity forward is that good fathers fearlessly and valiantly strive not only to achieve but for their own achievements to be eclipsed by those of their children. They passionately want their children to end up better educated and more prosperous and successful than they themselves were. This is the glory of fatherhood and highlights the selfless courage of genuine love.
So if you truly love your wife – and to do so is a divine requirement – you will not only refuse to put her down or hold her back, you will long to empower her to thrive in every area of life. And any way in which she surpasses you will make you proud. That’s the mark of a true leader.
Taken from Husband, Head of a Submissive Wife?
Net-Burst.NetLuke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Without exception, all of us end up being ruled by whatever we most love. What matters is not what we SAY we most love but what we really love most. Unless our greatest love is the eternal Lord of glory, who alone is all-powerful and perfect in goodness and wisdom and self-sacrificing love, what we serve is inferior, with the result that our efforts are not just wasted on the inferior but our whole lives end up inferior. And since only God is eternal, any efforts not devoted to him end up squandered on things that are decaying.
Taken from Forgotten Christian Secrets of Prosperity
Net-Burst.NetWhen Jesus told us to die to self, ‘self’ refers to everything within us that is weak and ignorant and ugly. It is all that would ultimately darken us with shame and misery – the foolish choices that seemed a smart move at the time; the sweet things that turn sour. This, and only this, is what your loving Lord wants to die, so that a new you can burst onto the scene. Like (and through) Jesus risen from the dead, the new you will be a person brimming with life; glowing with purity, honor and a thrilling future.
Taken from Spiritual Secrets
Net-Burst.NetBeing ruthlessly honest with oneself and with God about one’s negative feelings – inner pain, doubts, guilt feelings, anger or frustration toward God or people, and so on – is the biblical norm. Trying to suppress such inner turmoil, and refusing to face it, is a significant enemy to peace because it is denying ourselves and God the chance of ever resolving it.
Just as we cannot expect divine forgiveness while trying to suppress the extent of our sin, so living in divine peace necessitates courageous honesty with ourselves and with God about everything that is troubling us. This applies whether the source of our unease is grounded in the present or the distant past.
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetEven those of us with a superior understanding of the magnitude of God’s forgiveness often waste far too much of our lives striving with God; treating him, if not as an enemy, at best as a reluctant friend who does not understand us. We squander our peace by struggling with him, rather than snuggling into him and pampering ourselves in the wondrous reality that he is even more on our side than we are. He is a better friend to us than we are to ourselves; loving and forgiving and believing in us more than we do. He weeps for us, making our pain his pain, understanding us better than we understand ourselves and having our highest interest more at heart than we do.
If only we spent less time fighting our greatest Friend and more time luxuriating in faith-filled thanks to the most wonderful Person in the universe, our minds would rest in far more peace, far more comfort and far more contentment and fulfillment.
Instead, we get frustrated with God, not understanding his heart and the perfection of his timing. We might even take our ignorance to the scandalous extreme of falsely blaming the Perfect One.
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetThe world says love yourself, Jesus says deny yourself.
Jesus and the entire Bible poured much effort into expounding this concept, but few people grasp what Jesus longs for us to know because it sounds so dreary, even scary, that we are loathe to investigate it. And it is only those who seek, who find. Only if we delve deeply into this truth, will we ever discover how exciting it is.
Taken from Mysteries in Jesus’ Teaching
Net-Burst.NetGod alone thoroughly understands us and has answers to the most complex matters we could ever face. In theory, we need only God. In practice, however, the Lord has purposely arranged it so that we need the help of other people. As he says of fellow Christians:
1 Corinthians 12:21-22 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable . . .
Christ is always the Head – the Source – but because of his great love for his spiritual body, he often deliberately limits himself by choosing to meet certain needs within someone only through another Christian.
From early childhood, men, in particular, are trained to pride themselves in their independence and to treat asking for help as humiliating weakness. Countering this brainwashing is not easy, but renewing our mind and dying to self needs to include an extensive revision of such worldly thinking.
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetStudy the Psalms until they become your emotional roadmap. The inspired poets typically worked through their issues until reaching the pinnacle of praise, but to get there they were fiercely honest in confronting raw emotion and inner turmoil. For example, Psalm 13 ends with:
Psalm 13:6 I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.
But it starts with:
Psalm 13:1-2 How long, O LORD?
Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetMy rough count reveals at least 89 instances in the Bible when God either directly or through a divinely inspired spokesperson (such as an angel or prophet) told people not to be afraid. Include times when he told people not to worry or be anxious and you pass the hundred mark – and still more if you include telling people to “go in peace”. You have probably met this so often in your Bible reading that you find it unremarkable. So let me pose this question: why did the Almighty Prince of Peace repeatedly go to the effort of making such statements rather than simply zapping those people with peace as if firing a celestial tranquilizer gun?
Being overwhelmed by powerful waves of peace is as empty as a drug-induced haze, relative to the God of infinite knowledge and power – the God who cannot lie and whose love for you is more vast than the universe – stating that everything is okay.
To prefer feelings is like preferring $5 in cash over a check for a billion dollars. What makes it interesting is that, unlike the trifling amount of cash, a check requires faith in the person who signed it.
For more see Find Peace in the Storm
Net-Burst.NetThe fearsome Lord of righteousness is the eternal enforcer of moral perfection and the executer of justice. As the ultimate owner of everything we have ever misused and the zealous defender and passionate lover of every person we have ever cheated, exploited, lusted after, lied to, gossiped about, resented, been jealous of, felt superior to, or have mistreated in any other way, the Holy Lord should be our resolute enemy and source of torment for all eternity. Instead, the Pure One took all our moral filth upon himself and the Innocent One assumed full blame for all our atrocious offenses. This is so staggering that the human mind has no hope of comprehending the enormity of what he did for us. Nevertheless, the consequence of the most stupendous display of love the universe has ever seen is that he, who should be our eternal enemy, has declared peace with us and made us his friend.
And yet many of us needlessly allow ourselves to continue to assume blame, as if this magnanimous act of divine proportions had never occurred.
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetRegardless of how unworthy we might think ourselves, God loves, honors and trusts us so much that he refuses to reduce us to automatons but insists on moving in partnership with us.
When two people love each other so much that they become one, their offspring becomes a unique creation that bears the characteristics of BOTH partners. God loves us so passionately that he wants in our ministry – the offspring resulting from our intimacy with him – a similar blending of his characteristics and ours.
Despite us wanting everything immediately, the Bible keeps insisting that spiritual things grow. Seldom, if ever, do they arrive fully developed in a Christian’s life. Moreover, even for the divine elements within a Christian, there is a human contribution that inevitably renders them less than perfect, just as a little child’s best efforts are imperfect and yet they still delight a loving father’s heart.
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetOn the cross, the Innocent One swapped places with me; suffering my humiliation so that I could gain his endless honor and, to use the astounding expression the Bible uses, he has made me “the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Christ’s sacrifice is the most beautiful act ever made. I am fully accepted by the Judge of all humanity, the greatest intellect and highest moral authority in the universe, and since it was all finalized and sealed two thousand years ago, there is nothing I can do to mess it up. All I need do is cling to Jesus and bask in the wonder of what he has done for me and enjoy all the benefits.
I am not just as good as most people but, in heaven’s eyes, I’m as pure and holy as God, because of Jesus – and I’m sharing this because it can be just as powerfully your experience as mine. It’s so mind-blowing that I’ve had to keep repeating the Scripture over and over to myself:
Until making this discovery, whenever anyone criticized me I would go into a tailspin; not only inwardly agreeing with the putdown but telling myself that I’m incurably wicked and deserve to be treated as dirt and ruthlessly punished.
Now, everything has changed!
Adapted from Cure for Self-Harm
Net-Burst.NetWhen surfing the sea, times of clumsy human effort (paddling) are interspersed by exhilarating times of being moved by a wave of power far beyond anything human. The same is true of prayer.
Most of us have heard of, or even had a taste of, the exhilaration that prayer can produce. There are times when prayer is effortless and thrilling and you are moved by a power beyond your own. Nevertheless, many of us end up drifting in the shallows because we have not understood the necessity of the prayer equivalent of paddling in order to catch a spiritual wave.
Riding a wave is cool, but paddling seems like something for nerds. Paddling looks awkward and is hard work. No one in the prime of manhood would want to be seen paddling, except that it is essential for experiencing the ultimate in surfing. Surfers discover that riding a wave is worth all sorts of hardship. What motivates them is not duty but the thrill of catching a wave.
The same applies to those who discover prayer’s unique spiritual highs. It can take effort to catch a wave but those who understand spiritual surfing don’t endure prayer’s hard times out of grim duty; they are drawn by the excitement awaiting them.
For more see Life’s too short to skimp on prayer!
Net-Burst.NetRomantic love – better called self-centered infatuation – is the short-lived exhilaration of vainly supposing you have at last found someone who will make you happy. If “all is fair in love and war” then that type of “love” is as dangerous as war. It is cruel and intoxicatingly deceptive. Its pillows are perfumed to hide the stench of death.
Taken from God’s View of Marriage
Net-Burst.NetIf Gideon had somehow misheard God, the results would not just be terrifying for him but catastrophic for the entire nation. He needed a faith boost, so he asked the angel for a sign that he was truly hearing from God. He got an astounding one. The angel touched the offering. It exploded into flames and then the angel vanished into thin air. Wow!
Soon afterward, Gideon started worrying about the same thing again. He felt the need for yet another sign that would pump up his flagging faith. This time, he reasoned, he would leave nothing to doubt. The sign would be of his own choosing. He pondered the matter and decided to formulate a sign so ingenious that he knew it would annihilate all his doubts. He would put a fleece outside and if in the morning it was wet and the ground around was dry it would be such a miracle that he could be at peace, knowing for sure that God was with him and that all would be well.
It happened just as he had asked. Then something totally unexpected occurred. His mind went into overdrive. What if there were some natural explanation? What if it had rained lightly early in the night and then evaporated from everywhere except where it was protected by the fleece’s fibers? What if . . . ? (Judges 6).
If what he was certain would be the ultimate faith-boost, giving him the peace he craved, had fizzled to nothing in minutes, we can expect the same. Surprisingly many spiritual experiences that we imagine would be dramatic enough to boost our faith if they happened to us turn out to be more subtle that we expect and take faith to believe they were actually supernatural.
We imagine we crave some experience that boosts our faith but by that we really mean we want to experience something that is so compelling that we don’t need faith. Faith grows only when everything within us screams the opposite. Faith is spiritual muscle. It must be exercised if it is to grow or even be maintained.
For more see Help When Doubt Knocks
Net-Burst.NetIn both biblical Greek and Hebrew (and even older English) “fruit” is a rich word. The term is not limited to just an aspect of plant reproduction but includes human reproduction (children). So “fruit of the Spirit” could be translated “the Holy Spirit’s offspring or child.” Just as physical intimacy with a human produces physical offspring, so intimacy with the Spirit of God produces spiritual offspring. What a beautiful thought! But here’s the rub: children take after BOTH parents.
Both the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit in your life are products of your union with God, and as such they bear, as it were, both your genes and God’s; having both natural and supernatural elements. The human contribution makes the result less than perfect, and yet God is so in love with us that every product of our intimacy with him delights him. Perfection can wait until heaven but the fruitfulness of our union with God starts now and it is something that WE contribute to, as well as God.
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetNo one can carve up the holy Son of God, saying, for example, his joy can enter but not the rest of him. You cannot invite the Prince of Peace to reign in your heart without extending the same invitation to the Lord of lords. The same person is both the forgiving Savior and the terrifying holy Lord who stays set apart from sinners. The one who stoops to lift us up remains the one before whom we must bow. He is both the lamb and the lion. He who is mindful of our every weakness is a consuming fire. There is healing in his wings but he comes as the sun of righteousness. He who came not to judge will return as Judge.
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetFaith and prayer are indispensable to every part of the Christian walk. It is a serious mistake, however, to try to pervert these precious gifts into an excuse for spiritual laziness. Too often we find ourselves waiting for God to answer our prayer, when he is waiting for us to act.
For example, we can be praying for peace, when God is waiting for us to dispel fear and worry by building up our faith through praising God. We can be waiting for God to zap us with peace, when he is waiting for us to die to self. We can be “believing God” for a soft life when God is expecting us to use trials as a training regime to develop Christlike character. We can want God’s peace as a sleeping pill, when what is keeping us awake is our refusal to MAKE PEACE with someone by forgiving him.
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetWe need less gimmes in our prayers – give me gooey feelings, give me bliss, give me a lazy, carefree life – and more thankyous and showmes. We need more prayers like:
• Thank you that you will bring me through this.
• Thank you that you are continually sustaining me and blessing me more than I realize.
• Show me my current concerns from your holy, eternal perspective.
• Show me what I must do to be Christlike – to delight you, to live in holiness, to walk with you in love, joy, peace, etc.
We must take this seriously:
James 4:3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetWhether it be Moses having to throw his rod on the ground before it turned into a snake, the Israelites having to march around and around and around Jericho before the walls fell, the servants having to draw the water before it turned into wine, or so very many other biblical examples, miracles almost always hinge on people doing something natural before the supernatural manifests itself.
Yes, the Omnipotent Lord could (and occasionally does) miraculously deliver from temptation or give peace when the human participants put in little or no effort, but God’s usual preference is for miracles to be a partnership between us and him, and if we do not do our part, the miracle will never occur.
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetTragically, modern men tend to be shallow. The “strong, silent type” usually has serious hang-ups that he is too much of a wimp to even face. Thinking that ignoring a problem is a sign of strength is like someone with a life-threatening cancer acting too stupidly “macho” to have the sense to see a doctor before his stubbornness kills him. If you choose to ruin your life by refusing to talk about problems, that is serious enough, but you will be held doubly accountable if you bring down your wife by not encouraging her to share her heart with you.
You were not born to be gummed up, nor born again to be stony hearted; your divine destiny is to:
Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. (RSV)
It is devastating when a man marries, expecting to find sexual fulfillment and receives frustratingly little. It is devastating for a woman to marry, expecting companionship and emotional connection only to end up receiving precious little.
Taken from Husband, Head of a Submissive Wife?
Net-Burst.NetColossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men”
If you’re called to be a cleaner then rise to that challenge with the grace of Strauss, the flair of Michelangelo, the persistence of Edison and the dedication of Jessie Owens. Polish with the love of a mother, the care of surgeon, and the joy of a lover. Pour your soul into your work till it gleams with heavenly glory; till God can look at your floors and see His face in them; till all of heaven exalts you as an example of what a cleaner should be.
The standard and status of nursing rocketed because Florence Nightingale brought a sense of God’s call to a job thought to be little better than prostitution. Edith Schaeffer, wife of Francis and hostess of the Christian chalet L’Abri, believed table settings could be elevated to an art form. The world has yet to see how you can transform the task before you.
For more see A lowly ministry?
Net-Burst.NetThe romantic emotion that hits a person independent of his or her will is not biblical love. No matter how much love God gives us, it still comes down to whether we keep deciding to resist the temptation to be selfish. Similarly, just because the Spirit gives us self-control does not mean we can never sin. Regardless of how Spirit-filled we are, how much we live in love and self-control is our choice.
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetThe fundamental key to finding the peace that transcends all understanding is reaching that point of yielding to God where nothing (not life, happiness, material things, relationships, reputation, vocation, avoiding suffering, or anything else) really matters to you except God and him having his holy, wise and loving way in every aspect of your life. If, for example, everything you regard as your treasure is in heaven, you will not fear losing your job, being robbed, or a global financial meltdown. Reaching this point of abandonment and trust, however, is not easy.
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetDon’t just read the Bible but pray the Bible. Come to it not merely to learn but to prompt your prayer life – to provide you with things to talk over with God. Search the Scriptures not for your mind’s sake but for your heart’s sake. The result will not only be more enjoyable and satisfying but it moves God to share his heart with you, opening the Word to you in a very special and accurate way.
For more see The Spiritual Essentials For Accurate Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetJohn 9:39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. . . .”
The Pharisees’ significant Bible knowledge and theological skills – which should have been an immense help – proved counterproductive. It’s said a little knowledge is dangerous, but the frightening reality is that more knowledge is even more dangerous because it increases the likelihood of being blinded by pride and becoming unteachable. James hints at this:
James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, AND SO DECEIVE YOURSELVES. Do what it says. (Emphasis mine)
Of course Bible study is of immense value, but the more emphasis one places on studying Scripture rather than living it, the more deceived one is likely to be.
For more see The Spiritual Essentials For Accurate Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetThere are those for whom the Bible is an instruction manual and there are those for whom it is fascinating literature. The Bible is a love letter that moves some to fall ever deeper in love with the author. Others just love the letter.
For more see The Spiritual Essentials For Accurate Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetIf your God is not worth suffering for, you don’t know the God and Father of the Lord Jesus.
Taken from Know The Time
Net-Burst.NetPsalm 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart . . .
Why? To gain knowledge? No. The psalmist continues:
. . . that I might not sin against you.
His goal was not to win a game of Bible Trivia. His Bible study goal was to learn how to avoid displeasing God. “. . . do not let me stray from your commands,” he prayed ( Psalm 119:10)
Again we read:
Joshua 1:8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night
Why?
. . . so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Emphasis mine)
Joshua was divinely commanded to pour over the Scriptures not so that he would fill with knowledge but in order to live Scripture.
For more see The Spiritual Essentials For Accurate Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetThe Word of God often identifies a “hard heart” as the reason for people failing to perceive spiritual truth. How much our eyes are filled with God’s tender compassion for those we are tempted to despise is an indication of how likely we are to see biblical truth through God’s eyes.
For more see The Neglected Spiritual Dimension to Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetWe must model ourselves on the writer of Psalm 119. His knowledge of the Word of God and devotion to it was immense and yet he maintained the humility to keep praying for still greater understanding and pleading with God not to hide from him the true meaning of the Scriptures that everyone thought this man knew inside out. Here is a man after God’s heart; a man who didn’t let his vast store of spiritual knowledge sabotage his spiritual progress.
Though so in tune with God that he was in the very act of writing Scripture, the psalmist prayed, “Do not hide your commands from me” (Psalm 119:19).
When the Almighty chooses to keep a truth hidden from someone, the greatest intellect or best Bible study methods in the world won’t help. And anyone who thinks he or she is beyond falling into deception is already deceived.
As critical as one’s mental approach is, it fades in significance relative to the multitude of spiritual factors influencing Bible interpretation.
For more see The Spiritual Essentials For Accurate Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetWith every delay comes a Satanic invitation to ease off, and a divine invitation to tighten your schedule, polish your talents, hone your Bible skills, extend your faith, broaden your experience, stretch your prayers, prime your body, purge your thoughts, gird your character, and home in to the heartbeat of God. Accept heaven’s invitation and you will enter ministry so qualified that the result will be beyond anything you could otherwise have touched.
Taken from Know The Time
Net-Burst.NetFace it: God does not have my intelligence. If only he would put me in charge. In five seconds islands would be spinning off the globe, angels begging for death, cats giving birth to giraffes. . .
Until then, know that when unfathomable love and inexplicable wisdom hold you in divine embrace, life will be tinged with mystery but aglow with glory.
Taken from Know The Time
Net-Burst.NetIn Jesus’ parable of the man who built his life on the sand and the one who built on the rock, both men knew Jesus’ teaching (Matthew 7:24-27). They differed not in spiritual knowledge. It was what they did with that knowledge that gave them such different destinies.
It is a spiritual principle that the person who is faithful in little will be given much (compare Matthew 24:46-47; 25:21). Those who have not got around to putting into practice the biblical truths they already know and unlikely to inspire God to reveal still more truth to them. Further revelation would only make them even more accountable; exposing them to still more judgment.
For more see The Spiritual Essentials For Accurate Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetEvery Christian knows that although God longs to forgive all sin, for our Savior to do so, we must first admit our sin. Likewise, God longs to open our eyes to spiritual truth but we must first admit our blindness. A kindly optician might be eager to correct our eyesight for free, but his hands are tied if we refuse to admit that we need his help or are too proud to wear glasses.
Admitting one’s spiritual blindness is rare and difficult for someone who has great Bible skills. The Bible isn’t the problem, of course. It’s one’s attitude. It is so hard for a person rich in spiritual knowledge to advance further in the kingdom of God because it is so hard for such a person to recognize how little he really knows and how desperate his need for divine intervention in his understanding of the Bible.
1 Corinthians 8:2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.
The same is true of having lofty moral standards and great devotion. It was to highly moral people that Jesus said, “The tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you” (Matthew 21:31).
We dare not slacken in our devotion to God and the study of his Word. If, however, we begin to think the key to spiritual insight is our efforts rather than God’s grace, we are in grave danger of spiritual blindness. It then becomes the equivalent of the hare and the tortoise, with those of little Bible knowledge spiritually overtaking their theological betters.
For more see The Spiritual Essentials For Accurate Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetThe last time I flirted with danger was when I decided against a double knot to tie my shoelace. I have a heart of gold – yellow to the core. Yet Christ died that I might rule. Yield to my old nature and I cower; yield to my Christ-bought nature and I conquer.
Fear will come. I can’t avoid it, but through Christ I need not bow to it. Victor or victim: it’s my decision.
The tragedy is that we are often enslaved by forces that are meant to be our slaves. Rather than being tyrannized by fear, we should rise up and let it serve us. Fear’s duty is to impel us to prayer. Deprived of this faithful servant we might foolishly expose ourselves to danger without activating God’s wall of safety.
Ensure your plans are in the will of God. Then list every fearful possibility. Pray through each point for as long as it takes to muster the faith that God has taken control. Now you have divine protection, the highest conceivable security. Fear has done its work. Bid it farewell. Like a naughty puppy, fear may still tag along, but ignore it. Reciting the fear-crushing promises of Scripture, fix your eyes on the goal and stride toward it.
Waiting for fear to fade before advancing is like Peter waiting for the lake to evaporate before stepping out of the boat. Faith is the defeat of fear - not usually by fear’s removal, but by moving us to proceed despite fear’s yelps.
All of heaven is on red alert when you follow Father’s orders. Help is a prayer away. Heaven’s resources – infinitely more than you will ever require - are available the instant you need them. (Matthew 21:12-19; Luke 10:19; 21:12-19) As you march forward in obedience success is certain.
For more see Satan and Evil Spirits: You Can Beat Them
Net-Burst.NetThe Bible is a map used to great effect by spiritual adventurers and used to no effect by armchair “heroes” who never venture out of their door spiritually, yet pride themselves in their map reading.
Every sport has its champions and it has its fans who pride themselves in their amazing knowledge of the game. Which do you want to be in the game of life?
Consider someone whose Bible knowledge is appalling and yet with the little he knows he achieves far more in God than a seminary professor. Which of them does God regard as ignorant?
The key, of course, is not to study the Bible less, but to live it more.
For more see The Spiritual Essentials For Accurate Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetThe Holy Spirit might be our Teacher, but that means the end of spiritual ignorance no more than turning up at Medical School makes one a top surgeon. How much do we listen to our Teacher? To what extent do we follow his instructions? How much do we do our own thing or fill our minds with the instructions of lesser teachers?
For more see The Spiritual Essentials For Accurate Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetThe Bible is our map; the Holy Spirit is our guide. The scale of the map is so large that we need the guide. The guide is so softly spoken that we need the map to confirm that we have correctly heard. Without close attention to both we’ll get lost. This is not because of any deficiency in either of them. It was always intended that they would work together.
For more see The Spiritual Essentials For Accurate Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetThere is unrivalled fulfillment inherent in serving the Lord in the exact capacity he has chosen for us. And the Evil Genius knows it. We have a formidable arsenal with which to smash the power of demonic brain-washing. Many of our weapons are variants of one irrefutable truth: as we cannot say an ear is superior to a mouth or an eye, so it is folly to regard one calling as superior to another. We are all essential parts of the incorruptible body of the risen Lord.
For more see God’s Measure Of Success
Net-Burst.NetThe time when a now-bored couple found talking easy was when they didn’t take each other for granted. They cherished and valued each other. There was tenderness and respect. And there was passion. They believed they had found the most wonderful person on the planet.
In God, we have truly found the most loving, fascinating, knowledgeable, intelligent, gifted, unselfish, patient, good and faultless Person in the entire universe. Who else fully understands us, is never moody or tired, will never let us down, can always help, and is always eager to hear from us no matter what the time of night or the occasion? To what extent do we shake ourselves out of complacency, stir up our emotions and delight in the breath-taking privilege of being on intimate terms with this astounding Person?
When you take delivery of a new car that you will use every day, you know that despite it being fully within your ability, it would take exceptional effort and care to keep the vehicle year after year looking and operating like that gleaming new car. Everything in this life has a natural tendency to slowly lose its sparkle, and to resist this tendency takes continual effort. Relationships are no exception. The natural tendency of every relationship, even one with our perfect Lord, is for it to lose its gloss. So although relationships can actually grow richer through the years, it takes continual effort to fight the downward trend.
The Lord of glory will never lose his gloss. We will never discover hidden weaknesses or character flaws or bad habits in God. He never grows old or gets boring. His strength and beauty and power to amaze never fade. With our boundless Lord, the more wonders we discover, the more there is to discover. He remains as fresh and as perfect and exciting as ever. In this tendency for our relationship with God to cool, the problem is never God. The problem is our perception of God. And unless we actively and persistently keep resisting it, our perception of God will keep deteriorating, not merely for natural reasons, but for supernatural reasons.
For more see Life’s too short to skimp on prayer!
Net-Burst.NetToo often we try applying a spiritual law with Jesus left out of the equation. We might as well expect a car to work with the engine left out of it. And then, when our attempt without Jesus doesn’t work, we have the audacity to imagine God has let us down!
Suppose Jeremy, a highly regarded investment advisor, tells you there is money to be made in the stock market and suggests you let him advise you. Off you go and make your own investments without consulting him. You lose badly, then blame him for your loss. “You told me there is money to be made in the stock market,” you complain bitterly.
“Yes, and those who have come to me for investment advice have done handsomely,” comes the reply, “but you thought you could do it without me.”
“Before doing anything I always asked myself, “What would Jeremy do?”
“You asked yourself. You didn’t ask me.”
“I took notice of your associates’ advice.”
You didn’t ask me.
“Well . . .” you squirm, “I sometimes asked you.”
“And did you follow my advice exactly?”
“Exactly? That’s a bit much! I followed the general spirit of what you said.”
“And now that you have lost everything you know that wasn’t enough,” replies Jeremy, with pain in his voice.
Taken from Mysteries in Jesus’ Teaching
Net-Burst.NetAccurate Bible interpretation is not found like a dead flower pressed between the covers of a Bible. Correct Bible interpretation is found through a living relationship – heart to heart communion – with the Author. Biblical truth is discovered by getting to know a person, because Truth is a person – the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m all for study but it is important that we don’t let an intellectual approach to the Bible reduce to sterile study what should be the pinnacle of holy intimacy. That would be like trying to reduce romance to chemical equations. Correctly interpreting Scripture is as intimate as feeling a loved one’s breath on your cheek as he shares his deepest secrets.
For more see The Spiritual Essentials For Accurate Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetWhile all the theologians were oblivious to their Messiah’s birth, sheep minders received a divine invitation to worship baby Jesus. Heaven’s databanks are crammed with such stories.
Jesus rejoiced in the Almighty hiding his secrets from those who are wise [in their own eyes and/or in the eyes of the world]. Instead of revealing his spiritual truths to the theologically skilled, the Lord of lords chose the ultimate insult to those who pride themselves in their intellect by revealing these liberating spiritual secrets to the unschooled.
Like it not, God is God. He determines what he reveals and to whom.
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. . . .”
The “wise and learned” that Jesus spoke of were not secular humanists but people whose whole lives revolved around God and the reverent and meticulous study of his Word. They were the Bible scholars, theologians and highly esteemed preachers of his day who had become so intoxicated by their own cleverness and devotion that God kept them blind, deliberately bypassing them and revealing his spiritual secrets to simple people.
For more see The Spiritual Essentials For Accurate Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetSpot the error in this Bible quote about evangelism:
1 Timothy 4:16 Watch your . . . doctrine closely because if you do, you will save . . . your hearers.
That might be what some of us would like God’s Word to say, but study what it really says:
1 Timothy 4:16 Watch your LIFE and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. (Emphasis mine.)
For more see Effective Evangelism
Net-Burst.NetIt is disturbingly easy to be sure we are being rejected or persecuted for Christ, when we are actually eliciting that reaction merely because we are not acting like Christ and are therefore misrepresenting him. In Jesus’ description of the final judgment, everyone was taken by surprise (Matthew 25:31-46). Before that cataclysmic day when it was too late to change, neither the sheep nor the goats knew how the Judge had been interpreting their actions. This highlights how terrifyingly easy it is to be sure we are serving God and glorifying him when we are actually defaming God and acting like those of whom Jesus said, “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering” (Luke 11:52) and the Jews of whom it is written “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” (Ezekiel 36:20-23; Romans 2:24).
For more see Effective Evangelism
Net-Burst.NetWhen witnessing, our ultimate goal is not to win arguments, but to win souls. The goal of one of my webpages, for example, is to see God-haters fall in love with Jesus.
Now for someone to fall in love with you how many arguments do you have to win?
That’s worth thinking about.
For more see Soul-winning Tips
Net-Burst.NetAs with the rest of the fruit of the Spirit, joy is a virtue. It is an on-going decision; the product of a daily resolve to rejoice in God; to delight in him no matter what circumstances we face:
Habakkuk 3:17-18 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, [i.e. even if everything goes wrong and I am facing financial ruin and possible starvation] yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
Joy is not spiritual dope but takes determined effort on our part.
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetSuppose someone suggested you sell absolutely everything you have – your car, house, furniture, jewelry, even your best clothes – to raise the cash to buy a barren piece of land that to you is nothing but dirt. That’s about as ridiculous as what Jesus seems to be asking of us – to give up things we hold dear and for this enormous sacrifice he offers what seems little better than dirt. But what if the person urging you to buy the land were a devoted friend who had discovered oil on the property? Underneath that land is enough crude oil to make you an instant multimillionaire. You would not be able to stop grinning as you excitedly sell all you possess. You would be focused not on the house you are losing, but on the mansion you will soon be able to buy. You would be too busy thinking about sports cars, limousines and Lear jets to mourn the loss of your old car. That’s how eagerly we would follow Jesus’ seemingly crazy requests if we really understood what God is offering us in exchange. If, for instance, we are horrified when God asks us to give up our puny, selfish ambitions, it is only because we have been too pre-occupied with ourselves to gain the slightest conception of how excitingly superior are God’s ambitions for us. If only we understood we could hardly contain our joy.
As wonderfully true as this is, for me to leave you floating in the clouds would be less than honest without tackling the issue that most preachers and teachers, myself included, are sorely tempted to side-step. THE COST IS IMMENSE, even though by an incomprehensible but divinely-guaranteed miracle, the benefits are exceedingly greater than the cost.
Taken from Spiritual Secrets
Net-Burst.NetWe often focus on the work of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life, but the Spirit also has a vital role to play in the lives of non-Christians. The Holy Spirit ‘will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment,’ taught Jesus (John 16:8). When we witness, the Spirit of God is not only working within us, prompting us as to what to say, but he is also working within those we witness to, convicting them of the truth of what we share and of their need of salvation.
For more see Soul-winning Tips
Net-Burst.Net“Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it,” said Jesus (Matthew 16:25). Permit me to expound a little on one aspect of this divine principle:
Whoever tries to preserve his or her self-esteem will end up losing it, but whoever deliberately loses self-esteem – lowering his opinion of himself or exposing himself to ridicule for Jesus’ sake – will find genuine and lasting honor. Try to maintain or boost your self-esteem and you will end up riddled with shame. Take the opposite course for Jesus’ sake, however, and you’ll brim with joy and honor forever.
Central to the promise “whoever loses his life for me will find it,” are the words, “for me.” It is Jesus, and he alone, who turns the impossible into a spiritual law you can bet your life on. He is the all-powerful Lord, who transforms a fanciful idea into an immutable law. With him, a suggestion we would otherwise never dare attempt becomes a plan of action only a fool would refuse.
To understand the power and the necessity of Jesus adding those words, “for me,” recall the little boy in the midst of the famished thousands. For the boy to offer the crowds his lunch would be a noble but futile gesture. So rather than give the first hundred people half a crumb each, he gave his lunch to Jesus. Making Jesus the central figure transformed the situation. Suddenly, not only the boy, but thousands were being fed with something that moments before was utterly inadequate. Only after the boy had given his all and passed the point of no return, did what had seemed a foolish sacrifice prove to be the smartest thing he had ever done. The secret is to hand everything over to Jesus and then wait for him to move. Give yourself to Jesus, and he will give himself to you. Lose yourself in him, and you will find yourself in God – no longer restricted to human possibilities.
Just as the boy could not expect to be fed after giving away his lunch, so people cannot expect to thrive emotionally if they give away their self-esteem – unless they give it to Jesus. Then a miracle takes place.
Taken from Mysteries in Jesus’ Teaching
Net-Burst.NetBelow are two apparently contradictory Scriptures I would like you to wrestle with. Preferably, before reading my comments, work on the jigsaw until you can see how these two pieces can be fitted together to reveal how Jesus expects us to conduct ourselves.
Matthew 5:15-16 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
[Houses where Jesus lived were dingy. Everyone appreciates light.]
Matthew 6:1 Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Clearly, Jesus does not want us to boast or flaunt our “righteousness”. Nevertheless, he wants us to be so filled with good works that they impact people’s lives so profoundly that they not only cannot fail to notice but it causes the observers and/or recipients to praise God, that is, it draws them closer to God.
For more see Effective Evangelism
Net-Burst.NetWhen buffeted by malicious powers we are likely to feel as green and as limp as wilted spinach. We must understand that authority has nothing to do with how vibrant we feel. A police officer has as much authority when he is tired as when he is fresh. A bed-ridden king has more authority than a nobleman in the prime of manhood. The issue is not how strong we feel, but whether we are in spiritual union with the One granted all authority in heaven and earth.
Taken from Turning Spiritual Attack into Victory
Net-Burst.NetThe spiritual life is full of surprises. Here’s one of them: perhaps the most liberating of all experiences, abounding in incomparable, never-ending benefits, is to grasp the appalling magnitude of one’s own sinfulness. Pray for a revelation.
You might commence the most cleansing and empowering pilgrimage, by plumbing the depths of these Scriptures:
Blessed are those who mourn . . .
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness . . .
. . . he who has been forgiven little loves little.
. . . he who humbles himself will be exalted.
For a little more insight, see Lord, Make Him Regret What He Did To Me!
Net-Burst.NetStephen was clearly a powerful evangelist. He was “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,” “full of God’s grace and power,” and those who opposed his message “could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke” (Acts 6:5,8,10). Let’s look at the only example Scripture provides of his preaching power. He begins:
Acts 7:2 . . . Brothers and fathers . . .
That’s not just respectful, it is warm, even affectionate. They were about to murder him but he oozed the love of Christ. He continues:
Acts 7:2 . . . The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’
The differences between Steven’s beliefs and those of his hearers were so stark that they were about to stone him for blasphemy. Nevertheless, rather than zero in on their differences, this fearless, anointed preacher began by affirming exactly what his hearers believed; things he had in common with them. He not only began this way, he kept it up for a massive 49 verses. A word count in the Greek New Testament puts it close to 95% of his entire message.
When preaching or witnessing to those we passionately disagree with, we should follow Steven’s lead.
For more see Effective Evangelism
Net-Burst.NetJohn 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
This is crystal clear: even when Jesus gives his peace, we still have to choose not to let our hearts be troubled and not to be afraid.
This dovetails with:
Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Despite this text strongly emphasizing the supernatural nature of this peace, we see yet again that enjoying this stupendous gift hinges on us striving to “not be anxious about anything.”
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetWe are like serial killers feeling morally superior to pedophiles, and pedophiles feeling superior to murderers; or million dollar embezzlers considering themselves better than armed robbers, and muggers believing the paltry sums they steal make them less culpable than embezzlers.
We could speak of heterosexuals who briefly fall into adultery looking down on homosexuals, and homosexuals who are faithful to their partner for life seeing themselves as more righteous than adulterers. On and on we could go. Hypocrisy has a million mutations and it is only the ones that others fall for that look hideous; our own looks saintly.
Finding our own brand of hypocrisy highly seductive, we are lured into labeling some sins are less grave or more excusable, and where we draw the arbitrary line just happens to put our offenses in the lessor category. We find ourselves easily convinced by the cleverness of our own arguments but, despite the infinity of his love for us, our Holy Judge cannot be partner to such hypocrisy. As the stars tower high above the earth, so are his standards.
You might feel less defiled – or more defiled – than other people, but that’s not how God sees it. His standards shatter all distinctions.
Romans 3:22-23 . . . There is no difference, for all have sinned . . .
Taken from How to be Righteous and Win God’s Approval
Net-Burst.NetSteal righteousness from ministry and you are left with a charade.
Taken from Waiting For Your Ministry
Net-Burst.NetSuppose you meet someone at church who is looking particularly haggard. You ask if anything is wrong and he informs you that he has been waking up in the middle of the night with a start and thumping heart. Would you embarrass yourself by piously launching into a dissertation as to how Jesus gives us peace, or would you wait for him to explain that his faulty smoke detector keeps going off randomly?
Many of us make a mistake of this magnitude without ever realizing it.
Our bodies are ingeniously designed to set off an inner alarm when there is danger, but like a faulty smoke detector, things can go haywire. A common medical disorder can cause the inner alarm to keep blaring when there is no danger. This excess anxiety is a medical problem, not a spiritual issue, just as a faulty fire alarm is a technical matter, not a spiritual one.
Although most people with this medical problem suffer only one or two of the symptoms, it can manifest itself in a wide range of disturbing ways including:
• guilt feelings that could get so intense and persistent that the victim keeps feeling utterly unforgivable
• uncontrollable blasphemous thoughts
• panic attacks that might be so severe that they seem like heart attacks
• phobias such as agoraphobia or social phobia
Believing the right thing is important, but when the primary cause is not what you believe but medical, the distressing feelings and side-effects will persist until the medical issue is healed. Medical problems require medical solutions and it is only Christians who are blind to this who should feel ashamed.
For more see Virtual Library
Net-Burst.NetWho would have guessed that a religion stressing lofty morals would cram into its holiest book the slimy details of King ‘Peeping Tom’ David, ‘lover-boy’ Solomon, fish-breath Jonah, sleazy Jacob, and two-faced Judah, to mention just a few of the seething swarm of con-men, backstabbers, rapists, murderers and whores that fill the Word of God?
Few Christian biographies are as fiercely honest as Scripture. If there were more books that gently peel the plastic off famous Christians, it would be easier for us to realize that we belong in the big league.
We cannot idolize our heroes without falling into heresy, such as the satanic lie that being used by God is a reward for living an exemplary life. Service - like salvation, holiness and every other spiritual gift - is always an undeserved gift received by childlike faith. God broke into Paul’s life and assigned to him his enormous ministry, not after he had proved himself, but when the man was fuming with murderous rage against Christ; while he was still - as he later confessed - the ‘chief’ of sinners, torturing Christians in the hope of making them blaspheme. Though it was years before he was released into its fullness, the timing of that original call is both illuminating and liberating. May the implications ricochet within our heads until our dying day.
Yes, our character flaws grieve and defame the Holy One. Yes, we must move heaven and earth to root out our shame. And yes, as impossible as it sounds, God’s holy power can trickle through flawed, sin-stained channels to a thirsty world.
God does not use synthetic saints petrified in stained glass or mummified in strained biographies. If the paper people squashed between book covers or exhibited in special Sunday services seem real to you, you’ll love the Easter Bunny. If you were thinking of cornering the market on your brand of inadequacy, forget it; heaven’s databanks bulge with the triumphs of people with quirks like yours. Heaven’s heroes are people with pimples and stringy hair; people with wrinkles and pug noses. If you’d like to see a real saint-in-training, a cheeky Master’s apprentice poised to gelignite Hell’s gates, someone on the brink of eternal acclaim, go to your mirror.
For more, see the links on You: More Powerful & Capable Than You Thought
Net-Burst.NetGuilt, like pain, is a lonely thing. It makes us want to drag as many people down with us as we can. The biggest intensifier of guilt is the thought that someone is more moral than you. It implies we could have done better. That’s the pleasure of gossip and slandering the church. When we feel guilty, one of the few sources of comfort we can get is to reassure ourselves that no one has done any better. And if they can blacken God’s name, dragging him into the mud by blaming him, that’s the ultimate way – outside of Christ – to quieten the screams of a tortured conscience. But we do not have to carry guilt. Christ welcomes us with open arms, longing to shower us with his cleansing and forgiveness.
For more see Soul-winning Tips
Net-Burst.NetMost Old Testament prophets looked like failures. If they weren’t experts at handling rejection, it wasn’t through lack of practice. (Hebrews 11:36-38) They were as much fun as bathroom scales at a banquet. Their message would curdle the milk of human kindness. In just two minutes their hearers’ faces would take on the appearance of used chewing gum. Jeremiah was branded a traitor. (Jeremiah 38:4-5) Elijah was a fugitive. (1 Kings 18:10; 19:2-3) Many were ridiculed. Few managed to slow the moral landslide. (Isaiah 6:9-13) Some may not have understood their own prophecies. (Daniel 8:26; 12:8-9; 1 Peter 1:10-12; compare John 11:51) But their heavenly assignment touched none of these things. They were simply God’s mouth-pieces. Results were not their responsibility. (Eg, Jeremiah 1:7-9, 19; Ezekiel 2:3-7; 33:7-9; Isaiah 6:9-13)
For more see Waiting for Your Ministry
Net-Burst.NetDo your prayers lack penetrating power?
‘If you don’t spare your people, Lord, I don’t want to live,’ cried Moses. (Exodus 32:10,32 paraphrase) Does that mirror the intensity of your selfless prayers? A half-hearted request invites a half-hearted reply.
We must pray like the widow badgering the judge, and the neighbor hammering the door in the dead of night until receiving the thing desired. (Luke 11:5-10; 18:1-7)
Taken from Know The Time
Net-Burst.NetBecoming spiritual one with Christ, and thus gaining access to all that is his, is a breeze. Our Lord is so eager for this that he instantly does it the moment we are born anew. Our difficulty is in grasping the mind-boggling implications of that union.
You are joined to the divine King of kings; a living part of him, as a branch is a part of a vine, with very his life flowing through you, bringing growth and fruit. The God of perfection lives in you, and you in him. The Almighty is your strength, your joy, your love, your life, your hope, your glory. His honor, his victories, his power, his perfection – all that he is – is yours.
For more see Why Changing Your Self-Image is so difficult and yet so Important
Net-Burst.NetThe Word of God often identifies a “hard heart” as the reason for people failing to perceive spiritual truth.
When encountering gays, prostitutes, child molesters, abortionists, liberal preachers or fallen pastors we might be exceedingly zealous in upholding God’s standard of righteousness, but do we uphold God’s standard of love and grace? How tender our heart is toward those who have failed morally is at least one measure of the hardness of our heart. How much our eyes are filled with God’s compassion is an indication of how likely we are to see biblical truth through God’s eyes.
Taken from The Heart of Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetTo be born of God means you have, as it were, his very genes. And the Bible goes on to reveal that you are not just his child – as astounding as that is – you are a part of his very body (1 Corinthians 12). Marvel at the implications. It means that the Almighty Lord feels everything that happens to you and it affects him profoundly. It means that where he goes, you go; what he achieves, you achieve. And it means that as a nose is part of a person’s beauty, you are a part of his beauty.
For more see Why Changing Your Self-Image is so difficult and yet so Important
Net-Burst.Net“Therefore confess your sins to each other . . . so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). It has been said you are as sick as your secrets. Keep pounding heaven’s door until every personal implication is revealed.
In the dark, things seem more frightening that they really are. It is when they are brought into the light that they lose their power to terrify. It is then that they cease to haunt us.
For more see Positive Confession or Living in Denial?
Net-Burst.NetJesus kept clashing with people who, in zeal for the Word of God seemed faultless, but in loving as God loves were seriously flawed.
Taken from The Heart of Bible Interpretation
Net-Burst.NetIf, as the Bible says, sex bonds two people, making them one flesh, then any sexual pleasure without a marriage partner will still powerfully bond a person to something, but the bonding will be to whatever sights and thoughts are present during that time of intense pleasure.
Should your thoughts be of someone you are not legally married to, then just as in God’s eyes hate is as morally corrupt as murder (Matthew 5:21-22. 27-30), so this is as morally corrupting as premarital sex or adultery.
If, when you are single, at such bonding moments your thoughts are on an imaginary member of the opposite sex, you are likely to find yourself bonded to features of the opposite sex that your future spouse does not have.
For some people, the bonding created by sexual self-stimulation will be to the sight of their own body. If so, it will be this – and possibly the sight of their own gender – that will begin to dominate their passions. Not everyone will slide down this particular hole but, one way or another, the context in which a person repeatedly experiences sexual pleasure will bend his or her sexual preference.
If your thoughts during sexual pleasure are not focused on a person but on neutral things, then attraction to the opposite sex will begin to lower and you are powerfully brainwashing yourself; training your mind and bodily reactions to cheapen sex: corrupting yourself to the point where, for you, sex is a shallow, mechanical puff of pleasure, rather than the height of meaningful, interpersonal union.
Then there are those who try to convince themselves they are being godly by masturbating while focusing on spiritual things. If Jesus walked this planet today, would you try to have sex with him?
For more see Bible & Masturbation
Net-Burst.NetNo matter how much I suffer, Jesus continues to be worthy of the costliest sacrifice.
For more see Who is Grantley Morris?
Net-Burst.NetI’d love to spare myself pain and shame by concealing my failings. As every wounded person knows, to expose one’s inner wounds to the world inspires backyard brain surgeons to “help” by further wounding us. In my case it has moved well-meaning people to accuse me of having demons, criticize me for criticizing myself, reject me for feeling that people reject me, and just generally proving that if I’m insane I’m at least in good company. But whether you laugh with me or at me, a few readers have been helped and I dare not spare myself, lest you be one of those who could be helped.
For more see Who is Grantley Morris?
Net-Burst.NetWhen our agenda is shallower than God’s agenda, we will misunderstand what God is doing. We’ll think him frustratingly slow, maybe even cold and aloof, when he is actually molding within us things beyond our fondest dreams.
For more see The Thrilling Mystery of Hearing from God
Net-Burst.NetIn the Final Judgment, we will experience the culmination of God’s plans for perfect fairness, no matter how unfair our assignment in the human race has seemed. For example, unless those given an easy life so exert themselves as to break through the pain barrier in their quest to glorify God, they cannot expect to be rewarded like those who in this life have victoriously grappled with pain that has been thrust upon them.
For more see Is God Unfair?
Like vine branches, we are not continually laden with fruit. That would be unnatural. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) For a significant portion of its life, a grapevine is nothing but a dry, twisted stick; fruitless, useless for shade, worthless as timber; to all appearances fit only to be ripped from the ground and reduced to ashes. Yet those barren times are as vital in the life of the vine, as the seasons of fruit.
Taken from Nothing to Live For
Net-Burst.NetEleven thousand teachers competed with Christa McAuliffe and lost. The winner of a seat on space shuttle Challenger was the envy of millions – until the shuttle disintegrated. Eleven thousand losers suddenly became winners.
In the twinkling of an eye, the first shall be last. (1 Corinthians 15:52; Matthew 20:16; Luke 16:15) Until that wondrous moment, don’t assume you’re a loser.
Taken from God’s Measure Of Success
Net-Burst.NetElijah prayed for rain. Not a cloud in sight. He prayed again. Nothing. Six times he prayed. Six times there was no response.
Time to implement plan B. This is how it went: if prayer doesn’t work after six times, try seven.
Israel got wet.
Remember Elijah and pray up a storm.
Taken from Boost Your Prayer Life
Net-Burst.NetSome silly people imagine God is egocentric because he asks us to praise and worship him. What we hold highest in life sets the ceiling for personal growth, achievement and honor. And being preoccupied with oneself makes one’s personality shrivel. That’s why our loving Lord wants you to be God-centered. The Lord’s only wish is that we act as wisely and unselfishly as him. Like the Perfect Leader that he is, he asks nothing of us that he would not do himself. It is the very nature of love – and hence the nature of God – to focus on the beloved. Just as he wants you to be God-centered, his plans focus on you as if you were the center of the universe.
Taken from Life’s Mysteries Explained
Net-Burst.NetMuch in the Bible has for a long time seemed ludicrous to me – it is more blessed to give than to receive, trials are so beneficial that they are something to rejoice about, those who lose their life will find it, and many more spiritual truths that jar my idea of common sense. As I have tried to act in faith upon these seeming nonsensical principles, I have discovered that faith is about pushing forward into territory in which everything within you screams that it is insane but when you do your best to keep going anyhow, the rewards are immense. As you keep staggering on in faith you will gradually receive more and more confirmation that what you are desperately trying to believe really is the truth. It might take years of stubborn persistence, but eventually you will reach the point where it no longer takes faith because it has become so obvious to you that it is true. Now, for instance, I don’t need to be told that trials are a blessing, I know they are. I have proved it over and over and over in my own life. How did I get that proof? Only by repeatedly stepping out in shaky faith when it seemed unbelievable.
Taken from When Doubt Knocks
Net-Burst.NetLife in the sunshine is so exhilarating that we seldom notice our faith beginning to droop. It’s when things are dim, that spiritual life mushrooms. In the gloom, qualities like faith, grit, and dedication, are stretched to limits we have never before reached. Yet life seems so oppressive we are oblivious to our triumphs.
An athlete, in the midst of a record-breaking run, has never in his life been so fit and strong. Yet his pain-racked body may have never felt so weak. Likewise, in the midst of a spiritual trial, it is not uncommon to be stronger and yet feel weaker than ever before.
Taken from When Things Get Tough
Net-Burst.NetDaze of our lives
God’s saints accomplish great things while staggering around in dazed bewilderment. ‘By faith,’ says Scripture, ‘Abraham, ... went out, not knowing whither he went.’ (Hebrews 11:8 ) ‘I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem,’ said Paul, ‘not knowing the things that shall befall me there.’ (Acts 20:22) The disciples were frequently stunned or mystified by Christ’s words and behavior. The psalmists were forever asking, ‘Why?’ (E.g. Psalm 10:1; 22:1; 42:9; 43:2; 44:23; 74:1; 88:14) And in the midst of his suffering, Job didn’t have a clue what was going on.
The curtains are often drawn in God’s waiting room. It’s exciting to gaze ahead, but faith grows best in the dark. Life in the sunshine is so exhilarating that we seldom notice our faith beginning to droop. It’s when things are dim, that spiritual life mushrooms.
In the gloom, qualities like faith, grit, and dedication, are stretched to limits we have never before reached. Yet life seems so oppressive we are oblivious to our triumphs.
Taken from When Things Get Tough
Net-Burst.NetThrough you, the sovereign Lord wants to express his divinity, reveal his splendor and rescue a needy world – through your hands, your words, your personality. He longs to release you into all you were born for – Creator and creature working in union to accomplish the impossible. If within you there is any inadequacy, anything obstructing you from illustrious service, any genuine reason for feeling inferior, it was not put there by the Omnipotent One and he longs to brush it aside so that you can display his beauty. With your Lord insurmountable barriers dissolve into spider’s webs.
Taken from A Ministry Guaranteed
Net-Burst.NetThe instant we were born-again, our status and potential rocketed out of this world, leaving our self-image floundering somewhere between earth and reality. The gulf between who we really are and who we think we are is so serious and so beyond our normal comprehension that we literally need divine psychiatric help. A major task of the Holy Spirit is to help us grasp the enormity of what has happened to us. It is vital that we keep probing the Scriptures and pleading for spiritual revelation. We are like paupers ecstatic because we think we have inherited $10,000, when we’ve actually received $1 billion.
Taken from A Ministry Guaranteed
Net-Burst.NetPeople are putting money in the offering. You see varying amounts go in. A well-dressed man pulls out a huge wad of notes. Your eyes nearly pop. There must be thousands of dollars in his fist as he drops them in. Then it’s the turn of a withered, shabbily dressed woman. In her time-ravished hand are two five cent coins – a miserable total of ten cents. Why does she even bother? you ask yourself, What good . . . ? Suddenly you notice that Jesus’ eyes have lit up. Excitedly, he gathers his disciples around him and proudly declares, ‘This poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on’ (Mark 12:43-44). It was the one who seemed to be giving the least, whom he exalted as giving the most.
Jesus makes visible the very heart of God. What matters to God is not how much we give but how deep we had to dig to give it; not the actual value of our contribution to the kingdom, but how much of what we have that we give. This divine principle applies to every aspect of life. If, for instance, we have almost no faith but we give God ninety percent of the little we have, the all-knowing Lord sees this as being more commendable than those who display much greater faith but are actually using only eighty percent of all the faith that they could muster. A person filled with doubts and fears and suppressed anger at God, but still doing the little he or she can to hold on to God, could easily be seen by the Lord as having more faith than someone used to raise the dead.
Taken from God is Unfair?
If the Lord could work only through people of a certain caliber, the Most High would be impotent and dependent upon human abilities. That’s unthinkable. Either God can move the world through you or he isn’t God.
Taken from A Ministry Guaranteed
Net-Burst.Net
I recognize the space limitations of church bulletins, etc so the minimum I require is: © See www.Net-burst.Net at the end of a quote. There is no need to specify the exact webpage it is from. However, if the quote is used in a webpage, www.Net-burst.Net must be made into a link.
[Exciting Web Pages] [Hurting?] [Daily Quotes] [Creativity] [Bless & Be Blessed by Facebook] [E-mail]