Fat with Want
When we think of our suffering as increasing our joy in God and our eternal happiness, it puts our present pain in the proper perspective.
When we think of our suffering as increasing our joy in God and our eternal happiness, it puts our present pain in the proper perspective.
Jesus is quite confident in the power of the Holy Spirit to make you like him. When he extends an invitation to discipleship, he’s not inviting you to a once-a-week church service or occasional volunteering. He is expressing his confidence in the power of grace to make you 100% like him.
When repentance becomes specific, spiritual expectation rises too (Luke 3:15). Repentance is not the goal; Jesus is! Repentance makes the heart ready for the coming of Jesus (Luke 3:16-17).
As I look back over the miles of my life, I can see that I have grown. My pace has quickened. My steps are straighter. I’m stumbling less. It’s not easy for Satan to seduce me from the path now. Grace has taught me—is teaching me—to walk.
A spiritual leader must “test everything, [and] hold fast to what is good” (I Thessalonians 5:21).
Each swing is more efficient, effective, and productive when the tool is sharp.
Jesus sometimes trained his leaders by putting them in challenging situations and evaluating their responses.
Don’t seek to be invincible. Don’t think you are the master of your fate. Instead, rejoice in your weakness.
Who are you trying to please? Pastors, who is your audience? Are you preaching to please the crowd or to please God?
“As you serve God, know that there is a power greater than all the powers that oppose the church”.