“When you can step into openness and stop pretending, you find yourself coming alive. Hiddenness and pretense are always the enemy of flourishing.”- John Ortberg In Chapter 17 (“Be Human”) of The Me I Want to Be, John Ortberg notes our own need to look better than we are contributes to a culture of superficiality. […]
“Not only do we suffer when we live in disconnectedness, but then other people whom God place around us get cheated out of the love God intended us to give them (emphasis author’s).”- John Ortberg “Anyone who does not love remains in death.”- 1 John 3:14 John Ortberg concludes Chapter 16 of The Me I […]
“Part of what it means to be made in God’s image is our capacity for connectedness, because god created human beings and then said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18, TLB).’ “- John Ortberg In Chapter 16 (“Make Life-Giving Relationships a Top Priority”) of The Me I Want to Be, […]
“Being alone with God, you can fully be yourself.”- John Ortberg “When you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”- Matthew 6:6 In Chapter 15 of The Me I Want to Be, John […]
“This [self-] examination, however, should be peaceful and tranquil, and we should depend on God for the discovery and knowledge of our sins, rather than on the diligence of our own scrutiny.”- John Ortberg “He [Sampson] awoke from his sleep and thought, ‘I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.’ But he did not […]
“Do you hear any beeping sounds there [your soul]?”- John Ortberg “Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.”- Psalm 19:12-13 In Chapter 14 (“When You Find Yourself Out of the Flow”) of The Me I Want to Be, John Ortberg […]
“But sin is the deadliest force because it takes us out of the flow of the Spirit.”- John Ortberg In Chapter 13 (“Recognize Your Primary Flow Blocker”) of The Me I Want to Be, John Ortberg encourages us to give serious thought to how God grades our moral character. That is, grade out in the […]
“Real freedom is not the external freedom to gratify every appetite; it is the internal freedom not to be enslaved by our appetites.”- John Ortberg In Chapter 12 (“Temptation: How Not to Get Hooked”) of The Me I Want to Be, John Ortberg tells of when he and his wife fly-fished for the first time. Reflecting […]
“God is the constant gracious listener to our every thought, and prayer begins when we bring what we most naturally think about before God.”- John Ortberg “But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”- Philippians 4:6 (ESV) As John Ortberg concludes Chapter 11 of The Me […]
“Countless people . . . have such a ‘stained-glass’ image of prayer that they fail to recognize what they are experiencing as prayer and so condemn themselves for not praying.”- Richard Foster, Prayer (1992) In Chapter 11 (“Let Your Talking Flow Into Praying”) of The Me I Want to Be, John Ortberg asks, “How is […]
“Never worry alone. One of the most powerful ways to stop the spiral of worry is simply to disclose my worry to a friend.”- John Ortberg “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”- Romans 12:2 John Ortberg concludes Chapter 10 of The Me I […]
“Peace doesn’t come from finding a lake with no storms. It comes from having Jesus in the boat.”- John Ortberg “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.”- John 14:27 (NIV) In Chapter […]