“Relationship, not information, is the real gain of honesty. Company, more than data, is what our souls truly seek.”- Alicia Britt Chole “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart.”- Psalm 13:2 (NIV) “My Father, I do not understand you, but I trust you.”- Basilea Schlink […]
“Coming clean improves our relationship with God, the people we serve, and ourselves. Church basement honesty is much more empowering and fruitful than relying on false, wishful verdicts about ourselves as we nudge God out of the picture.”- Scott Sauls “In the beginning God created man in his own image, and man has been trying […]
“Honesty about sin and brokenness is not justifying them or somehow accepting them as good. The opposite is true. Ignoring these things or condemning our sin and moving on is a failure to take them seriously. . . . Honesty in prayer is a rejection of dishonesty, or a lack of transparency, in prayer.”- Kyle […]
“Are we familiar with God’s character in our wrestling seasons? . . . God does not define us by our doubts or fears. God not only sees our sin and shame through the cross of Jesus Christ, but takes on our striving as well. His striving is through service and surrender, and we can take […]
“Just as there are reasons for success, there are reasons for failure. . . . The problem isn’t out there somewhere; it’s in here. You’re the common denominator in every scenario. It’s time to be done with doing the same things and expecting different results.”- Bob Merritt As Bob Merritt concludes Chapter 4 of Done […]
“The most insidious lie we can believe about God is that He is somehow against us.”- Mark Batterson “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”- Romans 5:8 In Chapter 2 (“The Most Terrifying Fact”) of If, Mark Batterson quotes from author Eric Mataxas’ […]
“Faith built on preference is capable of producing only an incomplete theology.”- Matt Bays As Matt Bays concludes Chapter 5 of Finding God in the Ruins, he reminds his readers of the Scripture verse printed on the page preceding Chapter 1: “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, […]
Today June Hunt discusses the prerequisites for restored relationships as part of the fourth stage of forgiveness. Stage Four: Find Oneness. In his book A Minute of Margin, author and physician Richard Swenson said: “It is not revenge that heals. It is not litigation, or time, or distance that heals. It is forgiveness and- when […]
“I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.”- Psalm 57:2 (NIV) “If God can bring blessing from the broken body of Jesus and glory from something that’s obscene as the cross, He can bring blessing from my problems and my pain and my unanswered prayer.”- Anne Graham Lotz […]
Bill Hybels continues Chapter 7 of Simplify by encouraging you to take an assessment of your friendship circles. This assessment is vital to simplifying your relational world. It’s being a good steward of your life and taking a realistic look at the natural influence of others on you. In Proverbs 6:16-20, Solomon lists seven character […]
In Chapter 1 of Simplify, Bill Hybels tells of the time a few years ago when he felt so depleted for months that his wife and kids suggested he spend time at the family cottage in Michigan- alone. God took the scales off Pastor Hybels’ eyes in a little grocery store in town when he […]
“Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”- James 4:7 Sara Horn concludes Chapter 7 of How Can I Possibly Forgive? with a discussion of six Steps to Overcoming Discord, based on James 4:7. The first two steps are presented today. 1. Submit to God. We don’t like the word […]