“In the beginning, in Eden, human vulnerability was exquisite. Then came the Fall, and hiding, and shame. And it became excruciating. Then Jesus entered into our vulnerability, so that one day it might become exquisite again. That is our hope.”- John Ortberg John Ortberg concludes Chapter 9 of I’d Like You More . . . […]
“It is true that sometimes God doesn’t become our only hope until God becomes our only hope.”- Jared C. Wilson Jared Wilson concludes Chapter 9 of The Imperfect Disciple as he notes that grace goes all the way down to our deepest pain. In fact, Pastor Wilson posits that we’ve all prayed “I just want […]
“Our daily life communicates where our hope and trust is placed; we are actually ‘praying’ with our words and deeds every day.”- Jared C. Wilson As Jared Wilson concludes Chapter 5 of The Imperfect Disciple, he describes prayer as “spilling your guts.” Therefore, prayer doesn’t have to be pretty, tidy, particularly eloquent, or even particularly […]
“God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty.”- Peter Marshall Os Hillman applies the Joseph calling to the larger stories of Jacob, Moses, and Paul, respectively, in Chapters 14-16 of The Joseph Calling. Next, in Chapter 17 […]
“When we truly grow, then obeying God no longer looks like something that requires an appreciation banquet. It looks like what should come naturally, like something that needs to be done.”- John Ortberg John Ortberg concludes Chapter 6 of The Me I Want to Be with four stages of spiritual growth. 1. Incompetent and unaware. […]
“In learning to hear the voice of God, one thing is certain — if you cannot hear a ‘no,’ you will have a hard time hearing from God at all or believing that what you think you’ve heard is in fact from God.”- John Eldredge As John Eldredge begins the Winter section of Walking with […]
“But even if You don’t/ My hope is You alone”- MercyMe “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we […]
“We all hope, but hope comes in two flavors- hoping for something and hoping in someone.”- John Ortberg, Know Doubt In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”- 1 Corinthians 15:52 (KJV) It’s almost 7:30 pm […]
” ‘How long, Lord?’ in the Bible is seen as a powerful prayer of hope. Far from a complaint, this lament is a bold declaration that God is present, hears, and is powerful to act on our behalf.”- Esther Fleece “How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?”- Habakkuk 1:2 […]
“The word we use when we refer to God’s sovereign control and arrangement of life is . . . a word punctuated by truth and postulated by accuracy. that word is providence.”- Dr. Tony Evans ” . . .. which He will bring about at the proper time — He who is the blessed and […]
“Grace has no gaps and love knows no limits. Love endures all things.”- Judah Smith Pastor Judah Smith concludes Chapter 5 of How’s Your Soul? by discussing the third and fourth characteristics of love, as found in 1 Corinthians 13:7. 3. Love hopes all things. Authentic God-love functions all the time. As the author quips: “No […]
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”- 1 John 4:7 In Chapter 5 (“Is Love God or Is God Love?”) of How’s Your Soul?, Judah Smith states […]