“When you feel the battle of an internal tug-of-war, rejoice! If the Holy Spirit wasn’t at work in you and around you, you’d have no such conflict. You’d just . . . keep your own plans and go about your day. . . . The Holy Spirit will always advocate for you to practice the […]
“In our own contemporary context of the rat race of anxiety, the celebration of Sabbath is an act of both resistance and alternative. It is resistance because it is a visible insistence that our lives are not defined by production and commodity goods.”- Walter Brueggemann, Sabbath as Resistance (2014) In Chapter 5 (“Sabbath: The Rhythm […]
“Even the most imperfect, messy forgiveness filled with hesitation and resistance is better than letting bitterness have its way with your heart. The sum total of even the smallest inklings and considerations of forgiveness is always better than one moment of full-on bitterness.”- Lysa TerKeurst In Chapter 14 (“Living the Practice of Forgiveness Every Day”), […]
“I know what it feels like to have been hurt so deeply that forgiveness feels like a command too cruel for you to consider. Or, it’s a spiritual theory you might think about one day after a lot more time has passed. Or, it’s a topic you’ve been avoiding and don’t care to discuss.”- Lysa […]
Your Blue Flame . . . Makes You Come Alive (Zondervan, 2020) Your Blue Flame: Drop the Guilt and Do What Makes You Come Alive is the third book by Jennifer Fulwiler. Jennifer’s blue flames include standup comic and host of a daily talk show on SiriusXM. In addition, Jennifer and her husband Joe parent […]
“[A priest friend] said, ‘The devil’s best trick is convincing us that what we had before was the only thing we could ever have.’ When you lose the ability to do the work you love, the devil — Resistance — wants you to believe this is it. This was your blue flame, and now it’s […]
“One of the most powerful ways to inoculate yourself from the poison of Resistance is to depersonalize your work. . . . When Resistance pulls up a chair and starts its insults, respond with this attitude: You can tell me my work is terrible and it’s going nowhere and it’s all a waste. But I […]
“I now look for three telltale signs of Resistance. I know I need to fight against whatever is holding me back if the voice I’m hearing is discouraging, divisive, or devaluing. . . . When I talk about Resistance, I mean the jumble of thoughts and emotions and messages that swirl in your head. . […]
“Nathan realized his job was done. He had delivered the message. The results belonged to God. . . . God would take it from there. What a picture of God’s marvelous grace. His work, done His way, accomplishes His purposes for His glory.”- Charles Swindoll Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the […]
“Another striking aspect of these stories (call narratives): even though people almost always have an initial response of resistance, God never reacts by saying, ‘Oh, I can see where this would be pretty scary. Okay, never mind. I’ll get somebody else.’ “- John Ortberg Today John Ortberg discusses the second and third consistent patterns found […]
“Often the reason we give for not doing something is not the real reason. Sometimes we don’t know what’s behind the resistance.”- John Ortberg Pastor John Ortberg concludes Chapter 5 of When the Game is Over as he presents the second and third barriers to naming the rope. 2. Sometimes we would rather complain about […]
“Use every tool at your disposal to resist the Resistance, push through the trouble, climb the mountains and get the work done.”- Tom Eggebrecht In Chapter 14 (“Resist the Resistance”) of Fully and Creatively Alive, Tom Eggebrecht recommends reading The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. Writing in The War of Art, Pressfield puts his […]