Share this author:
The abundance of fruit comes out of intimacy with the Lord.
More is accomplished by spending time in God's presence than by doing anything else.
Suffering is seeing what Jesus sees, and joy is doing what Jesus does.
You are God's dream with skin on
You are a paintbrush in hands of the Artist.
Don't waste your time consuming what makes you weak. Spend your time pressing in for the Presence. Become so intimate with Jesus, so full of Him, that it does not matter what challenges in life present themselves to you. You will be so spiritually full that you can feed a multitude of other people's needs. Jesus will give you more than enough.
If you have God's presence, you have favor. One minute of God's presence can accomplish more than 20 years of your striving.
If God is not with us, we do not want to continue. If the Sermon on the Mount is simply impractical, our mission work is hopeless. We have no backup plan. We have nothing but Him.
God is not about using the mighty but the willing. He is not into using amazing people, just ones who prepared to lay their lives down to him. God is not looking for extraordinary, exceptionally gifted people, just laid down lovers of Jesus who will carry his glory with transparency and not take it for themselves
Ministry is simply about loving the person in front of you.
God told me once, 'I want you to come up to the lowest place.'
Ministry, however, is simply loving the person in front of you. It's about stopping for the one and being the very fragrance of Jesus to a lost and dying world.
The poor know they are in need.
God wants your ministry to flow from the realization that you are a beloved child of God. In that place you don't worry too much about how people see you. You don't worry too much about whether they're nice or mean. You don't even worry about whether they love you or hate you. You don't worry because you're simply going to love them and love Him. This comes from knowing who He is and what He thinks of you. This is what it means to grasp you are a child of God.
As our hearts become pure, our vision becomes clearer.
To be a son or daughter of God also means you are royalty. This is the greatest of privileges, but it is also an awesome responsibility. If you are truly thankful to God and want to please Him with all your heart, you must do more than just recognize your own authority. You must use it. He asks you to give love as freely as you have received itЂ' not just to those who deserve it but also to everyone He puts in front of you.
If you are called as a missionaryЂ'a 'sent-out oneЂќЂ'then you are called to comfort those who mourn. You are called to love the broken until they understand God's loveЂ'a love that never diesЂ'through you.
No can be an anointed word. We cannot be saviors to all. We are servants, daughters, sons, and brides, but not saviors. There is only one Savior. We cannot have His job. We are called and allowed to rest. God is able to keep His world going, and in the meantime it is very important we do not do more than He is asking.
But God's love is big enough to touch any life, to make light out of any darkness. Jesus came that we might have life, so that no more would we have to die in depression, anger or pain. He loved people back to life. He would go anywhere, talk to anyone. And wherever He went, He would stop for the one-- the forgotten one, the one who was rejected, outcast, sick, even stone dead. Even a thief who was dying for his crimes on the cross next to Him. In the Kingdom of God's love there is no sinner who cannot come home.
I believe that Jesus would have given His life for just one person. Jesus emptied Himself, He humbled Himself and He so yielded Himself to His Father's love that He had no ambition of His own. He was not looking to build an empire, He did not want praise or adulation or to impress people with who or how many followed Him. He stopped over and over again for just one person, for just one life.
Every single human being is created in the image of God; created for dignity, created for the Father's love, created for kindness, created for mercy.
The only currency that will heal every culture is ceaseless love. To be a minister, we must walk like Jesus, talk like Jesus, and be like Jesus for a broken and dying world.
The only currency that will heal every culture is ceaseless love.
A new breed of ministers is rising up who will not wear out for the gospel. They are so caught up in passion, unity, and fullness that they run out and say, 'World, here I come!Ђќ If they go into places where they get shot at, they are thrilled. If they do not get shot at, they are thrilled. If the place they go is filthy, they are thrilled. If it is clean, they are thrilled. Jesus is the joy set before them. He is their exceedingly great reward.
But Jesus always leaves the ninety-nine to chase after the one. He always searches for the one lost coin.
All I could think of was what a privilege it was to give my life away for love's sake.
If you stand, worship, and love God in the midst of lack and difficulty, you will never lose
I don't want to grow up, I want to grow down
It's not complicated. Just love the one in front of you.
If we are not full of Him we have nothing to offer to anyone else.