From Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership

If you are facing a major challenge that feels like an impasse, God may be inviting you to more stillness and a commitment not to act until you have heard from God. — Ruth Haley Barton

From the Reach Report

His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the nations. His authority in heaven gives us our only hope of success. And His presence with us leaves us no other choice. — John Stott

From a Tim Keller sermon

Under every behavioral sin is the sin of idolatry, and under every act of idolatry is a disbelief in the gospel. — Martin Luther

From a friend's prayer

Waiting on God is not so much a test of patience as it is an opportunity for your soul to grow. — paraphrased of Bob Gemmell

From Paul Borthwick's How to be a World-Class Christian

The saint who advances on his knees never retreats. — Jim Elliot

From Practicing the Presence of God

Whether God leads us by suffering or by consolation all is equal to a soul completely surrendered. — paraphrase of Brother Lawrence

From a missionary friend's prayer letter

Someone once said that the only thing worse than waiting on the Lord is to wish you had! — Brad & Rebecca Howe

From a book

Whether God come to His children with a rod or a crown, if He come Himself with it, it is well. Welcome, welcome, Jesus, what way soever Thou come, if we can get a sight of Thee ! — Samuel Rutherfor

Book online here. Quote from page 204, section starts page 203.

From a sermon

The major reason for the Church's powerlessness in the city today is the lack of true discipleship on the part of most church members. Few merit the name Christian. Materialism has made church members virtually indistinguishable from the rest of mankind. The world's way of thinking and doing has by and large taken over and consequently the Church has little to say to the city. No honest and informed observer can deny that the supreme need of the Church is a radical rediscovery of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. — Roger Greenway (quoted by Philip Ryken)

From a sermon

When doing is divorced from being, pious thoughts become a substitute for washing dirty feet. — Brennan Manning

From Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership

One of the main lessons we learn during this stage of the spiritual journey is that God is not in any particular hurry to get us to the Promised Land. He is much more concerned about the transforming work he is doing in us to prepare us for greater responsibilities of freedom living. Onlookers may observe our journey and, like Pharaoh, think we are just wandering around aimlessly, but God knows what he is doing; he is concerned about strengthening our faith so that we are prepared when there are real challenges to be faced. — Ruth Haley Barton

The stage to which she is referring is exemplified by the Israelites after they've left Egypt but prior to getting to the Red Sea when God intentionally led them "in a roundabout way."

From an Operation World Tweet

When you pray, rather let your heart be without words than your words without heart. — John Bunyan

From a blog site

I want my children to grow up understanding that life with Jesus is more than just being nice, or trying not to cuss and get drunk because “that is what good Christians do.” I want my children to be so compelled by the real Jesus that they are willing to stand with him, giving their lives to his revolution, not in order to be religious but because there is simply no more exhilarating way to live. I want my kids to see my wife and me as revolutionaries who subvert the dominant belief systems of the world, not out of religious obligation but in wholehearted response to the person of Jesus. — Mike Erre in Jesus of Suburbia

Question asked as follow up to this: How can we as parents LIVE in such a way that our kids know we are pursuing God’s glory and not our own comfort, pleasure, success, etc…?

From The Hole in Our Gospel

God uses our most painful seasons to deepen our faith and conform us to His will. — Richard Stearns

From The Hole in Our Gospel

Faith today is treated as something that only should make us different, not that actually does or can make us different. In reality we vainly struggle against the evils of this world, waiting to die and go to heaven. Somehow we've gotten the idea that the essence of faith is entirely a mental inward thing. — Dallas Willard

From Twitter

Faith is not only a function of the brain, it must also be an investment of the heart. True faith always results in new and radical living. — Paul Tripp

From trying to process some constructive criticism

Be careful of confusing a lack of exuberance and a quieted surrender to God's sovereignty with a lack of passion for the work of building His kingdom. — Jim VanDuzer

From a blog on the "dark night of the soul"

Never doubt in the darkness what God has shown you in the light. — Dr. V. Raymond Edman

During such a "dark night of the soul" (the term used by sixteenth-century mystic St. John of the Cross), the Christian can only cling to faith with the will, for the emotions have already given up the fight. Usually, however, the feelings eventually return, and faith is left stronger than ever. — Kathrine Swarts

From my daily cartoons...

This cartoon continues to crack me up for some reason. 

© 2010 by Dan Piraro

Eternal Darnation

Slightly sacreligious...but it made me laugh. Theology is all wrong...I get that. Anyway...

© 2010 by Dan Piraro

From Pastor Joe's sermon this morning

God will eventually test you in all areas of your life, but He will not let your trials become greater than you can bear. Let God use trials to help you grow. Do not measure your progress, your strength, or what God is doing. His work is not less efficient because what He is doing is invisible. Much of God's work is done in secret because you would not die to yourself if He always visibly stretched out His hand to save you. God does not transform you on a bed of light, life and grace. His transformation is done on the cross in darkness, poverty, and death. — Francois Fenelon in The Seeking Heart

From blog on RelevantMagazine.com

When you're waiting, you're not doing nothing. You're doing the most important something there is. You're allowing your soul to grow up. If you can't be still and wait, you can't become what God created you to be. — a monk (see article)

From Augustine's Confessions

And man desires to praise You, for he is a part of Your creation; he bears his mortality about with him and carries the evidence of his sin and the proof that You resist the proud. Still he desires to praise You, this man who is only a small part of Your creation. You have prompted him, that he should delight to praise You, for You have made us for Yourself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in You. — St Augustine

From my sister's FB status

I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. — Robert McCloskey

From Relevant Magazine Online

The Bible is an inspired means to reach the inspired end—worshiping and glorifying God forever. If we spend our lifetime studying Scripture without getting to know Christ better, we are missing the whole point. — Matt Ward (from this article in Relevant)

From a Facebook Comment from a Friend

“If you haven't met the devil face to face, then maybe you are traveling the same way he is!” (Be grateful for the times you know you are not traveling along side of him!)

Thanks Melody!

Texting While Driving

lol...this literally made me laugh out loud...but then, I'm just weird.

© 2010 by Dan Piraro

From an article on Corrie Ten Boom

God prepares us a lifetime for what we accomplish in our last years. He uses the knowledge, experiences — good and bad — to grow us in character and strength to become that person He created us to be. — author of the article Patricia Walston

From My Utmost for His Highest (Apr 29)

Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life — gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. This is generally expressed with a sigh of sadness, but it should be an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. As soon as we abandon ourselves to God and do the task He has placed closest to us, He begins to fill our lives with surprises. — Oswald Chambers

Full reading here.

From my daily cartoons...

Click image to enlarge.

© 2010 by Piraro

From a commentary on Exodus

Those who are led by God must expect to encounter that which is displeasing to the flesh, and also a constant and real testing of faith itself. God's design is to wean us from everything down here, to bring us to the place where we have no reliance upon material and human resources, to cast us completely upon Himself. — A.W. Pink

From My Utmost for His Highest (Jan 2)

One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, “What do you expect to do?” You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to “go out” in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely.… Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. — Oswald Chambers

The whole thing is really good. You can read it here.

From Crazy Love

God is not someone who can be tacked on to our lives. — Francis Chan

From Paster Joe's sermon

Despite our efforts to keep him out, God intrudes. The life of Jesus is bracketed by two impossibilities: a virgin’s womb and an empty tomb. Jesus entered our world through a door marked “No Entrance” and left through a door marked “No Exit.” — Peter Larson

From a pastor friend of mine...

..not saying who. 

"The reason dinosaurs became extinct."

From a web site of missions quotes

The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become. — Henry Martyn

For more see this site.

From Perspectives

Our obligation is to seek the expansion of the knowledge of the glory of God and His Kingdom, and this would logically require us each to prayerfully seek God about doing the hardest thing we are able to do in the most crucial task we can find. — Ralph Winter

From Mikey's Funnies

You don't stop playing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop playing. — G.B. Shaw

From another quote web site

To know that nothing hurts the godly, is a matter of comfort; but to be assured that all things which fall out shall co-operate for their good, that their crosses shall be turned into blessings, that showers of affliction water the withering root of their grace and make it flourish more; this may fill their hearts with joy till they run over. — Thomas Watson

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Similar from the same site:

God takes away the world, that the heart may cleave more to Him in sincerity. — Thomas Watson

Not to be afflicted is a sign of weakness; for, therefore God imposeth no more on me, because he sees I can bear no more. — Joseph Hall

The winter prepares the earth for the spring, so do afflictions sanctified prepare the soul for glory. — Richard Sibbes

As the wicked are hurt by the best things, so the godly are bettered by the worst. — William Jenkyn

Poverty and affliction take away the fuel that feeds pride. — Richard Sibbes

From an article handed to me relationg to teenagers

As a believer, I see God's holy standard. I recognize that it is good, yet my heart wanders to fantasy worlds where I rule with no higher agenda than the pleasure of self. It is here that I am led to cry, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!" It is when I am confronted with my utter inability to meet the demands of God's standard that I am also confronted with the reality and majesty of His grace. "Where sin increased, grace increased all the more." — Paul Tripp "The Way of the Wise: Teaching Teenagers about Sex". The Journal of Biblical Counseling. Volume 13. Number 3. Spring 1995.

From another quote web site

The will of God will never take you to where the grace of God will not protect you. To gain that which is worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else. — Bernadette Devlin

From a web site I came across

Christians must learn to distinguish between the words of a teacher, and the spirit behind those words. Often the purity and simplicity of the Gospel will be encroached upon by other teachings that, in aggregate, nullify the Gospel and lead the hearer astray into doctrines of demons (I Timothy 4:1). — Al Dager http://www.intotruth.org/res/kt1.html

From another web site

I do not feel obliged to believe that same God who endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect had intended for us to forgo their use. — Galileo

From a sermon

God is more committed to building your character than He is to preserving your comfort. — said to Crickett Keeth by a friend