“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” ― Augustine of Hippo, Confessions

“There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.” ― St. Augustine

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” ― St. Augustine

Spirit and flesh

I understood then that as long as I lived in my human body I would always have a choice to make. I could choose to live my life after the flesh, or I could choose to live after the Spirit. The flesh is always there, ready and willing to take control, and Satan works on it and through it. But the Spirit of God is even more willing to live His life of peace and power in union with our spirit. ‘He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit,’ and ‘ God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.’

If ever I was going to live any kind of a consistent life with God, I had to resist the flesh and recognize that God is God whether I always felt His presence or not. I needed to calm down and quit depending on my feelings to determine how things were going in my life because God has promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” I had seen Him move in miraculous ways too many times to doubt that He was working in my life. I had to learn to say “no” to my flesh—“I’m not going to be fearful, or angry, or doubting. I will keep my mind and my heart and my confession on Jesus, regardless of how things may look around me.”

Ben Kinchlow in Plain Bread

Free will

God has given us free will. Satan is a defeated enemy, kept in check and on a short tether by the Lord, but we can choose to walk into his territory and risk the consequences. We can willingly go against God’s will. We can choose to do things we know He doesn’t want us to do. As Paul said, we can yield our members to unrighteousness or we can choose not to.

Many people wonder why God lets us have that much freedom. The answer simply is that His Kingdom is being built on love, not coercion.

- Ben Kinchlow in Plain Bread 

A Quote from G.K. Chesterton

I had always felt life first as a story: and if there is a story, there is a  story-teller.

A Quote from A.W. Tozer on Matthew 16: 24-25:

…there is within each of us an enemy which we tolerate at our peril. Jesus called it “life” and “self”, or as we would say, the "self-life." Its chief characteristic is its possessiveness: the words ‘gain’ and ‘profit’ suggest this. To allow this enemy to live is, in the end, to lose everything. To repudiate it and give up all for Christ’s sake is to lose nothing at last, but to preserve everything unto life eternal.

Obedience

There is a danger in our evangelical religion of looking too much at what it offers from one side, as a certain experience obtained in prayer and faith.  There is another side that God's Word puts very strongly, that of obedience as the only path to blessing.

- Andrew Murray in With Christ in the School of Prayer

Joy

The story of our faith, our very existence, begins and ends in joy...Joy at the beginning, joy at the end, joy everywhere in between. Joy is God's creation and gift. No authentic biblical faith is conceivable that is not permeated with it.

-Eugene H. Peterson in As Kingfishers Catch Fire

Prayer & Forgiveness

We should pray, “forgive us just as we have forgiven others.” Scripture says, “Forgiving one another…even as Christ forgave you” (Colossians 3: 13). God’s full and free forgiveness should be the model of our forgiveness of men; otherwise, our reluctant, half-hearted forgiveness, which is not forgiveness at all, will be God’s rule with us. All of our prayers depend on our faith in God’s pardoning grace.

-Andrew Murray With Christ in the School of Prayer.

Repentance

Repentance comes from a Greek word that literally means, “to change one’s mind.” It is a change of mind that affects a change of will and, in turn, brings about a change of action.

-O.S.Hawkins

‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Love is always equated with action. Love is something we do. If our attitude is wholehearted love for Christ, then our actions will result in love for those around us.

Jesus said we are to love our neighbors “as we love ourselves.” Many who have not found their true identity in Christ have a real issue here. Many have little self-respect or self-love. This is why this commandment is directed to those who have fallen in love with the Lord Jesus, because only those of us who find our self-worth in Him can love on the level He commands.

-O.S. Hawkins

Holy Spirit - Fruit

When we come to know Christ as a personal Savior, the Father sends the Holy Spirit not only to seal us, indwell us, and fill us, but also to produce fruit through us.

O.S. Hawkins

Peace

Peace comes from being at home with ourselves. It comes from being thankful for the way God has made and gifted us. It comes from the joy of giving and an appreciation for all we receive. It comes from accepting ourselves and celebrating all that is good, while working on what needs to change.

- Henri Nouwen

Salvation

Salvation is, from start to finish, from first to last, the work of God Himself in us. He sought us. He found us. He began the good work in us. He keeps us. And one day He will present us faultless before His Father’s throne.

O.S.Hawkins - The Joshua Code

Prayer & Miracles

Seeker: Can we really move God through prayer to alter the natural course of events?

Sadhu: The scientific mind does not grasp how the author of life holds in his hands the created laws of nature. It is God who establishes the laws of nature. Thus, it is foolish to suggest that miracles violate the laws of nature. There are actually higher laws about which we know little or nothing. In prayer, we can come to gradually recognize these higher laws. Then, we understand that miracles are not only possible but even natural.

Sadhu Sunder Singh - The Apostle with the bleeding feet

Holiness

Holiness is a necessity in life -  a simple duty of all. Holiness is for everyone.

- Mother Teresa in A Simple Path

Eternal Life is A Gift

Teen: "Do you mean, if I believe in Jesus, God gives me a free ticket to Heaven?

Pastor: "Yes, a free ticket for you, but it cost Jesus his life."                                                               

We don’t “deserve” anything, anything! It’s all a gift. To understand the Gospel in its radical, transformative power, we have to stop counting, measuring, and weighing.

—Richard Rohr

God's Love

Christ's love is always stronger than the evil in the world, so we need to love and to be loved:

it's as simple as that.

- Mother Teresa  Meditations From A Simple Path

Love

Love has no meaning if it isn't shared. Love has to be put into action.

You have to love without expectation, to do something for love itself, not for what you may receive.

If you expect something in return, then it isn't love, because true love is loving without conditions and expectations.

- Mother Teresa Meditations From A Simple Path

On Faith

“Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable…and receives the impossible.”

– Corrie Ten Boom

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

“The reason birds can fly and we can’t is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.”

― J.M. Barrie

“Only in the darkness can you see the stars.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

Words of Inspiration

'The glory of God is a human being fully alive.'  Irenaeus of Antioch

The chief end of humankind is to glorify God and enjoy God forever. 

-The Westminster Shorter Catechism

Religion begins with experience - ritual, belief, and experience, and the greatest of these is experience.

-Huston Smith

Every person is created in God's image and is of high worth.