The devil can be resisted, and we surely need to do that more often, don't we? When we've been discouraged by the apparent hopelessness of our situation, we need to stiffen our resolve and do what is right, if not out of hope then out of defiance. https://t.co/WH7hP36tbF
The world stands under the judgment of God for its rebellion. Unrepentant, the world is doomed to destruction. When Christ returns, that doom will fall. The only ones who will not be touched by the devastation will be those who are delivered. https://t.co/FvBaoesibB
We spend our lives leaning on props rather than God. We're hiding from the truth, of course, but as long as our props are in place, we don't worry about our alienation. Deep down, our hearts are a lonely void, but we're too busy to think about it. https://t.co/s7XvsUpEMo
When the things you cherish are taken away from you, you will grow in wisdom. You'll learn more from losing things than you ever learned by gaining them. And what you'll learn is that God is all you have to have, the one thing you can't do without. https://t.co/2RMmaoOGOc
With too much tranquility, we tend to forget God. We need to get out of our ruts and go on some fearful adventures, the kind that require real faith. If we don't, God may have to disturb us. He may have to say, "Get out of your country . . ." https://t.co/BJl7qdH93E
If God's love for us is active, then our response to Him must also be active. He will help us do whatever needs to be done (Philippians 4:13), but He won't force salvation upon any person who doesn't care enough to seek Him diligently.
Most of our deeds have to be done without any foreknowledge of their outcome. Hope doesn't mean confidence that things will work out as we wish, but confidence that God's purposes will be accomplished, even if we have no idea what is going to happen.
We are a busy people with little time to meditate on God. But do we have so little longing for God because we're busy, or are we so busy because we have little longing for God? Once we answer that with integrity, things will start looking up.
When we're counting our blessings we need to count those times when we're forced to face our need for God. Any episode of "hunger" that disrupts our sense of self-sufficiency and brings us back to the reality of our need is to be appreciated.
Thinking rightly about the God who is our Creator is vital. Remembering -- rather than forgetting -- what God has done in the past is the key to dealing reverently with God in the present and to thinking clearly about His promises in the future.
When we're young, we haven't lived long enough to look at events from anything but a very short perspective. Later, we can judge the value of things much more easily, because we can see them within a larger context. Age widens the lens of life. https://t.co/Qr0XfkcA2s
We should pray that God will bring to naught any course of action on our part that is inconsistent with His purposes. And we ought never to be more grateful than when He has defeated the foolish little kingdoms that we set up in defiance of His. https://t.co/4N5BN9pj5V
Canaan was different than anything Abraham could have imagined in Ur, but the result of sojourning there was also better than anything he could have enjoyed elsewhere. He "waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." https://t.co/mUMFOwZ0zg
We need to live life with death in mind. Our minds should be governed by neither a morbid fascination with death nor a gloomy fatalism, but simply a healthy understanding that we have only a few days in which to get our work done. https://t.co/5Hlkktbdwp
With our words we may say God is our most pressing priority, but if our schedule books show that on most days we spend very little time on that pursuit, who are we fooling? Where our heart is, there our "To Do" list will be also. https://t.co/aXtBSL49Q5
We need something superior to us to reach toward. Though we often suppose that independence, autonomy, and equality are the things we need, what we really need is a Being who is higher than we -- One in whose supremacy and sovereignty we may rest. https://t.co/0uKZfY4tIl
If God hasn't yet judged the world that doesn't mean He is indifferent to evil; it means He is still holding the door of salvation open. His longsuffering is nothing less than our salvation. We are the world's greatest fools if we don't see that. https://t.co/tqYJPZzDVG
Any goal less powerful than being with God in eternity will fail to keep us going. We must fix our hearts upon our Lord and determine that we are going to run the race, come whatever may. There can be no question or equivocation about it. https://t.co/mP02pLbAlK
We should reject our pre-Christian past decisively. If thinking about "Egypt" tempts us to go back, even if it's just in our hearts, we must determine not to do it. After all, it is not backward but forward that we are reaching. To the Promised Land! https://t.co/WxuxxOEdd1
Your activities must be motivated by love, first for God and second for your neighbor. If that's the case (and God knows whether it is or not), then discouragement will not defeat you. Other motives may falter, but "many waters cannot quench love." https://t.co/s9aKfx8muR