Here Am I

"So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their..."

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:50:19 -0400

“So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.”

- 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 (via gems-in-scripture)

"It saddens me that in many churches today, you hardly hear the name of Jesus being mentioned...."

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:42:19 -0400

““It saddens me that in many churches today, you hardly hear the name of Jesus being mentioned. Instead, you hear psychology being taught. You hear motivational teachings. You hear ‘doing, doing, doing’, ‘vision, vision, vision’ or ‘calling, calling, calling’. You hear very little of Jesus Christ and His finished work being taught. Is this what Christianity is about? Your doing, your calling and your vision?” ~Joseph Prince”

- (via createdforintimacy)

jameshartley: We all have our own kind of dusting…

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:38:40 -0400

jameshartley:

We all have our own kind of dusting…

“Ears that hear and eyes that see— the LORD has made them both.” - Proverbs...

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:36:00 -0400

“Ears that hear and eyes that see— the LORD has made them both.” - Proverbs 20:12

“We are more dependent upon God than we realize. Everything that we see and hear is processed according to the design of God. This means that sound and color are His gifts to us—so is an understanding of His word. God opens the eyes that He has made and the ears that He has fashioned so that we can know Him. So we can trust in God’s ability to get our attention, for we have already been given all that we need to respond to Him.”

- Dave Whitehead

"May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:34:44 -0400

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

- Romans 15:5-6

spiritualinspiration: 10 Great Quotes from Francis Chan We say...

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:05:10 -0400

spiritualinspiration:

10 Great Quotes from Francis Chan

We say things like, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” and “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” Then we live and plan like we don’t believe God even exists. We try to set our lives up so everything will be fine even if God doesn’t come through. But true faith means holding nothing back. It means putting every hope in God’s fidelity to His promises.

Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.

If life were stable, I’d never need God’s help. Since it’s not, I reach out for Him regularly. I am thankful for the unknowns and that I don’t have control, because it makes me run to God.

We are consumed by safety. Obsessed with it, actually. Now, I’m not saying it is wrong to pray for God’s protection, but I am questioning how we’ve made safety our highest priority. We’ve elevated safety to the neglect of whatever God’s best is, whatever would bring God the most glory, or whatever would accomplish His purposes in our lives and in the world.

Christians today like to play it safe. We want to put ourselves in situations where we are safe “even if there is no God.” But if we truly desire to please God, we cannot live that way. We have to do things that cost us during our life on earth but will be more than worth it in eternity.

To be brutally honest, it doesn’t really matter what place you find yourself in right now. Your part is to bring Him glory—whether eating a sandwich on a lunch break, drinking coffee at 12:04 a.m. so you can stay awake to study, or watching your four-month-old take a nap. The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing, God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing is His. It is His movie, His world, His gift.

This is the God we serve, the God who knew us before He made us. The God who promises to remain with us and rescue us. The God who loves us and longs for us to love Him back.

God has allowed hard things in your life so you can show the world that your God is great and that knowing Him brings peace and joy, even when life is hard.

A friend of mine once said that Christians are like manure: spread them out and they help everything grow better, but keep them in one big pile and they stink horribly.

It is easy to become disillusioned with the circumstances of our lives compared to others’. But in the presence of God, He gives us a deeper peace and joy that transcends it all.

"How do you define your measure of good? At what point has someone reached the maximum level of good..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:04:51 -0400

“How do you define your measure of good? At what point has someone reached the maximum level of good deeds to be considered fit for Heaven or to be called good people? Isn’t it sort of exhausting to chase after this definition of ‘good’ if it’s never quite good enough? It sounds very arbitrary to me: because it is.

I think we need to throw out this word ‘good’ from our theological vocabulary, because there was only ONE good person in all of history and we killed him on a cross. Everyone else is either desperately pursuing an idea of ‘good’ to compensate for their shortcomings, or they’re pursuing after the only True Good who can save.”

- J.S. from this post (via jspark3000)

Rebuild.: Read this a couple years ago, but it came to mind recently again....

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:04:18 -0400

Rebuild.: Read this a couple years ago, but it came to mind recently again....:

coincidencenot:

Read this a couple years ago, but it came to mind recently again. Apparently Jaeson Ma’s blog/website is being worked on, so I had to find it otherwise. But just wanted to keep it here for myself.

I spent the day with a group of men in our house church learning what it takes to be a man of God…

We serve a Holy God.

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:53:08 -0400

We serve a Holy God.

"God’s definition of what matters is pretty straightforward. He measures our lives by how we love."

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:21:52 -0400

““God’s definition of what matters is pretty straightforward. He measures our lives by how we love.””

- Francis Chan (via littlethingsaboutgod)

"Education, in order to keep up the mighty delusion, encourages a species of ignorance. People are..."

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:33:29 -0400

“Education, in order to keep up the mighty delusion, encourages a species of ignorance. People are not taught to be really virtuous, but to behave properly. We are wicked because we are frightfully self-conscious. We nurse a conscience because we are afraid to tell the truth to others; we take refuge in pride because we are afraid to tell the truth to ourselves. How can one be serious with the world when the world itself is so ridiculous!”

-
Okakura Kakuzō | The Book of Tea

(via blogut)

the-tight-life: wide-awake-in-dreamland: chubby-nerfherder: Th...

Sat, 18 May 2013 21:17:11 -0400

the-tight-life:

wide-awake-in-dreamland:

chubby-nerfherder:

These are my favorite things in the entire world.

Words cannot describe the love I have for this.

Oh my goddddd this is the best thing I’ve ever seen

"Before Jesus ever suggested, “Go and sin no more,” He first welcomed, loved, spent time with and..."

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:34:32 -0400

“Before Jesus ever suggested, “Go and sin no more,” He first welcomed, loved, spent time with and truly received unrepentant sinners, the men and women around him, He took them at face value, without any form of judgement. Those who were comfortable and willing to remain in the life they were living, Jesus cared for them. But though we profess to love like He loves; we often put our energy, time, effort and heart into changing the behaviour of others, rather than introducing them to His astounding grace, acceptance and love. Jesus never said a pre-requisite to receiving love was to be sinless, spotless, blameless and perfect. No. In fact, He loved generously and without hesitation; unconditionally. He desires to minister not only to you, but through you - it’s time to drop the judgemental hypocrisy and our ranking of sins and lifestyles, and start loving… Really loving.”

- Jacinta / hope-movement.tumblr.com (via hope-movement)

"The fact that you’re struggling doesn’t make you a burden. It doesn’t make you unloveable or..."

Sat, 18 May 2013 09:52:12 -0400

“The fact that you’re struggling doesn’t make you a burden. It doesn’t make you unloveable or undesirable or undeserving of care. It doesn’t make you too much or too sensitive or too needy. It makes you human. Everyone struggles. Everyone has a difficult time coping, and at times, we all fall apart. During these times, we aren’t always easy to be around — and that’s okay. No one is easy to be around one hundred percent of the time. Yes, you may sometimes be unpleasant or difficult. And yes, you may sometimes do or say things that make the people around you feel helpless or sad. But those things aren’t all of who you are and they certainly don’t discount your worth as a human being. The truth is that you can be struggling and still be loved. You can be difficult and still be cared for. You can be less than perfect, and still be deserving of compassion and kindness.”

- Daniell Koepke (via hislivingpoetry)

on queue, but posted in perfect timing
(via xtineliang)

risingofthesun: Swords and Cups of Water

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:26:06 -0400

risingofthesun: Swords and Cups of Water:

jonathonwebb:

“I found Rome a city of brick and I left it a city of marble.” - Augustus Caesar

“If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” - Jesus Christ

Jesus…

"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with..."

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:54:51 -0400

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”

- Kahlil Gibran (via quote-book)

The Long Road Ahead

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:29:36 -0400

For the first time in yet another long stretch of time, I knelt before God and prayed. I decided for once to shut up, despite my questions and doubts, and God spoke to me. Not in words, but I suppose you would call it a vision. I asked God to give me guidance for the time ahead of me, and lay in silence.

In my mind was a road. It wound back and forth and continued going. It would make sudden turns and I seemed to be following a car, which I assumed to represent myself on this road. It kept going, up and down and to the sides, long enough to make me want to say, “enough, God, what does this all mean,” yet I held on. On every stretch of the road the volume of cars around me would be different as well. On this road that continuously wound was a steady volume of traffic.

The road then veered off to the side for a short while, and I was alone. This road had a few turns in itself and then rose up onto another road, dense with traffic. This road itself continued to go on and on, and before me I saw was approaching this steep valley. As we approached, my eyes were fixed on the other side, to getting there would be my main goal above all else. Yet as I gazed at it, I failed to see the steep drop that I would endure. I turned my eyes down and followed my car rocketing all the way down to the bottom of the valley.

As I sped along the bottom of the valley I had expected the car to be able to rocket up to the top of the valley on the other side, where I expected to go. It would seem that the laws of physics still apply in a vision, so my car slid backwards back down into the valley. As I sat there, I turned my eyes to the side and there was a road, not straight up but taking the height of the valley wall in levels so as to get to the top.

Finally as I finished racing up to my destination, the other side of the road across the valley, everyone raced on but I sat looking back over the valley. What did this all mean, God? And I received my reply.

Your road over the next few weeks and months will be winding and will take you to a lot of places. It will be long and it will be tedious. Yet as you have seen, I have guided you before and I will continue to do so now. At times, just as on that one road you were alone, at times you will feel alone but it is because I am teaching you and bringing you somewhere else you are needed to go.

The valley is the sum of tasks ahead of you. You want many things to work out for you, you have many expectations. You have my heart, but not my ways. Your eyes, as in the valley, were so fixed on the other side, the steep drop and holding on were not your main focus. When you got to the other valley wall, you expected to get up there on your own power and will, but it did not work. Just as in the valley, I will provide alternative ways, do not always expect your ways to be the only way. No matter what, I will provide, and I will bring you to where you need to be.

I praise God, but also fall convicted, knowing that in my silence He answered me. For once, God was in the center of my prayers, and not my problems. For how much bigger is our God than our small problems? He has overcome sin and death! Whatever long road lays ahead of me, I pray in my circumstances that I bring Him glory.

To God be the praise for all He’s done and will do.

"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a..."

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:55:56 -0400

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

- 1 Peter 5:10

Through the Father's Eyes: I'm here.

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:18:28 -0400

Through the Father's Eyes: I'm here.:

wordsthatyousay:

every time i hear those words, somehow i’m immediately brought to tears because of the sheer simplicity and beauty of the phrase. whether it’s from the people i care about dearly, or it’s in the whisper of the Spirit’s reassurances, there is something utterly comforting about knowing that you’re…

wizardsandhijack: hospitalf0rsouls: Omfg so if Mary had baby Jesus, and baby Jesus was the Lamb of...

Tue, 14 May 2013 23:20:47 -0400

wizardsandhijack:

hospitalf0rsouls:

Omfg so if Mary had baby Jesus, and baby Jesus was the Lamb of God…

did Mary have a little lamb?

you broke the world