“Most Christians don’t hear God’s voice because we’ve already decided we aren’t going to do what He says.”
– A.W. Tozer
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Fourteen
“I have now reigned above 5o years in victory or peace; beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: They amount to 14.”
– Abd al-Rahman III, the Emir and Caliph of Cordoba in tenth-century Spain
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Francis Schaeffer
“We are not building God’s Kingdom. He is building His kingdom, and we praying for the privilege of being involved.”
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The burden of humility
“The burden of humility is light because a truly humble person divests himself or herself of the need for recognition. The burden of arrogance, on the other hand, grows heavier day by day. In sharing the journey of life, travel with the humble person on the quiet path.”
Joseph Marshall, “The Lakota Way”
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Anthony of the desert
“One day Anthony of the desert stepped out of his hermitage where he saw all the snares of the devil spread out like a net over the world. He let out a great groan of terror and cried out: “My God! How can anyone be saved?” A voice responded from heaven: “Humility””
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My favorite mug
My youngest gave this to me as a Christmas present. I think she got it at the dollar store. It’s probably toxic, but I use it everyday.
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“The weakness of so many modern Christians is they feel too much at home in the world.”
A.W. Tozer
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“Do it Anyway” – Mother Teresa
“People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway”
This version is credited to Mother Teresa
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“The farther I run away from the place where God dwells, the less I am able to hear the voice that calls me the Beloved, and the less I hear that voice, the more entangled I become in the manipulations and power games of the world.”
Henri Nouwen, “The Return of the Prodigal Son”
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“All you have to do as you begin to cultivate the practice of prayer is to prepare yourself with sincere intent to bring your will into harmony with the will of God.”
-Theresa of Avila
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“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.
Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.
Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.
Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.
Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.
Never shall I forget those things…
Never.”-Elie Wiesel, “Night”
*Everyone should read this book… everyone.
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“Faith, in general, is less about the sacrifice of stuff and more about the surrender of our souls. Lent, in kind, is less about well-mannered denials and more about thinning our lives in order to thicken our communion with God.
Decrease is holy only when its destination is love.”
– Alicia Britt Chole, “40 Days of Decrease” -
“We live in a culture that knows little or nothing of a life that listens and waits, a life that attends and adores. What makes things even more difficult, we live in a church that knows even less of this life that makes friends with silence, a life that leaves time and space for the Holy Spirit to breathe into our hourglass lives and form a mature Christ life. The consequences are alarming as our great Christian heritage becomes more superficial by the decade, shallow and trivialized, noisy and glitzy with god-talk.”
– Eugene Peterson, “As Kingfishers Catch Fire” -
“If someone asks me, “Father, what is the shortest way to encounter Jesus?” Be needy. Be needy for grace, needy for forgiveness, be needy for joy. And he will draw near to you.”
— Pope Francis -
“Man is not born to manage his bank account; he is born to find God and to love his neighbor.”
Robert Cardinal Sarah -
“If it wasn’t for hypocrisy, I would have become a Christian five years before that, but all the Christians I knew were so busy getting blessed, they were so busy going to functions or concerts and listening to their Christian albums and going to their fundraising dinners, but the Jehovahs witnesses would come to my door and spend four or five hours with me. I didn’t find a Christian that had that time for me… and I was needing that love and example.”
Keith Green
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“Open up, ancient gates!
Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter.
Who is the King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty; the Lord, invincible in battle.
Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter.
Who is the King of glory?
The Lord of Heaven’s Armies— he is the King of glory. ”
Psalms 24:7-10
