17 Quotes From “Jesus”

January 21, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

Jesus A TheographyJesus: A Theography is one of those rare books that I gave a “must read” designation (you can read my full review by clicking here). It’s impossible to share with you all of the incredible thoughts that are in this book, but here are 17 of my favorite quotes from Jesus.

Unless otherwise designated, all the quotes are from Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola.

“In Jesus the promise is confirmed, the covenant is renewed, the prophesies are fulfilled, the law is vindicated, salvation is brought near, sacred history has reached its climax, the perfect sacrifice has been offered and accepted, the high priest over the household of God has taken His seat at God’s right hand, the Prophet like Moses has been raised up, the Son of David reigns, the kingdom of God has been inaugurated, the Son of Man has received dominion from the Ancient of Days, the Servant of the Lord has been smitten to death for His people’s transgressions and borne the sins of many, has accomplished the divine purpose, has seen the light after the travail of His soul, and is now exalted and made very high.” —F.F. Bruce

“Jesus is the Logos. He is the Word, or the self-utterance, of God. So when God speaks, it is Christ who is being spoken about. When God breathes, it is Christ who is being imparted. The Spirit of God’s breath (the words ‘Spirit’ and ‘breath’ are the same in both Hebrew and Greek). The Second Testament tells us clearly that the Holy Spirit’s job is to reveal, magnify, and glorify Christ, Thus, because the Bible is inspired, it all speaks of Jesus. Again, Jesus Christ is the subject of all Scripture.” [The authors refer to the two sections of the Bible as the First and Second Testaments, in place of the usual designations of Old and New Testaments]

“Every word of the God-breathed character of Scripture is meaningless if Holy Scripture is not understood as the witness concerning Christ.” —G.C. Berkouwer 

“Your salvation was established, completed, and sealed before creation itself. Your Lord wrapped it up, won it, and came out victorious before anything ever went wrong.”

“What did He finish? He finished the old creation and the Fall. He finished sin. He finished a fallen world system. He finished the enmity of the Law. He finished satan. He finished the flesh. He put you to death and finished you completely. The person you were in Adam was terminated, swallowed up in death. And then He finished His greatest enemy, the child of sin itself, death. If that isn’t enough, He did something else beyond the rest: He raised you up in resurrection and glorified you.”

“In Genesis 2:15, God commanded Adam to cultivate and keep the garden. The Hebrew word for cultivate is abad, and the Hebrew word for keep is shamar. These same Hebrew words are used to describe how the priests cared for the tabernacle of Moses. (The tabernacle was a precursor to the temple of Solomon.) The priests were to cultivate (abad) and keep (shamar) the tabernacle. In addition, we are told that God walked in the garden (Hebrew, hawlak) during the cool of the day. God also walked (hawlak) in the midst of the temple. The meaning is clear. The garden was a temple for God. Like the temple, the garden was the joining together of God’s space and man’s space—the intersection of the heavenly realm and the earthly realm. For this reason, Isaiah called it ‘the garden of the Lord,’ and Ezekiel called it ‘the garden of God.’ …Jesus Christ is the reality of the temple. (In the Greek, John 1:14 says Jesus ‘tabernacled among us.’) He is also the reality of the garden. He is the real Tree of Life and a flowing river. In Christ, God’s space and man’s space are joined together.”

“There are 184 verses in the birth narratives of the Second Testament. These 184 verses presuppose or repeat the words of 170 verses from eighteen verses of the First Testament.” 

“Jesus is the three shepherds: the good shepherd, the great shepherd, and the Chief Shepherd. Jesus presented Himself as both sheep and shepherd, the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. …Jesus died on the cross at the ninth hour (about three o’clock in the afternoon) when the Passover lamb would be sacrificed in the temple. Christ, the Paschal Lamb, was slain to atone for the sins of humanity and to open the gate of the true temple that promises God’s salvation for all people.”

“In the Second Testament, as the sacrificial sign of the new covenant, Jesus Himself becomes the sin offering of humanity. In fact, Jesus’ very words on the cross, ‘It is finished!’ (‘Kalah’), are the words used by a priest at the conclusion of the sacrificial offering in the temple. In the ancient days, when the Jewish priest had killed the last lamb of the Passover, he uttered the Hebrew word Kalah, ‘It is finished.’” 

“At His birth, Jesus received the myrrh. At His death, He rejected it. Jesus’ earthly ministry centered on alleviating human suffering. He was the personification of myrrh. In His crucifixion, however, He was bearing the full brunt of human pain, suffering, and agony on the cross. He bore our shame and sorrows. So He rejected the myrrh and the wine that came with it. Jesus took the full dose of suffering for sin on the cross so we wouldn’t have to. And He rejected the myrrh so we would be able to receive it.”

“When in a garden relationship with God, humanity had no need of the Torah, for we had the Tree of Life. The Torah was the Tree of Life reborn, and Jesus was the Torah reborn.”

“We need the whole Jesus. The complete Jesus. Everything He said. Every detail of what He did.” —Eugene Peterson

“The temptation of Jesus was a playback of two episodes in the First Testament. First, it’s a replay of the first temptation in the garden of Eden. John tells us that the three enemies of the Christian are ‘the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.’ Each of these temptations was in play in the temptation of Adam and Eve in the garden:

    • The fruit was ‘good for food’ = the lust of the flesh. 
    • The fruit was ‘pleasant to the eyes’ = the lust of the eyes. 
    • The fruit was ‘desirable to make one wise’ = the pride of life. 

“…The temptations that satan leveled at Jesus in the wilderness struck the same three chords. Here is the ordered presented in Luke 4 (paraphrased):

    • ‘Turn these stones to bread’ = the lust of the flesh. 
    • ‘I will give you the kingdom of the world and their glory’ = the lust of the eyes. 
    • ‘Cast yourself down from here and angels will protect you’ = the pride of life.” 

“The Second Covenant knows the First Covenant: the Second Testament quotes from the First Testament more than 320 times, and that does not include times when biblical writers, searching for the scriptural reference, were reduced to admitting that ‘somewhere’ it reads thus and so.”

“Theology is nothing more than the Holy Spirit making His way through our brains, as the Scriptures make their way through our hearts.” 

“In biblical prophesy, the coming of Jesus is viewed as one event separated by parentheses that stretch from the ascension to His royal appearing at the end of the age. We are now living in the parentheses, wherein we look back to His first coming and anticipate His second coming. Put another way, the kingdom has come and will come. Jesus’ first coming inaugurated the kingdom of God; His second coming will consummate it. So the coming of the Messiah is one event separated by two moments: Bethlehem and the end of the age.”

“As followers of Jesus, we have a task before us. That task is to work for the kingdom. To continue the ministry of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit… to bear witness to the sovereign lordship of Christ… to embody the message that Jesus is both Lord and Savior, not just of our personal lives but of the entire world. And to find creative ways to manifest that kingdom where we live and travel.” 

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Counting Down 2012: #3 17 Quotes From “What Matters Most”

December 30, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I am counting down the top 5 posts that I wrote in 2012, as determined by the number of views during this year. The 3rd most read post is: 17 Quotes From “What Matters Most.”

What Matters Most is sure to be a thought-provoking, conversation-starting, paradigm-challenging book. You can read my full review of Leonard Sweet’s book by clicking here. To help whet your appetite for this book (that you’re going to read very soon, right?), here are 17 quotes that especially caught my attention…

“To save the world we don’t need the courage of our convictions. We need the courage of our relationships… Especially the courage of our relationship with the Creator, the creation, and our fellow creatures. Our problem in reaching the world is that we’ve made rules more important than relationships.”

“Western Christianity is largely belief based and church focused. It is concerned with landing on the right theology and doctrine and making sure everyone else toes the line. The Jesus trimtab, in contrast, is relationship based and world focused. It is concerned not so much with what you believe as with Whom you are following.” 

“Relationship is one of the things that distinguishes Judaism and its radical Christian revision from other religions: God calls us into a relationship. Christianity is much more than a wisdom tradition or a moral system or a path leading to higher states of existence.”

“We don’t follow Jesus because we understand Him or because we know the truth about Him. We follow Jesus because He is the Truth, and He leads us into truth through our relationship with Him. …The Jesus call to discipleship is an invitation to enter a relationship with the person doing the teaching, not simply an intellectual encounter with the principles He taught.”

“The postmodern quest has been misunderstood as an abandonment of the quest for truth. It is far from an abandonment, but is rather a rerouting of the quest for truth along more relational and less rational paths.”

“If we shift our focus away from truth as right teaching and correct doctrine, and instead center our lives on truth as a Person and faith as a relationship with that Person, what does this do to evangelism? Evangelism shifts from an attempt to indoctrinate a skeptic into a new belief system and makes the gospel proclamation a process of inviting others into a relationship with God. Evangelism is as much invitation as it is proclamation. It is inviting others into a relationship with God so that the Holy Spirit can make Christ come alive in them and live in them and they can live in God’s fullness and providence. Evangelism is not leading people into right beliefs about Jesus. It is introducing people to a relationship with Jesus the Christ.” 

“Obedience, in the biblical sense, is not ‘doing what you are told.‘Obedience is living relationally, even ‘indivisibly,’ with the Holy One so that we honor, uphold, receive, and follow all that God is and all that God is calling us to become.”

“It’s time to end the theological error of talking about how to make the Scriptures ‘come alive.’ The Word of God is alive. It’s we who must ‘come alive’ to the Scriptures.”

“I can either be right, or I can be in a relationship with my neighbor.”

“The Holy Spirit is not a gift to individuals. The Holy Spirit is a gift to the body of Christ.”

“Relationship, not numbers, show if growth is biblical, healthy, and truly fruitful. Perhaps it’s times to declare a moratorium on statistics in the church. What if the only thing we reported was the answer to this question: ‘Is spiritual fruit in evidence in your church? Give me the stories, not more statistics.’ My dream for the church? God’s people telling more God stories than golf stories. An authentic Great Awakening is when people can’t stop talking about what God is doing.”

“James Hillman defines deepening growth as ‘work in the dirt.’ Plants can’t grow heavenward without first growing downward. Colorful blossoms are the byproduct of bland, down-and-dirty roots. Relationships that blossom are knee-bending, hands-dirtying digs into the bedrock issues. …If our relationships are to bear fruit, they first must become rooted in the soil of the Spirit. …If you’re concerned about your dignity, think about this: Where’s the dignity in being hung naked on a tree? Where’s the dignity in kneeling down to wash the dirtiest parts of someone’s body? Where’s the dignity in being born in a manger?”

“Prayer doesn’t plunge us deeper into ourselves, but deeper into others. The early church looked at prayer as a conversation with God that brings us into greater intimacy with God and others. Prayer is not what you do to get God’s attention. Prayer is what you do to bring yourself to attend to God and to pay attention to others.”

“For Jesus it was not ‘Poor people and other outcasts, find yourself a church’; it was ‘Church people, find yourself the poor and the outcasts.’” 

“Sadly, the church is too busy connecting people with the memory of Jesus, the Jesus Who ‘once was’ or the promise of a returning Christ Who ‘is to come.’ Meanwhile, the church is neglecting the Jesus Who ‘is right now,’ the Jesus Who lives all around us in the lives of the poor, the sick, the disabled, the persecuted, and the dying.”

“Being a Christian is more about relationship with God than beliefs about God; more about the presence of God than the proofs of God; more about intimacy with truth than the tenets of truth; more about knowing God’s activities than knowing God’s attributes. It is time to move from a religion that seeks to comprehend God to a relationship that seeks to encounter and be a home for God.”

“God does not come to us offering rules; God comes offering relationship. Truth is not found in the solving of difficult theological riddles. Truth is found as we get lost in the mystery of faith. You can maintain your bearings while getting lost… if Jesus is leading the way.”

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Hypocritical Pastors

December 18, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Jonathan EdwardsI was reading a passage from Jonathan Edwards’ Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer, where Edwards warned pastors against neglecting the sacred duty of private prayer. Edwards says that pastors who spend more time praying publicly than they do privately are hypocrites.

T.M. Moore commented on this—

“So we [pastors], when we attend upon public prayers—even leading them, during morning worship—but have no prayer life of our own to speak of, practice hypocrisy of the first water. We seem to be men of prayer, but we are hardly ever calling on the Lord of glory.”

There is a simple remedy to this: Pray!

  • Pray every day
  • Pray about every thing
  • Pray in private
  • Make prayer your continual and ongoing habit

Pastors, may we always pray!

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Watch Out For Pride

November 30, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

This post is especially for my fellow pastors, but it would be thoughtful reading for anyone in a leadership position.

Let me state it simply: Pastor, you need to watch out for pride.

Listen to the words of A.W. Tozer—

“A clergyman is a man, and often he has a proud little kingdom of his own, a kingdom of position and often of pride and sometimes with power.”

Pride is so insidious that it can creep into the hearts of leaders at anytime.

  • When things are going well. We think to ourselves, “Look what I’ve done” or we even spiritualize it a bit to say, “Look what God’s done through me.”
  • When things are going poorly. Pride causes us to look out the window at others, instead of looking in the mirror at ourselves.
  • When we’ve successfully handled a situation. We think, “Wow, I’ve really got it!”
  • When we’ve dropped the ball and we make excuses instead of asking for forgiveness.
  • And on and on it goes….

One of the things that has helped me immensely is the thoughts Kenneth Blanchard and Phil Hodges shared in their book Lead Like Jesus. They point out that every leader has an ego. The issue is what kind of ego is it?

It can be negative: E.G.O. = Edging God Out 

It can be positive: E.G.O. = Exalting God Only

So what do we do to make sure we have the God-honoring E.G.O.?

  • Look in the mirror. James says the Bible is the perfect mirror. So how does your life line up with the Scripture? Don’t sugarcoat it … Don’t make excuses … Say the words “Look at me” or “Wow, I’ve got it” out loud. Do you find those in God’s Word? If not, root it out!
  • Get some tough guys around you. You need some loving people around you that aren’t the ones writing your press releases. You need people around you that can boldly say, “Ahem! You appear to be getting off track.”
  • Monitor your gut-level responses. If you feel defensive, or if you feel the need to justify or make excuses, watch out because that’s pride’s signature.
  • Stay on your knees. Not only in prayer, but in service too. It’s awfully hard to get full of yourself when you’re washing feet, or scrubbing toilets. If you ever think any job is beneath you, watch out because you may have been infected by pride.

“Depth under depth of self-love and self-admiration. Pride! It was through Pride that the devil became the devil; it is the complete anti-God state of mind. Pride is essentially competitive in a way the other vices are not. Pride is a spiritual cancer.” —C.S. Lewis

I have two companion chapters in my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter that dive deeper into this topic: “A confident leader’s attitude adjustment” and “A humble leader’s attitude adjustment.” I hope you will pick up a copy.

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Sunday Recap

November 4, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I know we covered a lot of ground today in part 5 of the Sola series. Several folks have asked me to make available the resources I shared this morning, so here they are. Enjoy!

The “Sola pyramid” shows how each of the sola statements build on each other, pointing to the apex of God’s glory.

  • Sola scriptura is the foundation because it gives us the authority of God’s Word on which we build all the other statements.
  • Faith comes by hearing the Word (sola scriptura) and so it leads to the understanding of sola fide.
  • God’s mercy is extended to us in justification, but then his grace is the amazing, above-and-beyond gift to us in sola gratia.
  • We remember grace with this acrostic: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. So grace is possible sola Christo—only through the work of Jesus Christ.
  • Jesus Himself said that all He did was to bring glory to the Father, so sola Deo gloria becomes the penultimate focal point of everything else.

Here are the quotes I shared:

“We were made to know and treasure the glory of God above all things; but when we trade that treasure for images, everything is disordered. The sun of God’s glory was made to shine at the center of the solar system of our soul. When it does, all the planets of our life are held in their proper orbit. But when the sun is displaced, everything flies apart. The healing of the soul begins by restoring the glory of God to its flaming, all-attracting place at the center.” —John Piper

“The shop, the barn, the scullery, and the smithy become temples when men and women do all to the glory of God! Then divine service is not a thing of a few hours and a few places, but all life becomes holiness unto the Lord, and every place and thing, as consecrated as the tabernacle and its golden candlestick.” —Charles Spurgeon

“If God’s glory is the only all-satisfying reality in the universe, then to try to do good for people, without aiming to show them the glory of God and ignite in them a delight in God, would be like treating fever with cold packs when you have penicillin.” —John Piper

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16, Amplified Bible)

And, finally, here is the picture of George Friederic Handel’s signature on all his music. “S.D.G.” is Sola Deo gloria, which appears before the initials “G.F.H.” of his own name.

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10 Quotes From “Grace”

September 25, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Max Lucado’s newest book Grace is a wonderful reminder of how extravagant God is toward us (you can read my full review by clicking here). Here are 10 of my favorite quotes from Grace—

“God’s guilt brings enough regret to change us. satan’s guilt, on the other hand, brings enough to enslave us. … It boils down to this choice: Do you trust your Advocate or your accuser?”

“Sin is not a regrettable lapse or an occasional stumble. Sin stages a coup against God’s regime. Sin storms the castle, lays claim to God’s throne, and defies His authority. Sin shouts, ‘I want to run my own life, thank you very much!’ Sin tells God to get out, get lost, and not come back. Sin is insurrection of the highest order, and you are an insurrectionist. So am I. So is every single person who has taken a breath. … God didn’t overlook your sins, lest He endorse them. He didn’t punish you, lest He destroy you. He instead found a way to punish the sin and preserve the sinner. Jesus took your punishment, and God gave you the credit for Jesus’ perfection.”

“Grace-a-lots believe in grace, a lot. Jesus almost finished the work of salvation, they argue. In a rowboat named Heaven Bound, Jesus paddles most of the time. But every so often He needs our help. So we give it. We accumulate good works the way Boy Scouts accumulate merit badges on a sash. … We find it easier to trust the miracle of resurrection than the miracle of grace. We so fear failure that we create the image of perfection, lest Heaven be even more disappointed in us than we are. The result? The weariest people on earth. Attempts at self-salvation guarantee nothing but exhaustion. We scamper and scurry, trying to please God, collecting merit badges and brownie points, and scowling at anyone who questions our accomplishments. Call us the church of hound-dog faces and slumped shoulders. Stop it! Once and for all, enough of this frenzy. ‘Your hearts should be strengthened by God’s grace, not by obeying rules’ (Hebrews 13:9 NCV). Jesus does not say, ‘Come to Me, all you who are perfect and sinless.’ Just the opposite. ‘Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28 NASB).”

“Give the grace you’ve been given. You don’t endorse the deeds of your offender when you do. Jesus didn’t endorse your sins by forgiving you. Grace doesn’t tell the daughter to like the father who molested her. It doesn’t tell the oppressed to wink at injustice. The grace-defined person still sends thieves to jail and expects and ex to pay child support. Grace is not blind. It sees the hurt full well. But grace chooses to see God’s forgiveness even more. It refuses to let hurts poison the heart. ‘See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many’ (Hebrews 12:15 NIV). Where grace is lacking, bitterness abounds. Where grace abounds, forgiveness grows.”

“Find a congregation that believes in confession. Avoid a fellowship of perfect people (you won’t fit in), but seek one where members confess their sins and show humility, where the price of admission is simply the admission of guilt. Healing happens in a church like this.”

“Plunge a sponge into Lake Erie. Did you absorb every drop? Take a deep breath. Did you suck the oxygen out of the atmosphere? Pluck a needle from a tree in Yosemite. Did you deplete the forest of foliage? Watch an ocean wave crash against the beach. Will there never be another one? Of course there will. No sooner will one wave crash into the sand than another appears. Then another, then another. This is a picture of God’s sufficient grace. Grace is simply another word for God’s tumbling, rumbling reservoir of strength and protection. It comes at us not occasionally or miserly but constantly and aggressively, wave upon wave. We’ve barely regained our balance from one breaker, and then, bam, here comes another. ‘Grace upon grace’ (John 1:16 NASB). We dare to hang our hat and stake our hope on the gladdest news of all: if God permits the challenge, He will provide the grace to meet it. We never exhaust His supply. ‘Stop asking so much! My grace reservoir is running dry.’ Heaven knows no such words. God has enough grace to solve every dilemma you face, wipe every tear you cry, and answer every question you ask.”

“How long has it been since your generosity stunned someone? Since someone objected, ‘No, really, this is too generous’? If it has been awhile, reconsider God’s extravagant grace. ‘Forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity’ (Psalm 103:2-3 RSV).”

“Your identity is not in your possessions, talents, tattoos, kudos, or accomplishments. Nor are you defined by your divorce, deficiencies, debt, or dumb choices. You are God’s child. You get to call Him ‘Papa.’ You ‘may approach God with freedom and confidence’ (Ephesians 3:12 NIV). You receive the blessings of His special love (1 John 4:9-11) and provision (Luke 11:11-13). And you will inherit the riches of Christ and reign with Him forever (Romans 8:17).”

“To live as God’s child is to know, at this very instant, that you are loved by your Maker not because you try to please Him and succeed, or fail to please Him and apologize, but because He wants to be your Father. Nothing more. All your efforts to win His affections are unnecessary. All your fears of losing His affection are needless. You can no more make Him want you than you can convince Him to abandon you. The adoption is irreversible. You have a place at His table.”

“Where there is no assurance of salvation, there is no peace. No peace means no joy. No joy results in fear-based lives. Is this the life God creates? No. Grace creates a confident soul who declares, ‘I know Whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day’ (2 Timothy 1:12 NIV). … Trust God’s hold on you more than your hold on God. His faithfulness does not depend on Yours. His performance is not predicated on yours. His love is not contingent on your own.”

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Thursdays With Oswald—Christ Exhibited In Me

September 20, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Christ Exhibited In Me 

     The inspiration of God does not patch up my natural virtues; He re-makes the whole of my being until we find that every virtue we possess is His alone. God does not come in and patch up our good works, He puts in the Spirit that was characteristic of Jesus; it is His patience, His love, and His tenderness and gentleness that are exhibited through us. … When God alters a man’s heart and plants His Spirit within, his actions have the inspiration of God behind them; if they have not, they may have the inspiration of satan. 

From Biblical Psychology

This passage reminds me of a story told about Francis of Assisi. While he was hoeing his garden, someone asked him, “What would you do if you knew you would die at the end of the day today?” Francis thoughtfully replied, “I’d finish hoeing this garden.”

Francis’ view should be ours as well: Every thought, every word, every action is directed by the Spirit of Christ in me. What I am doing now, I’m doing because the Holy Spirit inspired me to do it.

It’s encouraging to know that Christ can be exhibited in everything I think, say, and do. But it’s also very sobering to realize that I need to be constantly tuned in to the influence of the Holy Spirit.

I never want to be out-of-step with the Holy Spirit, but I want all my thoughts, words, and actions to be Christ exhibited in me.

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23 Quotes From “The Inner Chamber & The Inner Life”

September 18, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I only recently discovered the writings of Andrew Murray, but I’m making up for lost time and reading a lot more of his brilliant insights. Here are 23 quotes from The Inner Chamber and The Inner Life. You can read my full book review by clicking here.

“Personal devotional time is to serve as a means to an end. And that end is—to secure the presence of Christ for the whole day.” 

“Christian! there is a terrible danger to which you stand exposed in your inner chamber. You are in danger of substituting Prayer and Bible Study for living fellowship with God, the living interchange of giving Him your love, your heart, and your life, and receiving from Him His love, His life, and His Spirit. Your needs and their expression, your desire to pray humbly and earnestly and believingly, may so occupy you, that the light of His countenance and the joy of His love cannot enter you. Your Bible Study may so interest you, and so waken pleasing religious sentiment, that—yes—the very Word of God may become a substitute for God Himself, the greatest hindrance to fellowship because it keeps the soul occupied instead of leading it to God.”

“What strength would be imparted by the consciousness: God has taken charge of me; He is going with me Himself; I am going to do His will all day in His strength; I am ready for all that may come. Yes, what a nobility would come into life, if secret prayer were not only an asking for some new sense of comfort, or light, or strength, but the giving away of life just for one day into the sure and safe keeping of a mighty and faithful God.”

“Many are so occupied with the much or the little they have to say in their prayers, that the Voice of One speaking off the mercy seat is never heard, because it is not expected or waited for.”

“Prayer seeks God: the Word reveals God. In prayer man asks God: in the Word God answers man. In prayer man rises to heaven to dwell with God: in the Word God comes to dwell with man. In prayer man gives himself to God: in the Word God gives Himself to man.”

“And where a man gives himself up wholly to the presence of the Holy Spirit, not only as a power working in him, but as God dwelling in him (John 14:16, 20, 23; 1 John 4) he may become, in the deepest meaning of the word, a man of God!”

“God will refuse to unlock the real meaning and blessing of His Word to any but those whose will is definitely set upon doing it.” 

“Keeping Christ’s commandments is the indispensable condition of all true spiritual blessing.”

“The knowledge of the intellect cannot quicken. ‘Though I understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and have not love, I am nothing.’ It is in our daily Bible reading that this danger meets us; it is there it must be met and conquered. We need the intellect to hear and understand God’s Word in its human meaning. But we need to know that the possession of the truth by the intellect cannot profit but as the Holy Spirit makes it life and truth in the heart. We need to yield our heart, and wait on God in quiet submission and faith to work in us by that Spirit. As this becomes a holy habit, we shall learn the art of intellect and heart working in perfect harmony, and each movement of the mind being ever accompanied by the corresponding movement of the heart, waiting on and listening for the teaching of the Spirit.”

“Let a deep sense of our ignorance, a deep distrust of our own power of understanding the things of God even, mark our Bible study. Then, the deeper our despair of entering aright into the thoughts of God, the greater the confidence of expectancy may be. God wants to make His Word true in us.”

“The first and chief mark of being a child of God, of being like Jesus Christ, is an absolute dependence upon God for every blessing, and specially for any real knowledge of spiritual things.”

“Beware of trying to assume this state of mind only when you want to study Scripture. It must be the permanent habit of your mind, the state of your heart. Then alone can you enjoy the continual guidance of the Holy Spirit.”

“The written Word is powerless, except as it helps us to the Living Word.”

“I, nevertheless, urge all Bible students, thoughtfully and prayerfully to enquire whether the very first question to be settled in the inner chamber is not this: Is my heart in the state in which my Teacher desires it to be?”

“The fact of being occupied with, and possessing good wholesome corn, will not nourish a man. The fact of being deeply interested in the knowledge of God’s Word will not of itself nourish the soul.”

“It is not the amount of truth I gather from God’s Word; it is not the interest or success of my Bible study; it is not the increased clearness of view or largeness of grasp I am obtaining, that secure the health and growth of the spiritual life. By no means. All this often leaves the nature very much unsanctified and unspiritual with very little of the holiness or humility of Christ Jesus: something else is needed. Jesus said: My meat is TO DO the will of Him that sent me. Taking a small portion of God’s Word, some definite command or duty of the new life, quietly receiving it into the will and the love of the heart, yielding the whole being to its rule, and vowing, in the power of the Lord Jesus, to perform it: this, and then GOING TO DO IT, this is eating the Word, taking it so into our inmost being, that it becomes a constituent part of our very life.”

“Above all, realize that the world is needing you and depending on you to be its light. Christ is waiting for you as a member of His body, day by day, to do His saving work through you. Neither He, nor the world, nor you, can afford to lose a single day.”

“What can the daily Bible study and prayer profit, unless we set our heart on what God has set His on: the new man being renewed day by day after the image of Him that created him.”

“By nature we are of this world. When renewed by grace we are still in the world, subject to the subtle all-pervading influence from which we cannot withdraw ourselves. And what is more, the world is still in us, as the leaven of the nature which nothing can purge out but the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, filling us with the life of heaven.”

“No diligence or success in Bible study will really profit us unless it makes us humbler, holier men.”

“The Word, separate from God and His direct operation, cannot avail. The Word is an instrument: God Himself must use it. God is the alone Holy One. He alone can make holy. The unspeakable value of God’s Word is that it is God’s means of holiness. The terrible mistake of many is that they forget that God alone can use it or make it effectual. It is not enough that I have access to the dispensary of a physician. I need him to prescribe. Without him my use of his medicines might be fatal. It was so with the scribes. They made their boast of God’s law; they delighted in their study of Scripture and yet remained unsanctified. The Word did not sanctify them, because they did not seek for this in the Word, and did not yield to God to do it for them.” 

“Do not spend your chief time in prayer in reiterating your petition, but in humbly, quietly, confidently claiming your place in Christ, your perfect union with Him, your access to God in Him.”

“Praying and working go together.” 

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Spiritual Sword Play

September 14, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Pastor, consider these words from Charles Spurgeon—

“We pastors depend entirely upon the Spirit of God to produce actual effect from the gospel, and at this effect we must always aim. We do not stand up in our pulpits to display our skill in spiritual sword play, but we come to actual fighting: our object is to drive the sword of the Spirit through men’s hearts.”

In order to effectively drive the sword of the Spirit through men’s hearts we must be well-trained in spiritual warfare. That training takes place in the secret chamber alone with God. Eugene Peterson gives this warning to pastors—

“Three pastoral acts—praying, reading Scripture and giving spiritual direction—are so basic, so critical, that they determine the shape of everything else in ministry. Besides being basic, these three acts are quiet and done mostly out of the spotlight of public ministry. Because they do not call attention to themselves, they are so often neglected. …Because almost never does anyone notice whether we do these things or not, and only occasionally does someone ask if we do them, these real acts of ministry suffer widespread neglect.”

You cannot give to others what you do not possess yourself!

Pastor, get alone with God. Everyday. Sharpen your sword through private prayer and personal devotion. Everyday!

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31 Quotes From “Disciples Indeed”

September 11, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

When I read an Oswald Chamber book, I feel like I could highlight every line on every page! So for Disciples Indeed (you can read my full review by clicking here), I did my very best to narrow it down to my 31 favorite quotes.

“Truth is a Person, not a proposition; if I pin my faith to a logical creed I will be disloyal to the Lord Jesus.”

“If we understood what happens when we use the Word of God, we would use it oftener.”

“Everything the devil does, God over-reaches to serve His own purpose.”

“We continually want to present our understanding of how God has worked in our own experience, consequently we confuse people. Present Jesus Christ, lift Him up, and the Holy Spirit will do in them what He has done in you.”

“Spiritual famine and dearth, if it does not start from sin, starts from dwelling entirely on the experience God gave me instead of on God who gave me the experience. …Whenever I put my experience of life, or my intelligence, or anything other than dependence on God, as the ground of understanding the will of God I rob Him of glory.”

“There is nothing so still and gentle as the checks of the Holy Spirit if they are yielded to, emancipation is the result; but let them be trifled with, and there will come a hardening of the life away from God. Don’t quench the Spirit.”

“The only sign that a particular gift is from the Ascended Christ is that it edifies the Church. Much of our Christian work today is built on what the Apostle pleads it should not be built, viz., the excellencies of the natural virtues.”

“My conscience makes me know what I ought to do, but it does not empower me to do it.”

“In the moral realm if you don’t do things quickly you will never do them. Never postpone a moral decision. Second thoughts on moral matters are always deflections.”

“You often find people in the world are more desirable, easier to get on with, than people in the Kingdom. There is frequently a stubbornness, a self-opinionativeness, in Christians not exhibited by people in the world. If there is to be another Revival it will be through the readjustment of those of us on the inside who call ourselves Christians.”

“The greatest test of Christianity is the wear and tear of daily life, it is like the shining silver, the more it is rubbed the brighter it grows.”

“We have to do more than we are built to do naturally; we have to do all the Almighty builds us to do.”

“Beware of the people who tell you life is simple. Life is such a mass of complications that no man is safe apart from God. Coming to Jesus does not simplify life, it simplifies my relationship to God.”

“God’s idea is that individual Christians should become identified with His purpose for the world. When Christianity becomes over-organized and denominational it is incapable of fulfilling our Lord’s commission; it doesn’t ‘feed His sheep,’ it can’t.”

“When you pray, what conception have you in your mind—your need, or Jesus Christ’s omnipotence?”

“Prayer is the vital breath of the Christian; not the thing that makes him alive, but the evidence that he is alive.”

“By intercessory prayer we can hold off satan from other lives and give the Holy Ghost a chance with them.”

“The greatest answer to prayer is that I am brought into a perfect understanding with God, and that alters my view of actual things.”

“See that you do not use the trick of prayer to cover up what you know you ought to do.”

“The work we do in preparation is meant to get our minds into such order that they are at the service of God for His inspiration. Conscious inspiration is mercifully rare or we would make inspiration our god.”

“Spiritual insight is in accordance with the development of heart purity.”

“Spiritual sloth must be the greatest grief to the Holy Ghost.”

“It is quite true so say ‘I can’t live a holy life’; but you can decide to let Jesus make you holy. ‘I can’t do away with my past’; but you can decide to let Jesus do away with it.”

“If I make personal holiness a cause instead of an effect I become shallow, no matter how profound I seem. It means I am far more concerned about being speckless than about being real; far more concerned about keeping my garments white than about being devoted to Jesus Christ.”

“Freedom is the ability not to insist on my rights, but to see that God gets His.”

“Beware of saying, ‘I haven’t time to read the Bible, or to pray’; say rather, ‘I haven’t disciplined myself to do these things.’”

“Weighing the pros and cons for and against a statement of Jesus Christ’s means that for the time being I refuse to obey Him.”

“If my testimony makes anyone wish to emulate me, it is a mistaken testimony, it is not a witness to Jesus. The Holy Spirit will only witness to a testimony when Jesus Christ is exalted higher than the testimony.”

“As you go on with God He will give you thoughts that are bit too big for you.”

“How many people have you made homesick for God?”

“Christian service is not our work; loyalty to Jesus is our work.”

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