Livin' only by Grace

When you were under the fig tree, I saw you —John 1:48 Worshiping in Everyday Occasions . We presume that we would be ready for battle if confronted with a great crisis, but it is not the crisis that builds something within us— it simply reveals what we are made of already. Do you find yourself saying, "If God calls me to battle, of course I will rise to the occasion"? Yet you won’t rise to the occasion unless you have done so on God’s training ground. If you are not doing the task that is closest to you now, which God has engineered into your life, when the crisis comes, instead of being fit for battle, you will be revealed as being unfit. Crises always reveal a person’s true character. A private relationship of worshiping God is the greatest essential element of spiritual fitness. The time will come, as Nathanael experienced in this passage, that a private "fig-tree" life will no longer be possible. Everything will be out in the open, and you will find yourself to...

[saw this from te weng's blog... i reposted this para ma-cross blog sa multiply ko so that mitch can read it.. hehehehe ^_^] [mitch, this is what i was talkin about... hehe ] Whitney Hopler Editor's Note: The following is a report on the practical applications of Michael Todd Wilson & Brad Hoffmann's new book, Preventing Ministry Failure: A ShepherdCare Guide for Pastors, Ministers and Other Caregivers, (InterVarsity Press, 2007). You hear about falls from ministry all the time, and sometimes you wonder if burnout, ineffectiveness, or moral failure could someday cause your own ministry to fail. But the good news is, failure doesn't just happen without warning, and you can take steps to prevent it. Here's how you can prevent failure in your ministry: Approach your ministry from the right perspective. Remember that it's ultimately God's ministry, not yours. Instead of trying to minister in your own limited power, decide to rely on God's unlimited power...

Nothing was harder for a woman in love to endure and nothing was stronger proof of the character of the man than his restraint of power... this is one of the lines from the book Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot. just wanted to share some of the lines that somehow struck me... ^_^ it made me realize some things.. hehehe.. Unless a man is prepared to ask a woman to be his wife, what right has he to claim her exclusive attention? Unless she has been asked to marry him, why would a sensible woman promise any man her exclusive attention? If, when the time has come for a commitment, he is not man enough to ask her to marry him, she should give him no reason to presume that she belongs to him. There must be a splitting and a breaking in order for a bud to form. There is no ongoing spiritual life without this process of letting go. At the precise point where we refuse, growth stops. If we hold tightly to anything given to us, unwilling to let it go when the time comes to let it go or unw...

Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision —1 Samuel 3:15 God never speaks to us in dramatic ways, but in ways that are easy to misunderstand. Then we say, "I wonder if that is God’s voice?" Isaiah said that the Lord spoke to him "with a strong hand," that is, by the pressure of his circumstances ( Isaiah 8:11 ). Without the sovereign hand of God Himself, nothing touches our lives. Do we discern His hand at work, or do we see things as mere occurrences? Get into the habit of saying, "Speak, Lord," and life will become a romance ( 1 Samuel 3:9 ). Every time circumstances press in on you, say, "Speak, Lord," and make time to listen. Chastening is more than a means of discipline— it is meant to bring me to the point of saying, "Speak, Lord." Think back to a time when God spoke to you. Do you remember what He said? Was it Luke 11:13 , or was it 1 Thessalonians 5:23 ? As we listen, our ears become more sensitive, and like Jesus, we will hear...