Ron's Favorite Quotes

A spiritually-minded person will never come to you with the demand---“Believe this and that”; a spiritually-minded person will demand that you align your life with Jesus. We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One whom the Bible reveals (see John 5:39-40). We are called to present liberty for the conscience of others, not to bring them liberty for their thoughts and opinions. And if we ourselves are free with the liberty of Christ, others will be brought into the same liberty---the liberty that comes from realizing the absolute control and authority of Jesus Christ.

Always measure your life solely by the standards of Jesus. Submit yourself to His yoke, and His alone; and always be careful never to place a yoke on others that is not of Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that unless everyone see thing exactly as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one true liberty---the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.

Don’t get impatient with others. Remember how God dealt with you---with patience and with gentleness. But never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. Jesus said, ”Go…and make disciples…” (Matthew 28:19), not, “Make converts to your own thoughts and opinions.”

---Oswald Chambers from his devotional My Utmost for His Highest

There is a fellowship within a fellowship – a sort of wheel in the middle of a wheel – which gathers to itself all who are of its spirit in every church in every land and every age. Its members are the God-smitten, those who have heard the Voice speaking within them and have caught a glimpse, however fleeting, of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ.

These have a remarkable likeness to each other wherever they are found. Discounting them all we must for their imperfections, admitting their mistakes and weaknesses, they are yet found to be a people apart, separated from the rest of mankind not by legal prohibitions but by a spirit which dwells within them. They who compose this fellowship have never been herded into any one organization; they have no earthly head, pay no dues, hold no conventions, and keep no minutes, yet they recognize each other instantly when they meet by a kind of secret sign which the Spirit has placed in their hearts.

These have been in the presence and will never be the same again. They know a holy reverence, a wondrous sense of sacredness that rises at times to transports of delight. Their garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia, a gift from their Bridegroom and King who came walking out of the Ivory Palaces, trailing clouds of glory, to win them for Himself.

These hail each other across the oceans and down the years. Over the barriers set up in ignorance by stubborn men to separate the children of God, they leap to clasp each other’s hands and share together the feast of holy bread and wine.

Often their narrow theologies divide them from each other; but when they pray and sing their essential unity is revealed. The protestant will sing with joyous tears the songs of Faber and Newman who were Catholics. The Arminian will worship God with the hymns of Newton and Toplady who were Calvinists, and no one feels any inconsistency or embarrassment, for it is the heart that sings, and it is the heart that recognizes the marks of the Cross that makes many one. Could it be that it is here, rather than in some external unity, that the prayer of Jesus finds its fulfillment, THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE?”

---A. W. Tozer

One of the best ways of avoiding being unduly influenced by ‘anything’ and keeping a proper sense of proportion is getting in touch with God by prayer. This is the quiet thinking out of life’s problems and perplexities in His presence, allowing his Spirit to steady and strengthen us as well as guide us, while we try to think things out as adult responsible people. Things get into their right proportions. Other things appear to us a false and pretentious, or even downright pompous and ridiculous when we look at them in the presence of Almighty God.

--J.B. Phillips from his devotional For This Day

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can and
The wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.
Taking, as he did, this sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to His will;
That I might be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

---Reinhold Neibuhr

God is the great reality, His resources are available and endless. His promises are real and glorious, beyond our wildest dreams.

---J. B. Phillips

More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.

---Alfred Lord Tennyson

Our ground of hope is that God does not weary of mankind.

---Ralph W. Sockman

God incarnate is the end of fear; and the heart that realizes that he is in the midst… will be quiet in the midst of the alarm.

---F. B. Meyer

There are no disappointments to those whose wills are buried in the will of God.

---Frederick W. Faber

O God, stay with me; let no word cross my lips that is not your word, no thoughts enter my mind that are not your thoughts, no deed ever be done or entertained by me that is not your deed. Amen.

---Malcom Muggeridge

Psalm 73:21-22
Then I realized how bitter
I had become,
how pained I had been
by all I had seen.
I was so foolish and ignorant,
I must have seemed
like a senseless animal to you.

Psalm 109:21-22
Deal with me
O sovereign Lord.
For the sake of your
own reputation rescue me
because you are so faithful
and good. For I am needy and
my heart is full of pain.

Psalm 118:5-7
In my anguish
I cried to the Lord
and he answered by
setting me free.
The Lord is with me;
I will not be afraid,
what can man do to me?
The Lord is with me,
He is my helper,
I will look in triumph
on my enemies.

Psalm 118:28-29
You are my God
and I will give you thanks.
You are my God
and I will exalt you.
Give thanks to the Lord
for he is good;
His love endures forever.

We dare no think that God is absent or daydreaming. The do-nothing God.He’s not tucked away in some far corner of the universe, uncaring, unfeeling, unthinking----unavailable. Count on it---God intrudes in glorious and myriad ways.

---Joni Erickson Tada

THE “HUMBLE” ATTITUDE

Humble your self, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that HE may lift you up in due time.

I Peter 5:6

Humble your selves before
the Lord and he will lift you up.

James 4:10

I believe that Godly humility has more to do with acknowledging him than groveling before him. When I acknowledge
God as Creator-Sustainer, I am admitting that I have no control over my body and life for he can withhold my next breath. That acknowledgement creates a perspective that honors God and makes my need very clear.

The “Humble” Attitude continues

God Himself gives us the example in Matthew 14:27, “I Am”, he stated, not “It is I” but I AM. So our humility is a statement of existence, acknowledging that we live in God.

Faith and sight are set in opposition to each other in Scripture, but not faith and reason---True faith is essentially resemble because it trusts in the character and the promises of God. A believing Christian is one whose mind reflects and rests on those certitudes.

---John R. W. Stott

The true religion is built upon the Rock; the rest are tossed upon the waves of time.

---Francis Bacon

Make it the first morning business of your life to understand some part of the Bible clearly, and make it your daily business to obey it in all that you do understand.

---John Rushkin

When the mind floats on the sea of the majesty of God and his incomprehensibility, it is amazed andlost in wonder at the serene majesty of God. And forthwith the soul becomes humble, so that if it were possible,when the effulgence of God’s majesty envelops it, it would take its place below the whole creation because of its awe and wondering amazement at the majesty of God , ineffable, incomprehensible as it is, beyond the penetration of his servants.

---John of Lycoplis

God, your love for me is fierce,
soaring above sentiment, It is the
mightiest force in the universe,
whispering, roaring, creating, redeeming
and taking delight in me. Thank you for
Your Word that offers me this measure
of Godly love: If I am impatient, If I am
unkind, if I do not protect, if I delight in
another’s trouble, then I am not loving
with your love. But thank you for empowering me to love by your
standard---my will washed in
submission, ever rejoicing in
heaven’s best for the sake of others.

LOVE IS A VERB

---Billy Sunday

God never give us discernment to criticize but to intercede.

---Oswald Chambers

The love of our neighbor is the only door out of the dungeon of self.

---George McDonald

KINDNESS is the highest form of intelligence.

---Wayne Tisdale

Search me O God,
And know my heart today.
Try me O Savior,
Know my thoughts, I pray.
See if there be,
Some wicked way in me.
Cleanse me from every sin,
And set me free.

---J. Edwin Orr

The dying Jesus is the evidence of God’s anger toward sin; but the living Jesus is the proof of God’s love and forgiveness.

---Lorenz Eifert

Come, ye disconsolate, Whenever ye languish;
Come to the mercy seat. Fervently kneel,
Here, bring your wounded hearts,
Here tell your anguish; Earth has no sorrow That heaven cannot heal.

---Thomas Moore

If I forget,
Yet God remembers! If these hands of mine,
Cease from their clinging, yet the hands divine,
Hold me so firmly that I cannot fall;
And if sometimes I am too tired to call,
For him to help me, then he needs the prayer,
Unspoken in my heart, and lifts my care.

---Robert Browning

We are not our own, anymore than what we possess is our own. We did not make ourselves; we cannot be supreme over ourselves. We cannot be our own masters. We are God’s property by creation, by redemption, by regeneration.

---Cardinal John Henry Newman

More are the tender thoughts, the inspired potential actions, in God, that the stars in the heavens. Innumerable are the sweet influences that he sends down from his realm above. More and purer are his blessings than the drops of dew that night shakes down of the flowers and grass. He penetrates and pervades the world with more saving mercies than does the sun with particles of light and heat. He declares that his nature in himself is boundless---that his heart of mercy is inexhaustible ---that his work of comfort is endless.

---Henry Ward Beecher

True fortitude is the quiet possession of one’s self. This is the duty that cannot be disturbed, no matter the besetting evil or the inevitable danger.

Receive every inward and outward trouble, every disappointment, pain, uneasiness, temptation, darkness, and desolation, with both hands, as a true opportunity and a blessed occasion of dying to self, and entering into a fuller fellowship with thy self-denying, suffering savior.

Look at no inward or outward trouble in any other view; reject every other thought about it, and then every kind of trial and distress will become the blessed day of thy prosperity. That state is best, which exercises the highest faith in and fullest resignation to God.

---William Law

MASTERY OVER HURT

Creflo Dollar

The root of all negative emotions is a feeling of powerlessness. The enemy tries to make us think that we cannot change: our circumstances our personalities our weaknesses

We have the authority of the name of Jesus Christ to change what needs to be changed. Satan was given a certain authority. Jesus took back that authority. We have authority because we have Jesus, so you don’t have to be hurt again. Powerlessness is cancelled out.

Don’t every say, “I can’t do anything about it!” IN THIS WORLD we have the authority that Jesus has!!! I have authority over my feelings. I can be emotionally invincible. I will never be hurt again.

Words can hurt. Words can hurt enough that they can remove you from God’s will and blessings. Laws keep society from chaos. Spiritual laws keep us from emotional chaos. Staying hurt will stop you from your destiny in God. Your thinking needs to line up with God’s Word & His Love.

Pride protects the hurts but they don’t need protection. It is your future with God that needs protection. Bring yourself before and take his way. If you get offended at God you are stranded.

Hurt is your enemy! If you do not deal with your hurts---you will empower the hurts.

Stop making excuses why you are so easily hurt. Stop protecting the hurts. You are more concerned with your past than with your future. Philippians 3:13, “Forgetting those things behind”. HOW? By reaching out to the future. Don’t let your past be the prophet of your future. STOP wearing your emotions on your sleeve. If you don’t……the enemy will keep hitting you in the same spot…Laugh at it all and count it all joy.

STOP seeking revenge or even vindication. Romans 12:19 Make it your aim to show kindness. I Thessalonians 5:15 I Peter 3:9 Bless and be a blessing. Walk in love---overcome evil with good. That’s a calling.

“Thank You Lord” is always an appropriate response for anything. God is a very purposeful being. So thanksgiving has a purpose. God is seeking to enlarge you so you can receive more. Cultivate a lifestyle of thanksgiving. Its not what you know---its what you do. Whining and complaining is the way to darkness. Thankfulness brings light and understanding.

When Jesus took the loaves and fishes.. “HE GAVE THANKS”…and the food was multiplied. Grumbling will never get you a promotion on your job or with God.

Look and see where the Lord has brought you from.

“Looking” on the Old Testament serpent is identical with “believing” on the New Testament Christ. That is, the looking and the believing are the same thing…while the Israelites in the desert looked with their external eyes, believing is done with the heart. Faith is the gaze of the soul upon a saving goal…believing, then, is directing the hearts attention to Jesus. It is lifting the mind to “behold the lamb of God”, and never ceasing that beholding for the rest of our lives.

---A.W. Tozer

I love your grace,
I love your mercy
I love the way you
help me when I call.

I love your truth
I love the power of your name.
But you know
I love your presence
most of all.

My soul takes refuge
In the shadow of your wings
Close to you is where
I want to be
You are my strength
You are my God
You are my King
And all I want is
what you want for me.

---Rick Founds

MASTERY OVER STRESS

Creflo Dollar

Some stress is normal, a manageable level. Proverbs 1:17 View stress as an enemy II Corinthians 8:14 Things may be happening but you do not have to be in despair (lots of stess).Trouble will come but you can learn to respond well.

We are told not to be troubled so obedience will get rid of a lot of stress.

Self-doubt equals double minded. Stress is empowered in the double-minded. Self-doubt means there is no confidence in God’s Word. Hebrews 10:35 “Do not throw away your confidence, it will be richly rewarded” Confidence is what God has done, what we know he can do. It is never what we can do. Confidence must be based on how God values us.

Psalm 11:3 “When a foundation falls, Christians have righteousness. The righteousness of Jesus Christ. Don’t fall into condemnation that will surely produce guilt & self-conflict. Condemnation-Fear-Guilt always go together and Christians make it worse even when using Scripture. When a Christian is in this place they will inevitably see the negative in God’s Word.

Get out of this stress by realizing that God does not condemn. John 3:17 He came to save not condemn If you sin just confess it. Don’t let the stress build up. Just because you sin does not make you a sinner. You are righteous by the blood of Jesus. Focus on the blood not the sin. You are planted, like a tree, in righteousness.

Philippians 1:6 “He who began a good work in you…” You are being cleansed---His mercy is new every morning. Romans 8:1 Condemnation is of the flesh To let condemnation stay in your mind is of the flesh and the flesh is a way of thinking that is against God.

There is no reason to let anything become stress in your life for God is always working on your side.

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

O, precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know
nothing but the blood of Jesus.

---Robert Lowery

MASTERY OVER ANGER

Creflo Dollar

Anger is a feeling that can move you away from God’s Will. Appropriate anger is okay. Just don’t let the sun go down with that anger unresolved within you.

Five steps to mastery over anger.

Number One: Recognize your feelings of displeasure. You need to locate within you what is happening. If you don’t do that the anger can over-run you immediately.

Number Two: Suppress taking any immediate action. Proverbs 29:11 do not repress, that is shove it down Rather “hold it back” be in control of yourself.
Put a tag on the situation, a label that you can deal with. Begin reasoning out what happened. Be honest about what you believe went wrong.

Number Three: Take the time to pray. It is an important step in sorting our your feelings. Besides, it is hard to be angry while you are praying.

Number Four: Identify the cause, the source, of the anger. What is your primary feeling about the moment? What can you do for yourself the next time something like this happens?

Number Five: Is your anger legitimate? And though it may be legitimate doesn’t mean that you handled it with wisdom. Godly wisdom is always your ally in tense moments.

O Lord,
help me to walk in obedience to you
so that nothing in my life will
hinder the flow of blessings
to those around me.

Grace, grace, God’s grace.
Grace that will pardon
and cleanse within.
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater
than all our sin!

---Julia H. Johnston

---Francis Fenelon

MASTERY OVER REJECTION

Creflo Dollar

John 6:37 God said he would never reject anyone who comes to him. This is a guarantee, something we can pin our hopes on. When people reject you God is there with his acceptance. Turn to Jesus and embrace his love.

Rejection is a feeling of… not being loved not good enough, etc.

Three Pitfalls of Fearing Rejection:

One: Compromising to get a confirmation of yourself. What will you do to be accepted? What is your price?

Two: You will be exposed to exploitation. You will give yourself over to another for recognition. The fear of rejection will enslave you to others.

Three: You lose a sense of self. You become a social and relational chameleon. Changing your opinions, even you personal tastes to enjoy a false acceptance.

How to overcome rejection.

O Lord God, is whom we live and move and have our being, open our eyes that we may behold your Fatherly presence ever about us. Teach us to be anxious abut nothing, and when we have done what you have given us to do, help us, O God our Savior, to leave this issue to your wisdom, knowing that all things are possible to us through your son our savior, Jesus Christ.

---Richard Meux Benson

Through our asking, God put his process in motion, creating something in us that was nonexistent until we asked. The inner reality of redemption is that it creates all the time.

---Oswald Chamber

Make a rule and pray to God to help you to keep it, never, if possible, to lie down at night without being able to say, “I have made one human being at least a little wiser, or a little happier, or at least a little better this day”.

---Charles Kingsley

The rule that governs my life is this; Anything that dims my vision of Christ, or takes away my taste for Bible study, or cramps my prayer life, or makes Christian work difficult for me, is wrong for me, and I must, as a Christian, turn away from it.

---J. Wilbur Chapman

When a man gets to God, it is by the most simple way---words.

---Oswald Chambers

That is what the Scripture means by holiness or sanctification---believers are set apart for Holy Living. Therefore, holiness is the only possible response to God’s grace, holy living is loving God.

---Charles Colson

The steadfast love of the Lord
Never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end.
They are new every morning,
New every morning;
Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord.
Great is thy faithfulness.

---Edith McNeill

In His time, In His time.
He makes all things beautiful-in His time.
Lord, please show me every day
As you are teaching me your way,
That you do just what you say
In your time.

---Diane Bell

Be wise with your words.
Make no assumptions.
Be anxious about nothing.
Don’t take anything personally.
Expect a miracle.
Always do your best.
Remember practice makes permanent.
All to thee is yielded
I a m not my own;
Blissful, glad surrender,
I am thine alone.
Fill me with the knowledge
of thy glorious will;
All thine own good pleasure
In my life fulfill.

---May E. Graimes

It is possible for you and me to live
in this world as sure that the Lord is
with us as we can be sure of anything…
to have no fear at all,
to be able to anticipate tomorrow with
a thrill of delight,
to have no fear of anything neither of sickness,
nor unemployment,
nor lonliness,
nor death, nor anything al all.

---Peter Marshall

His usual agent of correction is His living word…The Scriptures encourage and guide us, but they frequently do so by pointing
out our misconceptions, blunders, and deficiencies.

Our response should be one of immense thanksgiving that through this ministry of his Word God is able to correct our erroneous course.

Rather than become discouraged, hurt, or combative when God examines us, we should be quick to examine ourselves, repent, and all the Holy Spirit to direct our steps in his straight path.

---Charles Stanley

Stand and see what the Lord will do.
In the struggle you face He will fight for you.
By the power of His arm
He will bring you through.
Stand and see what the Lord will do.

---Bill Batstone & Phil Kristianson

Learn your lessons well in the schoolroom of obscurity. God is preparing you as his chosen arrow. As yet your shaft is hidden in his quiver, in the shadows…but at the precise moment at which it will tell with the greatest effect, he will reach for you and launch you to that place of his appointment.

…Charles R. Swindoll

I am only one, but I am one.
I can’t do everything, but
I can do something.
And what I can do, I ought to do.
And what I ought to do, by the
Grace of God, I shall do.

---Edward Everette Hale

Where we are faithful in keeping ourselves in His holy presence, keeping Him always before us, this not only prevents our offending Him or something displeasing in His sight (at least willfully) but it also brings to us a holy freedom, and if I may say so , a familiarity with God wherein we may ask and receive the graces we are so desperately in need of.

---Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection

Hear my prayer, O lord,
From the ends of the earth I cry,
Your peace will lead me to the Rock
That is higher than I.
For you have been my strength
In times of trouble
A tower above my enemies
And Lord, I will abide with you forever
In the shelter of your wings.

---Debbie Owens

The holiness of God is an exceedingly high standard, a perfect standard. But it is nevertheless one that He holds us to. He cannot do less, While it is true that he accepts us solely through the merit of Christ. God’s standard for our character, our attitude, affections, and actions is, “be holy because I am holy.”

---Jerry Bridges

I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all around me, seemed insufficient for the day.

---Abraham Lincoln

Victories for God’s people come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it seems that God sets up certain situations to show his sovereignty. From his vantage point the view is always victory.

---Dick Eastman and Jack Hayford

The true meaning of love dawns on us when we find ourselves required to love someone who has hurt us or mistreated us.

Perhaps one of our greatest needs is the motivation to love such people…

---Floyd McClung

O Lord, you have called us to overcome evil with good and to pray for our enemies. I, ask Lord, that you have pity on my enemies, just as you have had pity on me. Lead them, together with me, into your heavenly kingdom.

---Lancelot Andrews

When we trust ourselves we are doing the wrong thing. We can fall into error of spiritual pride on the one hand or discouragement on the other.

We are really strong when we are weak; weak when we are strong.

So, Following in the footsteps of Jesus, taking the steps---yes, and the jumps of the unknown---we can become paratroopers. We can storm the enemy’s territory and win souls for Jesus.

---Corrie Ten Boom

Under His wings I am safely abiding, tho’ the night deepens and tempests are wild,

Under His wings, under His wings,
Who from His love can sever?
Under His wings my soul shall abide,
Safely abide forever.

---William Cushing

The Lord is my strength
and my shield;
my heart trusts in Him,
and I am helped.
My heart leaps for joy and
I will give thanks to Him
in song.
Psalm 28:7

Do not run impetuously before the Lord; learn to wait for His time; the minute-hand as well as the hour-hand must point to the exact moment of action.

---Lettie B. Cowman

What are without we God? What are we without the constant influence of the Spirit who makes us fruitful. O Believer, learn to reject pride. In you there is no room for it. Whoever you are, whatever you have accomplished, you have nothing to make you proud. The more you have the more you are in debt to God, and there is no reason to be proud that you are in debt to God.

Have faith in God when your prayers are unanswered; Your earnest plea He will never forget. Wait on the Lord; Trust His Word and be patient. Have faith in God; He’ll answer yet.

---B.B. Kinney

When life caves in, you do not need reasons—
You need comfort.
You do not need answers—
You need someone.
And Jesus did not come to us
with an explanation—
He comes to us
with His presence.

---Bob Benson

His strength is perfect when our strength is gone.
He’ll carry us when we can’t carry on.
Raised in His power, the weak become strong.
His strength is perfect,
His strength is perfect.

---Steven Curtis Chapman and Jerry Salley

Since devotion consists in a certain degree of eminent charity, it not only makes us prompt, active, and faithful in observance of God’s commands, but in addition it arouses to do quickly and lovingly as many good works as possible, both those commanded and those merely counseled or inspired.

---St. Francis de Sales

We never reach a place in the Christian life where it is no longer necessary to watch and pray lest we fall into temptation. A constant coming back in Spirit to our CENTER which is Christ the Lord, is our only safeguard.

---Frederick Julius Huegel

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

---The Doxology