“The reason I use the word reflex to describe these traits of selfishness is that there is zero premeditation before they happen. When these responses happen, they are coming from my fallen nature, not from reflection and resolution. I don’t sin out of duty. I sin spontaneously. They are the reflexes of my original, unmortified sinfulness.”

“The Beauty of Single-Mindedness in a Great Cause I love single-mindedness. I love to see an entire life devoted to one great thing. To me it is beautiful when a human soul, instead of flitting from one interest to another, sets a course of life and stays on it till the end. Of course, this is praiseworthy only if the goal is worth a lifetime of focus. In a few places, Paul distills the passion of his life into a sentence. For example: I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24)”

“You’re not all that God has called you to be, as a follower of Jesus, if you’re missions-minded but not engaged in God’s mission here and now.”

“God has his ways to loosen your roots.”

“And so with faithful Ruth we pray That bitter providence today Tomorrow will taste very sweet, And every famine that we meet And every broken staff of bread In death, will bring us life instead.”

“I spoke the hardest words and almost broke: 'There is another kinsman still More close to you than I. He will Be given legal right to take You if he will. Tomorrow make Your prayer, and I will settle this With elder in the gate.' No kiss That night. But when she left, still dark, She took my hand and drew and arc And said, 'The God of Exodus And flood at dawn will fight for us.' That was our only touch.”

“Cuando creemos que el Señor está más lejos de nosotros o nos ha vuelto la espalda, la verdad es que, mientras nos aferramos a Él, el Señor pone el fundamento para mayor felicidad en nuestra vida. No juzgues con débil sentido al Señor, Más bien confía en Él por su gracia; Detrás de una providencia agobiante Él esconde su rostro sonriente.”

“Una bala soberana Por ejemplo, el 20 de abril de 2001, la Fuerza Aérea del Perú derribó un avión misionero al confundirlo con un transporte de drogas. En el aeroplano estaban el piloto Kevin Donaldson y una familia misionera: Jim y Verónica Bowers y sus dos hijos, Charity de siete meses y Cory de seis años de edad. Verónica tenía sentada a Charity en su regazo en la parte trasera del Cessna 185. Cuando las balas rociaron la avioneta, una de ellas entró por la espalda de Verónica, atravesándola a ella y a su bebita. Ambas murieron. El piloto, con las rodillas destrozadas, logró estrellar el aeroplano contra un río, y los otros tres ocupantes sobrevivieron. Siete días después en el funeral en Fruitport, Michigan, Jim Bowers ofreció este testimonio y explicó por qué la soberanía de Dios en las muertes de su esposa y su hija era la roca debajo de sus pies. Por encima de todo, quiero dar gracias a Dios. Él es un Dios soberano. Ahora me doy más cuenta de eso… Algunos de ustedes se podrían preguntar: «¿Por qué agradecer a Dios?»… ¿Podría esto ser realmente el plan de Dios para Roni y Charity; ¿el plan divino para Cory, nuestra familia y yo? Me gustaría decirles por qué lo creo.[4] Jim siguió dando quince razones. En ese contexto, afirmó: «Roni y Charity murieron al instante a causa de la misma bala. (¿Diría usted que esa es una bala perdida?). No alcanzó a Kevin, quien estaba enfrente de Charity; se alojó en Charity. Esa fue una bala soberana». Sin embargo, ¿qué pasó con los pilotos peruanos de combate? ¿No tenían ellos voluntad? ¿No cometieron equivocaciones o, quizás, hasta pecaron contra una inocente familia misionera? Jim Bowers afirmó: «Aquellas personas que hicieron eso simplemente fueron usadas por Dios. Créanlo o no, yo lo creo. Ellos fueron usados por Él, por el Señor, para lograr el propósito divino en esto, quizás”

“Christian, be a Christian: live by faith; walk by the Spirit; serve in the strength that God supplies.”

“God designed human fatherhood to be a portrait of himself.”

“So I join James Morgan in saying, “I love Jesus Christ.” And as I say it, I want to make clear what I mean: • I admire Jesus Christ more than any other human or angelic being. • I enjoy his ways and his words more than I enjoy the ways and words of anyone else. • I want his approval more than I want the approval of anyone else. • I want to be with him more than I want to be with anyone else. • I feel more grateful to him for what he has done for me than I do to anyone else. • I trust his words more fully than I trust what anyone else says. • I am more glad in his exaltation than in the exaltation of anyone else, including me. Would you pray with me that we would love Jesus Christ more than we ever have? And may our Lord Jesus grant that from time to time we would deliver quietly and naturally a thunderclap into the hearts of others with the simple words, “I love Jesus Christ.” “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8). Every Step on the Calvary Road Was Love The Intensity of Christ’s Love and the Intentionality of His Death”

“In dying he satisfied the claims of sin; and in living he satisfies the claims of God.”

“Psalms 1, 42, 73, 90, and 107.”

“When I say in what follows that love calls us to do good in practical ways that meet physical needs, I do not mean that this help is offered contingent on Muslims becoming Christians. To be sure, every act of love, no matter how practical, longs for the eternal good of the one being loved. We always aim for the salvation of the people we love, no matter what we are doing for them. But we don’t stop loving if they are unresponsive. Practical”

“Sin can't enslave a person who is utterly confident and sure and hope-filled in the infinite happiness of life with Christ in the future.”

“Listen, self: If God is for you, who can be against you? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for you, how will he not also with him graciously give you all things? Who shall bring any charge against you as God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for you. Who shall separate you from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:31–35, paraphrased)”

“Christ is the glory we were made to see. His light alone will fill us and give the light of life and meaning to every part of our lives. And”

“God is justified. God is blameless. If God casts David into hell, God will be innocent. This is radical, God-centered repentance.”

“People give way to sexual sin because they don’t have fullness of joy and gladness in Jesus.”

“The redeemed have all their objective good in God. God Himself is the great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by redemption. He is the highest good, and the sum of all that good which Christ purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints; he is the portion of their souls. God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their life, their dwelling place, their ornament and diadem, and their everlasting honor and glory. They have none in heaven but God; he is the great good which the redeemed are received to at death, and which they are to rise to at the end of the world. The Lord God, he is the light of the heavenly Jerusalem; and is the “river of the water of life” that runs, and the tree of life that grows, “in the midst of the paradise of God.” The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will forever entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their everlasting feast. The redeemed will indeed enjoy other things; they will enjoy the angels, and will enjoy one another: but that which they shall enjoy in the angels, or each other, or in anything else whatsoever, that will yield them delight and happiness, will be what will be seen of God in them.*”