Post by nightingale on Mar 2, 2009 23:18:53 GMT -5
Greetings to all
I wanted to share a few paragraphs of a book I am reading at this time. I read this same book a few years ago and believed it to be a good book, so I am reading it again.
This book is called "Far From Home, The Soul's Search for Intimacy with God" by Joseph M. Stowell
"The truth is this: Only God is capable of providing the companionship that chases our aloneness into the shadows. Only He can satisfy, sustain, and secure us."
"One of the greatest expressions of how much we value God is when we demonstrate by our actions that He takes priority over plans and dreams and is worth more than the sin that allures us. When we are tempted, we have the marvelous opportunity to say to Him that He is worth more than the strong pull of our lusts. When we say no to temptation, it is a loud and clear expression of the worth of God in our lives. It is an act of worship."
"There is no hope of drawing near to Him as long as we are clinging to our sin."
"How loosely do I hold what God has supplied? If this God to whom we are drawing close requires a dearly held commodity, would we give it up for Him? What is there in our lives that we possess that we would not give up for the ongoing joy of intimacy with Him? Are there things, persons, places, and habits we love more than we love Him?.......Intimacy is fanned when there is nothing more important to me than my deepening relationship with the one that I love."
"If we are consumed with self, we will not be consumed with Christ."
"Why do we resist temptation? Because we might get caught or because there are consequences? Why do we give our money? So He will bless us in return? Why do we teach or serve on committees and boards? For our own glory? Because nobody else will do it? Do we sing in the choir because we love to sing? These are the marks of being busy for God within the system for wrong reasons. This is Christ's point. All we do should be about Him, for Him, and because of Him. We need to cultivate a heart that resists temptation because we love Christ. We need to see saying no to sin as our opportunity to say to Him that we love Him more than that seemingly irresistible urge in our life. We give our money to His kingdom because it's one small way we can say we love Him, whether we will ever get anything back or not. It is for Him that we teach, preach or sing. He must become the consuming, compelling reason---for all of life."
".....God is the only entity in the universe who can be alone and be fully satisfied and sustained. It may come as a blow to us that God does not need us! But the beauty of it is that, though He can go for eternity without us, He chooses to love us and care for us, which makes His love and concern for us richer still.............He loves us because He is love and because He created us for the pleasure of our fellowship and the ultimate glory of His name."
I hope you can glean something from this post, I know I have.
Love in Christ, Sis Debbie
I wanted to share a few paragraphs of a book I am reading at this time. I read this same book a few years ago and believed it to be a good book, so I am reading it again.
This book is called "Far From Home, The Soul's Search for Intimacy with God" by Joseph M. Stowell
"The truth is this: Only God is capable of providing the companionship that chases our aloneness into the shadows. Only He can satisfy, sustain, and secure us."
"One of the greatest expressions of how much we value God is when we demonstrate by our actions that He takes priority over plans and dreams and is worth more than the sin that allures us. When we are tempted, we have the marvelous opportunity to say to Him that He is worth more than the strong pull of our lusts. When we say no to temptation, it is a loud and clear expression of the worth of God in our lives. It is an act of worship."
"There is no hope of drawing near to Him as long as we are clinging to our sin."
"How loosely do I hold what God has supplied? If this God to whom we are drawing close requires a dearly held commodity, would we give it up for Him? What is there in our lives that we possess that we would not give up for the ongoing joy of intimacy with Him? Are there things, persons, places, and habits we love more than we love Him?.......Intimacy is fanned when there is nothing more important to me than my deepening relationship with the one that I love."
"If we are consumed with self, we will not be consumed with Christ."
"Why do we resist temptation? Because we might get caught or because there are consequences? Why do we give our money? So He will bless us in return? Why do we teach or serve on committees and boards? For our own glory? Because nobody else will do it? Do we sing in the choir because we love to sing? These are the marks of being busy for God within the system for wrong reasons. This is Christ's point. All we do should be about Him, for Him, and because of Him. We need to cultivate a heart that resists temptation because we love Christ. We need to see saying no to sin as our opportunity to say to Him that we love Him more than that seemingly irresistible urge in our life. We give our money to His kingdom because it's one small way we can say we love Him, whether we will ever get anything back or not. It is for Him that we teach, preach or sing. He must become the consuming, compelling reason---for all of life."
".....God is the only entity in the universe who can be alone and be fully satisfied and sustained. It may come as a blow to us that God does not need us! But the beauty of it is that, though He can go for eternity without us, He chooses to love us and care for us, which makes His love and concern for us richer still.............He loves us because He is love and because He created us for the pleasure of our fellowship and the ultimate glory of His name."
I hope you can glean something from this post, I know I have.
Love in Christ, Sis Debbie