124fb34
|
The main evidence of maturity in the Christian life is a growing love for God and for God's people, as well as a love for lost souls. It has well been said that love is the "circulatory system" of the body of Christ."
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
41d1324
|
Grace never looks for a reason; it only looks for an opportunity.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
a9c3d12
|
When He wrote the Bible, God didn't give us a ponderous theology book divided into sections labeled God, Creation, Man, Sin, and so forth. Instead, He gave us a story, a narrative that begins in eternity past and ends in eternity future. It's a story about God and His dealings with all kinds of people and how they responded to His Word. As we read these narratives, we learn a great deal about God, ourselves, and our world, and we discover t..
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
3867606
|
Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human needs through loving channels to the glory of God.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
44e2e5c
|
Christian joy is a deep experience of adequacy and confidence in spite of the circumstances around us. The Christian can be joyful even in the midst of pain and suffering. This kind of joy is not a thermometer but a thermostat. Instead of rising and falling with the circumstances, it determines the spiritual temperature of the circumstances. Paul put it beautifully when he wrote, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be co..
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
b47f2f5
|
At times God permits His children to experience darkness on a dead-end street where they don't know which way to turn. When this happens, wait for the Lord to give you light in His own time. Don't try to manufacture your own light or to borrow light from others. Follow the wise counsel of Isaiah: "Who among you fears the LORD? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD a..
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
5299139
|
The modern world is also fascinated by innovation but scornful to tradition. Like the Athenians in Paul's day, many people do nothing but get involved in the latest fads (Acts 17:21). People stand in line to purchase the latest gimmicks, and no sooner do they learn how to use them than the manufacturers declare the models obsolete. Innovation! Progress!
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
f53de19
|
Big is beautiful" may be a clever slogan, but God still asks, "Who dares despise the day of small things?" (Zech.4:10)...A few loaves and fishes fed thousands. Little is much if God is in it."
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
d4b5ca8
|
One minute Jacob prayed for God's help, and the next minute he devised some new way to appease his angry brother. He reminded God of His great promises and then acted as though God had never spoken. This is the conduct of a believer who needed to be broken before God. He prayed to be delivered from Esau (v. 11), but his greatest need was to be delivered from himself. Jacob was broken to be healed and weakened to be strengthened. When he sur..
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
7898f06
|
People still ask questions and hope the answers will be what they think they already know. They need to pray this prayer by an anonymous believer: From the cowardice that shrinks from new truths, From the laziness that is content with half-truths, From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth, O God of truth, deliver us!
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
b1f9212
|
In marriage, "two become one," and this miracle must never be forgotten. Marriage means that a man and a woman must no longer say "mine" and "yours"; they should say only "ours." If one of them has a ministry, they both have a ministry, whether the other one accepts it or not. Marriage isn't a fifty-fifty partnership; it's a 100 percent stewardship in which each mate lives for the other and both live for the Lord."
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
1600119
|
The world thinks that happiness is the result of others serving us, but real joy comes when we serve others in the name of Christ.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
2221ded
|
Do you want life and joy? Here's the secret: Live on God's path, live in His presence, and live for His pleasures.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
51f0f11
|
There is no substitute for an understanding mind.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
199e0bd
|
Your . . . sermon lasts but an hour or two--your life preaches all the week.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
bc8a6e6
|
But suffering does not automatically bring glory to God and blessing to God's people. Some believers have fainted and fallen in times of trial and have brought shame to the name of Christ. It is only when we depend on the grace of God that we can glorify God in times of suffering.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
23afc4b
|
Leaders must learn to obey before they have the privilege of asking others to obey them.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
10c5d31
|
As we begin each day, we trust we'll still be around at the end of the day. What happens in between depends on how we start in the morning and how we end in the evening. Verses 1 and 2 describe an ideal day: "It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night." That's how we ought to live each day. When you wake up in the morn..
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
5917d91
|
No matter how we or others may evaluate what we do, ministry that's based on biblical principles will meet human needs and glorify God.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
a93d2e5
|
Principles are like rocks, and methods are like rivers; together they get the job done.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
e6abd32
|
Thoughts are important, because what you think is what you become. "As he thinks in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7). Thinking leads to doing, and doing leads to being. Sow a thought and you reap an action. Sow an action and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny. If"
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
2726557
|
Not all the blood of beasts, On Jewish altars slain, Could give the guilty conscience peace, Or wash away the stain. But Christ the heavenly Lamb, Takes all our sins away; A sacrifice of nobler name And richer blood than they. (Isaac Watts)
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
45388e7
|
To be gripped by the miraculous magnificence of prayer means to be humbled and broken, deeply grateful for the privilege of access into the presence of the Almighty.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
0e52f5a
|
It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
30be5e2
|
Paul stated that there are three evidences of the fullness of the Spirit in the life of the believer: he is joyful (Eph. 5:19), thankful (Eph. 5:20), and submissive (Eph. 5:21-33). Paul said nothing about miracles or tongues or other special manifestations.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
f213809
|
The words of Jim Elliot were true: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
bf732f6
|
Religion is man's attempt to make peace with God on his own terms. Redemption is God's offer of peace through Jesus Christ. But this is "peace through the blood of His cross" (Col. 1:20)."
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
6390f50
|
God is glorified when people see the Master and not the minister.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
0a5f6c4
|
To be poor in spirit does not mean to deny your personality or try to suppress it. It simply means yielding it to God for Him to make it all that He wants it to be. The motto is old but true: "God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him."
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
818be93
|
It doesn't have to be dark outside for us to be in the middle of the night. Sometimes the darkness is in us. Discouragement moves in, and we are like Asaph, who said, "My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing; my soul refused to be comforted" (v. 2). Some translations read, "My sore was running in the night." What do you do when your soul refuses to be comforted? Asaph tells us what we should do. First, talk to God. "I cried o..
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
c0ce70b
|
We can't depend upon our own rule, because we are weak and ignorant. And we can't depend too much on the rule of others, because they are as weak and ignorant as we are. The only thing we can depend on is the rule and reign of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. If He is on the throne of our lives, then we can face tomorrow with courage and confidence.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
e8f0276
|
When God used David's sling, He needed David's hand to swing it. When God builds a ministry, He needs somebody's surrendered body to get the job done. You are important to the Lord, so keep your life pure: "A holy minister [servant] is an awful weapon in the hand of God."
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
39f22b2
|
There's no substitute for Christian character. No matter how much talent and training we may have, if we don't have character, we don't have anything.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
6289df6
|
His faith was in the Lord. He looked back without regret; he looked around without fear; and he looked ahead without doubt or apprehension because he trusted in Jesus Christ.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
1bb20de
|
The mind grows by taking in, but the heart grows by giving out.
|
|
love
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
b779511
|
In Greek the name Christ is khristos (christos). The first letter looks like the English letter X. Every vocation has its shorthand, and those in the church used the letter chi (kh) to represent Christ in words that began with "Christ-." So "Xmas" is an honorable abbreviation for Christmas. It was not intended to take Christ out of Christmas"
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
670bf86
|
Those who do not know the past are condemned to repeat it.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
6b821ef
|
God has ordained that His people live by promises and not by explanations.
|
|
trust
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
a0c9917
|
The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is a warning to all of us. If the sinful human heart doesn't respond by faith to God's Word, it cannot be transformed by the grace of God (Ezek. 36:26-27; Heb. 8:7-13). Instead, it will become harder and harder the longer it resists God's truth. No matter how often God may send affliction, it will only provoke more disobedience. In the last days, when God sends His terrible judgments on the world (Rev. 6--16..
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
16a642c
|
We ought to take time to admire His wisdom in creation. I've read that if the proportion of gases in the air were changed ever so slightly, all of us would die. The way God tilted the earth, the way He arranged the seasons, the way He put creation together is a revelation of His great wisdom. It's logical that the God who is wise enough to run creation is wise enough to run our lives. If He can keep the stars and the planets and the seasons..
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
54abecb
|
Sometimes fear comes, not before the battle or even in the midst of the battle, but after we have won the victory.
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
61dc727
|
This is why Isaiah 12:2 says, "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid."
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
5925289
|
Hebrews 13:6 reads, "The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |
6f6b694
|
As you study the book of Isaiah, you will discover that the prophet interspersed messages of hope with words of judgment. God remembers His mercy even when declaring His wrath (Hab. 3:2), and He assures His people that they have a "hope and a future" (Jer. 29:11 NIV)."
|
|
|
Warren W. Wiersbe |