some random McManus quotes
Whenever we take on a God-sized challenge, self-sufficiency is no longer an option.
Many times when we claim we are waiting on God, He is waiting on us.
Do what you know you should do, and you will know what to do. God clarifies in the midst of obedience, not beforehand.
You know where to begin: take initiative. You know who God is, so embrace life’s uncertainty.
When God is involved, the epilogue is not mysterious. God wins.
-erwin mcmanus
if you knew that you couldn’t fail, what would you do differently?
One of the hallmarks of American culture in the 20th century was its fascination with the superhero. From comic-book sales to blockbuster movies to the graphic novel genre, entire industries have played into the attraction we have to individuals who are somehow possessed of powers not enjoyed by mere mortals. Superman, Spiderman, Batman, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and other fictional characters capture our collective imagination as they battle super-villians their creators dream up to fight them. The urge of a boy to wear his underpants on the outside of his pajamas and tear around the house fighting phantom bad guys is an inherited character trait passed down proudly from father to son.
So what is it about a superhero that’s so appealing? Bravery. Power. Strength. Ingenuity. The ability to fly. The fact that they usually get the girl. The fact that they can seemingly get out of any jam they find themselves in. Who wouldn’t want that kind of existence?
Thinking of that context, reread today’s passage. Joshua is, in effect, getting his superhero’s license from Moses. Now, it’s unlikely that this involved a cape and a mask, but Moses here tells Joshua that, with God’s power behind him, he will be able to deal with adversity and conquer his foes.
Moses tells the people that their new leader, Joshua, will take them forward into Canaan. Their old leader, Moses, encourages Joshua in front of the people, “Be strong and courageous…The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you…Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” With that reinforcement as a backdrop, Joshua moved forward. Fear couldn’t hold him back. He believed God.
If you knew that you couldn’t fail, what would you do differently? Pursue a promotion at work? Further your education? Ask someone to marry you? Risk repairing a broken relationship?
The fact is that, when God goes before you, you can’t fail. If you’re living within God’s will you don’t need to be afraid. You may endure a few shots along the way, but with the world’s only real Superpower behind you, you can’t ultimately fail. Take the risk. Live with passion. Listen to his assurance: “Be strong and courageous…Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
go back and read Deuteronomy 30.11-14. what does this passage
say about your ability to obey God and the benefits of doing so?
how has fear kept you from reaching your dreams?
in what areas of your life do you need more courage?
“Trust God, and be not afraid, or else you will plague yourself.”
–Charles Haddon Spurgeon
why do we call it radical when, to Jesus, it is simply the way it is?
okay…so i cannot wait for this book to come out…i know i already have a million books that i’m trying to read and i’m reading EXTREMELY slow…but this one grabbed me and i’m really looking forward to it’s release in late April…anyway…here’s what it’s about…
Book Description
“Sometimes I feel like when I make decisions that are remotely biblical, people who call themselves Christians are the first to criticize and say I’m crazy, that I’m taking the Bible too literally, or that I’m not thinking about my family’s well-being. . . When people gladly sacrifice their time or comfort or home, it is obvious that they trust in the promises of God. Why is it that the story of someone who has actually done what Jesus commands resonates deeply with us, but we then assume we could never do anything so radical or intense? Or why do we call it radical when, to Jesus, it is simply the way it is? The way it should be?”
About the Author
Francis Chan is pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California. He is also the president of Eternity Bible College and sits on the Board of Directors of Children’s Hunger Fund and World Impact. Francis spends much of his time speaking to students around the country, committed to teaching directly from the Bible. His passion is to see the Church display a much deeper love for Jesus. Francis, his wife, Lisa, and their four children live in California.
…I will fight for you, would you fight for me, it’s worth fighting for…
My wife is my best friend, who I love dearly, and she loves me. But isn’t it fascinating that two people who love each other so much can cut one another so deeply? When you let issues build up in a marriage, the smallest thing can trigger a war, and pretty soon you can lose sight of your love and commitment to one another. We had a night where something as trivial as spilled pretzels forced into the open things we had left unsaid. Once everything had calmed down, I wrote this song. In that moment, I fully realized my duty, as my wife’s husband, was to wrap my arms around her. To love her more than my pride, more than my desire to be ‘right,’ and to find a way to move through life’s good and bad times together. That will be a struggle at times, but love is worth the fight.
I wrote “Love is Not a Fight” about my marriage and my commitment to my wife. I’ve been performing it at my shows now for about six months, and after every show I am overwhelmed by the many different ways the song is affecting other people. I heard a story the other day about a man who has an adopted daughter. He said at times the challenges seem impossible to struggle through, but my song reminded him that Love is Worth the fight. The song has proven to be more than just a tune I wrote in my living room about my story, it is song about all of our relationships.
It’s easy to just skim by on the surface of life. The challenge is to go beyond the shallows into deeper relationships with the ones we love. At times this can be uncomfortable. It means we have to take the time to invest in their lives. It means we will have to be vulnerable and honest about who we really are. This will likely result in some pain. But it’s the kind of pain that carves out space in our souls for more joy than we could have ever experienced before.
More “things” will not bring you the full life that we all crave. It is time we make the important things important again and seek deeper relationships with our Maker and the people we share this space with. Love is not a fight, but it is something worth fighting for.
–Warren Barfield
“Love is Not a Fight” is the first single off of Warren Barfield’s third studio recording WORTH FIGHTING FOR scheduled to release MAY 20th 2008.
Love is not a place / to come and go as we please / It’s a house we enter in / then commit to never leave
So lock the door behind you / Throw away the key / Work it out together / Let it bring us to our knees
Love is a shelter / in a raging storm / Love is peace / in the middle of a war / If we try to leave / May God send angels to guard the door / No, Love is not a fight / but its something worth fighting for
Some love is a word / that they can fall into / But when they’re falling out / keeping that word is hard to do
Love is a shelter / in a raging storm / Love is peace / in the middle of a war / If we try to leave / May God send angels to guard the door / No, Love is not a fight / but its something worth fighting for
Love will come to save us / If we’ll only call / He will ask nothing from us / but demand we give our all
Love is a shelter / in a raging storm / Love is peace / in the middle of a war / If we try to leave / May God send angels to guard the door / No, Love is not a fight / but its something worth fighting for
Cause I will fight for you / Would you fight for me / It’s worth fighting for
[Warren Barfield, Love is Not a Fight]
…forgive us we have made You small…
great God greater than us all / forgive us we have made You small / God open our eyes to see / great God greater than us all / let Your people stand in awe / God we will rise up and say great God!
[Daniel Doss Band, Great God]
i’ve caught myself way too many times lately making more of me…and less of God…i lean harder on MY knowledge, on MY skills, on MY desires…striving for what I want…and in the process i find that i’m ignoring what God is doing in and around me and i end up putting Him back in the cool little box i’ve made for Him…no wonder i’ve been so “blah” lately…no wonder i haven’t been able to look up and see the glory of it all and just be struck by awe…
it really frustrates me that i keep telling myself things like, “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” [john 3.30, nlt], and reading books like Louie Giglio’s i am not but i know I AM, and C.J. Mahaney’s Humility, and i still miss the point…everyday i miss it. ugh! ha…it’s just so frustrating…i want my life to matter…to mean something…to be bigger than me!
my friend Patrick just got back from Passion where Louie Giglio and many others just straight up brought the truth…you can read in Patrick’s blog where he talks about Louie, saying:
“the 1st night (Friday) Louie talked about each of us leveraging our lives for “the most important thing of everything” = the Name & Fame of Jesus (Revelation 5). We each get a little match that burns (life) for a bunch of years & then it dwindles down & goes out. But, I wanna throw my little match in with the eternal, glorious flame of Jesus & make that flame as bright & famous as I can. Because once my match (life) has burned out, that’s the end. Just a simple talk, but a great reminder that living my life for Jesus’ fame is all that matters.”
what would Christianity look like if we considered ourselves less and less and Christ greater and greater in our lives? what would it look like if we would mean it when we say, “i know i am not, but i know I AM”? what would it look like if we all took our little matches and threw them into Christ’s glorious flame?
God, forgive us for making you so small…for glorifying ourselves when all glory and honor and majesty should be yours…all yours and only yours…let us live our lives in continual awe of you…let us rise up and say great God!
God is Love…Glorifying God
My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.
[1 john 4.7-21, the message]
An airplane is meant to fly, a car is built to be driven, and clothes are designed to be worn. You would have very little use for a plane that would not fly, a car that would not move, or clothes that can no longer be worn.
Why? Because their purpose is not being realized. It’s a great frustration to have things that are no longer useful. God must feel that way about us sometimes.
You were designed to know Him, not simply to have a comfortable life. You were not created just to get married, have children and a successful career, then grow old and enjoy retirement. These are some of life’s benefits, its side dishes, not its purpose.
The tragedy today is that we have taken life’s benefits and tried to make them our purpose. We’re trying to make the side dishes the main course. The result is that we often find the benefits very unsatisfactory. No wonder.
So if the purpose of life is not marriage, success, happiness, or any of that, what is it? What were we created for? Answer: we were created to know and worship God with an all-consuming passion. That’s it. That’s why Paul tells us to do everything to God’s glory.
Bringing glory to something means to put it on the mantel where it can be admired. A woman seeks glory when she decorates her home in such a way that guests say, “Wow, where did you get that?” She puts a special treasure on display so that when people see it, they are in awe.
That’s what we’re supposed to do for God. We’re supposed to display Him in such a way that people are awed by Him. Glorifying God means to make Him look good, to place Him on display so that when others see our lives, they are in awe of our God.
Even in the everyday stuff, your goal should be to make God look good. But I can tell you, it takes real passion to live like that. To anyone who is trying to know and serve God halfheartedly without passion, I think Paul would say, “Why bother?” If you’re going to seek God, go for it like you mean it!
–Tony Evans
have you been tempted to seek your joy in the “benefits of life”? how have they proved unfulfilling?
why is it important to glorify God?
how can you glorify God in practical ways in your everyday life?
Handwritten Gospels: Day 1
it’s been said that writing something down is the best way to memorize it, so tonight i drove out to Target and bought myself a leather bound journal and some nice pens. once i got home i sat down and wrote out the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.
i’m in desperate need to memorize some scripture. i’m not expecting to be able to memorize all 4 gospels in their entirety but i am hoping to walk away with at least some of the stories and parables in them memorized. i’m not sure how long this will take, and it’s gonna be a journey, but this is a start. and that’s what i need, a start.
i guess that’s all for now, just wanted to post something about this in hopes that it will keep me accountable and dedicated. i’ll try to post a few times throughout this experience to see how it’s shaping me…
grace and peace…later
Words kill, words give life…
“When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people need—words that will help others become stronger. Then what you say will do good to those who listen to you.”
[ephesians 4.29, ncv]
In his book on Humility, C.J. Mahaney comments on this verse, writing:
Our words are intended to communicate encouragement. Our words are to edify–they should be “good for building up.” And that goes for all our speech. We’re specifically commanded to communicate “only” that which edifies.
What are edifying words?
Here’s what they’re not. They’re not simply polite words. This verse isn’t an exhortation to niceness or social protocol. And it certainly isn’t talking about flattery or about superficial words or about compliments that are man-centered or man-exalting.
Truly edifying words are words that reveal the character and the promises and the activity of God. They’re cross-centered words. They’re words rooted in and derived from Scripture, words taht identify the active presence of God, and words that communicate the evidences of grace that you observe in others. They’re words that flow from a humble heart.
We’re commanded to communicate only words like these that are good for building up another. What a sweet command! What a privilege!
i have to admit, i’ve been doing a really, REALLY bad job of this lately. i’ve been careless and even worse, wreckless with my words. i’ve said things that i haven’t meant and i’ve meant things that i haven’t said. what a fool! what an arrogant fool…i’ve been killing those i love most with my words. i seriously need to refocus and get my priorities straight again because i’ve been failing miserably at this life i’ve been given. we get one life…one shot at this. i need to make the most of it and live it well.
my friend Brian says that i should put this verse to music and make it the theme song of my life because i quote it all the time. here it is, Paul writes, “I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back” [philippians 3.12, the message]. if i’m gonna quote it so much i’d better start living up to it…i need get on my way, “well on my way, reaching out for Christ” and live this life for Him who lived His life for me.
remember, we are called, and commanded, to encourage others all day, every day…our words are powerful…our words matter. “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose” [proverbs 18.21, the message].
…because we can trust God to do what is right.
God doesn’t erase the consequences of our bad decisions, whether they involve a damaged reputation, a ruined friendship, a marital separation (divorce), an addiction, a physical ailment, legal action, bankruptcy or just a whole lot of self-loathing. But He doesn’t abandon us either.
No matter what mistakes you’ve made in your life, God still wants to be in relationship with you. He still wants to use you in His kingdom work. In fact, if you let Him, He’ll use you in powerful ways you never thought possible.
if you could undo three decisions in your life, what would they be? why?
what consequences have you experienced as a result of bad decisions?
do you still experience guilt about past mistakes? read 1 john 1.9. and, when you pray, offer yourself again to be used by God today.
But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right. He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done.
[1 john 1.9, ncv]
Do You Really Love Him?
If what we call love doesn’t take us beyond ourselves, it is not really love. If we have the idea that love is characterized as cautious, wise, sensible, shrewd, and never taken to extremes, we have missed the true meaning. This may describe affection and it may bring us a warm feeling, but it is not a true and accurate description of love.
Have you ever been driven to do something for God not because you felt that it was useful or your duty to do so, or that there was anything in it for you, but simply because you love Him? Have you ever realized that you can give things to God that are of value to Him? Or are you just sitting around daydreaming about the greatness of His redemption, while neglecting all the things you could be doing for Him? I’m not referring to works which could be regarded as divine and miraculous, but ordinary, simple human things— things which would be evidence to God that you are totally surrendered to Him. Have you ever created what Mary of Bethany created in the heart of the Lord Jesus? “She has done a good work for Me.”
There are times when it seems as if God watches to see if we will give Him even small gifts of surrender, just to show how genuine our love is for Him. To be surrendered to God is of more value than our personal holiness. Concern over our personal holiness causes us to focus our eyes on ourselves, and we become overly concerned about the way we walk and talk and look, out of fear of offending God. “. . . but perfect love casts out fear . . .” once we are surrendered to God ( 1 John 4:18 ). We should quit asking ourselves, “Am I of any use?” and accept the truth that we really are not of much use to Him. The issue is never of being of use, but of being of value to God Himself. Once we are totally surrendered to God, He will work through us all the time.
i’m giving You my heart / and all that is within / i lay it all down for the sake / of You my King
i’m giving You my dreams / i’m laying down my rights / i’m giving up my pride / for the promise of new life
and I surrender / all to You all to You / and i surrender / all to You all to You
i’m singing You this song / i’m waiting at the cross / and all the world holds dear / i count it all as loss
for the sake of knowing You / the glory of Your name / to know the lasting joy / even sharing in Your pain
and i surrender / all to You all to You / and i surrender / all to You all to You
[surrender, lincoln brewster]
