Dear Friends.
I share something very personal with you that's different from our typical AMEN Corner. I've kept journals over the years in which I'll write quotes from others, my own original thoughts and scriptures which leapt out at me as I was reading my Bible. Today is an AMEN Corner hodgepodge of journal excerpts...
“This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!” Psalm 118:24 What would my life look like if I woke up every morning filled with joy for the day He has made?
Let the peace of God surround you as you sit or kneel quietly. Let the hurry and worry of your life fall away. You are God’s child. He loves you and cares for you, and is here with you now and always. Speak to Him thoughtfully, give yourself time for Him to bring things to mind.
“By your grace, O God, I will go nowhere today where you cannot come, nor seek anyone’s presence that would rob me of yours. By your grace I will let no thought enter my heart that might hinder my closeness with you, nor let any word come from my mouth that is not meant for your ear. So shall my courage be firm and my heart be at peace.” (Scottish minister John Baillie)
“We were created to love and serve God. The things of the world and the people with whom we have chosen to be in a relationship will either help or hinder us with that purpose for our life.” jbh
The things of God cannot be learned; they must be revealed.
“I am the One who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person. And I will give to each of you whatever you deserve.” Rev 2:23 These words from God are the most wonderful we will ever read or the most terrifying.
“Not a single day of my life has passed that I didn’t need to repent.” jbh
We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
“The Spirit of God blows where it wills.” John 3:8
“Of His bounty, the Lord often grants not what we seek, so as to bestow something preferable.” Augustine
“Life must be lived forward but can only be understood backward.” Soren Kierkegaard
“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord. And our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” Augustine
She asked God, “Who am I?” He answered, “My beloved.”
God only gives hope, not despair.
Temptation itself is not sin; it is something we are bound to face simply by virtue of being human. God does not save us from being human. God does not save us from temptations - He sustains us in the midst of them. “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.” 1 Cor 10:13 jbh
The Pharisee is always present in each one of us. Even when we try to help people, we do not start with the premise that we as well as they are sinners needing God’s forgiveness; we simply try to improve their moral conduct.
“The arrogance of a legalistic Christian begins with their misunderstanding of the word “Righteous”. We have been declared righteous but we are not made righteous in the sense of being “correct” or “virtuous”. It is a declaration that as a result of Jesus Christ’s vicarious suffering and death upon the cross, we are right with God.” jbh
“Political Correctness is not a change of one’s beliefs. It is only a willingness to conform to someone else’s idea of what’s correct for one’s own personal gain.” jbh
“If God does not punish America, He owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology.” Billy Graham at the 1997 Presidential Inauguration.
Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory capacity.
Why do we speak the name of Jesus today? Because 2000 years ago as the Father’s love was manifested through the person of Jesus, today the Father’s love is manifested through the name of Jesus.
“In churches today we see too many salvations without conversions and without conversion there is no transformation.” jbh
“Unforgiveness holds us in bondage to our emotional response to a past injustice.” jbh
“If we are not centered on Jesus in our ministry, we are merely engaging in religious activity.” jbh
“Evangelical” has been redefined to mean “one who takes their Christianity and their relationship with God more seriously than the present speaker approves of”
Spiritually is going golfing and thinking about God. Thanking Him for the day and for the beauty of nature that surrounds you. Religion is going to church and thinking about golf.
You can be ethical and not be a religious person but you can’t truly be a Christian and be unethical.
We cannot be filled with God until we are not so full of ourselves” jbh
“The true nature of a man is written in the countenance on his wife’s face.” jbh
A monk said, “Spontaneous reactions to unexpected circumstances provide clues to our inner dispositions.” An old Indian saying says it like this, “Whatever you are filled with spills over when bumped.”
“If people who call themselves Christians do not read the Bible daily and pray daily, they are spiritually dead or dying.” jbh
“As long as you think you can control other people’s behavior toward you, you are in bondage by their opinions.” Max Lucado
When unbelievers accept Jesus they are signing up to minister to people in His name for the rest of their life.
“God speaks but we don’t hear. We close our ears and blame Him for the silence.” Fredrick Buechner
“If you are uncertain of which of two paths to take, choose the one on which the shadow of the cross falls.”
“Do we have a faith that’s alive or have we become patrons at the museum of religion?” jbh
“When we pick up our own cross to bear and His cross, we find they are one and the same. The sins we carry on our own cross have already been nailed to His.” jbh
“When God is intrinsic to your soul, you become immersed in the sacred in the ordinary moments of the day.” Jbh
“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14
Do we really want to convert, to accept God’s plan for our lives, or are we afraid of how much it might change us? We become settled in little habits and vices, content with our own little efforts and rewards. But God wants something much bigger, a total reorientation, a radical departure, a real conforming to the image of His Son. If we had the faintest idea how much our life would need to change if we really gave our heart to God, we would probably run screaming from the church.
“We can lash out in anger and blame a God who does not exist. The God who does exist is not here to take away our suffering or pain, but to fill it with His presence.”
Jesus Christ is the glory of the Father. Through Him, with Him, in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit is all the glory of God.
“Detachment is making important the things that bring us closer to God and detaching ourselves from those things that pull us away from God. Spiritual detachment has been described as a ‘serene acceptance’ of our circumstances. Detachment or ‘intentional indifference’ is mentally healthy but difficult to practice. Note that we detach, but we don’t disengage. Disengagement is disconnecting from society. Detachment is staying engaged but detaching emotionally.”
True many thousands of years ago and just as true today: “And in those times there was no peace ... but great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands.” 2 Chronicles 15:5-7
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.
17th Century English Hymn
Christmas is about the incarnation of God becoming what He is not, in order that we might become what He is.
Soli Deo Gloria - to God alone the Glory!
“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” - Brennan Manning
“The liturgy can be one of the best places to hide from God.” jbh
“People will attack and betray us and over a lifetime we can be hurt so many times that we develop calluses on our heart. Forgiveness is the only cure for the heart hardened by the hurts caused by others. Forgiveness softens and restores our heart to how it had been formed by God in the first place.” jbh
“I’ve always preached the sermons I needed to hear and written the AMEN Corners I needed to read.” jbh
“Too often we ‘wait on the Lord’ to do for us what we need to do for ourselves. God will often use the steps forward that we take in faith to activate the power of the Spirit.” jbh
“We are dispatched by the Holy Spirit, on Kingdom assignments, to be a light in a dark world, and speak words of wisdom, comfort, exhortation and encouragement to others.” jbh
“Through the grace of God, He will always transform us into the man or woman He wants us to be but only to the extent that we cooperate.” jbh
“We need Holy Moments throughout our day. A Holy Moment is that moment when you open yourself to God and make yourself available to Him. It is in that Holy Moment that you are being the person God created you to be. You set aside what you’re doing at that moment - self-interest, worries, cares - and for that point in time, you prayerfully ask God to show you what, in that moment, He’s calling you to do. In that moment, when you’ve set aside personal desires and self interest, you may find yourself collaborating with God to do what will bring the most good to those whom God has given you.”
“Here I am Lord, all devoted to Thee, make me according to the desires of Your heart.” Brother Lawrence
Evangelicals are born-again Protestants who cherish the Bible as the Word of God and who emphasize a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.
“For you are God’s masterpiece. He has created you anew in Christ Jesus, so you can do the good things He planned for you long ago.” Eph 2:10 paraphrase
“The only good we do comes from God’s unmerited grace for even if the ability and desire to do good are one’s own, the grace to actually do it comes from God.” St Mark the Monk
I believe in classical, historical, biblical, orthodox Christianity.
Rewriting, “spinning”, preaching the Word of God that’s in our Bible in a manner that “reforms” it and conforms it to modern cultural beliefs is the rejection of 2,000 years of classical, historical, orthodox Christianity and, in doing so, is the dictionary definition of the word “heresy.” jbh
To persevere is a long, patient abiding in the poverty of the present moment.
“Nec laudibus, nec timore” - neither for the praise of men nor for fear of men.
The world has different priorities than God does, and many eternally insignificant things are compelling for a season. We get angry and obsess over culture and politics. That’s why we need to remember, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2 (CSB)
“Peace” in Hebrew is shalom, which signifies not simply an absence of turmoil, but rather complete wholeness, well-being, and contentment.
The spiritual life will always be a struggle. It cannot be otherwise and remain authentic.
If our hope is based on physical security, then we’re right to live in fear because, at any moment, we could lose everything. If our hope is rooted in the eternal security provided by Christ, then we can weather any storm. On the Rock of God I stand!
“No man is measured by how much he loves others but by how much he is loved.” Brother Cadfile
“The veil that hides the future from us is woven by an angel of mercy.” Arab Saying
“We struggle throughout our life to hide the human in our being.” jbh
Will Rogers was once asked if he prayed for congress. He replied that he took one look at congress and prayed for the country.
A good marriage is where both people feel like they’re getting the better end of the deal. Anne Lamott
A successful and happy marriage is a constant process of forgiveness.
John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
“I identify as Christian and my personal pronouns are THOU/THINE. I told that to someone and he didn’t think that was funny.” jbh
“The congregations of mainline churches are composed mostly of the elderly and their parents.” jbh
“You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” Anne Lamott
“Love is not when the endorphins flood our brain and we see the flawless person standing before us. Love says: I’ve seen the broken, ugly parts of you, and I’m staying.”
“Marriage is a state in which very imperfect people often hurt and humiliate one another, yet find the grace to extend forgiveness to one another and so allow the redemptive power of God to transform their marriage.” Larry Christianson
Grief is the price we pay for love. We never truly know how much we love someone until they’re gone.
The “future” is a word we use for our imaginary collection of predictions, possibilities and wild guesses. We let our fears about that imaginary world take all the enjoyment out of the reality of this one.
People will forget what you said and what you did but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.
Every Saint has a past. Every Sinner a future.
“What you worship always identifies which kingdom you belong to.” jbh
Eugene Peterson wrote, “The biblical fact is that there are no successful churches. There are, instead, communities of sinners. In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor.”
“The pious sin daily in thought, word and deed. The rest of us good Christians sin hourly.” jbh
“All the water in the world, no matter how hard it tries, can never sink a ship unless it gets inside. All the evil influence of the world, no matter how hard it tries, can never sink a Christian’s soul unless it gets inside.”
“There is enough tension between the confidence of life and the chaos of dying and the misery of returning to dust and the mystery of rising again to keep us clinging to our prayer.” Robert Benson
There is a book called the Cloud of Unknowing written by an English monk in the 14th century. He writes: “On the path of purity and spiritual growth, you can’t afford a reckless attitude toward even the smallest sin.”
What’s the difference between you and God? God never thinks He’s you.
Listen with the ear of your heart to what the Spirit has to say.
Saw a guy at a restaurant wearing a baseball cap. it said, “Thank God I’m An Atheist”
When it comes to our religious practices, it is unfair to compare the best of our tradition with the worst of someone else’s.
“Illusory religion” is Fear not; trust in God and He will see that none of the things you fear will happen to you. “Real religion” is Fear not; the things you are afraid of are quite likely to happen to you, but they are nothing to be afraid of. John Macmurray, Scottish Philosopher.
“Peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of Christ.” jbh
“We live as candles in the breath of God.” Irish Monk
G.K. Chesterton said, “When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”
“With all the anger, violent threats, recriminations, and backstabbing, you’d think that a political election was a church council meeting.” jbh
“We celebrated this past Easter Sunday according to Old Testament rituals by consuming the burnt flesh of animals sacrificed for the glory of God.” jbh
“‘Love means never having to say you’re sorry’ is the oft-quoted line from the movie Love Story and it couldn’t be any less true. Love means always having to say you’re sorry, and thank you, and please.” jbh
“The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all humanity.” Job 12:10
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