QUOTES ABOUT CHURCH AND RELIGION

The True Church can never fail. For it is based upon a rock. – T.S. Eliot

Traveler:  "God has been mighty good to your fields, Mr. Farmer."
Farmer:  "You should have seen how he treated them when I wasn't around."
~Author Unknown

Prayer is a strong wall and fortress of the church; it is a goodly Christian weapon. – Martin Luther

Philosophy is questions that may never be answered.  Religion is answers that may never be questioned.  ~Author Unknown









Philosophy is the love of wisdom: Christianity is the wisdom of love.  ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare,



Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.  ~G.K. Chesterton




Each religion, by the help of more or less myth which it takes more or less seriously, proposes some method of fortifying the human soul and enabling it to make its peace with its destiny.  ~George Santayana

Church attendance is as vital to a disciple as a transfusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man. – Dwight L. Moody


People don't come to church for preachments, of course, but to daydream about God.  ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.


It is doubtless true that religion has been the world's psychiatrist throughout the centuries.  ~Karl Menninger



The Church has its problems, but the older I get, the more comfort I find there.  ~Bono

HERE I AM, LORD - by Caroline Gavin

Here I am, Lord,
Use me for Your pleasure,
Here I am, Lord,
No limit, no measure.

Fully Yours I am
Now and all eternity;
For Your purposes alone
I pray You use me.

Fill me with Your Spirit,
Guide me in Your way;
May I glorify You
In all I think, do and say.

Yea, here I am, Lord,
My arms stretched wide:
I am Your daughter, Your servant,
Your handmaiden, Your bride.

What is Your desire?
Say the word, and I shall do.
What is Your will?
I do all things for You.

Wherever You lead, Jesus,
Follow You I shall;
Whenever You beckon,
I hasten to Your call.

Here I am, Lord,
Worshipping on my knees;
My King, My God,
I live for You to please.

You give Yourself to me,
To You myself I give;
I let go of myself
That for You alone I live.

I am Your vessel,
Your instrument divine;
Humbled You love me,
Amazed You are mine.

Here I am, Lord,
Guide me in Your way;
I shall glorify You
In all I think, do and say.

Yea, fully Yours I am
Now and all eternity;
My Jesus, how I love You,
I pray You use me.

Here I am, Lord,
No limit, no measure.
Here I am, my Beloved,
Use me for Your pleasure.

THE PROBLEM IS WITH US, NOT WITH GOD !

“Don’t look at the circumstances and don’t look at what you can’t do. Look to your Lord. Call on His power. Trust His timing. Don’t put a period where God puts a comma.”

I have to confess that I have often looked at the circumstances and what I can’t do.  

I have  to confess that I have often put a period where God puts a comma.  

This is why I have chosen to focus on the word anticipation   for 2011.  I don’t want to settle for what I can do.  I want to trust God to do immeasurably more.  I want to anticipate that God will do immeasurably more !

Some of my favourite verses are Ephesians 3:20 - 21  which say:

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Let’s look closely at what God is able to do.




First, He is able – that is, there is nothing that God cannot do.  
Second, He is able to do – that is, God is not idle or asleep, but active in our lives. 



Third, He is able to do immeasurably more – that is, His expectations are higher than our requests.


Fourth, He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask – that is, He listens to our prayers.


Fifth, He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine – that is, God reads our thoughts.


Finally, He is able to do this according to His power that is at work within us – that is, God does all this through the power that is already in us.


The phrase translated “immeasurably more” here is the same word for the “abundant grace” of God in Romans 5:20 . It literally means, “Superabundantly, with more added to that.” It’s like saying “more than more than.”  God has enough power to do immeasurably more than we can ask or think with more added to that !


This leads to a question, doesn’t it? If this is true, why do we so often as Christians don’t live our lives in light of this and trust God to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine ?


There are really only two answers to that question. Either our theology is wrong and God is not able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine or, our theology is right, but we short-circuit the process.


Obviously, the problem is with us, not with God! We are not tapping into the power He has made available to us. We either don’t care or we think we can do it all in our strength.


We need to decide today to trust God to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us !

RELIGIOUS POETRY AND STORIES

THE WILL OF  GOD

The will of God will never take you,
Where the grace of God cannot keep you,
Where the arms of God cannot support you,
Where the riches of God cannot supply your needs,
Where the power of God cannot endow you.

The will of God will never take you,
Where the Spirit of God cannot work through you,
Where the wisdom of God cannot teach you,
Where the army of God cannot protect you,
Where the hands of God cannot mold you.

The will of God will never take you,
Where the love of God cannot enfold you,
Where the mercies of God cannot sustain you,
Where the peace of God cannot calm your fears,
Where the authority of God cannot overrule for you.

The will of God will never take you,
Where the comfort of God cannot dry your tears,
Where the Word of God cannot feed you,
Where the miracles of God cannot be done for you,
Where the omnipresence of God cannot find you.

"Everything happens for a purpose.
We may not see the wisdom of it all now but trust and believe
in the Lord that everything is for the best."

The way to be anxious about nothing
is to be prayerful about everything.

Written By: © Author Unknown

THE VALUE OF TIME

Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day.

What would you do ? Draw out every cent, of course ! Each of us has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose.
It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against the "tomorrow".

You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success !

The clock is running.

Make the most of today.

To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.

To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a pre-mature baby.

To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize the value of ONE DAY, ask a daily wage laborer with kids to feed.

To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train.

To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
To realize the value of ONE MILLI-SECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have ! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time.

And remember that time waits for no one.

Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow a mystery.
Today is a gift.
That's why it's called the present !

COME AS YOU ARE






I shook my head in disbelief. This couldn't be the right place. After all, I couldn't possibly be welcome here. I had been given an invitation several times, by several different people, and I had finally decided to see what this place was all about. But, this just couldn't be the right place. Quickly, I glanced down at the invitation that I clutched in my hand. I scanned past the words, "Come as you are. No jacket required," and found the location. Yes, I was at the right place.




I peered through the window again and saw a room of people whose faces seemed to glow with joy. All were neatly dressed, adorned in fine garments and appeared strangely clean as they dined at this exquisite restaurant. Ashamed, I looked down at my own tattered and torn clothing, covered in stains. I was dirty, in fact, filthy. A foul smell seemed to consume me and I couldn't shake the grime that clung to my body.




As I turned around to leave, the words from the invitation seemed to leap out at me..."Come as you are. No jacket required." I decided to give it a shot. Mustering up every bit of courage I could find, I opened the door to this restaurant and walked up to a man standing behind a podium. "Your name, sir?" he asked me with a smile. "Jimmy D. Brown," I mumbled without looking up. I thrust my hands deep into my pockets, hoping to conceal their stains.




He didn't seem to notice the filth that I was covered in and he continued, "Very good, sir. A table is reserved in your name. Would you like to be seated ?" I couldn't believe what I heard ! A grin broke out on my face and I said, "Yes, of course!"




He lead me to a table, and sure enough, there was a place-card with my name written on it in a deep, dark red. As I browsed over a menu, I saw many delightful items listed. There were things like, "peace," "joy," "blessings," "confidence," "assurance," "hope," "love," "faith," and "mercy." I realized that this was no ordinary restaurant ! I flipped the menu back to the front in order to see where I was at... "God's Grace," was the name of this place.




The man returned and said, "I recommend the 'Special of the Day'. With it you are entitled to heaping portions of everything on this menu." You've got to be kidding ! I thought to myself. You mean, I can have ALL of this ?! "What is the 'Special of the Day' ?" I asked with excitement ringing in my voice. "Salvation," was his reply.




"I'll take it," I practically cried out. Then, as quickly as I made that statement, the joy left my body. A sick painful ache jerked through my stomach and tears filled my eyes. Between my sobs I said... "Mister, look at me. I'm dirty and nasty. I am unclean and unworthy of such things. I'd love to have all of this, but, but, I just can't afford it."




Undaunted, the man smiled again. "Sir, your check has already been taken care of by that Gentleman over there," he said as he pointed to the front of the room. "His name is Jesus." Turning, I saw a man whose very presence seemed to light the room. He was almost too much to look at. I found myself walking towards Him and in a shaking voice I whispered, "Sir, I'll wash the dishes or sweep the floors or take out the trash. I'll do anything I can do to repay You for all this."




He opened His arms and said with a smile, "Son, all of this is yours if you just come unto me. Ask me to clean you up and I will. Ask me to allow you to feast at my table and you will eat. Remember, the table is reserved in your name. All you must do is accept this gift that I offer you." Astonished, I fell at his feet and said, "Please, Jesus. Please clean up my life. Please change me and sit me at your table and give me this new life." Immediately, I heard the words, "It is finished."




I looked down and white robes adorned my body. Something strange and wonderful had happened. I felt new, like a weight had been lifted and I found myself seated at His table. "The 'Special of the Day' has been served," The Lord said to me. "Salvation is yours."




We sat and talked for a great while and I so enjoyed the time that I spent with Him. He told me, me of all people, that He would like for me to come back as often as I liked for another helping from God's Grace. He made it clear that He wanted me to spend as much time with Him as possible.




As it drew near time for me to go back outside into the "real world," He whispered to me softly, "And Lo, I am with you always." And then, He said something to me that I will never forget. He said... "My child, do you see these empty tables ?" "Yes, Lord. I see them. What do they mean ?" I replied.




"These are reserved tables...but the individuals whose names are on each place-card have not accepted their invitation yet. Would you be so kind as to hand out these invitations to those who have not joined us as yet ?" Jesus asked. "Of course," I said with excitement as I picked up the invitations. "Go ye therefore into all nations." He said as I turned to leave.




I walked into God's Grace dirty and hungry. Stained in sin. My righteousness as filthy rags. And Jesus cleaned me up. I walked out a brand new man...robed in white, His righteousness. And so, I'll keep my promise to my Lord. I'll go. I'll spread the Word.




I'll share the Gospel... I'll hand out the invitations. And I'll start with you. Have you been to God's Grace ? There's a table reserved in your name, and here's your invitation... "Come as you are. No jacket required."

- AUTHOR UNKNOWN -

NO PAIN...NO GAIN....- Inspirational story in images