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#4 Trust God Enough To Wait, Michael Youssef
“As we grow in intimacy with God, we discern His voice and we obey the Lord—regardless of the circumstance. We know and believe that God is able to handle any obstacle that enters our path. We simply obey and watch as His grace unfolds before our very eyes. In fact, Christ’s life is a perfect model of what it means to have intimacy with God. Throughout every trial and tribulation, throughout every victory and valley, Jesus was in perfect communion with God. He listened for the voice of His Father and responded appropriately—even if the answer meant He must wait. In the moments we must wait, God’s grace sustains us. …
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How to Hear the Voice of God, A. B. Simpson
“Years ago a friend placed in my hand a little book which became one of the turning points in my life. It was called True Peace, an old medieval message and it had but one thought–that God was waiting in the depth of my waiting to talk with me if I would only get still enough to hear Him. I thought this would be a very easy matter, so I began to get still. But I had no sooner commenced than a perfect pandemonium of voices reached my ears, a thousand clamoring notes from without and within, until I could hear nothing but their noise and din. Some…
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Interview with Sarah Ott, Part 3
Continued from Part 2 This is the third and final part of an interview chat with Tree Thoughts and Sarah Ott. SARAH: Sorry. That was a long story but I hope it answered some of what you wanted to know. TT: Ah! Yes! There is so, so, so much meat here. Can I ask you a few follow-up questions? SARAH: Sure TT: I will ask you how you live in this when there are so many voices telling your generation to take on this cause or that cause for Christ. How do you use living in John 15 when someone gives you a book about getting active? SARAH: Oh my…
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Interview with Sarah Ott, Part 2
Continued from Part 1 Sarah: It was as if the scales fell off my eyes and heart. I saw my view point and how it was with God on the fringes and Sarah in the center. God brought back to my mind the passage in Judges where the people begged for a king, their way. They were sick of being set apart, called out, different. They wanted a king like everyone else. I did too. I wanted the picture, the perfect little life, the dynamic love story for His glory that would stormbust the world. I wanted it and I wanted it THEN! God’s response to me was the same…
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Interview with Sarah Ott, Part 1
This is the first of three Tree Thoughts, (TT) chats with Sarah Ott of Establish Her. TT: I’d like to begin by saying how wonderful it is to see the Lord in your words and to confirm what He is working in you. It’s a vital message! Sarah: Thank you so much! The Lord truly has downloaded content into me through many seasons of need in my life. When He takes everything, He becomes everything. I’m so passionate about this message—the message of needing Him and abiding in Him more than empty activity FOR Him. There is a prepositional shift from FOR to IN and I believe He has raised…
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Book Review: Three Free Sins, by Steve Brown
No one would ever accuse Steve Brown of not having guts. In his new book, Three Free Sins: God’s Not Mad At You, Howard Books, 2012, Steve uses those guts to take on your insatiable appetite for being good. Here are some of Steve’s hard to hear insights: Self -righteousness is just another name for self-sufficiency. It is a horrible trait for a number of reasons. First, it is always a lie. Nobody is that righteous, and hardly anybody is that sufficient. Second it requires a mask. And if we wear that mask long enough, it will make us phony and empty. Third, it will cause others to label…
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Lost In Christ, A. B. Simpson
“A dear friend once sent me a picture from Rome, with a prayer that it might be fulfilled in me. It was a photograph of the old painting of John leaning on Jesus’ breast. As I studied it, I noticed that I could not see the face of John at all. The form of his head was visible, but his face was buried in the bosom of Jesus, and the master’s face was beaming over him and covering him with its light and love.Yes, that was John. He was lost in Christ. His personal consciousness was merged in his Master’s person, and he had found that the true secret of…
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# 3 Growth in Grace, A.W. Pink
“Growth in grace is growth downward. It is the forming of a lower estimate of ourselves. It is a deepening realization of our nothingness. It is a heartfelt recognition that we are not worthy of the least of God’s mercies.” A. W. Pink (1886-1952)
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Ripe Fruit Takes Time, Chrysostom
Depart from the highway, and transplant thyself in some enclosed ground, for it is hard for a tree that stands by the wayside to keep its fruit until it be ripe. John Chrysostom (347-407)
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#2 Slow Is Okay
“Before He furnishes the abundant supply, we must first be made conscious of our emptiness. Before he gives strength, we must be made to feel our weakness. Slow, painfully slow, are we to learn this lesson; and slower still to own our nothingness and take the place of helplessness before the Mighty One.” A. W. Pink (1886-1952)
