Sabbath Keeping

~ old walnut tree ~

"But the word is very near you, 

in your mouth and in your heart, 

that you may do it.

See, I have set before you today life and good, 

death and evil in that I command you to day 

to love the Lord your God, 

to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, 

His statutes, and His judgments, 

that you may live and multiple, 

and the Lord your God will bless you 

in the land which you go to possess."

~ Deuteronomy 30:14-16 ~

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A many who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and  kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feel and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." ~ C. S. Lewis ~ 

"The irony is that while God doesn't need us but still wants us,

we desperately need God but don't really want Him most of the time."

~ Francis Chan ~ 

"Spending time with God is the key to our strength and success in all areas of life. Be sure that you never try to work God into your schedule, but always work your schedule around Him."  ~ Joyce Meyer ~ 

"Anything under God's control is never out of control." ~ Chuck Swindoll ~

"Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God." 

~ Lenny Bruce ~

"Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you."  ~ Steve Maraboli ~

"Hungry for love, He looks at you.

Thirsty for kindness, He begs of you.

Naked for loyalty, He hopes in you.

Homeless for shelter in your heart, He asks of you.

Will you be that one to Him?"

~ Mother Teresa ~

"The world takes us to a silver screen on which flickering images of passion and romance play, and as we watch, the world says, "This is love." God takes us to the foot of a tree on which a naked and bloodied man hangs and says, "This is love." ~ Joshua Harris ~

"I want neither a terrorist spirituality that keeps me in a perpetual state of fright about being in right relationship with my heavenly Father nor a sappy spirituality that portrays God as such a benign teddy bear that there is no aberrant behavior or desire of mine that he will not condone. I want a relationship with the Abba of Jesus, who is infinitely compassionate with my brokenness and at the same time an awesome, incomprehensible, and unwieldy Mystery." ~ Brennan Manning ~ 

"Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in your beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken." ~ Rich Mullins ~ 

"We might be wise to follow the insight of the enraptured heart rather than the more cautious reasoning of the theological mind." 

~ A. W. Tozer ~ 

"In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God."

~ John 1:1 ~

If you'd like a name added to the prayer list, please let me know. Names are kept for one week; around the world, people are praying.

Prayer Keeping ~ Stephanie ~ Jim ~ Sandra ~