Entries Tagged 'Quotations' ↓

>”The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer: nor those who can explain prayer: but I mean those people who take time and pray. They have not time. It must be taken from something else. This something else is very important–very important and pressing, but still less important and less pressing than prayer.”

>S. D. Gordon

I listened to another message by Howard Hendricks and, wow, can that man preach. He is concise and clear, only saying what is necessary to reach the heart of the listener. I want to continue to listen to his lessons because he is a wise man from his study of the Scriptures and his long experience in life. The following are quotations from his lesson on marriage.

>”I have witnessed the disappearance of the distinctively Christian home: not merely a home where Christ lives, but a home where Christ reigns; where Christian truth filters down and permeates into every area of human experience.”

>”I hope, gentlemen of God, you are doing everything by the direction of the spirit of God to develop your maleness. I hope my lady friends that you are doing everything humanly possible by God’s enabling grace to develop your femalenesss. Nothing is more repulsive to a man than a woman who acts like a man. And nothing, nothing, nothing do I get more than a woman who sits in my office and looks me straight in the eye and says, ‘I’d give anything to be married to a man, a real man – a man who is not ashamed of his role.’”

>”Marriage is not a process of finding someone with whom you can live; it’s a process of finding someone you can’t live without. And when you come into a marriage convinced, not that this is nice, but that this is necessary, then you have an altogether different relationship.”

>”You who are married, Have you ever come to the place where you recognize how desperately impoverished you are without her/him? If you do, my friend, then you make the kind of mate that makes a marriage that won’t quit.”

>”If you have a commitment to the marriage that divorce is not the solution, then whenever you have a problem, you have to work it out. If divorce is a live option, you have a hundred options in the first month to look for the fire escape. That is why I think the greatest need in marriage today is commitment; total commitment to the person.”

>”Stop thinking about what is the problem with my mate and start thinking what is the problem of my life that is marring this marriage. The partnership is only as strong as the persons that comprise it. And what you are as a person is what you bring to the marriage.

>”As a parent, one of the greatest things that you can do for your child is to express your love and affection for your mate in the presence of your children.”

>”The greatest sex education that you can ever give your child is by loving your child’s mother or father.”

>”The greatest heritage a child could possibly receive is the heritage of a home in which there are two parents both of whom are unashamedly in love with Jesus Christ and unashamedly in love with each other. You don’t develop perverts in that kind of a home.”

>”Some day I’m going to write a book on theological lessons my children have taught me. They have taught me far more than I have taught them.”

>”It is a lot easier to trust Him for yourself, than to trust Him for your children.”

>”All marriage counseling is either: a failure to leave or a failure to create a one flesh relationship.”

The following quotation from Charles Spurgeon I found to be a very timely and piercing reminder for me today.

>”Take heed that you do not glory in your graces, but let all your glorying and confidence be in Christ and His strength, for only then can you be kept from falling. Pray much. Spend longer times in holy adoration. Read the Scriptures more earnestly and constantly. Watch your lives more carefully. Live nearer to God. Take the best examples for your pattern. Let your conversation be holy. Let your hearts be perfumed with affection for men’s souls. Live in such a way that men will know that you have been with Jesus and have learned of Him.”

I just finished a book by Os Guinness called ["The Call"](http://www.amazon.com/Call-Finding-Fulfilling-Central-Purpose/dp/0849944376/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203409716&sr=8-1) in which he discusses how someone can find and fulfill the central purpose of his life. Overall, the book was clear and biblical. It had a few weaknesses to it and it won’t go on my top 5, but I definitely appreciated somethings he had to say. The book had several good statements and so I thought I’d share them with you. The author quotes frequently from Oswald Sanders, hence the couple quotes from him.

*“A time to believe is a time to move from small, cozy formulations of faith to knowing what it is to be called by him as the deepest, most stirring, and most consuming passion of our lives.”*
- Os Guinness

*“If we have never had the experience of taking our commonplace religious shoes off our commonplace religious feet, and getting rid of all the undue familiarity with which we approach God, it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and familiar are those who have never yet been introduced to Jesus Christ.”*
- Oswald Chambers

*“Only grace can dissolve the hard, solitary, vaunting “I” of the sin of pride in each of us. But the good news is that it does.”*
- Os Guinness

*“The New Testament knows no monasteries or monks, only spiritually disciplined disciples in a demanding, everyday world.”*
- Os Guinness

*“It requires the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours in every day as a saint, to go through drudgery as a disciple, to live an ordinary, unobserved, ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we have not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, and this is not learned in five minutes.”*
- Oswald Chambers

*“God calls and, just as we hear him but don’t see him on this earth, so we grow to become what he calls, even though we don’t see until heaven what he is calling us to become.”*
- Os Guinness

Most of you are probably wondering what in the world I could come up with that would count as marriage advice. I am wondering the same thing. But I actually am not spreading anything original, mainly because I’m not married yet.

Today in chapel, one of the Bible profs interviewed three couples (38yrs, 21yrs, and 10yrs married) on different aspects of marriage and I thought I would share some of the tidbits that I jotted down. Some of them are phrases or quotes from them directly and some may be summary points.

####How do you work through conflict and how does it strengthen your relationship?
* Examine your own heart first
* What is the issue my spouse is presenting? Try to understand.
* What do I think, she think, and God think about this issue
* God gave a wife to the man so he can learn from her
* Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. We added this as a vow and have fulfilled during our 38 years of marriage. We don’t go to bed without resolving something.
* Requires Humility! Ask yourself - What did I do? How did I wrong you?
* Seek to Understand before being Understood
* Conflict forces us to come to resolution, which brings us closer to each other and to Christ
* Work hard at listening and repeat things back to your spouse to make sure you understand
* The thing about marriage that you have to understand is: It’s not about you, and it never will be
* Learn what it means to live like Philippians 2, like Christ

####What are some blessings and joys of married life?
* Be in the Word together
* When sin reigns, the blessings are few
* Living life with your best friend is the best thing
* Marriage is about sanctification, and children make it more intensely so
* Marriage displays the gospel
* Good friendships take work
* Life is found in losing it - Luke 14

####What do you have to say against the concern that marriage is giving up your independence?
* It is much better to be a dependent married woman than a single independent woman; believe me, I’ve been there.
* The joys of marriage far surpass those in independence
* God gives us the grace to be godly people in marriage

####What do you do to protect your relationship?
* Cultivate your individual relationships with Christ
* Invest in each other; Don’t take your wife for granted just because you know she’ll be there for you
* If it’s important, you’ll find the way. So if your spouse is important, then you will make sacrifices.
* Knowing is half the battle; know your spouse.
* Practical suggestions:
* Have a date night
* Be accountable to other men (have you worked on your relationship this week?)
* Have undivided attention as a couple after work
* Be proactive in guarding your mind
* This person is important, take the time

####How do you lead your wife and what can a single guy do in a relationship he is in now to practice that?
* Bring her to the word of God, in devotions and conversation
* Pray for her. I notice a big difference when I pray for from when I don’t.
* Stay away from domineering leadership, instead you must serve her.
* Memorize Philippians 2:3-5
* Be a servant now. Serve those around you now. Practice servant leadership.
* Share with her what you learned in the Word

Although some of these are suggestions, but most of them are based on Scriptural principles and experience. For the single people out there (like myself), this aren’t things to apply right away, but to think about and to build a biblical view of relationships.