“There is a striking similarity between Paul’s attitude here and Luther’s quoted words from the preface to the Letter of James in his German New Testament of 1522: ‘That which does not teach Christ is not apostolic, even if Peter or Paul taught it. Again, that which does preach Christ is apostolic, even if Judas, […]
“Paul experienced more joy than the rest of us do. . . . It wasn’t that Paul looked at the world through rose-colored glasses. His gaze was focused on something different. We are naturally focused on ourselves. Paul was focused on the mission. He did not find his joy in ideal circumstances, but in seeing […]
“Our love needs to be pure. The word pure also translates as ‘sincere.’ It is a compound word meaning both ‘sunlight’ and ‘judgment.’ . . . In those days . . . artisans who refrained from [using colored wax to hide chips and cracks] allegedly marked their pieces with a stamp that read ‘sine-cera,’ which […]
“Joy conditioning is going back and thinking of a person in your life, recalling the good things they did for you or with you. The more time you spend thinking about it, the stronger the memory gets; and the stronger the memory gets, the more it helps you overcome the struggles of your current situation […]
“It is unlikely that many of us have had it worse than Paul. He is right up there with Job of the Old Testament on the Richter scale of human earthquakes. The point us not to keep score on who has suffered the most but to focus on who has experienced the most joy despite […]
“Tracing the concept of joy through the Bible helps us realize that our happiness, like our hope, is founded on realities that are unaffected by conditions of this world.”- Dr. Larry Richards, Expository Dictionary of Bible Words “I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle […]
“The problem for most of us is we allow joy robbers to come in and steal that sweet sense of contentment and purpose. .. . . Paul didn’t tell us how we can avoid these joy robbers — it is not possible. Paul faced each one of these robbers in the most intense way and […]
“Of his thirteen books, inspired by the breath of God, Paul wrote one that turned out to be a treatise on joy. . . . Here’s the kicker: The number one book on joy in the Bible was written by a guy in prison! You heard that right — prison. Paul taught us that joy […]
“Lament is an invitation to experience attunement with God, who ‘tunes in’ to the suffering of His children. . . . Crying out is the key to our bond with God. Our every cry becomes a bid for attachment.”- Summer Joy Gross “You have kept count of my tears, put my tears in your bottle. […]
“I long to see imagination released from its prison and given its proper place among the Sons of the new creation.”- A. W. Tozer “Nothing is more practical than finding God. That is, falling in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will […]
“When we encounter Jesus through the holy imagination in the Gospels, we view His character up close and we can’t help but become captivated. . . . We watch His compassion and begin to believe that compassion is available for us.”- Summer Joy Gross “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter […]
“Sometimes when we first begin to introduce silence into our lives, . . instead of feeling energized and connected with God, we feel heavy and tired, depressed even. Again, this is normal. It’s part of our detox from a culture of hurry. . . . Rest is not indulgence, it’s provision.”- Summer Joy Gross “It’s […]