Quotes by Pastors - Page 74

No matter how many rules we make for ourselves, rules don't create godly relationships. Only leaning on our faithful Father and longing to please Him with everything we do will set the stage for a beautiful romance!
Eric Ludy
Heloise learned to love Abelard solely for who he was. That forbidden love brought her nothing but pain, but she would rather have shame and pain with Abelard than peace and happiness without him.
Gary Thomas
The mature response, however, is not to leave; it's to change -- ourselves.Whenever marital dissatisfaction rears its head in my marriage -- as it does in virtually every marriage -- I simply check my focus. The times that I am happiest and most fulfilled in my marriage are the times when I am intent on drawing meaning and fulfillment from becoming a better husband rather than from demanding a "better" wife.If you're a Christian, the reality is that, biblically speaking, you can't swap your spouse for someone else. But you can change yourself. And that change can bring the fulfillment that you mistakenly believe is found only by changing partners. In one sense, it's comical: Yes, we need a changed partner, but the partner that needs to change is not our spouse, it's us!I don't know why this works. I don't know how you can be unsatisfied maritally, and then offer yourself to God to bring about change in your life and suddenly find yourself more satisfied with the same spouse. I don't why this works, only that it does work. It takes time, and by time I mean maybe years. But if your heart is driven by the desire to draw near to Jesus, you find joy by becoming like Jesus. You'll never find joy by doing something that offends Jesus -- such as instigating a divorce or an affair.
Gary Thomas
If you’d rather watch your kids grow up than see the face of your Savior today, you don’t grasp the beauty of God. If you worry about what would happen to your children if you were gone, you don’t understand the providence of God.
Francis Chan
When you believe marriage is your answer, you'll often give something that eventually hurts you both.
Craig Groeschel
You are not a biomass, you were not born only to be like a bush or tree, just to marry, reproduce and die
Sunday Adelaja
It is important to create a family and bring up a child: these things are good and even necessary
Sunday Adelaja
Some people live for the sake of their partners and derive their strength and energy from them
Sunday Adelaja
Even a good family can become a trap for one’s destiny when the family becomes your aim
Sunday Adelaja
The one who wins the argument is usually the one who acts less like Christ.
Francis Chan
In fact, the Bible tells us that the union of man and woman in marriage points to the climatic final scene - when Christ returns for His church, the bride He died to save (Ephesians 5:31-32).
Joshua Harris
It seems almost oxymoronic to believe that this new idealism has led to a new pessimism about marriage, but that is exactly what has happened. In generations past there was far less talk about "compatibility" and finding the ideal soul mate. Today we are looking for someone who accepts us as we are and fulfills our desires, and this creates an unrealistic set of expectations that frustrates both the searchers and the searched for.
Timothy J. Keller
In Ephesians 5, Paul shows us that even on earth Jesus did not use his power to oppress us but sacrificed everything to bring us into union with him. And this takes us beyond the philosophical to the personal and the practical. If God had the gospel of Jesus's salvation in mind when he established marriage, then marriage only 'works' to the degree that approximates the pattern of God's self-giving love in Christ.
Timothy J. Keller
In short, the Enlightenment privatized marriage, taking it out of the public sphere, and redefined its purpose as individual gratification, not any 'broader good' such as reflecting God's nature, producing character, or raising children. Slowly but surely, this newer understanding of the meaning of marriage has displaced the older ones in Western culture.
Timothy J. Keller
...We must say to ourselves something like this: 'Well, when Jesus looked down from the cross, he didn't think "I am giving myself to you because you are so attractive to me." No, he was in agony, and he looked down at us - denying him, abandoning him, and betraying him - and in the greatest act of love in history, he STAYED. He said, "Father, forgive them, they don't know what they are doing." He loved us, not because we were lovely to him, but to make us lovely. That is why I am going to love my spouse.' Speak to your heart like that, and then fulfill the promises you made on your wedding day.
Timothy J. Keller
When over the years someone has seen you at your worst, and knows you with all your strengths and flaws, yet commits him- or herself to you wholly, it is a consummate experience. To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.
Timothy J. Keller
Marriage has the power to set the course of your life as a whole. If your marriage is strong, even if all the circumstances in your life around you are filled with trouble and weakness, it won't matter. You will be able to move out into the world in strength.
Timothy J. Keller
The reason that marriage is so painful and yet wonderful is because it is a reflection of the gospel, which is painful and wonderful at once. The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.
Timothy J. Keller
Sociologists argue that in contemporary Western society the marketplace has become so dominant that the consumer model increasingly characterizes most relationships that historically were covenantal, including marriage. Today we stay connected to people only as long as they are meeting our particular needs at an acceptable cost to us. When we cease to make a profit - that is, when the relationship appears to require more love and affirmation from us than we are getting back - then we "cut our loses" and drop the relationship. This has also been called "commodification," a process by which social relationships are reduced to economic exchange relationships, and so the very idea of "covenant" is disappearing in our culture. Covenant is therefore a concept increasingly foreign to us, and yet the Bible says it is the essence of marriage.
Timothy J. Keller
In sharp contrast with our culture, the Bible teaches that the essence of marriage is a sacrificial commitment to the good of the other. That means that love is more fundamentally action than emotion. But in talking this way, there is a danger of falling into the opposite error that characterized many ancient and traditional societies. It is possible to see marriage as merely a social transaction, a way of doing your duty to family, tribe and society. Traditional societies made the family the ultimate value in life, and so marriage was a mere transaction that helped your family's interest. By contrast, contemporary Western societies make the individual's happiness the ultimate value, and so marriage becomes primarily an experience of romantic fulfillment. But the Bible sees GOD as the supreme good - not the individual or the family - and that gives us a view of marriage that intimately unites feelings AND duty, passion AND promise. That is because at the heart of the Biblical idea of marriage is the covenant.
Timothy J. Keller
You can only afford to be generous if you actually have some money in the bank to give. In the same way, if your only source of love and meaning is your spouse, then anytime he or she fails you, it will not just cause grief but a psychological cataclysm. If, however, you know something of the work of the Spirit in your life, you have enough love "in the bank" to be generous to your spouse even when you are not getting much affection or kindness at the moment.
Timothy J. Keller
Our culture says that feelings of love are the basis for actions of love. And of course that can be true. But it is truer to say that actions of love can lead consistently to feelings of love.
Timothy J. Keller
In any relationship, there will be frightening spells in which your feelings of love dry up. And when that happens you must remember that the essence of marriage is that it is a covenant, a commitment, a promise of future love. So what do you do? You do the acts of love, despite your lack of feeling. You may not feel tender, sympathetic, and eager to please, but in your actions you must BE tender, understanding, forgiving and helpful. And, if you do that, as time goes on you will not only get through the dry spells, but they will become less frequent and deep, and you will become more constant in your feelings. This is what can happen if you decide to love.
Timothy J. Keller
Marriage is more about work than about divine luck, more about finding someone to love than about finding someone to meet your own laundry list of personal needs.
Mark Gungor
Those dreaming of the perfect match are outnumbered by those who don't really want it at all, though perhaps they can't admit it. After all, our culture makes individual freedom, autonomy and fulfillment the very highest values, and thoughtful people know deep down that any love relationship at all means the loss of all three. You can say, 'I want someone who will accept me just as I am,' but in your heart of hearts you know that you are not perfect, that there are plenty of things about you that need to be changed, and that anyone who gets to know you up close and personal will want to change them.
Timothy J. Keller
Real love, the Bible says, instinctively desires permanence.
Timothy J. Keller
... he does pledge to reweave your pain for a higher purpose.
Max Lucado
Pain in life is inevitable.
Sunday Adelaja
So many of us are causing pain and suffering to ourselves on daily basis, because we do not know the value of life.
Sunday Adelaja
It is almost an unbearable pain, to suddenly recognize the value of what you had being ignorant of which had been your possession
Sunday Adelaja
Life demands something else, discomfort and pain.
Sunday Adelaja
Life demands discomfort and pain.
Sunday Adelaja
So many of us are causing pain and suffering to ourselves on daily basis, because we do not know the value of life
Sunday Adelaja
Those who neglect the demands of life, they live in perpetual pain and regret.
Sunday Adelaja
Let your pain lead you to creativity
Sunday Adelaja
Let your discomfort and pain push you into something new.
Sunday Adelaja
When we refuse to do what we are supposed to do at the right time, the consequence is that of pain and tragedy.
Sunday Adelaja
When you pretend you don’t feel hurt or angry or devastated, you’re not fooling God. Be honest! Don’t misunderstand; I am not encouraging you to be angry at God or to blame him. He deserves no blame. Rather, I am encouraging you to honestly confess to God your feelings of hurt, resentment, and anger. Often we look at suffering from our perspective and forget that God sees from another vantage point.
Randy Alcorn
The nature of the love of God for us is thereby revealed. It is not the love of an indulgent parent who gives into every whim of the child. In the end that is not the ‘love’ for the child but a form of self love for the parent. Despite the massive propaganda to the contrary, Our lord’s purpose for us is not to make us happy, but to make us holy. He loves us too much to leave us part saved, part remade, part sanctified. He wills our holiness, and since ‘suffering produces…’ (Rom 5:3), we may expect him to allow things in our lives which, in our self-centred pursuit of happiness, we ourselves would exclude. Yet even in the shadow of his love there is always mercy. Our sorrows are shared by him; he comes to us in our pain. The end of it all is not only his glory, which needs no justifying, but also our good.
Bruce Milne
You release the pain of the past and press on. It's a new day, and God is doing a new thing. He wants to take you to a new place, to transform you into a new person.
Craig Groeschel
God doesn’t manufacture pain, but he certainly puts it to use.
Max Lucado
Your pain could be God prying open your life and heart to remove a gift of His that you've been holding on to more dearly than Him.
Tullian Tchividjian
It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.
A.W. Tozer
If a country successfully translate the principles of truth and honesty into their social life, then that country experiences peace, tranquillity and serenity.
Sunday Adelaja
It’s not about you. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It's far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.
Rick Warren
The fall of communism had more to do with prayer meetings in Poland than bombs dropped on Cambodia. War is, among other things, impatience.
Brian Zahnd
To live in peace is to follow peace with all men
Sunday Adelaja
God keeps us in perfect peace when we rely on Him and are firm in the spirit
Sunday Adelaja
To live in peace and righteousness is to be restored to God’s dominion
Sunday Adelaja
You Are Hard-Wired For The Kingdom Of Love, Peace And Unity
Sunday Adelaja
If a man realizes who he is, he cannot lose his peace and gladness because he lives at peace with himself
Sunday Adelaja
Of one thing we may be sure, we can never escape the external stimuli that cause vexation. The world is full of them, and though we were to retreat to a cave and live the remainder of our days alone, we still could not lose them. The rough floor of the cave would chafe us, the weather would irritate us and the very silence would cause us to fret
A.W. Tozer
Thankfulness creates gratitude which generates contentment that causes peace.
Todd Stocker
The Bible consistently and directly indicates that when we give generously, we're serving, honoring, and glorifying God. After all, generosity is fundamental to God's nature.
Craig Groeschel
To reciprocate God’s love is to have the nature of love
Sunday Adelaja
To demonstrate the nature of one who would enter the kingdom is to use an illustration
Sunday Adelaja
To reciprocate God’s love is to have his love nature
Sunday Adelaja
The nature of the kingdom must make you a God-carrier
Sunday Adelaja
Love is the nature of who God is
Sunday Adelaja
The nature of the kingdom must mature within you
Sunday Adelaja