"There should be in our prayers an astringent honesty with ourselves, so that we may be honest with God, for God sees the secrets of our hearts, and God well knows when we are conventionally asking for blessings which we have no real desire to receive." Wm. Barclay (click link below for full quote)
Tag: spiritual life
Quote of Note #215: God’s Participation in our Lives–Prayer
"God commands us to pray, God participates in our affairs and our needs, our cares and in our distresses, in our expectations, and in everything." K. Barth
Quote of Note #202: The Necessity of Prayer
"[Prayer] is a need, a kind of breathing necessary to life."
Pastor Note #136: Cable News Networks Are Evil
What follows will read like a rant. I’m sorry about that. Try not to traffic in rants. So, let me ask that you take it as a plea—a plea from the heart of a pastor who is concerned for your spiritual well-being. If you watch more than an hour or so of some 24-hour cable … Continue reading Pastor Note #136: Cable News Networks Are Evil
Quote of Note #171: Jesus Prays our Prayers
"God is the Father of Jesus Christ, and that man Jesus Christ has prayed, and he is praying still. Such is the foundation of our prayer in Jesus Christ. It is as if God himself has pledged to answer our request because all our prayers are summed up in Jesus Christ; God cannot fail to … Continue reading Quote of Note #171: Jesus Prays our Prayers
Quote of Note #167: Knowing God
"Under the image of the Trinity, we discover that we do not know God by defining him but by being loved by him and loving in return. The consequences of this are personally revelatory: another does not know me, nor do I know another, by defining or explaining, by categorizing or by psychologizing, but only … Continue reading Quote of Note #167: Knowing God
Quote of Note #150: Dependence on God
Song Sparrow; photo by GAC a "To depend on God is to be free of men, things, and self. It is to be able to take pleasure in all his gifts, without being the slave to any. It is to be able, as occasion demands, to spend and to save, to speak and to forbear, … Continue reading Quote of Note #150: Dependence on God
Quote of Note #130: Hungering for the Living God
photo by GAC "I often ask myself the question of when and why we pastors began to believe that our primary calling was to build the church. How did we come to believe that the people we encounter are primarily in the market for a church? How did we forget that they are probably more … Continue reading Quote of Note #130: Hungering for the Living God
Prayer Note #62: Holy Kindness/Kind Holiness
Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho; photo by GAC Father, it is so hard for me to hold your terrifying holiness and your gentle kindness together in my conception of you. My mind wavers and falls out of balance as I try to keep those true aspects of your character in healthy tension. Then you either become a … Continue reading Prayer Note #62: Holy Kindness/Kind Holiness
Prayer Note #61: The Interference of God–A Prayer
Lord, there is in mea reluctance tosit quietly andattentively inyour presence.I want tobusy myself withthings that givethe appearance ofa devotional life, butwhich are,in fact,just externalactivity—busyness—withoutinternal reality.Yet it isthe internal reality ofintimacy withyouthat is the crucial element. Reading C. S. Lewis’s Surprised by Joy showed me something about myself. He speaks of how, as a child, … Continue reading Prayer Note #61: The Interference of God–A Prayer
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 