Today I have four quotes and three Bible verses about faith and control to share with you. We all would like to have everything together, be in control so we could relax and enjoy our lives, right? But that’s not how faith or life works. Faith and control don’t mix well together. How come? If our goal is to be in control, we push faith away. The one who is in control is the god in our life whether we…
This post started in the most peculiar way. In a dream, I was writing a post using a quote by Andrew Murray. So this morning I decided I needed to check out his writings again. And I fell in love with this quote about the gloriousness of fellowship with God. “The giver is more than the gift; God is more than the blessing. And our being kept waiting on Him is the only way for our learning to find our…
Jesus asked his disciples to pray with him at Gethsemane, yet they slept. Just the same way, Jesus is asking us to pray with him too. How do we respond? Do we sleepwalk through our life? Or do we obey and pray with Jesus? Because we have a call to pray with Jesus. And that’s a high calling. Then he [Jesus] said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch…
Happy New Year, dear friends of Flowing Faith! What’s your word for 2016? I’ve been praying for mine for weeks. (If you’re interested in finding out yours and don’t know how to go about it, my blogging friend Lisa has a great post about the process.) Eventually, I was lead to word ‘boldness’. It is a bit scary word. But after my year of ‘readiness’ it is a very logical one. Without readiness there could not be boldness. And all…
Do you trust God with all your heart? Or do you withdraw your trust when things start looking gloomy? That’s what we so often do. But trusting when things are going well is not really trusting, is it? Trusting starts when things get rough, don’t you think? That’s exactly when we need to decide to trust God. We are to live by faith and not by sight. This is time to put faith in action. Trust in the Lord with…
Does the call to holiness intimidate you? Do you feel it’s beyond your power? Do you know what? You’ve got that right. Holiness is something we can’t attain through effort. But it is possible to obtain holiness by God’s grace. It does not happen without the Holy Spirit’s presence is our life. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. (Romans 6:22, NKJV, emphasis…
Today I want to talk about weaknesses. We all have them even though we don’t want to admit them. We use too much energy to cover them up. But that’s not wise. We will then miss something beautiful and profound: God’s strength in us. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my…
Today’s word for the Five Minute Friday is ‘ten’ and I first thought about writing about ten commandments but figured I am not able to do it in mere five minutes. I prayed about it and felt lead to share ten of my favorite Andrew Murray quotes with you. Andrew Murray (9 May 1828 – 18 January 1917) was a South African writer, teacher, and Christian pastor. He has been dead almost 100 years now but still his writings are…
What if fasting is a blessing? The early church put fasting and prayer together as ways of seeking God’s guidance. Why don’t we? So they commissioned them. In that circle of intensity and obedience, of fasting and praying, they laid hands on their heads and sent them off. (Acts 13:3, MSG) Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his famous book Cost of Discipleship reminds us of the importance of fasting as a part of discipleship ” If there is no element of asceticism in our…
