James MacDonald quotes:

The marquee scrolling across our minds trying to reinterpret life reads: "God-Against-Us." This becomes the dominant lens through which our flesh interprets life. We no longer give our loving Father the benefit of the doubt. Instead, we view every event as conclusive proof that God is against us.

While you can't keep fear from visiting, you can slam the door in its face. With God's promise in your hand, that's exactly what you are able to do.

Trust means you anchor your heart in the reality of God's awareness of your situation.

Ed Welch says that all counseling is a variation on a single theme: knowing and praying for the counselee. Of all the questions the counselor might ask, then, the central guiding question in the counselor's mind is, "How can I pray for you?

You'll face overwhelming odds; you'll be incredibly outnumbered. Fear would be your natural inclination. But keep in mind, God is with you.

God brings tests into your life because your faith in Him--your belief that He is in control and that He is good--can be proved only in times when life is hard.

Praying is what confirms our true belief that we cannot succeed without God, and its absence confirms the exact opposite.

Take a deep breath and take this to heart; God has nothing to do with broken promises. When He says, I promise, mark it down it's going to happen.

What kind of future is in God's plan? A good one to which you can look forward. That's why you can hope.

This fight is not going to be over in 10 minutes or 10 weeks; there's no quick solution. If you think it's taking too long, remember, God is with you.

Don't miss God's fingerprints all over the events, lining up people and circumstances in perfect timing to preserve His people and advance His agenda.

When it's personal and painful, humble yourself.

Church leaders raised on rationalism lead ministries where the supernatural, the Vertical, is suppressed and where God Himself is at best an observer and certainly seldom, if ever, and obvious participant in church.

Let God Himself be the main attraction at church again, and let us be tireless in our insistence that church is for God, about God, through God, and to the glory of His great Son.

If He wasn't going to use that hard thing for your good, it wouldn't have happened. He had to sign off on every single thing that touches your life.

The day you stop loving your people, they're not your people anymore.

God looked through eternity past and He saw you and He chose to reach out and redeem you by His own grace. It's hard to imagine that kind of love.

When God promises, He's not saying, I'll try. He means, I can and I will.

Doubt is a lack of confidence or assurance that God will keep his promises. Faith is an active confidence that God's promises are always true.

Our prayer must be, "Father, I'm waiting for You because I know You are good in what You do and in when you do it.

The role of biblical counselors is facilitate the discovery of a greater God awareness through spiritual eyes that look at life through scriptural lenses.

When we shift from personal purity to personal happiness, we lose biblical hope because we are not focusing on God's agenda, we are focusing on our own. God's agenda is guaranteed on our agenda is not.

Reality is God-centered and all human beings are worshipers, whether or not they are conscious of this reality and its implications.

I experience transcendence when something infinite reminds me I am finite.

God owns the truth. The issue is our ability to derive truth apart from God's sufficient Word.

Faith sees the opportunity; doubt sees the obstacles. What you see is what you get!

The biggest obstacle to making Christ magnificent is the refusal to make yourself small.

When we get bumped - we spill what we are full of - Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

When you come to the place where you can't do anything else, you must stand still and believe... When you can't do anything, let God do it all.

What you hope for determines what you live for. What you hope for determines WHO you live for. Hope misplaced can devastate you.

Gratitude is the attitude that sets the altitude for living.

Too many times we're looking for ways to get around deep waters and dangerous fires, rather than through them. Has this ever been your experience?

Don't lean on your own understanding. If your trust in God is limited by your understanding of His ways, you will always have a limited trust.

These criminals represent us. One of them recognized Jesus for who he was and received him; Jesus promised that when he died he would be in heaven with him. The other man rejected Jesus and closed his heart. Unlike the first criminal, when he died he didn't go to heaven. He went to hell. In that sense, these two men on either side of Jesus are just like every person. We either embrace Christ as our Savior and spend eternity with him, or we reject him and say, 'I don't believe it. I'll have nothing to do with.' And these people spend eternity separated from him.

Fear is the contradiction of faith. Faith says, Whatever it is, it'll be okay because of God.

Beware of begging God for things you don't have to have.

You will never experience the fullness of joy you were created to know until Jesus Christ has first place in every area.

I don't have everything I want but I have everything I need. That's contentment.

In a society where rationality has ruled so long, the church frequently fails to see that in forsaking the weekly pursuit of the transcendent, we have given up the only ground that was uniquely ours in this world. In attempting to make the church something that can attract and add value to secular mind-sets, we have turned our backs on our one true proposition - transcendence.

Jesus washing the disciples feet is the most supreme act of humility in all of God's word.

It doesn't matter what has happened, better things are coming. God's plan produces hope in me.

Competing loves are detected in the gap between saying and doing.

The Christian way is a life of faith. In order to hold on to the promises of God, you've got to believe them and live by them.

Repentance is the key that unlocks the door to all that God has for us, but it is not easy.

Only when we have done all we knew to do can we wait by faith for God to do what only He can do.

I want to be a part of the grand plan. Being on board with God's objectives means I understand that this is not about me.

[God's] purposes are always accomplished. His enemies are always defeated. His faithful followers are always rewarded. His Son's throne will be established forever.

All I can say is Bishop Jakes would not currently accept the designation of Prosperity Preacher or Word of Faith Preacher as an accurate description of what he believes currently. Now his ministry will have to bear that out. I'm not here to defend him or stick up for his various errors. And I don't want to minimize error that is significant. All I'm saying is that he, as of two weeks ago, would not accept those terms, in private conversation, as accurate descriptors of what he believes.

While we wait, God builds our faith in His promises.

Do the things you used to do, and you'll feel the feelings you used to feel.

Humility is losing yourself in the doing of serving.

Every obedience is not easy. This is for Jesus Christ. He deserves everything!

When we worry, we are telling God, "You are neither trustworthy nor in control, so I need to worry and scheme as I take matters into my own hands." In this way unbelief drives worry, for it is impossible to worry when we are trusting in the provision of our sovereign God.

Humility is a do thing, not a feel thing. Humility is an action, not a style.

Whether you realize it or not, your ongoing battle with unbelief drives all your sinful thoughts, emotions, desires, and actions.

A rebellion against God, even as believers, is fueled by the toxic fumes of unbelief.

The counselee should be aware that you are not God. Better yet, she should be aware that you are aware that you are not God.

When we pray, we are speaking to the One Whose eternal purpose and designs are unfolding as our present realities. In order to find hope in them, we must seek HIM and HIS perspective. This requires a keen understanding of the redemptive nature of our existence, which points to the glorious gospel of Christ.

I've learned to be careful of becoming a critic. Criticism really sours your heart.

When you say, I don't know exactly what God is doing, but I know he's in control that's evidence you're trusting Him.

God's not afraid of a mess. He wants to do a cleaning.

You might not think it now, but if you're one of God's children, you're going to figure it out by the end of your life God is good.

We all know the disappointments that come when we base anticipation on what we and other humans can deliver. God will never have a problem delivering!

It's not unlikely that God would lie that would be a matter of probability. It is impossible for God to lie.

At this moment, God is watching your life and at some point in this trial, He will say enough. You don't need to falter.

By your grace, I will not despair. I believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

You can't teach a person to love something. But you can get him to feel the heat of your love for something.

If you're wrong in the way you're right, you're wrong even if you're right.

Church was never intended to be a place where we serve God to the exclusion of meeting with Him.

I will not fail: God is always victorious.

Let God Himself be the main attraction at church again...

The core of humanity's sin problem is not a horizontal behavior to be corrected but a Vertical relationship to be restored.

I have been studying now for about 2 years, on a rather intensive basis, the UFO problem. I have interviewed several hundred witnesses in selected cases, and I am astonished at what I have found.