Good Words for Today

Al Capone once put it this way, “When I sell whiskey, they call it bootlegging; when my patrons serve it on Lake Shore Drive, they call it hospitality.” How true. It all depends on who’s doing the buying and the selling and the serving. We’re all quick to condemn in others what we excuse in ourselves.

“Everybody who’s for abortion has already been born." Ronald Reagan

"The greatest honor for any Christian is to be like Jesus. When we suffer unjustly, we share in a tiny portion of what happened to him." Robert Jeffress

"Jesus is calling the weary to rest, Calling today, calling today, Bring Him your burden and you shall be blest; He will not turn you away." Fanny Crosby, 1883

"Good people don’t go to Heaven, forgiven people do." Lecrae

“If you are always looking for an impact, a legacy, and success, you will not take the time to care for the things that matter.” Michael Horton

“I have held many things in my hands, and have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.” Martin Luther

“This too shall pass.” Remember that this applies equally to blessings and sorrows, laughter and tears, victories and defeats.

“Pray the largest prayers. You cannot think a prayer so large that God, in answering it, will not wish you had made it larger. Pray not for crutches but for wings.” Phillips Brooks

"God’s time is not our time. His clock is not our clock. God runs on Eternity Standard Time." Angel Martinez

"If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost." Zig Ziglar

"Forgive and give as if it were your last opportunity. Love like there's no tomorrow, and if tomorrow comes, love again." Max Lucado

“The pastor ought to have two voices: one, for gathering the sheep; and another, for driving away wolves.” John Calvin

Lord, teach me to trust you even when I cannot see around the next bend in the road. Amen.

"If I'd never had a problem I wouldn't know that He could solve them, I'd never know what faith in God could do." Andrae Crouch

Salvation! O salvation! The joyful sound proclaim, Till each remotest nation Has learned Messiah’s Name. Reginald Heber, 1819. (Wrote many hymns, including "Holy, Holy, Holy")

"We must beware of hastily concluding that our supplications are useless, and specially in the matter of intercessory prayer in behalf of others. It is not for us to prescribe either the time or the way in which our requests are to be answered."  J. C. Ryle

"Adversity is the diamond dust heaven polishes its jewels with.” Thomas Carlyle

"The seed of every sin is in every heart." John Owen

"Many things are possible. Following Jesus and being liked by everybody is not one of them." Bob Smethurst

"God will take you where you have not intended to go in order to produce in you what you could not achieve on your own." Paul Tripp

Plan the seed and then water it. God will take care of the harvest.

Here is Billy Graham's prayer for the new year, written in 2008, but very fitting for our day. I encourage you to read this prayer out loud as we start the new year together.  Our Father and our God, as we stand at the beginning of this new year we confess our need of Your presence and Your guidance as we face the future. We each have our hopes and expectations for the year that is ahead of us—but You alone know what it holds for us, and only You can give us the strength and the wisdom we will need to meet its challenges. So help us to humbly put our hands into Your hand, and to trust You and to seek Your will for our lives during this coming year. In the midst of life’s uncertainties in the days ahead, assure us of the certainty of Your unchanging love. In the midst of life’s inevitable disappointments and heartaches, help us to turn to You for the stability and comfort we will need. In the midst of life’s temptations and the pull of our stubborn self-will, help us not to lose our way but to have the courage to do what is right in Your sight, regardless of the cost. And in the midst of our daily preoccupations and pursuits, open our eyes to the sorrows and injustices of our hurting world, and help us to respond with compassion and sacrifice to those who are friendless and in need. May our constant prayer be that of the ancient Psalmist: “Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end” (Psalm 119:33). We pray for our nation and its leaders during these difficult times, and for all those who are seeking to bring peace and justice to our dangerous and troubled world. We pray especially for Your protection on all those who serve in our armed forces, and we thank You for their commitment to defend our freedoms, even at the cost of their own lives. Be with their families also, and assure them of Your love and concern for them. Bring our divided nation together, and give us a greater vision of what You would have us to be. Your Word reminds us that “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12). As we look back over this past year we thank You for Your goodness to us—far beyond what we have deserved. May we never presume on Your past goodness or forget all Your mercies to us, but may they instead lead us to repentance, and to a new commitment to make You the foundation and center of our lives this year. And so, our Father, we thank You for the promise and hope of this new year, and we look forward to it with expectancy and faith. This I ask in the name of our Lord and Savior, who by His death and resurrection has given us hope both for this world and the world to come. Amen

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown!” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.” Minnie Haskins

"There is no shame in repentance because it only shows that God was right all along." Rosaria Butterfield

“He may come at any time. He’s sure to come some time. Let’s be ready when he does come.” Andrew Blackwood

"The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake." Early American hymn, 1787

"God is dangerous. That is the way the Bible portrays him. You don’t have to like it. You can deny his existence. You can pet him if you like — just don’t expect your arm back." Drew Dyck

“All God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reackoned on God being with them.”J. Hudson Taylor

"The Gospel is for the weak, the Gospel is for the unable, the Gospel is for the fool, the Gospel is a welcome to people who say, 'I can’t,' but they are running to a Redeemer who can." Paul Tripp

"Awake, glad heart! get up and sing! It is the birthday of thy King." Henry Vaughan, 1650

"How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is giv'n So God imparts to human hearts the blessing of his heav'n. No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in." Phillips Brooks

"Born as a Man so He could relate to us. Died as a Savior so He could redeem us. Raised as Lord so He could rule over us." Ken Whitten

“O Lord, make my heart a manger where the Christ child can be born.” Rose Kennedy

"It is this crying baby that will wipe away every tear; this defenseless infant that will end all war." Tullian Tchividjian

Jesus began his earthly journey in a borrowed manger and ended it in a borrowed tomb. What a Savior!

“Christmas is the end of thinking you are better than someone else." Tim Keller

"Late in time behold him come, Offspring of the Virgin’s womb: Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail the incarnate Deity, Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel."  Charles Wesley, 1739

When God wanted to say, “I love you,” he wrapped his love note in swaddling clothes.

His kingdom will never end. Why would you follow anyone else?