Stop Expecting Rejection!

" 'You've allowed a spirit of rejection to color everything you've heard each other say,' our marriage counselor told us. 'Every time one of you said or did something, a spirit of rejection interpreted it for the other. You both have to learn to relate to one another, not expecting rejection, but expecting acceptance and receiving it.' "

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 187.

Worship--By Force of Will

One night she was at home alone, feeling her aloneness with a poignancy and depth that she had never experienced until the breakup with Susan. By sheer force of her will, Karen began to worship [Jesus].


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 69.

Day-to-day Overflowing

"[Jesus] pointed beyond an initial experience in the Holy Spirit--beyond being baptized in the Spirit--to a lifestyle bathed in Spirit fullness to the point of day-to-day overflowing. --Jack Hayford



Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page 120.

Feeling Rejection

"The lie we believe when we feel rejection is, I'm not worth anything, so it's completely understandable that people will reject me. A spirit of rejection convinces you that you will be rejected, and then every word and action of other people is interpreted through the eyes of rejection."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 187.

What is Your Primary Desire?

Karen wasn't ready at first to pray for the authority to break off her relationship with Susan.... She was unsure because Susan had become everything to her, so the loss of her was overwhelming. But God was faithful. He revealed to her the truth about their relationship--how it was inspired by need and brokenness and even emotional manipulation. Karen began to realize that Susan had overtaken God as the primary desire of her heart.


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 69.

Extravagant Excess

Living Water is provided for us in our desert wastelands, "splashed and cascaded down" in extravagant excess.



This is not a quote but a thought prompted by Jack Hayford from his book Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page119, 120.

Centre of God's Will

"The key to finding God's will, in this case, was to constantly give the situation entirely to the Lord, pray about it, praise Him for His perfect will in my life, and then wait on Him for the answer. Being in the center of God's will brings great security and confidence because there is something uniquely wonderful about knowing that you are exactly where you're supposed to be. It is a guaranteed place of safety and peace."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 185.

Admission of Utter Reliance

Confession to Jesus...involves a lot more than admitting wrongdoing. It's an admission of one's utter reliance on Jesus for every aspect of the struggle: the disorder and brokenness that require His healing, the deep needs that require His guidance, the sin that requires His cleansing and release.


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 67.

Dangerous Respectability

"Are you tempted to keep your cool, to maintain control even while asking to be made 'full of God'? I'm inclined to believe the temptation to maintain respectability is more dangerous than we might think." --Jack Hayford



Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page 118.

The Most Essential

"Nothing in the believer's life is more essential to his or her becoming a daily, fully empowered replication and representative of Jesus Christ than being and keeping filled with the Holy Spirit." --Jack Hayford



Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page 116

Letting Things Slide

"The danger once we know the Lord and have been walking His way is thinking that we have learned the lessons. We've read the Bible. We're receiving the blessings. And now we believe we can let things slide...while the enemy sneaks up on our blind side."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 182.

Submit the Yearning to God

Jesus...invites the needy one who craves same-sex bonding to submit the yearning to Him out of the realization that he doesn't blame the struggler for possessing the tendency....


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 67.

I Found You, O My God

In losing all the gifts, with all their supports, I found the Giver. In losing the sense and perception of You in myself, I found You, O my God.... Oh, poor creatures who pass all your time in feeding upon the gifts of God, and think in that to be the most favored and happy, how I pity you if you stop here, short of the true rest, and cease to go forward to God Himself, through the loss of those cherished gifts in which you now delight! ...[You] never enjoy God in all His fullness, which is a loss that cannot be perfectly known in this life.


Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography. Witaker House, New Kensington, PA (1997). Page 120.
(Madame Guyon lived from 1647 to 1717)

Enthusiasm

"'Enthusiasm' is derived from the Greek word entheos, meaning 'God is in them.' The idea of enthusiasm, historically and etymologically, has to do with a person being so full of God (or, in the pagan world, the gods or the muses) that behavior is dominated by Him in a holy sense (or by them in a pagan or even demonic sense)." --Jack Hayford



Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page 117.

Too Busy for Guidance

"When my convalescence finally ended, I slowly made efforts to get back into my normal routine. But things were different. I didn't read the Bible as much, and I was too busy for the prayer closet, opting rather to pray and run. Soon I was running on my own steam instead of being sustained and guided by the Lord.

"Slowly I began to make decisions for my life without asking God. I didn't think I was doing that, but the fruit of those decisions proved that I was. I began walking in rebellion by serving my own needs."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 181.

Admit it to Others

...unbelief may be the result of a number of factors, but the primary one I see with [homosexually-oriented] Christians is that their long-standing struggle with homosexual tendencies is never submitted to anyone but God. Shame and fear compel them into their prayer closets; the release in prayer alone is found to be inadequate; and eventually they burst out of their "closeted" struggle and engage homosexually, certain God cannot change them.

What has been entirely bypassed is God's healing as mediated through His body, the church, where the many gifts of the Spirit and aptitudes of various personalities can converge to provide the help God has for the strugglers. Submission to Jesus needs to occur not only in personal prayer, but also in prayer, support and counsel as mediated through His body.

Rage of the Wolf is Changed

Before [purification, the soul] is full of its own judgment and its own will, but now it obeys like a child and finds no other will in itself. Before, it would have contested for a trifle; now it yields at once, not with reluctance and pain by way of practicing virtue, but as it were, naturally. Its own vices are vanished. This creature, so vain before, now loves nothing but poverty, littleness, and humiliation. Before, it preferred itself above everybody; now everybody above itself, having a boundless charity for its neighbor, to bear with his faults and weaknesses, in order to win him by love, which before it could not do but with very great constraint. The rage of the wolf is changed to the meekness of the lamb.


Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography. Witaker House, New Kensington, PA (1997). Page 115.
(Madame Guyon lived from 1647 to 1717)

Association Yields Dissociation

"Association--a constant link--with [Jesus] will produce dissociation--a consuming break--with everything in us that isn't of Him." --Jack Hayford



Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page

Heart of Religion?

"I realized that the heart of religion was setting up an honest dialogue with the uniqueness of one's soul and finding a deeply personal relationship with God, the inner Voice, the inner Music that plays in you as it does in no one else." --Sue Monk Kidd (She admits that there's more to it than that.)


When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions. HarperSanFrancisco (1992). Page 49.

Deception vs. Denial

"Deception is believing a lie and not realizing you have done so. Denial, on the other hand, is knowing the truth but choosing to live as if you don't. Denial is deceiving yourself."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 142.

Sin is Lack of Faith

The need and brokenness at hand cease to be submitted to God or others who could be healing agents.... That attempt at self-covering, at meeting one's needs according to the creature's wisdom, not the Creator's, constitutes sin and rebellion.... Thus,...sin fundamentally arises out of strugglers' lack of faith in the Creator's capacity to meet their needs.


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 65.

Run after the Giver

...leave the gifts to run after the Giver.


Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography. Witaker House, New Kensington, PA (1997). Page 111.
(Madame Guyon lived from 1647 to 1717)

True Spirituality

"True spirituality, however, somehow just happens. Like fruit on a tree. Like flowers on a plant. Like grapes on a vine...that's it. Grapes on a vine. [see John 15:4, 5] --Jack Hayford



Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page 114

Let Life Happen!

"Slowly I began to trust the solitary voice in me that said that standing still meant forward progress, that letting life happen rather than striving to make it happen allowed life to unfold with even more beauty and potential, that facing pain wasn't nearly so terrible as avoiding it." --Sue Monk Kid


When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions. HarperSanFrancisco (1992). Page 41

It is the Work

We take for granted that prayer is preparation for work, whereas prayer is the work....



Oswald Chambers in "Christian Discipline, Volume 2" in The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers, page 317

Withholding Blessing

Intercessory prayer is part of the sovereign purpose of God. If there were no saints praying for us, our lives would be infinitely balder than they are, consequently the responsibility of those who never intercede and who are withholding blessing from other lives is truly appalling.


Oswald Chambers in "Christian Disciplines, Volume 2" in The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers, page 317.

What you Don't Know, CAN Hurt You

"The devil will use everything you don't know about God against you."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 129

True Nature of Sexuality

...the true nature of sexuality [is] the inspired longing for communion, for completion, for a point of genuine wholeness through union with another. That need must be taken seriously and treated compassionately if we're to get free from the domination of homosexual impulses.


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 64.

Seasons of Internal Anguish

Sometimes the soul flies to others and opens her state so that she may find consolation. Thereby she frustrates God's designs toward her. It is of the utmost consequence to know what use to make of the distress. The whole of one's spiritual advancement depends on it. We should, at these seasons of internal anguish, obscurity and mourning, cooperate with God and endure this consuming torture in its utmost extent, while it continues, without attempting to lessen or increase it. Bear it passively, and do not seek to satisfy God by anything you can do of yourselves. To continue to be passive at such a time is extremely difficult, and requires great firmness and courage. I knew some who never advanced further in the spiritual process because they grew impatient and sought means of consolation.


Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography. Witaker House, New Kensington, PA (1997). Page 54.
(Madame Guyon lived from 1647 to 1717)

Spiritual Change and Emotions

"I am bold in saying this, but I believe that no one is ever changed, either by doctrine, by hearing the Word, or by the preaching or teaching of another, unless the affections [emotions] are moved by these things." --Jonathan Edwards quoted by Jack Hayford


Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page 105.

Waiting for Transformation

"The point of waiting [was]...to offer her a way for transformation of her own self, a way to give birth to something new and beautiful in her soul." --Sue Monk Kidd


When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions. HarperSanFrancisco (1992). Page 41.

Resting and Trust

"Resting is 'casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you' (1 Peter 5:7) and learning to be content no matter what the circumstances (Phil. 4:11)--not necessarily being delighted with the circumstances but being able to say, 'God is in charge, I have prayed about it, He knows my need, I am obeying to the best of my knowledge. I can rest.'"

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 122.

Homosexual Tendencies

The presence of homosexual tendencies doesn't necessarily imply willful sin.


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 64.

Exhausted with Needless Vexation

O you poor souls, who exhaust yourselves with needless vexation, if you would but seek God in your hearts, there would be a speedy end to all your troubles. The increase of crosses would proportionately increase your delight.


Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography. Witaker House, New Kensington, PA (1997). Page 53
(Madame Guyon lived from 1647 to 1717)

Integrity

"[Integrity] describes uncompromised character, an unjaded soul, an unsullied heart and an undivided mind. It requires the maintenance of one's heart in entirety before the Lord." --Jack Hayford



Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page 103.

Pain, then Pleasure

"Psychiatrist Scott Peck writes, 'Delaying gratification is a process of scheduling the pain and pleasure of life in such way as to enhance the pleasure by meeting and experiencing the pain first and getting it over with. It is the only decent way to live.'" --Sue Monk Kidd


When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions. HarperSanFrancisco (1992). Page 40.

Mercy and Healing

"If we are merciless on ourselves, we have a harder time receiving mercy and showing mercy to someone else. And one of the stipulations for receiving emotional healing is showing mercy to others."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 115.

Look to Jesus

Jesus spoke to him gently, "I've been tempted in all ways as you have, including your struggle with improper sexual feelings. Don't hate yourself. Look to Me. Let My love and compassion uphold you there. It's because of your vulnerability that I too became vulnerable to sin and death. And it is in your vulnerability that you will learn to trust Me. Look to Me, submit your desires to Me, and you'll share in My victory over sin."


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 61, 62.

Power of the Senses

To destroy [the power of the senses], the most effectual means is, in general, is to deny them firmly what will please, and to persevere in this until they are reduced to being without desire or repugnance.


Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography. Witaker House, New Kensington, PA (1997). Page 52.
(Madame Guyon lived from 1647 to 1717)

Discipline, Integrity, Protection

"Through the simple but demanding discipline of our constant walk in integrity of heart, God reveals He will protect and defend us from devices of evil or detours of self-confusion." --Jack Hayford


Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page 101.

Progress by Standing Still

"Counselor Helen Luke cautions that without significant times to be still, we 'extinguish the possibility of growth and walk backwards.' Here's the paradox: we achieve our deepest progress standing still." --Sue Monk Kidd

When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions. HarperSanFrancisco (1992). Page 34.

"Don't Have it, Can't Get It"

"When the humble say, 'I don't have it and I can't get it on my own,' God says, 'I've got it and I'm going to give it to you.' That's God's grace."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 114.

Tempted Nonstop

The battle with temptation ceases temporarily when one gives in to the object of desire. Jesus, in His obedience, had no fleshly escape clause. He held fast to the Father's will to the end. We can assume in turn that He was tempted nonstop with an intensity that neither the homosexual struggler nor any other person has ever faced.


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 61.

Union of the Will

The union of the will subjects the soul to God, conforms it to all His pleasure, and causes self-will gradually to die.


Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography. Witaker House, New Kensington, PA (1997). Page 51.
(Madame Guyon lived from 1647 to 1717)

We're All Vulnerable

"...all of us are vulnerable to confusion and mistakes, to being misled or to becoming the victim of someone else's manipulations. Like Abimelech [see Genesis 20], without our awareness and completely outside our intent or cooperation, we may become trapped." --Jack Hayford



Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page 100.

Consenting to Be Where we Are

"'Contemplative waiting is consenting to be where we really are.'" --Sue Monk Kidd quoting Brother Anthony of the Abbey of Gethsemani.

When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions. HarperSanFrancisco (1992). Page 32.

Need for Approval

"Receiving the gift of God's love means that we don't have to do desperate things for approval. Nor do we have to be depressed when we don't receive love from other people exactly the way we feel we need it. When we sense God's love, it takes the pressure off relationships and frees us to be who we were made to be."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 111.

How Could Satan Tempt Him?

In His humanity Jesus faced the temptation to find security and pleasure apart from the Father's will. How else could Satan truly tempt Him unless he had access to something Jesus had the capacity to desire?


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 60.

Faith's Own Pure Light

Faith...makes the soul lose every distinct light, in order to place it in its own pure light.


Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography. Witaker House, New Kensington, PA (1997). Page 51.
(Madame Guyon lived from 1647 to 1717)

The Law of First Usage

"There's a simple principle of Bible study usually called the law of first usage. It's impressively consistent, in that it simply notes that the first time you encounter an idea or principle in the Bible, you will generally find its first usage defines the idea's usage throughout God's Word--the concept will be consistent in intent and meaning throughout the Scriptures, as it is found in its first occurrence." --Jack Hayford



Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page 100

Stopping Inner Pain

"...[we can be] hooked on a specific series of actions in order to avoid inner pain or inner growth.... Whatever we use repeatedly and compulsively to stop that growth is our particular addiction." --Sue Monk Kidd


When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions. HarperSanFrancisco (1992). Page 30

Giving Control to the Devil

"If I become unrepentant and repeat the offense until I am uncontrollably drawn to it, then I have given control to the devil and the bondage is satanic."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 83.

What Necessitates Jesus?

...[Our] heart's cry for wholeness is precisely what necessitates Him [Jesus].


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 59.

Destroyed by the Operations of Love

When the will of the created entirely submits to that of the Creator, suffering freely and voluntarily and yielding only a consent to the divine will, which is its absolute submission, allowing itself to be totally surmounted and destroyed by the operations of love, this absorbs the will into self, consummates it in that of God, and purifies it from all narrowness, dissimilitude, and selfishness.


Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography. Witaker House, New Kensington, PA (1997). Page 48
(Madame Guyon lived from 1647 to 1717)

Spirit Nourishment

"Some time ago a friend of my mother said to her, 'Dolores, I feel so stupid when I study the Word of God. I just don't seem to remember anything at all.'

"Quite wisely, my mother responded, 'Lou, do you remember what you ate for breakfast on Tuesday, three weeks ago?'

"Her friend looked at her, rather stunned, and replied, 'Well, no, I don't.'

"Mama explained, 'It still supported and nourished you, didn't it?'

"Get the point? Just keep reading the Bible. You may not remember everything, but the Word is flowing into your spirit. And as it does, it's giving you abiding strength and sustenance as you simply obey and read."



Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page 91.

Sacred Pain

"I was startled by the realization that it's only in gathering [up our wounds, scars and torn places] and embracing them, placing them on the altar, that we can begin the process of transforming them. Pain can be sacred too." --Sue Monk Kidd


When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions. HarperSanFrancisco (1992). Page 25.

What Brings Bondage?

"Yielding to a wrong action until it becomes a habit one can't break brings bondage."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 80.

Sin and Brokenness Intact

"You...have been blinded by religious tradition and no longer recognize how profoundly you need to be freed by M. That's why you continue in heady unbelief. You ask me tricky questions in the hope of discounting Me, so you can remain unchanged. She submits herself to Me, sin and brokenness intact, and is changed for ever. She goes in peace, alive to Me, forgiven" (Luke 7:36-50, [Comiskey's] paraphrase). [My emphasis]





Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 58, 59.

When the Soul is Docile

When the soul is docile, and leaves itself to be purified and emptied of all that which it has of its own, opposite to the will of God, it finds itself by little and little detached from every emotion of its own, and placed in a holy indifference, wishing nothing but what God does and wills.


Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography. Witaker House, New Kensington, PA (1997). Page 51.
(Madame Guyon lived from 1647 to 1717)

Unforgiveness and Human Ills

"Doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists all have noted that the vast majority of human ills are related to repressed attitudes of bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, hate, anger, self-pity and self-centeredness." --Jack Hayford



Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page 80.

Incubating Pain

"Where is our willingness to incubate pain and let it birth something new?" --Sue Monk Kidd


When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions. HarperSanFrancisco (1992). Page 25.

Throw off the Bondage!

"Through confession we are forgiven of our sins immediately, but we still have to throw off the bondage that came with them. The best way to do this is to give no place to the devil. Each morning say, 'Lord, fill me afresh with Your Holy Spirit this day and crowd out anything that is not of You."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 80.

Trust and Groaning

Without first establishing trust in the Father, people are usually unable to share the deep groanings of their hearts.


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 51.

Pains Annexed to Sin

I was penetrated with so lively a dart of pure love, that I could not resolve to abridge, by indulgences, the pain due to my sins. "O my Love," I cried, "I am willing to suffer for You. I find no other pleasure but in suffering for You. Indulgences may be good for those who do not know the value of sufferings, who do not choose that Your divine justice should be satisfied, who, having mercenary souls, are not so much afraid of displeasing You, as of the pains annexed to sin."


Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography. Witaker House, New Kensington, PA (1997). Page 50.
(Madame Guyon lived from 1647 to 1717)

Spirit of Forgiveness

"A spirit of forgiveness is a fundamental requirement for every disciple's life and learning." --Jack Hayford


Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page 75.

Aim of Prayer

"...the aim of prayer is nothing less than a 'deep change in the whole of our personality.'" ---Sue Monk Kidd, quoting in part from Anthony Bloom.


When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions. HarperSanFrancisco (1992). Page 24.

Tainted, but not by Choice

"If you feel tainted by sexual impurity because of acts that were not your choice, God wants you to be released from the burden of them. Speak to the Lord about all that has happened. Every incident of your memory needs to be spoken out to Him so that it loses its power to torment you. Then ask Him to cleanse you from every effect of it."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000). Page 47.

Constrained but Not Free

He felt constrained by the truth, not set free. The reason was simple. Jim knew the truth about sexual ethics. But he didn't know the Father and His profound grace on Jim's behalf.


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 48.

Unutterable Loss

As long as the soul continues resting in gifts, it does no fully renounce itself. Never passing into God, the soul loses the real enjoyment of the Giver, by attachments to the gifts. This is truly an unutterable loss.


Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography. Witaker House, New Kensington, PA (1997). Page 48
(Madame Guyon lived from 1647 to 1717)

Victim of Unforgiveness

"That was it. I was simply tired of trying.

"I didn't physically turn my back and walk away from him at that moment; but in my heart and attitude toward Joe, I did. I was washing my hands of him, done trying to be his friend. I wouldn't realize it until later, but Joe had become a victim of my unforgiveness." --Jack Hayford

Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001) page 73.

Waiting is Something

"When you're waiting, you're not doing nothing. You're doing the most important something there is. You're allowing your soul to grow up. If you can't be still and wait, you can't become what God created you to be."

Sue Monk Kidd. When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions. HarperSanFrancisco (1992).

Prayer--Set Your Heart Right

"Prayer starts with and remains deeply rooted in the Scriptures; the revealed Word of God quickly discerns our hearts. If our hearts are anxious, fearful, unforgiving, or sinful then they are to be immediately set right in conversation with God."

Leanne Payne. Listening Prayer: Learning to Hear God's Voice and Keep a Prayer Journal. Baker Books: Grand Rapids, Michigan (1994).

Hardened Hearts

"If we do not deal with an offense, it will produce more fruit of sin, such as bitterness, anger, and resentment. This added substance hardens our hearts just as alloys harden gold. This reduces or removes tenderness, creating a loss of sensitivity. We are hindered in our ability to hear God's voice."

John Bevere. The Bait of Satan: Lifing Free from the Deadly Trap of Offense. Charisma House, Lake Mary, Florida (2004). Page 9.

Abuse and Unforgiveness

"You may feel that the abuse in your past has kept you from becoming all you were supposed to be. But it's really the unforgiveness for the abuse that keeps you from becoming all that God made you to be."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville (2000).

Power of Feelings

The power of the feelings at hand must be faced. And having faced it, each struggler needs to submit the reality of those impulses to the Creator, to grant Him His rightful place as Lord and Redeemer of the struggle.


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 39.

Ecstasies

Ecstasies arise from a perceptible delight. They may be termed a kind of spiritual sensuality, wherein the soul, letting itself go too far by reason of the sweetness it finds in them, falls imperceptibly into decay. The crafty Enemy presents such interior elevations and raptures for baits to entrap the soul, to fill it with vanity and self-love, to fix its esteem and attention on the gifts of God, and to hinder it from following Jesus Christ in the way of renunciation and of death to all things.


Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography. Witaker House, New Kensington, PA (1997). Page 48
(Madame Guyon lived from 1647 to 1717)

Obedience & Deliverance

"Obedience is followed by deliverance."

Jack Hayford. Living the Spirit Formed Life: Growing in the 10 Principles of Spirit-Filled Discipleship. Regal: Ventura, California (2001).

Parental Unforgiveness

"If you despise something in yourself, check to see if it's because it reminds you of one of your parents. If so, there may be an area of unforgiveness there."

Stormie Omartian. Lord, I Want to Be Whole: The Power of Prayer and Scripture in Emotional Healing. Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville. (2000). page 22.

Legitimate Craving

[God] called me to a more profound level of trust for all my needs, including that legitimate craving for physical and emotional bonding with another.


Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 29.

Vanity to the Soul?

Visions are in the inferior powers of the soul and cannot produce true union. The soul must not dwell or rely upon them, or be impeded by them; they are but favors and gifts. The Giver alone must be our object and aim. It is of such that Paul spoke, "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14 [KJV]). This deception generally happens to those who are fond of visions, and who overemphasize them, because visions are apt to convey a vanity to the soul, or at least hinder it from humbly attending to God only.


Jeanne Guyon: An Autobiography. Witaker House, New Kensington, PA (1997). Page 47
(Madame Guyon lived from 1647 to 1717)

Barter for the Spiritual Life

"Our Lord distinctly taught His disciples that if they were going to live the spirtual life, they must barter the natural for it; that is, they must forgo the natural life. We mean by the 'natural' life, the ordinary, sensible, healthy, worldly-minded life." --Oswald Chambers


"Heart: The Radical Region of Life: TheRendezvous of Perfect Life" in "Biblical Psychology" in The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers page 177.

Perfect Hatred

"God loves the world so much that He hates with a perfect hatred the thing that is twisting men away from Him." --Oswald Chambers


Heart: The Radical Region of Life: The Radiator of Personal Life (continued)" in "Biblical Psychology" in The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers page 175

Piously or Inquitously?

"...it is easy to talk piously and live inquitously." --Oswald Chambers


"Heart: The Radical Region of Life: The Radiator of Personal Life (continued)" in "Biblical Psychology" in The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers page 175