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.