Encouraging - Spirtual Discipline

Discipline without direction is drudgery. But the Spiritual Disciplines are never drudgery as long as we practice them with the goal of Godliness in mind. If your picture of a disciplined Christian is one of a grim, tight-lipped, joyless half-robot, then you’ve missed the point. Jesus was the most disciplined Man who ever lived and yet the most joyful and passionately alive. He is our Example of discipline.

Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO: 1991), 24.

Encouraging - Catalysts for Change

Actually, God uses three primary catalysts for changing us and conforming us to Christlikeness, but only one is largely under our control. One catalyst the Lord uses to change is people….Another change agent God uses in our lives is circumstances….Then there is the catalyst of the Spiritual Disciplines. This catalyst differs from the first two in that when He uses the Disciplines, God works from the inside out. When He changes us through people and circumstances, the process works from the outside in. The Spiritual Disciplines also differ from the other two methods of change in that God grants us a measure of choice regarding involvement with them. We often have little choice regarding the people and circumstances God brings into our lives, but we can decide, for example, whether we will read the Bible or fast today.

Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO: 1991), 17-18.

Encouraging - Self-Centeredness

Elder brothers may do good to others, but not out of delight in the deeds themselves or for the love of people or the pleasure of God. They are not really feeding the hungry and clothing the poor, they are feeding and clothing themselves. The heart’s fundamental self-centeredness is not only kept intact but nurtured by fear-based moralism. This can and does erupt in shocking ways. Why do you think so many churches are plagued with gossip and fighting? Or why do so many moral people live apparently chaste lives and then suddenly fall into the most scandalous sins? Underneath the seeming unselfishness is great self-centeredness

Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith (Dutton, New York, NY: 2008), 62-63.

Encouraging - Happiness

Jesus uses the younger and elder brothers to portray the two basic ways people try to find happiness and fulfillment: the way of moral conformity (elder brother) and the way of self-discovery (younger brother). Each acts as a lens coloring how you see all of life, or as a paradigm shaping your understanding of everything. Each is a way of finding personal significance and worth, of addressing the ills of the world, and of determining right from wrong.

Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith (Dutton, New York, NY: 2008), 29. Parentheses added.

Encouraging - Church

Jesus’s teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. If our churches aren’t appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we’d like to think.

Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith (Dutton, New York, NY: 2008), 15-16.

Encouraging - St. Theresa's Prayer

May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It it there for each and every one of us.

Encouraging - Success

Successful people, whether in the arena of family, marriage, business, finances, or ministry, know their limits. They understand the value of time. They know when they have ventured beyond the realm of their expertise and experience. They know when it is time to borrow a page out of someone else’s playbook. One of the best things you can do is reject the notion that because people expect you to have all the answers, you must therefore pretend that you do. Being a parent does not mean you know how to be a great parent. Being a husband or wife is not the equivalent of knowing how to have a great marriage. Having a position of responsibility does not ensure that you know everything you need to know to handle that responsibility responsibly. Position does not equal ability. The moment you say, “I do” or have that first child or open that first checking account or start that new business or begin that new relationship is like venturing into a part of town that you are totally unfamiliar with. The ability to drive does not equal the ability to navigate. You need outside assistance. But you need the right outside assistance.

Andy Stanley, The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN: 2008) 121-122.