Monday, 16 January 2017

LIVING BY HIS WISDOM



LIVING BY HIS WISDOM
Compiled by ‘Lekan Telufusi.
1.      "Envy is one of the great enemies of active spirituality.  It keeps us from loving our neighbours, from functioning with others in community, and from affirming people's unique worth.  It also steals contentment from the heart.  Is there anything or anyone you are envious of?"
2.      When I cannot understand my Father’s leading, And it seems to be but hard and cruel fate, Still I hear that gentle whisper ever pleading, God is working, God is faithful—Only wait.
3.      "The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time."
4.      If we are together nothing is impossible. If we are divided all will fail.
5.      "We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face...we must do that which we think we cannot."
6.      "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved."
7.      "Finding relief in your problem is fine, but it will not cure the problem."
8.      "My environment can give me relief from sin and tension, only the Lord can cure it."
9.      "You can manage your sin, but that's not repentance."
10.  "There's no human remedy for sin."
11.  "Your walk with God does not depend on people, places, things or events."
12.  "I am a victim of my own behavior."
13.  "God's children have a limitless supply of the fruit of the Spirit."
14.  "Biblical counseling is listening to a person long enough until you hear a violation of Scripture."
15.  "Anger is inside you, revealed by an outside source."
16.  "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."
17.  "Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day."    
18.  "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
19.  "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."
20.  "Humility is perfect quietness of heart, It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble."
21.  "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity."    
22.  "Have courage for the great sorrows in life, and patience for the small ones. And when you have laboriously accomplished your daily tasks, go to sleep in peace, God is awake."
23.  "Loss is like a closed road that forces us to turn around and find another way to our destination. Who knows what we will discover and see along the way."   
24.  "When Satan reminds us of our past, we should remind him of his future."
25.  "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."    
26.  "A journey may be long or short, but it must start at the very spot one finds oneself."
27.  "Faith is all that dreamers need to see into the future."
28.  In the end, a person is only known by the impact he has on others."
29.  "Money is nothing more than a tool. It can be a force for good, a force for evil, or simply idle."
30.  "Problems may only be avoided by exercising good judgment. Good judgment may only be gained by experiencing life's problems."
31.  "Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others."
32.  "Life is like riding a bicycle. You don't fall off unless you stop peddling."
33.  GIVE THE FOLLOWING GIFTS:
"To your enemy   -- forgiveness,
To your opponent --.tolerance.
To a friend            -- your heart.
To a customer       -- service.
To all men             -- charity.
To every child       -- a good example
To yourself           -- respect"
34.  "Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty. They merely move it from their faces into their heart."
35.  "Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future."
36.  "It is easier to go down a hill than up, but the view is from the top."
37.  "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."
38.  He who knows not, And knows not that he knows not, Is a fool, shun him.  He who knows not, And knows that he knows not, Is a child, teach him.  He who knows, And knows not that he knows, Is asleep, wake him.  He who knows, And knows that he knows, Is wise, follow him.
39.  "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
40.  "Good timber does not grow with ease. The stronger the wind the stronger the trees."
41.  "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Imagination is what we could be."
42.  "Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into, the mind."
43.  "Greatness is not so much a certain size as a certain quality in your life."
44.  "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
45.  "Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up  and continue on."
46.  "I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see. The longer I live the more my mind dwells upon the beauty and the wonder of the world."
47.  "Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks."
48.  "Forgiveness is the most powerful thing you can do for yourself. If you can't learn to forgive, You can forget about achieving true success in your life."
49.  "A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds."
50.  "No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he had only had good intentions."
51.  "I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who overcomes his enemies, for the hardest victory is victory over self."
52.  "We teach what we know, but we reproduce what we are."
53.  "If you play it safe in life, you've decided that you don't want to grow anymore."
54.    "What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God."
55.  "Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it only saps today of its strength."
56.  "Ultimately you are doing what you do for one of two reasons: to serve oneself or to serve God."
57.  "There is enough time in every day to do God's work... In God's way."
58.  "Dedication is doing the 'BEST' with your life rather than settling for what is only the 'good'."
59.  "God is looking for ordinary people empowered by Him to do extraordinary things!"
60.  "It is a wealthy person, indeed, who calculates riches not in gold but in friends."
61.  "Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home."
62.  “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows; it empties today of its strength.”  
63.  "If you believe in a God who controls the big things, you have to believe in a God who controls the little things.  It is we, of course, to whom things look 'little' or 'big'."
64.  "Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies."
65.  “When one door closes, another opens, but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us.”
66.  "Forgiveness is the fragrance the flower leaves on the heel of the one who crushed it."
67.  Money is no substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness. I can tell you as I'm sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you're looking for, no matter how much of them you have." 
68.  "People need loving the most when they deserve it the least."

69.  "If you live close to God and His infinite grace, you don't have to tell; it shows on your face."
70.  "Remember, you may choose your sin, but you cannot choose the consequences."
71.  "Humor is to life what shock absorbers are to automobiles."
72.  "God will one day hold us each accountable for all the things He created for us to enjoy, but we refused to do."
73.  "What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude towards it. Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity."
74.  "You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."
75.  "You can live opposite of what you profess, but you cannot live opposite of what you believe."
76.  "Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."
77.  "Failure is not an event, but rather a judgment about an event. Failure is not something that happens to us or a label we attach to things. It is a way we think about outcomes."
78.  "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others."    
79.  "That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong."
80.  God takes away the world,  that the heart may cleave more to Him in sincerity.
81.  God sweetens outward pain with inward peace.
82.  Not to be afflicted is a sign of weakness; for, therefore God imposeth no more on me, because he sees I can bear no more.
83.  When we grow careless of keeping our souls, then God recovers our taste of good things again by sharp crosses.
84.  The winter prepares the earth for the spring, so do afflictions sanctified prepare the soul for glory.
85.  To bless God for mercies is the way to increase them; to bless Him for miseries is the way to remove them.
86.  God takes away the world, that the heart may cleave more to Him in sincerity.
87.  God sweetens outward pain with inward peace.
88.  Not to be afflicted is a sign of weakness; for, therefore God imposeth no more on me, because he sees I can bear no more.
89.  When we grow careless of keeping our souls, then God recovers our taste of good things again by sharp crosses.
90.  The winter prepares the earth for the spring, so do afflictions sanctified prepare the soul for glory.
91.  I am mended by my sickness, enriched by my poverty, and strengthened by my weakness.... Thus was it with.... Manasseh, when he was in affliction, "He besought the Lord his God": even that king's iron was more precious to him than his gold, his jail a more happy lodging than his palace, Babylon a better school than Jerusalem. What fools are we, then, to frown upon our afflictions! These, how crabbed soever, are our best friends. They are not indeed for our pleasure, they are for our profit.
92.  Labour to grow better under all your afflictions, lest your afflictions grow worse, lest God mingle them with more darkness, bitterness and terror.
93.  The secret formula of the saints: When I am in the cellar of affliction, I look for the Lord's choicest wines.
94.  The way to be eased is not struggling with it, but meekly to bear it.
95.  his weight, found it heavier.
96.  He that rides to be crowned, will not think much of a rainy day.
97.  Afflictions are light when compared with what we really deserve. They are light when compared with the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. But perhaps their real lightness is best seen by comparing them with the weight of glory which is awaiting us.
98.  We are warned by the Word both of our duty, our danger, and our remedy. On the sea of life there would be many more wrecks if it were not for the divine storm-signals which give to the watchful a timely warning. The Bible should be our Mentor, our Monitor, our Memento Mori, our Remembrancer, and the Keeper of our Conscience.
99.  The pleasures arising from a right understanding of the divine testimonies are of the most delightful order; earthly enjoyments are utterly contemptible if compared with them. The sweetest joys, yea, the sweetest of the sweetest falls to his portion who has God's truth to be his heritage.
100.                      Did you never run for shelter in a storm, and find fruit which you expected not? Did you never go to God for safeguard, driven by outward storms, and there find unexpected fruit?
101.                      To bless God for mercies is the way to increase them; to bless Him for miseries is the way to remove them.
102.                      Those blessings are sweetest that are won with prayers and won with thanks.
103.                      The riches of His free grace cause me daily to triumph over all the temptations of the wicked one, who is very vigilant, and seeks all occasions to disturb me.
104.                      Chastisement is designed for our good, to promote our highest interests. Look beyond the rod to the All-wise hand that wields it!
105.                      Better be pruned to grow than cut up to burn.
106.                      We spend our years with sighing; it is a valley of tears; but death is the funeral of all our sorrows.
107.                      Death is never sudden to a saint; no guest comes unawares to him who keeps a constant table.
108.                      Lord, be pleased to shake my clay cottage before Thou throwest it down. Make it totter awhile before it doth tumble. Let me be summoned before I am surprised.
109.                      There is an essential difference between the decease of the godly and the death of the ungodly. Death comes to the ungodly man as a penal infliction, but to the righteous as a summons to his Father's palace. To the sinner it is an execution, to the saint an undressing from his sins and infirmities. Death to the wicked is the King of terrors. Death to the saint is the end of terrors, the commencement of glory.
110.                      In our first paradise in Eden there was a way to go out but no way to go in again. But as for the heavenly paradise, there is a way to go in, but not way to go out.
111.                      A man's greatest care should be for that place where he lives longest; therefore eternity should be his scope.
112.                      Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset; eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise.
113.                      We fear men so much, because we fear God so little. One fear cures another. When man's terror scares you, turn your thoughts to the wrath of God.
114.                      Grace and glory differ very little; the one is the seed, the other is the flower; grace is glory militant, glory is grace triumphant.
115.                      The right manner of growth is to grow less in one's own eyes.
116.                      He that will be knighted must kneel for it, and he that will enter in at the strait gate must crowd for it—a gate made so on purpose, narrow and hard in the entrance, yet, after we have entered, wide and glorious, that after our pain our joy may be the sweeter.
117.                      There is nothing destroyed by sanctification but that which would destroy us.
118.                      Take a saint, and put him into any condition and he knows how to rejoice in the Lord.
119.                      That which a man spits against heaven, shall fall back on his own face.
120.                      Meditation will keep your hearts and souls from sinful thoughts. When the vessel is full you can put in no more.... If the heart be full of sinful thoughts, there is no room for holy and heavenly thoughts: if the heart be full of holy and heavenly thoughts by meditation, there is no room for evil and sinful thoughts.
121.                      What is the reason there is so much preaching and so little practice? For want of meditation.... Constant thoughts are operative, and musing makes the fire burn. Green wood is not kindled by a flash or spark, but by constant blowing.
122.                      It is not the bee's touching of the flower that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time upon the flower that draws out the sweet.  It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian.
123.                      And therefore you who think so basely of the Gospel and the professors of it, because at present their peace and comfort are not come, should know that it is on the way to them, and comes to stay everlastingly with them; whereas your peace is going is going from you every moment, and is sure to leave you without any hope of returning to you again. Look not how the Christian begins, but ends.
124.                      Your life is short, your duties many, your assistance great, and your reward sure; therefore faint not, hold on and hold up, in ways of well-doing, and heaven shall make amends for all
125.                      If Christ has once possessed the affections, there is no dispossessing of him again. A fire in the heart overcomes all fires without.
126.                      When we are foiled, let us believe we shall overcome; when we have fallen, let us believe we shall rise again. Jacob, after he received a blow which made him lame, yet would not give over wrestling (Gen. 32:25) till he had obtained the blessing. So let us never give up, but, in our thoughts knit the beginning, progress and end together, and then we shall see ourselves in heaven out of the reach of all enemies.
127.                      Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness.
128.                      I had rather stand against the cannons of the wicked than against the prayers of the righteous.
129.                      Israel prevailed with God in wrestling with Him, and therefore it is that he prevails with men also. If so be that we will wrestle with God for a blessing, and prevail with Him, then we need not to fear but we shall wrestle the enemies out of it also.
130.                      Furnish thyself with arguments from the promises to enforce thy pravers, and make them prevalent with God. The promises are the ground of faith, and faith, when strengthened, will make thee fervent, and such fervency ever speeds and returns with victory out of the field of prayer.... The mightier any is in the Word, the more mighty he will be in prayer.
131.                      Prayer is not intended to change God's purpose, nor is it to move Him to form fresh purposes.  God has decreed that certain events shall come to pass through the means He has appointed for their accomplishment.
132.                      Prayer is the way and means God has appointed for the communication of the blessings of His goodness to His people.
133.                      The prevailing idea seems to be, that I come to God and ask Him for something that I want, and that I expect Him to give me that which I have asked.  But this is a most dishonouring and degrading conception.  The popular belief reduces God to a servant, our servant: doing our bidding, performing our pleasure, granting our desires.  No, prayer is a coming to God, telling Him my need, committing my way unto the Lord, and leaving Him to deal with it as seemeth Him best.
134.                      Real prayer is communion with God, so that there will be common thoughts between His mind and ours.  What is needed is for Him to fill our hearts with His thoughts, and then His desires will become our desires flowing back to Him.
135.                      Prayer is not so much an act as it is an attitude—an attitude of dependency, dependency upon God.
136.                      I have benefited by my praying for others; for by making an errand to God for them, I have gotten something for myself.
137.                      And as men's diversions increase from the world, so do their entanglements from Satan. When they have more to do in the world than they can well manage, they shall have more to do from Satan than they can well withstand.
138.                      Afflictions, like bills and pikes, make a terrible show when they cannot reach us; but the temptations of prosperity, like unseen bullets, wound and kill us before they are discerned.
139.                      Whatsoever we have over-loved, idolized, and leaned upon, God has from time to time broken it, and made us to see the vanity of it; so that we find the readiest course to be rid our comforts is to set our hearts inordinately or immoderately upon them.
140.                      Riches are long in getting with much pains, hard in keeping with much care, quick in losing with more sorrow.
141.                      Sin is a plague, yea, the greatest and most infectious plague in the world; and yet, ah! how few are there that tremble at it, that keep at a distance from it!
142.                      "The peace of God is not the absence of fear. It, in fact, is His presence."
143.                      “God hides some ideal in every human soul. At some time in our life we feel a trembling, fearful longing to do some good thing. Life finds its noblest spring of excellence in this hidden impulse to do our best.”
144.                      I imagine our first glimpse of Heaven will cause us to gasp in amazement and delight. That first gasp will likely be followed by many more as we continually encounter new sights in that endlessly wonderful place.
145.                      In Heaven, to look into God's eyes will be to see what we've always longed to see: the person who made us for His own good pleasure. Seeing God will be like seeing everything else for the first time.
148.                      A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.
149.                      When the power of love will overcome the love of power, the world will know peace…Jimi Hendrix.
150.                      Love is like a flower, you’ve got to let it grow…John Lenon.
151.                      Love is a souvenir, once given, never forgotten, never let it disappear…John Lennon.
152.                      I have decided to stick with love, hate is too great a burden to bear…Martin Luther King.
153.                      Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy to a friend…Martin Luthr King.
154.                      It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters…Mother Theressa.
155.                      "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."
156.                      "Some people are born into wonderful families. Others have to find or create them. Being a member of a family is a priceless membership that we pay nothing for but love."
157.                      "These were people so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes.   There were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship. 
158.                      God will not be behind-hand in love to us: for our drop, we shall receive an ocean.
159.                      God would not rub so hard if it were not to fetch out the dirt that is ingrained in our natures. God loves purity so well He had rather see a hole than a spot in His child's garments.
160.                      Life is like a story told to a fool in a hurry; he will never understand it till he had a first-hand experience.
161.                      Even if you sacrifice your head like John the Baptist, they will still ask your headless body, “what have you done for me?”.
162.                      Anger is one letter away from danger; anytime you are angry watch it so as not to endanger your life.
163.                      What you got by faith you preserve by faithfulness.
164.                      He who blames others has a long journey, he who blames himself is halfway there. He who blames no one has arrived.
165.                      A man that cannot be led by God cannot lead you anywhere.
166.                        Your rewards in heaven is determined by the kind of problems you are willing to solve for others.
167.                      What you make happen for others, God will make happen for you.
168.                      An uncommon seed always create an uncommon harvest.
169.                      Three ways to fail in life (i) Complain about everything, (ii) Blame others for your problem and (iii) never be greatful.
170.                      When you lead, you forfeit the right to make excuses.
171.                      People who judge you by your past don’t belong to your present.
172.                      Do not save what is left after spending but spend what is left after saving.
173.                      Honesty is a very expensive gift, do not expect it from cheap people.
174.                      Empty pockets teach you a million things in life while a full pocket spoils you in a million ways.
175.                      Our eyes are in the front because it is more important to look ahead than to look back.
176.                      The different between school and life. In school, you are taught a lesson and then given a test. In  life, you are give a test that teaches you a lesson.
177.                      If you don’t build your dream, someone will hire you to help them build theirs.
178.                      The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.
179.                      If people are laughing at you because you are different, you should be laughing at them because they are all the same.
180.                      Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it. Right is right even if no one is doing it.
181.                      Speak in such a way that others love to listen to you. Listen in such a way that others love to speak to you.
182.                      You cannot go beyond what you know.
183.                      Sins are like credit card, enjoy now, pay later.
184.                      Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.
185.                      Get close to God first before getting close to anyone else. God without a man is still God but man without God is nothing.
186.                      Life is like a camera. Focus on what’s important. Capture the good times. Develop from the negatives. And if things don’t work out, just take another shot.
187.                      When people say they can’t see anything good in you. Hug them and say, “life is difficult for the blind”.
188.                      An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backwards. When life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that it’s going to launch you into something great.. So focus and keep aiming.
189.                      Ships don’t sink because of the water around them. Ships sink because of the water that gets in them. Don’t let what’s happening around you get inside you and weigh you down.
190.                      When you run alone, it is called RACE. And when God runs with you, it’s called GRACE.






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