One Day.

I have been thinking a lot about Heaven lately. The more I study it, the more I realize that I really have no idea what it's like. I haven't studied much eschatology, but I love Revelation because, even though he is inspired by the Holy Spirit, John cannot fully describe what God's presence is like...and it is hard to imagine! No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him!
(Also, what does the Holy Spirit do in Heaven?)

Anyway, today Revelation 1:12-18 totally gripped me.

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

 Does this description of Jesus not make you tremble? He is fierce!

Check out what God is like according to Revelation 4:2-11:

At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!” 

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”

We will be worshiping the eternal, Almighty God forever. So let us start now!

A close friend of mine, an atheist who had evangelised and been on more mission trips than I have before becoming such, displayed some very insightful thoughts about Heaven on a Facebook spiel:

"You see, the way I've always heard it is that heaven is a place of eternal worship of God. If that were the case, then, that place would only be enjoyable for those faithful who had already dedicated themselves to such activity. Such a place would be torturous to someone who had spent their lives differently- being forced to praise a God that they never knew...Also, what if the importance of 'salvation' during the natural life was to be mentally prepared to enjoy this sort of endless worship?" 

Even an atheist realizes the foolishness of those who want to go to Heaven but don't give a flip about worshiping God now. Would you still want to go to Heaven if God was not there? Why would you want to worship forever if you don't want to worship now?
Just some sobering thoughts. :)

Thoughts on Sanctification.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.
Philippians 1:6
And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you [(salvation)] will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Before we continue about sanctification, let me clarify the difference between the three "ifications" that are used to refer to the past, present, and future tenses of salvation: (as rhymed by Shai Linne in the song Atonement Q&A):
Justification: God declares us righteous
Sanctification:We’re being made into His likeness
Glorification:What happens at the finish when God conforms believers perfectly to Christ’s image
If you are a believer, justification already happened because of what Jesus did at the cross (Ephesians 2:8), sanctification is happening (Philippians 2:12), and glorification will one day happen (Romans 13:11).

Anyways, the past few weeks have been very difficult for me because in this time God has been powerfully convicting me and breaking me. I realize that I have become, as I said earlier, arrogant about my sanctification. Some of you may know that over the past year God has been refining my desires and consequently I have set some rules for myself regarding entertainment that I have taken pride in as being "radical" and "extreme." Yet though I have been abstaining from almost everything, I haven't necessarily been replacing that time or money spent with things of the LORD either. Hope Marie Chambers is living proof of Calvin's "our hearts are idol factories" statement. Even in 7th grade when I quit Neopets because it was wasting my time, it wasn't long before I jumped right onto another virtual pets site and became equally addicted!

Ephesians 5:15-21
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the LORD is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the LORD with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our LORD Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reference for Christ.

Verse 18 is the one that really got me. "Do not get drunk with wine", okay, I got that! Go me, yay Hope! But "be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another with psalms, etc."? I don't do that. So why am I bragging? I avoid bad things but don't pursue good things, if that makes sense. Ephesians 4:28-32 is even more convicting (which I didn't think would be possible!):
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labour, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Friends, I'm a hypocrite. I don't know what it's like to have bruises on my knees from praying for hours every day. I think horrible thoughts about a lot of you---most of you---and I gossip boatloads. I disobey my parents so often. I waste so so so much time. I haven't even read the whole Bible. Despite my words about wanting to be forgotten, I still want to be popular; making a name for myself is still priority. My heart is nasty, and I don't know why I've been trying to conceal it for you and for God...Jimmy Needham said it wonderfully in his song Rend:
(this is from the perspective of God)
I don't need I grand display; show Me that your heart has changed; I don't need a show, only just to know your own heart breaks.
Psalm 51:16
For You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

I can show God all the stuff that I gave up and say "This is for You, LORD; look at me, I'm awesome!" But first of all, even my best works are like menstrual rags (Isaiah 64:6, eww) and still tainted with sin. (Even further, if I'm not covered in Jesus' blood I have no business fellowshipping with God in the first place. Though that's not what I'm talking about here, some of you do still believe that works---such as baptism---will get you into Heaven, and you're extremely wrong.) Second of all, as I said previously, my sanctification isn't up to me; it's all God and I only know as much about Him as He allows me to. Third, I haven't even been doing a good job using the amount of free will that I have for His glory.

God wants us to come before Him like a child; Brennan Manning pointed out to me today in The Ragamuffin Gospel that in Luke 18, it's no coincidence that the author juxtaposes the "let the children come to Me" passage right before the part where the rich ruler asks Jesus what he must DO to inherit eternal life. This dramatically contrasts the difference between needy children self-sustaining fools.

I'm not sure where my thought train is going here but this is what I'm trying to convey to you, dear friends (and I'm tired; forgive me if I accidentally said something heretical):
1) Lying to God and putting on a front for Him doesn't work and He hates it so don't even try.
2) Boast in God alone! Arrogance is a bad idea always, even if you don't brag about yourself to other people and you're just prideful in your heart. You're nothing; the LORD is everything.
3) Don't just say "I'm a sinner, I'm weak" and leave it at that! All the time Jesus would heal people and then be like "Go, and sin no more!" Repentance is key. But we will fail, so Grace is sweet.

My Photography

I really enjoy photography and photo editing. God is creative, so I do think it's possible to worship through creative pursuits as well.

Jesus is not cool…and neither is following Him.

Jesus is not cool…and neither is following Him.

(read this in an Irish accent or listen to this quote here: http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=2903 )
“And there's no room for [Jesus] in the inn.
He got a bit older, there was no room in His family, His family turned on Him.
He went to the temple, no room in the temple, the temple turned on Him.
And when He died there was no room to bury Him, He died outside of the city.
Well why in God's Name do you expect to be accepted everywhere?
How is it that the world couldn't get on with the holiest Man that ever lived and can get on with you and me?
Are we compromised? Are we compromised?
Have we no spiritual stature?
Have we no righteousness that reflects on their corruption?”
-Leonard Ravenhill

I am a female. Females seek attention. God wired us that way, but our sinful nature has transformed a beautiful need for Him into a desperate quest for popularity. Pursuing popularity (or doing whatever it takes to get people to like me) poses a problem, a contradiction to the lifestyle of the Jesus to whom I surrendered.

I’ve spent nearly my entire high school career trying to get people to like me. I’d laugh at the nasty jokes. I’d talk junk about the friends and teachers to whose faces I’d talk sweetly. But where in the Bible does it say this kind of compromise is okay? Jesus has promised that the world will hate me because it hated Him. Only one of His disciples died a natural death, friends, and even then John the Beloved was exiled and endured much suffering.

Read Matthew 10:16-39. Seriously, right now get your Bible out or go on Biblegateway.com and read it. Soak in each word. The context is Jesus was sending out His disciples to share the gospel with the Jews (though later they would also share with the Gentiles.)

This passage was at first scary, but once I thought about it more it became empowering. If we are living in obedience to God and sharing the offensive Gospel, we are guaranteed difficulties. We are not promised health and safety, but we can delight in knowing that nothing escapes our sovereign LORD’s sight. If it’s His will for a sparrow to die, the sparrow will die. If it’s His will for us to complete our stay on this world, then we will complete our stay here. If we are obedient to Him we don’t have to worry about a thing because we know that nothing bad will happen apart from His will. That’s more comforting than anything.

We as humans are so…humanistic. Everything we do revolves around us, even evangelism. We rely on ourselves so much, wanting to be “culturally relevant” so we can relate to everyone. We never take a stand on anything so we don’t “encroach on anyone’s beliefs” or “step on anyone’s toes.” This way of thinking/preaching is so flawed. Have you read Paul’s letters? 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 says that he didn’t come with superiority of speech or wisdom, but he was determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, so when he was preaching he was relying not on persuasive words but on the power of God. If what he was saying penetrated the hearts of the Corinthians, that meant that they were putting in their faith in Jesus Christ rather than in the communicative ability of the messenger. Paul didn’t learn funny jokes or hip slang; he learned Jesus. This leaves no room for justifying your approval of sin so you can “relate” with the lost. It’s not your job to speak to their hearts; it’s your job to plant and water but God gives growth. (1 Corinthians 3:5-9)

Today I read 1 Corinthians 4:11-13. Check this out.
“To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labour, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless. When persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.”

Scum of the world, eh? To the unbeliever this does not seem appetizing. (So thank God for intervening and giving the unbeliever understanding!) But though we as Christians will be oppressed and afflicted, the rewards are so much greater, not only in this kingdom but in the Kingdom to come! We have inherited salvation through the suffering of Jesus Christ. We can fellowship with a holy God. He gives us a peace that passes all understanding. How beautiful is the tortured life of the believer!

Philippians 4:11-13 is one of my favourite passages, but verse 13 is constantly taken out of context and deemed as a “life verse” for athletes. “…for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me.” Paul was content with his condition because he had Christ. He knew that Christ likewise suffered much, so by also suffering for His Name’s sake Paul was able to share in His sufferings. That’s an exciting thing to have in common with Jesus.

How did Jesus survive the forty days of fasting? When the devil tempted him, He said “Man does not live on bread alone.” Jesus’ source of strength was the LORD. May we rely on Him to sustain us as well! We need not comfort or wealth or popularity. We need Christ.

Though in high school I do not have to face prison or beheading, but I do have to face people who will make fun of me or get annoyed with me for being passionate about Jesus (and I go to a Christian school, so I'm sure the rest of you have it way worse.) But it's not my job to stir up revival or get a million saved; it's my job to be obedient to Him (no matter the cost!) and let Him do as He pleases. And if I see fruit for my labour, yay. But if I don't see how He used me until I'm with Him, that's okay too. But He is so worth any kind of suffering.

You only have one life, friends. Will you pursue coolness or will you pursue Christ?

The Glory of God (part 2: God's Pursuit of His Own Glory)

In my last note (The Glory of God Through Believers), I hopefully established that God's greatest passion is His glory: the acknowledgement of His splendour and majesty. Our every deed and thought and motive should be geared towards this purpose because God's every deed and thought and motive is bent upon His renown as well. God pursues His glory in an infinite amount of ways, but for this Note I hope to shed some light on what that looks like.

God will tear down idols.

An idol is anything we put before Him, and nearly anything can be turned into one; a great theologian once said "The human heart is a factory of idols…Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.” But God will not take this. And let me tell you, friends, one of the most wonderfully dangerous things that you can pray for yourself or others is that God will tear down whatever is keeping you from Him.

Isaiah 42:8
I am the LORD; that is My Name; My glory I give to no other, nor My praise to carved idols.

In the first few chapters of Isaiah, the prophet speaks of Judah's wickedness and rebellion, and how God isn't impressed with their numerous sacrifices or offerings because their hearts are all wrong. Then in chapter 3 Isaiah says that God will take away their esteemed leaders and their treasured supplies and their fine goods. When God takes things away (today it might be money, a sweet car, an intense relationship, etc.), He does this for at least two reasons:
1) His throne is not to be shared with idols (what fools we are to treasure the created more than the Creator!)
2) He loves us too much to withhold from us the greatest pleasure of Himself!

C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, said this:
God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."

Yes! God's passion for His glory benefits us as a byproduct! If God's first priority was to benefit us in everything He did, He would be putting something of infinitely less worth over Himself, and that is idolatry and FAILURE. So if something sad or even devastating happens in your life, don't immediately blame satan (we tend to overestimate the Enemy's power) but, rather, seek God!

Never say something like "A good God won't let your mom die" or "The LORD is in control, and you won't lose your house"; it is because God is good and in control that such things might happen. Besides, if you hold onto this false hope of "a good blessed life" it'll make God look like a liar when the cancer returns or your financial plight worsens. I'm not saying that we shouldn't pray for God to fix our problems or heal the sick, but I do hope that we all get our thoughts of Him out of a humanistic box and acknowledge that His sovereignty is always best.

One day I was really upset because I felt like God would never provide this one thing I was waiting desperately for, and I was just sitting in my room bawling and really upset about it, drowning in self-pity. Then one of my dear friends texted me and reminded that this life isn't all about me; it's about God. Even if the thing I wanted was a good thing, if I think God's plan is bent around providing me what I want when I want it, that's as foolish as thinking that the sun revolves around the earth instead of the other way around.

By now I've probably given you the impression that God is horrible and unloving and doesn't care about His people. By no means! It would be unloving of Him to put anything before Himself. If He provided us with things to find pleasure in other than Himself, I wouldn't consider those "Blessings" at all because anything found on this earth is just a cheap substitute for the presence of the Holy One! May we find all that we need in Him! Ephesians 1 says that God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing...that's more than enough!

Thoughts on Grace/Judging Others/There's A Good Chance You're Not Really Saved

One thing that is on my mind a lot is how judgmental we are of people who commit the “big sins” like drugs, homosexuality, alcoholism, and premarital sex. I’m pretty sure that Jesus didn’t rank sins like we “Christians” do, and though some vices bring forth more harmful consequences than lying or gossip, they are all equally worthy of the full wrath of God. The wages---or reward/punishment---of sin is death! (Romans 6:23.) That’s some serious bidness, and regardless of what you do, you cannot help yourself out of this mess. If you are not in Christ, you are just as chained to sin and spiritually dead as Marilyn Manson or Hitler. So don’t brag that you have never done the “big ones”; every sin is a “big one” to a holy God, and before you are covered in Christ’s righteousness you are extremely evil and wicked and disgusting (read Romans 3!) So if you are His now, remember how far He has brought you, and never consider yourself better than anyone else…because you’re not.

Romans 8:5 says “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” Homosexuality, drugs, profanity…Christians constantly make a big deal and “take a stand” against these topics, and it has given us the reputation of being anti-gay, legalistic, hypocritical haters of Obama. This reputation in no way glorifies God. Sinners are going to sin; it’s their nature, what do you expect? We don’t need to protest allowing gay marriages or gossip about girls who sleep around. Jesus did not do this. The people that He harshly rebuked were, on the contrary, the religious people that were harshly rebuking the “morally repugnant!” Jesus realized that sinners sin! Criticizing lost people for their morals does no good at all; if they are not spurred by the Holy Spirit, they are not going to truly change.

If anything, we as Christians should love homosexuals and drug addicts, and show them that we are equally needy of mercy, no better than them, and that Jesus satisfies! If we’re going to rebuke people, let’s rebuke the Church! In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is telling Christians to not even associate with people who call themselves “a brother” but is guilty of sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, drunkenness, or swindling.) He says, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Purge the evil person from among you.’”

We must remember our own neediness! Regardless of social status or income or race or gender or physical appearance or spiritual background, we all must be covered in Jesus’ blood or we are absolutely worthless. Donald Trump is in need of Jesus exactly as much as a homeless guy is. Ellen Degeneres is in need of Jesus just as much as Billy Graham is. You are in need of Jesus just as much as I am. The only difference is some of us have received grace, and some of us have not. But you must remember that just because you have received grace does not mean that you did the right thing or made the right choice; “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7.) This leaves no room for bragging about anything other than the LORD! That is freeing! God does not owe us mercy, Jesus does not have to save us, the Holy Spirit does not have to take over; but it is by His grace we are saved!

One thing I must note, however, is that just because sinners sin does not mean that we should support what they do. Murderers should go to jail, alcoholics should go to rehab, and abstinence programs should be established. I don’t think we need to make war against homosexual marriages (nor should we support them.) However, I am all for making a stand against abortion and for life, because that really is a matter of life or death.

Now that I have hopefully established that we should quit being so insensitive to hurting people who find solace in vices that we consider despicable, I must rebuke you who claim to be His but are truly enemies. Read 1 John, seriously. Here are some chunks from that book that should convict all of us, but hopefully it will especially convict you fake Christians that are bringing destruction to the Church and, ultimately, to yourselves.

This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever says “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in Him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.

We have the victory because of Christ! If He has freed you, you are no longer a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness. So claim this victory and walk in the light…yet don’t look down on the broken. Read Romans and 1 John and let’s talk about them. ☺

The Glory of God, Pt. 1 (The Glory of God As Seen Through Believers)

Part 1 (The Glory of God Through Believers)

I think I now sort of know why God made everything.

I certainly don’t comprehend His ways in their fullness (not even close!), but recently I think God has revealed to me His purpose, His will, and all that other stuff that we have questions about…They have sort of come together to make sense and it all boils down to one thing: His glory. This Note is how it applies to us as Christians.

Isaiah 43:5-7
Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, do not withhold; bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by My Name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made.

God gathered, is gathering, and will continue to gather a people for Himself from every corner of the earth for the primary purpose of His glory. We as His adopted children have been called to lead the world in the worship of the Almighty God…(that is why missions exists, by the way: because worship doesn’t.) God did not make us to climb the corporate ladder or to become famous or to live the American dream. He made us fro the same reason He made the trees, the sky, the birds, the flowers, the universe: for His glory.

So what is God’s glory? To be honest, I went for a very long time pretending to know what that word meant. I would talk about it often, listen to sermons about it, but I didn’t really comprehend what the Bible means when it talks about God’s glory. A close friend of mine found a great definition from the dictionary (haha):

The glory of God is His magnificence and splendour.

Okay, that’s good. So what does it mean to “glorify” God or to “give” Him glory? Surely we cannot make Him any more awesome than He is…He’s already infinitely awesome; addition and subtraction don’t work with infinity. So…(also from the dictionary)

Giving God glory is acknowledging the fact that He is magnificent and splendid.

1 Corinthians 10:31
So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

To be honest, every time someone talks about this verse they seem to give the impression that all it means is to point to the sky after a soccer victory or a good singing performance…that apparently is what it means to give glory to God. But the implications of “do[ing] all to the glory of God” are much deeper than that.

In chapel, I hear about sin a lot. A friend of mine sarcastically took “notes” one day that consisted of writing “don’t sin” about fifty times…Jesus is often never even mentioned. We hear how destructive sin is and that it’ll ruin your life (which is true) but we are never given a good motivation to not sin. This style of teaching might guilt us into about five seconds of “repentance”, but brings about no real change. But let me tell you right now why living for God is so much better than living for self: His worth.

In the 1700’s, there were two young men who found out about an atheist slave owner who was keeping about 3,000 slaves on an island and boasted that no preacher or clergyman would stay there. If a missionary was shipwrecked, they’d get him a separate house until he is able to leave but he would never talk to anyone about God…so all these slaves from Africa would be brought to this island in the West Indies and will have lived and died without ever hearing of Christ. The two young men, upon finding this out, sold themselves to the slave owner for as much as he would pay for any slave (and he wouldn’t even provide their transportation.) Remember that this wasn’t a three-month or fifteen-year mission trip. This was for life; it couldn’t be “undid.” As these men in their early twenties were on a ship leaving their home in Hamburg about to spend the rest of their lives in inescapable slavery for the sake of the Gospel, their friends and family gathered at the docks to see them off. They were weeping, wondering why these promising and capable young men were making such a “foolish” decision…then one of the young men cried out from the boat as it was leaving the dock, “May the Lamb who was slain receive the reward of His suffering!” Christ’s worth is so great that it motivated these two men to willingly become slaves to an otherwise unreachable people. This also should be our motivation for everything.

We must show the world that we acknowledge God’s majesty, and as a result He has taken the highest worth in our lives. So in everything we do, whether it’s by eating or drinking or anything, let us do it all to show His greatness, to show His glory…any other motivation is simply a waste.

So examine your life. Look at your pursuits and look at your words. Are you leading all to worship, are you acknowledging to the world the worth of Christ? Let me tell you, there is no way of living that is more satisfying, challenging, and exciting than a life that is wholly devoted to the God who is worthy.

“It’s not about what you’re going to get out God; it’s about what God is going to get out of you.” –Paris Reidhead

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” –John Piper, The Blazing Center

“Worthy are You, our LORD and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created.” –Revelation 4:11