Home > Author > James MacDonald
61 " Sin does not remain a contented servant; it seeks to seize and master its participants. "
― James MacDonald , Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling: Changing Lives with God's Changeless Truth
62 " Most of what is wrong in horizontal church flows from attempts to get green apples interested in Jesus. Green apples are very articulate about that they do and don't want in church. They don't want to hear about money, because that is one of their idols; they don't want to be told about sin, because that assaults pride; no interest in pressure to decide for Jesus, because that threatens their autonomy. Sadly when church becomes what green apples must have or they won't come. It ceases to be what it must be for God to attend. Church needs to be offensive to green apples or it can be helpful to those who are ripe. "
― James MacDonald , Vertical Church: What Every Heart Longs For. What Every Church Can Be.
63 " Suffering always reveal idols of the heart. "
64 " Satan's kryptonite is separation through slander. He slanders God to us and us to God. "
65 " Praying is what confirms our true belief that we cannot succeed without God, and its absence confirms the exact opposite. "
66 " We must rip the foundations out from under all the bastions of human reasoning that say, "I don't need God!" We must demolish every non-God story of life. We must pulverize every God-is-not-good life narrative. "
― James MacDonald
67 " If you don’t tell your kids/grandkids what God has done for you, don’t expect their hearts to be captured by your God! Worst "
68 " God forgive the church of Jesus Christ for trading its birthright access to the transcendent for the pot of stew that is horizontal helpfulness. How shortsighted and human centered. The outcome of this disaster is that we have created a Creator in our own image who weeps, cares, and longs to help, but in the end we doubt He can because we have made Him so much like ourselves. In making God our buddy, we find Him nice for cuddling but not much help when the hurricane comes. "
69 " The reason God responds to persistence is because prayer is changing the one who prays. As we pray, God is making us spiritually fit to receive what He is already willing to do. Prayer changes us into the people who can participate in the greater work of God without being spoiled by it through pride or becoming discouraged by the increased weight of greater fruitfulness. "
70 " Men don’t open up because they are prideful and self-protective. The lonely, isolated man is that way because he won’t make himself known to others. Disclosure of self is the currency of intimacy. It’s what our wives want and what true friendship demands. You don’t have to spill your guts to everybody or anybody, but God will get you to the place where you know you need to do it with somebody. The temptation to keep it all inside is the downside of being wired as a protector. He loves us too much to leave us alone. You will never fulfill your potential as a man of God going it alone. "
― James MacDonald , Act Like Men: 40 Days to Biblical Manhood
71 " Mark 3:25: “And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. "
72 " When the people of God are not told the works of God, they lose the wonder of God, and everyone does that which is right in his or her own eyes. "
73 " Prayer is the easiest thing to assume in church and the hardest thing to maintain. Prayer is the first thing our flesh stops when times get easy, and true prayer is the last thing we resort to when times get tough. "
74 " Complaining is an attitude choice that if left unchecked will wither my capacity to experience joy and genuine thankfulness. "
― James MacDonald , Lord, Change My Attitude
75 " Holy Spirit of God, thank You for filling my life with You. You are in control of all that I am—my thoughts, my actions, my words, and my feelings. Thank You, Spirit of God. I am now living under the downpour of Your power and strength and blessing, and I thank You for the riches of Your mercy. In the precious name of Jesus. Amen. "
― James MacDonald , Downpour: He Will Come To You Like The Rain
76 " God’s love is not a pampering love. God’s love is a perfecting love. God does not get up every day trying to figure how He can plant a bigger smile on your face. God is in the process of growing us and changing us. His love is a transforming love. "
― James MacDonald , Gripped by the Greatness of God
77 " when we want decisions more than we want disciples, we get tares instead of true converts and Ichabod, departed glory for the church. "
78 " How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they” (verses 11–12). That’s when Moses pleaded with God not to wipe them out even for His own reputation. And God relented. "
79 " Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude.… I believe the single most important decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my attitude choice. It’s more important than my past. It’s more important than my education or my bankroll or my success or my failures. My attitude choice is more important than my fame or my pain or what others think or say about me or my position or my circumstances. Attitudes keep me going or cripple my progress. Attitude alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitude is right, there is no barrier too high nor valley too deep nor dream too extreme nor challenge too great for me.2 "
80 " Don’t get a bad attitude like they did back in the wilderness, or you’re going to be joining them. "