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Approaching God: Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God QUOTES

Approaching God: Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God QUOTES

1 " If there is no laughter, Jesus has gone somewhere else. If there is no joy and freedom, it is not a church: it is simply a crowd of melancholy people basking in a religious neurosis. If there is no celebration, there is no real worship. "

― Steve Brown , Approaching God: Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God

2 " Not being changed by prayer is sort of life standing in the middle of a spring rain without getting wet. It's hard to stand in the center of God's acceptance and love without getting it all over you. "

― Steve Brown , Approaching God: Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God

3 " Our prayers must mean something to us if they are to mean anything to God. "

― Steve Brown , Approaching God: Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God

4 " The reason we feel guilty before the God of the universe is because we are guilty and because God is really God. So, if you feel guilty, you’ve made a very good start. At least you are beginning at the right place. Properly understood, that is the bridge you cross that will get you to God in prayer. But "

― Steve Brown , Approaching God: Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God

5 " You see, self-image that is built on a lie will one day destroy you. I’m important, valuable, and significant not because I am good but because I am loved—incredibly loved. The realization that I am unconditionally loved is the very thing that has led to psychological security. I have a very good self-image, thank you. There "

― Steve Brown , Approaching God: Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God

6 " It is tough to be forgiven because when one has been forgiven, it is hard to look down one’s arrogant nose at anybody else. I’m "

― Steve Brown , Approaching God: Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God

7 " In order to understand great grace, you have to understand your great need. In order to understand God’s lack of anger, you have to understand how much you deserve the anger of a holy God. In order to understand great mercy, you have to know that you need it. As "

― Steve Brown , Approaching God: Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God

8 " I’m not telling you that God is simply nice and safe and will pat you on the back and tell you how wonderful you are and how all you have done that is evil, hateful, and sinful doesn’t matter. It does matter. It mattered enough for God to give us his Son to die on a cross, bearing our penalty for the rebellion. He is still holy and righteous, and justice is always exacted. But in the case of those who go to him, justice and mercy have met on a hill in Palestine in the shape of a skull—Golgotha. That’s where God’s Son died, between two thieves, that we might go boldly to a God whose face is love. The "

― Steve Brown , Approaching God: Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God

9 " But there is another reason for the reality of sin and evil on this side of God’s love: it is only through sin that we see his grace and his love. "

― Steve Brown , Approaching God: Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God

10 " Our proper guilt is God’s methodology of bringing us to himself. Just as sickness sends us to a physician, guilt sends us to God—and keeps us there. In fact, it is both guilt and the feeling of guilt (and here I use the word guilt in its broadest possible understanding of “helplessness,” “discomfort,” “emptiness,” “disunity,” “fear,” “shame,” and “embarrassment”) that is the impetus for prayer. It is guilt that builds a fire of love in our hearts. It is guilt that makes us more like Christ. It is that guilt that becomes our greatest blessing. Something "

― Steve Brown , Approaching God: Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God