Andy's Inspiration Box

"Oh, weary troubled heart, if God has led you to the Island of Buried Hopes, it is that He may show you yet more wonderful things. He has not failed you, nor forgotten you, but has led you into the darkened room because, in His own time and way, He would reveal to you the unsuspected glory of His grace and power." - Springs in the Valley (April 30)

"When we don’t focus on what we can thank God for, we can’t focus on living for  God." - Ann Voskamp

"If your life is chaotic and your spirit is dry… if panic is becoming more often present in life than peace… check what you are neglecting. Make a beeline back to God’s Word and to fellowship with His people. Keep God’s Word at the very core of your life. As a Christian you simply cannot risk living otherwise." - Gail Rodgers

The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in GOD protects you from that. (Proverbs 29:25 MSG) 

"I am leading you along a way that is uniquely right for you. The closer to me you grow, the more fully you become your true self - the one I designed you to be." - Jesus Calling

In Matthew 4:19, Jesus said… “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.”  They didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed. (The Message).

Luke 11:1 New International Version (NIV) Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer 11  One day Jesus was praying   in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord,   teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

Hebrews 7:19 New Century Version (NCV) 19  The law of Moses could not make anything perfect. But now a better hope has been given to us, and with this hope we can come near to God.

Psalms 33:1-8 GNB All you that are righteous, shout for joy for what the Lord has done; praise him, all you that obey him. Give thanks to the Lord with harps, sing to him with stringed instruments. Sing a new song to him, play the harp with skill, and shout for joy! The words of the Lord are true and all his works are dependable. The Lord loves what is righteous and just; his constant love fills the earth. The Lord created the heavens by his command, the sun, moon, and stars by his spoken word. He gathered all the seas into one place; he shut up the ocean depths in storerooms. Worship the Lord , all the earth! Honour him, all peoples of the world!

"You ’ re more than your hands do. You ’ re more than your hands have. You ’ re more than how other hands measure you.  You are what is written on God ’ s Hands:  Safe. Held. His. Beloved."  - Ann Voskamp

"What are you really loving for? It's crucial to realise that you either glorify God, or you glorify something or someone else. You're always making something look big." - Ken Sande

Psalms 105:1 NLT Give thanks to the lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done.

Romans 14:17 New Century Version (NCV) 17  In the kingdom of God, eating and drinking are not important. The important things are living right with God, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 New Century Version (NCV) 16  Always be joyful.  17  Pray continually,  18  and give thanks whatever happens. That is what God wants for you in Christ Jesus.

"Faith rests on promise; to faith the promise is equivalent to fulfillment; and if only we have the one, we may dare to count on the other as already ours. It matters comparatively little that the thing promised is not given; it is sure and certain because God has pledged His word for it, and in anticipation we may enter on its enjoyment." - Springs in the Valley (April 22)

2  Be persistent in prayer, and keep alert as you pray, giving thanks to God.

"We must not be fainthearted because we are consciously poor instruments. The main question is the mastery of Him who uses the instruments. " - Springs in the Valley (April 21)

Acts 20:24 New International Version (NIV) 24  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me;   my only aim is to finish the race   and complete the task   the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

Psalm 62:5 Good News Translation (GNT)  I   depend on God alone;      I put my hope in him.

Psalms 50:14 NLT Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High.

Matthew 6:6 The Message (MSG) 6  “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.

Psalm 139:7 The Message (MSG) 7-12  Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?      to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there!      If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings      to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute—      you’re already there waiting! Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!      At night I’m immersed in the light!” It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;      night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.

"If you can't do great things, Mother Teresa used to say, do little things with great love. If you can't do them with great love, do them with a little love. If you can't do them with a little love, do them anyway. Love grows when people serve." - John Ortberg

"Give yourself and your worries to God, and begin enjoying the abundant life He has planned for you!" - Leona Clausing

"That’s the bottom line:  You love as well as you are willing to be inconvenienced.  How well we  inconvenience ourselves for each other is the real sinews of community, that binds friendships, that ties relationships — not how well we impress each other.  Inconvenience is the DNA of healthy love."  - Ann Voskamp

"Let us move on and step out boldly, though it be into the night where one can scarcely see the way. The path will open as we press on, like the trail through the forest, or the Alpine pass which discloses but a few rods of it's length. There are things that God gives us to do without any light or illumination at all except His own command, but those who know the way to God can find it in the dark. " - Alexander MacLaren

"Release your life and all your mistakes to God. Release your sin to Him. Answer the longing in your heart and know that you qualify to enter into a relationship with God… not because of you… but because of Him!" - Gail Rodgers

Isaiah 55:3 New Living Translation (NLT) 3  “Come to me with your ears wide open.      Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you.      I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.

Hebrews 12:15 New Living Translation (NLT) 15  Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.

...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Romans 3:23-24   NKJV

"Our faithlessness does nothing to diminish God's faithfullness" - Sheila Walsh

"When we are faithless He will be our shelter." - Shelia Walsh

Micah 6:8 The Message (MSG) 8  But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,      what  God  is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,      be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously—      take God seriously.

"What did Jesus mean when He said, 'My yoke is easy and my burden is light'? Well, the burden is light because He is there to carry it with us. The apostle Paul said in Colossians 1:29: 'To this end I labour, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me.' Paul could not tell where his energy ended and where Jesus' energy began. Jesus' resources were his reserve. They can be yours too." - Mick Brooks

Isaiah 55:10-11 New King James Version (NKJV) 10  “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, 11  So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper  in the thing  for which I sent it.

Hebrews 1:1-2 New International Version (NIV) God’s Final Word: His Son 1  In the past God spoke  to our ancestors through the prophets  at many times and in various ways,  2  but in these last days  he has spoken to us by his Son,  whom he appointed heir  of all things, and through whom  also he made the universe.

Philippians 1:6 The Message (MSG) A Love That Will Grow 6 There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.

Psalm 5:3 New International Version (NIV) 3  In the morning,   Lord , you hear my voice;      in the morning I lay my requests before you      and wait expectantly.

" Uncertainty as to our relationship with God is one of the most enfeebling and dispiriting of things. It makes a man heartless. It takes the pith out of him. He cannot fight; he cannot run. He is easily dismayed and gives way. He can do nothing for God. But when we know that we are of God, we are vigorous, brave, invincible. There is no more quickening truth than this of assurance." -    Horatius Bonar  

"Good Friday has passed, but stand once again beneath the cross of Jesus and confess two wonders: the wonder of your own sinfulness and the wonder of His glorious forgiveness. Thank God for Jesus' sacrifice once again." - Mick Brooks

"He is safe to trust: The most freeing place for a soul is in the abandonment to the will of God." - Ann Voskamp

"Easter guarantees that the kingdom will one day come in its entirety and then there will be no more decay or death. But before then we can trust in the crucified, risen Saviour for total salvation - spiritually , physically and emotionally." - Mick Brooks

Galatians 5:13-16 English Standard Version (ESV) 13  For you were called to freedom, brothers.  Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love  serve one another.   14  For  the whole law is fulfilled in one word:  “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 15  But if you  bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. Keep in Step with the Spirit 16  But I say,  walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify  the desires of the flesh.

Mark 10:9 NLT "Let no one split apart what God has joined together.”

"Be the change that you wish to see in the world." -  Mahatma Gandhi

"Nothing can outmanoeuvre the purposes of God. Nothing." - Mick Brooks

"All things come to him who knows how to trust and be silent." - Springs in the Valley (April 2)

Psalm 14:2 New International Version (NIV) 2  The  Lord  looks down from heaven      on all mankind to see if there are any who understand,      any who seek God.

Isaiah 49:4 Good News Translation (GNT) 4  I said, “I have worked, but how hopeless it is!      I have used up my strength, but have accomplished nothing.” Yet I can trust the   Lord   to defend my cause;      he will reward me for what I do.