Andy's Inspiration Box

Romans 8:14-16 New Living Translation (NLT) 14  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children [ a ]   of God. 15  So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. [ b ]   Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” [ c ]   16  For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.

But even when I am afraid, I keep on trusting you.  -Psalm 56:3

Mark 6:45-52 Good News Translation (GNT) 45 At once Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to Bethsaida, on the other side of the lake, while he sent the crowd away. 46 After saying good-bye to the people, he went away to a hill to pray. 47 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, while Jesus was alone on land. 48 He saw that his disciples were straining at the oars, because they were rowing against the wind; so sometime between three and six o'clock in the morning, he came to them, walking on the water. He was going to pass them by,[a] 49 but they saw him walking on the water. “It's a ghost!” they thought, and screamed. 50 They were all terrified when they saw him. Jesus spoke to them at once, “Courage!” he said. “It is I. Don't be afraid!” 51 Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind died down. The disciples were completely amazed, 52 because they had not understood the real meaning of the feeding ...

"Submitting ourselves fully to God allows Him to come into our lives in ways that we could never fathom and in ways we could never arrange on our own. The disciples could never have imagined the astonishing journey they were about to take when they said, “YES” to Jesus." - Brigitte Straub

God wants our hearts in alignment with Him before our hands begin today’s assignment for Him. | @LysaTerKeurst

1 Kings 17:13-14 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV) 13  Elijah said to the woman, “Don’t worry. Go home and cook your food as you said. But first make a small piece of bread from the flour that you have and bring it to me. Then cook some for yourself and your son. 14  The   Lord , the God of Israel, says, ‘That jar of flour will never be empty and the jug will always have oil in it. This will continue until the day the   Lord   sends rain to the land.’”

"God’s purpose was and always has been to communicate His love and salvation to a lost and dying people. His purpose has not changed nor has His strategy. He is asking his children to do hard things, to make difficult choices, to sacrifice so that the world will know the love of the Father!" - Mike Woodward

Matthew 7:7-8 New International Version (NIV) “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

"Lord, I ask for nothing in return. Help me give to you out of joy, love, and thanksgiving. Amen." - Dr Guy Saffold

Jeremiah 1:17-19 New Living Translation (NLT) 17 “Get up and prepare for action.     Go out and tell them everything I tell you to say. Do not be afraid of them,     or I will make you look foolish in front of them. 18 For see, today I have made you strong     like a fortified city that cannot be captured,     like an iron pillar or a bronze wall. You will stand against the whole land—     the kings, officials, priests, and people of Judah. 19 They will fight you, but they will fail.     For I am with you, and I will take care of you.     I, the Lord, have spoken!” "In one sense, Jeremiah’s mission bore no fruit. It didn’t result in what God desired. But that didn’t mean it was a failure. His job was to preach the message not guarantee its acceptance. He carried out his mission successfully even though the message failed to be heeded. He was successful because he was faithful, not...

"Courage is not limited to the battlefield or the Indianapolis 500 or bravely catching a thief in your house. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are the inner tests, like remaining faithful when nobody's looking, like enduring pain when the room is empty, like standing alone when you're misunderstood." - Charles R Swindoll

"Hope is a function of struggle. If we want our children to develop high levels of hopefulness, we have to let them struggle." - Janel Breitenstein

"Every day, we come face to face with opportunities to take on things that lead us away from God. They may be obvious distractions or more subtle. Busyness often slips past us and makes us slaves to activities that drain us and rob us of an abundant life of close fellowship with God. The beauty of sacrifice is being able to say “No” to yet another thing, and surrender that time and energy to God. He has the power to multiply the fruit of our hands. None of our human efforts could ever compete with that." - Caroline Bellemare

" It is not your business to succeed, but to do right. When you have done so the rest lies with God.” - C.S. Lewis

Philippians 2:4 English Standard Version (ESV) 4  Let each of you   look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

"Discipleship may involve laying things down, but we gain something far more valuable through Christ - rest. Those who are prepared to take His yoke upon themselves and join themselves to Him may think they are burdening themselves with religious obligation, but in reality they discover that His yoke is no more a burden than wings are to a bird. When the soul commits itself God, it finds what it has always longed for - perfect peace and rest." - Selwyn Hughes

"Deep soul-plowing brings rich fruits of the Spirit. There are bitter mercies as well as sweet mercies; but they are all mercies , whether given in honey or given in wormwood." - T. L. Cuyler

“Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.” ― Helen Keller

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." | Psalm 51:10 (NIV)

"Just as an old rubbish tip can become in time green playing fields, so too can our fragmented and nearly forgotten past experiences be changed into something that enriches present and future." - David Reay

"We cannot smooth away the rough edges of the cross for the sake of getting easy converts. Nor can we attempt a road-widening scheme of the narrow road that leads to life in order to make the gospel more accessible to people of any generation. Discipleship is always on His terms, not ours." - Selwyn Hughes

Romans 8:28 New King James Version (NKJV) 28  And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to  His  purpose.

Deuteronomy 7:7-9 New Living Translation (NLT) 7  “The  Lord  did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations!   8  Rather, it was simply that the  Lord  loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the  Lord  rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.   9  Understand, therefore, that the  Lord  your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.

“If God is spending work upon a Christian, let him be still and know that it is God. And if he wants work, he will find it there–in the being still.” – Henry Drummond

The Greatest Commandment 28  One of the teachers of the law   came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29  “The most important one,”   answered Jesus,   “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. [ a ]   30  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ [ b ]   31  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [ c ] There is no commandment greater than these.”

"Don’t be afraid to persist in prayer.  Don’t confuse your bold petitions with nagging. You can’t wear out Jesus, so ask away.  Reach for Him  with relentless abandon. Despite the crowds pressing in on His way through Capernaum one day, He took the time to notice and free a woman who desperately reached out for a healing touch ( Mark 5:21-34 ). That same day, He answered a synagogue leader’s pleas when He raised his daughter from the dead ( Mark 5:35-43 ). You have things on your mind, too. Spend time sharing those with Jesus." - Kellie Van Gilder

2 Corinthians 4:7-12 New International Version (NIV) 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 The Message (MSG) The Rescue 3-5  All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.

Psalm 118:24 New International Version (NIV) 24  The   Lord   has done it this very day;      let us rejoice today and be glad. "Very few of us actually bound out of bed each morning shouting out this verse. In our sleep-saturated fog we are more inclined to wonder just what day it is before rejoicing in it. And yet, having this verse at hand on our bedside table might just change how we live that day. The psalmist is always a realist, never going in for some cheap bit of positive thinking. He is well aware of human trouble. But he is also well aware of God’s faithfulness. He isn’t suggesting that the day ahead will be a breeze, or that problems will miraculously melt away. He is rather saying that whatever the day holds (and we don’t know that in advance) it is a gift from God. It is God’s day. Not all that happens in that day will be good, but a good God is walking with us in that day. It is a day we have never had before and will never h...

Look through me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. See if there is any sinful way in me and lead me in the way that lasts forever. Psalm 139:23-24   NLV

Hebrews 12:1-3 New Life Version (NLV) Christ the Perfect One 12  All these many people who have had faith in God are around us like a cloud. Let us put every thing out of our lives that keeps us from doing what we should. Let us keep running in the race that God has planned for us.  2  Let us keep looking to Jesus. Our faith comes from Him and He is the One Who makes it perfect. He did not give up when He had to suffer shame and die on a cross. He knew of the joy that would be His later. Now He is sitting at the right side of God. 3  Sinful men spoke words of hate against Christ. He was willing to take such shame from sinners. Think of this so you will not get tired and give up.

Ephesians 6:19-20 New Life Version (NLV) 19  Pray for me also. Pray that I might open my mouth without fear. Pray that I will use the right words to preach that which is hard to understand in the Good News.  20  This is the reason I was sent out. But now I am in chains for preaching the Good News. I want to keep on speaking for Christ without fear the way I should.

"God in control does not mean all that happens is from him, and certainly doesn’t mean all that happens is good. It rather may mean that no matter what happens, God is working for good. It means he will have the final word." - David Reay

"Our dear Lord is always thinking in advance of our needs... He makes our cares, His cares; our sorrows, His sorrows; our shame, His shame." - Springs in the Valley, March 6. 

Philippians 4:6-7 New International Version (NIV) 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 16:26a New International Version (NIV) 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?

"God already knows what we need before we ask Him. Not what we think we need. He knows what we really need according to His perfect plans."  - Lysa TerKeurst

"The amazing adventure of discipleship begins when we look in faith to Jesus who, like the lamb in the Old Testament sacrificial system died as our substitute. And when we truly hear that call to follow Him there is an inner response from our hearts." - Selwyn Hughes

Psalm 139:23-24 New International Version (NIV) 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

John 17:17 New International Version (NIV) 17  Sanctify them by [ a ]   the truth; your word is truth.