Andy Ripley Quotes

REASONS THAT JESUS IS PRECIOUS He is our peace - Ephesians 2:14, Romans 5:1 He is our Joy – John 16:22, John 15:11, I Peter 1:8-9 He is our sanctification – II Corinthians 5:17, I Corinthians 6:11 He is our great Shepherd – Isaiah 40:11, I Peter 5:4, John 10:11 He is our great protection – II Timothy 4:18, Psalm 3:3, Hebrews 13:6 He is our rest – Matthew 11:28-30, Hebrews 4:9-10 He is our healer – Psalm 103:3, James 5:15, I Peter 2:24 He is our comfort – Matthew 5:4, John 16:22 He is our judge – Acts 10:42, II Corinthians 5:10, Acts 17:31 He is our food – John 6:35, I Corinthians 11:24 He is our wisdom – I Corinthians 1:30, Colossians 2:3 He is our very life – Romans 6:23, John 5:24 He is the truth – John 14:6, Psalm 25:5, John 1:14 He is our mediator – Hebrews 9:15, I Timothy 2:5 He is our High Priest – Hebrews 4:14, Hebrews 7:27, He is our Chief Cornerstone (the One we build our lives on) – Ephesians 2:19-22 He is approachable – Matthew 19:14, Hebrews 4:16, Matthew 11:28 He is compassionate – Matthew 15:32, Isaiah 42:3, Matthew 9:36 He is our light – John 8:12, John 12:46, I John 1:5-7 He is one of us – John 1:14, Philippians 2:7, Hebrews 4:15

PSALM 27:4    One thing have I desired from the Lord, that will I seek after; That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord.

Jesus said “abide in me.”  He did not say just visit me once in a while, but abide in me.  He did not say come and hang out with me occasionally, but abide in me, live in me.  Don’t just visit me on Sundays, but make my presence your daily, consistent habit.  Make my presence the clothes you wear as you “put on Christ.”  Make my presence your home (Jesus is saying), live like wherever you are, you are at home because you are with me!

My grace is enough for you, because My strength is made perfect in weakness.”  Meaning – “I will enable you to endure this thorn, because the thorn is truly helping you.  If I remove the thorn, pride will take you.  But don’t worry, I will help you to endure it.  My grace is enough.

PRUNING John 15:2     Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. The Lord has solution for us when our fruitfulness is too low.  When we are not quite producing the kind of fruit we ought to be producing, God has a remedy.  He calls His solution to this, “pruning.”  This is actually a great promise from the Lord.  If we are struggling with the amount of fruit we are producing, He promises to intervene in our lives through pruning in order to increase our fruitfulness. What is pruning?  It is cutting away unhealthy unproductive parts of a plant, so that the nutrients will be more focused on the productive parts. This might involve some discomfort which the Lord brings to us with the purpose of helping us to realize that whatever we are doing is not spiritually productive.  It could involve some painful moment which has the effect of turning you around or refocusing you. We may sometimes find ourselves asking “Why, Lord?  Why am I suffering like this?  What is going on here?”  Maybe He is pruning us in order to make us more fruitful, so that He can later reward us for our fruitfulness which He alone caused.  I would include in the concept of pruning in almost any discipline from the Lord to our lives. Hebrews 12:11     For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (5)