Boa Kenneth Quotes

The heart cannot rejoice in that which the mind rejects

Instead, we must dare to believe that if everything else is taken away, our God is enough.

(Matthew 22:37, 39) My purpose is to love God completely, love self correctly, and love others compassionately.

Almost everyone wants to claim to be on Jesus’ side, but if we’re honest we have to wonder if we, too, might have called for His execution if He had lived in our generation. Jesus is the one person in history about whom almost everyone has a strong opinion. You owe it to yourself to find out who He really was.

As followers of Jesus, we must look beyond people, things, and circumstances to meet our needs. All of these are unstable and inadequate, and if we depend on them, we will fail.

But in the end, people’s opinions will be irrelevant; when we stand before God, only his opinion will matter.

I have more trouble with D. L. Moody than with any other man I’ve ever met. —D. L. MOODY

People think they want pleasure, recognition, popularity, status, and power, but the pursuit of these things leads to emptiness, delusion, and foolishness. God

The significance of prayer is not what we are asking but the Person we are addressing.

Open my eyes that I may see Wonderful things from Your law. (Psalm 119:15-18)

When we approach the spiritual journey with an open and teachable spirit, we will continue to gain fresh insights from the Word of God, the people we meet, and the books we digest.

In our culture, we increasingly tend to be human doings rather than human beings. The world tells us that what we achieve and accomplish determines who we are, but the Scriptures teach that who we are in Christ should be the basis for what we do.

For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries. —ROBERT JASTROW

Another key to staying in the process is learning to receive each day and whatever it brings as from the hand of God. Because God’s character is unchanging and good, whatever circumstances he allows in the life of his children are for their good, even though they may not seem so at the time. His will for us is “good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2), so the trials, disappointments, setbacks, tasks, and adversities we encounter are, from an eternal vantage point, the place of God’s kingdom and blessing. This perspective (Romans 8:28–39) can change the way we pray. Instead of asking the Lord to change our circumstances to suit us, we can ask him to use our circumstances to change us. Realizing that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18), we can experience “the fellowship of [Christ’s] sufferings” through “the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10).

In contrast to the world, God’s economy measures greatness not in terms of ability or accomplishments but in the vitality and integrity of a person’s walk with the Lord.

People without a relationship with their personal Creator are hungering for love, happiness, meaning, and fulfillment, but nothing that this planet offers can fully satisfy these longings.

As we grow in our understanding of God’s unconditional love and acceptance of us in Christ, we are increasingly liberated from using people to meet our needs.

The discipline of witness takes seriously the biblical mandate of bearing witness to Jesus by building nonmanipulative relationships with eternity in view.

It is easy and comforting to reduce God to a set of biblical propositions and theological inferences rather than a living person who cannot be boxed in, controlled, or manipulated by our agendas.

It is crucial for us to form the habit of holy leisure, of quiet places and times alone with the Lord, so that we will restore our passion and intimacy with Christ. In this way, service will flow out of our life with him, and our activities and abilities will be animated by dependence upon his indwelling power. Restoration and renewal are especially important after periods of intense activity. When we seek and treasure God’s intentions and calling, our personal knowledge of him (knowing) shapes our character (being) and conduct (doing). Although we are more inclined to follow Jesus into service than into solitude, the time we spend in “secluded places” with him (Mark 1:35; 6:31) will energize our service.

You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the ground. —PSALM 104:30 NASB

The biblical concept of God as the intelligent Creator and Designer of the world eventually helped to create an intellectual environment in which science could flourish.

If we are all created in God’s image and are all to exercise dominion, then any ruler or state’s authority is properly limited. Totalitarianism, the autocratic rule of despots, or any other form of government that makes the civil authorities unaccountable to the rest of the people is incompatible with the biblical view of human dignity.

While we come to faith in Christ as individuals, we do not grow in isolation but through the interdependence of the body of Christ. Our modern world view is highly individualistic, autonomous, and self-serving, but as we will see, the biblical world view is covenantal, interdependent, communal, relational, and self-transcending.

Your real, new self (which is Christ’s and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him.…Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it.…Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.

My dear, then I will serve.” “You must sit down,” says Love, “and taste my meat.” So I did sit and eat.

Sadly, when Christian institutions have become powerful, those in charge have often given in to the temptation to abuse that power. The history of such abuses is a sobering reminder that it is useless to put our faith in a religious institution (even a Christian one). Our faith should be in Christ alone.

The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the Lord tests the hearts. (Proverbs 17:3)

In most matters, most people speak and act as if reality matters. But not when it comes to God. Somehow, in matters of religion, spirituality, faith, or God, people have this idea that it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you’re sincere and don’t hurt people.

Jesus was criticized, rejected, slandered, misunderstood, plotted against, betrayed, denied, and abused by his family and friends, his disciples, the Jewish religious leaders, and the Romans. As his ministry progressed, our Lord faced increasing levels of hostility and opposition. In

Christian maturity does not spring out of isolation but is nourished through involvement.

The spiritual life was never meant to be lived alone but in a context of community with like-minded believers.

He who believes in the Son of God has everlasting life. (John 6:47)

*I have fulfillment for this day because Christ lives in me. (Philippians 1:20-21) *By faith, I will allow Christ to manifest His life through me. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

•I want to glorify the Father by bearing much fruit, and so prove to be Christ’s disciple. (John 15:8)

May I be more concerned about the things of God than the things of men. (Mark 8:33)

•”I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20) *I have forgiveness from the penalty of sin because Christ died for me. (Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:3) *I have freedom from the power of sin because I died with Christ. (Colossians 2:11; 1 Peter 2:24)

Much of the stress in our lives comes as a result of our insistence on maintaining the illusion of control. We so desperately want to be strong enough to handle the trials and tribulations of life that we literally drive ourselves into the ground rather than admit our desperate need. Often God allows us to reach the breaking point for our own good. Only in those moments of rare clarity that come from bottoming out will we allow ourselves to admit how little control we actually have. In those moments, the only thing we can do is throw ourselves headlong into the grace of God. In these moments, the pain and suffering actually drive us to him.

I have been chosen according to Your foreknowledge, Father, through sanctification of Your Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling of His blood; grace and peace are mine in abundance. (1 Peter 1:2)

If I am rich in this present world, I should not be arrogant or set my hope on the uncertainty of riches but on You, O God, for You richly provide me with everything for my enjoyment. I should do good, be rich in good works, and be generous and willing to share. In this way, I will lay up treasure for myself as a firm foundation for the future, so that I may lay hold of true life. (1 Timothy 6:17 – 19)

God always redeems what he allows, even our worst failures—perhaps especially our worst failures. It is through these failures that our pride and self-reliance lose their grip on our souls, and we are set free to run into the future God has for us. PRAYER

God of grace, I live in a dry and weary land. I have tasted how good you are, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more of you. I so desperately need what only you can provide, and yet I confess that I often search in other places. I do not desire you as much as I ought to, but I want to want you more. I wish to be filled with a holy longing. Show me a glimpse of your glory, and my thirst will be quickened again. You sent your Son to pour out his life for me.

If I speak in the languages of humans and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1 – 3)

A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in airing his own opinions. (Proverbs 18:2)

We who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those who are not strong, and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. (Romans 15:1-2)

Again, we’ve come upon the secret of Christians who seem so different. They are different because they’re drawing on the life of Jesus. They’re living every day in the presence of God. Not only are they in him, but he is in them, streaming his abundant life to and through them. If you’re a Christian, this is the life you’re meant to be living: constantly, consciously dependent on him, aware that your life is not your own. Jesus is living his life in you and through you, as you.

do not want to be conformed to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of my mind, that I may prove that the will of God is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

will trust in the Lord and do good; I will dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness. I will delight myself in the Lord, and He will give me the desires of my heart. I will commit my way to the Lord and trust in Him, and He will bring it to pass. I will rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; I will not fret because of him who prospers in his way, with the man who practices evil schemes. (Psalm

God, You comfort us in all our afflictions, so that we can comfort those in any affliction with the comfort we ourselves have received from You. (2 Corinthians 1:4)

I have come to define the biblical view of self-love in this way: loving ourselves correctly means seeing ourselves as God sees us.

Since I died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, may I not submit to its regulations as though I still belonged to it. (Colossians 2:20)

The more we are concerned with what God thinks of us, the less we will be worried about what others think of us. And when we are no longer enslaved to people’s opinions of us, we are free to love and serve them as Christ loves us—with no strings attached.

a wise person finds more joy in serving others than in pursuing possessions, power, performance, or prestige.

The more we are impressed by him, the less we will be impressed by people, power, and things.

Give me the grace to believe that you really do know what is best for me and that I do not. May I cling to Your character and rejoice in Your pursuit of me.

In one stunning act, Jesus demonstrated that, in the kingdom of God, service is not the path to greatness; service is greatness. PRAYER

Jesus had not come to condemn the immoral; he had come to rescue them. He had come to gather those who were far off and filthy and wash them clean, to show them mercy and present them to the Father, free from all accusation. PRAYER

Pain does not necessarily lead to growth in character. Improperly processed, pain can lead us to bitterness and destruction. But Jesus demonstrates that we can choose to use our pain to purchase empathy and compassion for others. How did Jesus deal with betrayal?

Lord my God, You are God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. You execute justice for the fatherless and the widow, and You love the alien, giving him food and clothing. (Deuteronomy 10:17 – 18)

Let me hear Your unfailing love in the morning, For I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should walk, For to You I lift up my soul. (Psalm 143:8)

I will lay up Your words in my heart and in my soul and teach them to my children, talking about them when I sit in my house and when I walk along the way and when I lie down and when I rise up. (Deuteronomy 11:18-19)