Zac Poonen Quotes

Spirituality is not something that comes through one encounter with God. It is the result of choosing the way of self denial and doing God's will consistently day after day, week after week and year after year.

I have been born on this earth to deny my own will, and to do the will of my heavenly Father

God gave us material things to bless others. Earthly things have their maximum value only when they are used to bless and help others and not when they are used merely for ourselves and our families.

Spirituality is not something that comes through one encounter with God . It is the result of choosing the way of self-denial and doing God's will consistently day after day, week after week and year after year.

It is impossible to live the Christian life as we should, without being filled with the Holy Spirit . It is impossible to serve the Lord as we should, without being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 4:26 says "be angry but do not sin". How to know the difference ? We can know the difference from the life of Jesus.When they insulted Him, spoke evil of Him, beat Him, spatted on Him, crucified Him.. He was not angry. He was never angry when it concerned Himself . He was angry when God's house was being defiled ..when poor people were being exploited, when the Pharisees and the elders would not allow the man with a withered hand to be healed on the sabbath day.. So, in anything concerning ourselves we should never be angry but when it concern the purity of God's house and the way people exploits others then we need to be angry. There is an anger that is holy and there is an anger that is sinful.

God may allow us to use some of those things. But we cannot think of them as our own any more. Even if we are living in our own house, we must consider the house as God’s; and that He has allowed us to stay in it rent-free! This is true discipleship.

For a convert to become a disciple, he must first of all cut off any attachment to his relatives that hinders him from following the Lord (Luke 14:26). Secondly, he must be willing to deny himself and put his Self-life to death daily (Luke 14:27). Thirdly, he must give up his love for material possessions (Luke 14:33). These are the three minimum requirements for anyone wanting to be a disciple.

Jesus said “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). Those are strong words. What does it mean to ‘hate’? To hate is the same as to kill (1 John 3:15). What we are asked to put to death here is the natural affection that we have for our relatives.

To hate our own life is to give up seeking our own rights and privileges, to stop seeking our own reputation, to forsake our own ambitions and interests, and to stop seeking our own way etc. We can be disciples of Jesus, only if we are willing to go this way.