My goal is GOD HIMSELF. Not joy, not peace, not even blessing but HIMSELF...my GOD.
Leonard RavenhillRead
The Church right now has more fashion than passion, is more pathetic than prophetic, is more superficial than supernatural.
Interpretation
The quote criticizes the church for prioritizing appearances over genuine spiritual fervor.
Leonard Ravenhill's quote reflects a critical perspective on the state of the church, suggesting that it has become more concerned with outward appearances and trends ('fashion') than with deep spiritual conviction and passion for its mission. He highlights a perceived decline from a profound, prophetic role to one that is seen as superficial and lacking true substance or divine influence. This statement raises poignant questions about authenticity and the core values of religious institutions.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the importance of genuine faith over appearance.
My goal is GOD HIMSELF. Not joy, not peace, not even blessing but HIMSELF...my GOD.
Prayer is not a preparation for the battle; it is the battle!
Everyone recognizes that Stephen was Spirit-filled when he was performing wonders. Yet, he was just as Spirit-filled when he was being stoned to death.
I find it most intriguing to contemplate the fact that while men are considering what place to give Jesus Christ in history, He has already decided what place to give them in eternity.
The tragedy in our colleges and seminaries right now is that we turn men out who know the word of God. That is never going to turn the world._x000D_ The question is not whether they know the Word of God...._x000D_ The question is......Do they know the God of the Word?
Some women will spend thirty minutes to an hour preparing for church externally (putting on special clothes and makeup, etc.). What would happen if we all spent the same amount of time preparing internally for church—with prayer and meditation?
People of this world are deluded. They're always longing for something - always, in a word, seeking.
A cleric who loses his faith abandons his calling; a philosopher who loses his redefines his subject.
You have a diasporic black world, and the only way to put it back together again is symbolic. It's like Humpty Dumpty. Whoever could edit the 'Encyclopedia Africana' would provide symbolic order to the fragments created over the past 500 years. That is a major contribution.
Translation rewrites a foreign text in terms that are intelligible and interesting to readers in the receiving culture. Doing so is akin to committing an act of ethnocentric violence by uprooting the text from the language and culture that gave it life. Translating into current, standard English at once conceals that violence and homogenizes foreign cultures.
When war becomes the most profitable course of action, we can certainly expect more of it.
Oh, without prayer what are the church's agencies, but the stretching out of a dead man's arm, or the lifting up of the lid of a blind man's eye? Only when the Holy Spirit comes is there any life and force and power.
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