Quotes from Max Lucado

Throughout Scripture thorns symbolize, not sin, but the consequence of sin. Remember

Illustrate stubborn love. Incarnate fidelity.

He spent over three decades wading through the muck and mire of our sin yet still saw enough beauty in us to die for our mistakes.

Celebrate God's goodness. "Rejoice in the Lord always" (v. 4). Ask God for help. "Let your requests be made known to God" (v. 6). Leave your concerns with him. "With thanksgiving . . ." (v. 6). Meditate on good things. "Think about the things that are good and worthy of praise" (v. 8 NCV). Celebrate. Ask. Leave. Meditate.

Your Jericho is your fear. Your Jericho is your anger, bitterness, or prejudice. Your insecurity about the future. Your guilt about the past. Your negativity, anxiety, and proclivity to criticize, overanalyze, or compartmentalize. Your Jericho is any attitude or mind-set that keeps you from joy, peace, or rest.

God uses Satan's temptation to strengthen us. Times of testing are actually times of training, purification, and strength building. You can even "consider it pure joy . . . whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance" (James 1:2–3 NIV).

9In the same way I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born," says the LORD.

The path to the palace wasn't quick; it wasn't painless, but wouldn't you say that God took this mess and made it into something good? And wouldn't you think he can do the same with yours? Tally up the pain of your past. Betrayals plus anger plus tragedies. Poorly parented? Wrongly accused? Inappropriately touched? Oh, how onerous life can be.

To forgive is to move on, not to think about the offense anymore. You don't excuse him, endorse her, or embrace them. You just route thoughts about them through heaven.

Prayer is not a privilege for the pious, not the art of a chosen few. Prayer is simply a heartfelt conversation between God and his child. My friend, he wants to talk with you. Even now, as you read these words, he taps at the door. Open it. Welcome him in. Let the conversation begin.

Queremos seguridad, pero lo único seguro es la falta de ella.

You are in the Lord's service. "For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve" (Acts 27:23).

An unprayed-for problem is an embedded thorn. It festers and infects—first the finger, then the hand, then the entire arm. Best to go straight to the person who has the tweezers. Let Jesus take care of you. He knows about thorns.

Dios, que habita en su santo templo, es padre de los huérfanos y defensor de las viudas; Dios da a los solitarios un hogar donde vivir, libera a los prisioneros y les da prosperidad. SALMOS 68.5–6 (DHH)

How would you have responded if Jesus, knowing everything about you, knelt before you to wash your feet?

La manera más rápida de extinguir el fuego de la ira es con un balde de oración.

Remarkable. He forgave their sin before they even committed it. He offered mercy before they even sought it.

mente no puede estar llena de Dios y llena de temor al mismo tiempo.

So the angels went to the shepherds. Men who didn't have a reputation to protect or an ax to grind or a ladder to climb. Men who didn't know enough to tell God that angels don't sing to sheep and that messiahs aren't found sleeping in a feed trough.

If today starts to get hectic, take five minutes to be alone with God. If your work gets interrupted, ask God for patience to deal with the interruption and for endurance to finish the task.

him" (Deut. 11:2 TEV). Rather than ask God to change your circumstances, ask him to use your circumstances to change you. Life is a required course. Might as well do your best to pass it. God is at work in each of us whether

La oración. Cuando redoblamos nuestro compromiso de orar, Dios redobla su promesa de bendecir.

No life is too short or too long. You will live your prescribed number of days. You might change the quality of your days but not the quantity.

Anxiety and fear are cousins but not twins. Fear sees a threat. Anxiety imagines one. Fear screams, Get out! Anxiety ponders, What if?