This is why Jesus said after his resurrection, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’ (Matthew 28:18). Jesus is the permanent king of a new kingdom. We have been set free

Human beings are created to be spiritually connected so God’s life, love, power, and truth can flow through us. When a person surrenders their life through faith in Jesus Christ, the very first thing God does is to establish a new connection to that person’s spirit through the Holy Spirit. And this new connection generates all kinds of new possibilities.

And we do with earnestness recommend to all such parents as have experienced the gracious dealings of the Lord with their own souls, to take all proper opportunities of instilling into the minds of their children just sentiments respecting the vanity and emptiness of fading and transitory enjoyments

[They] can become at home within by locating in [their] own spirit the trysting place where [they] and God may meet.

Failure to structure my life and being on the reality of love leaves me less than what I want to be, less than what God desires me to be. My year listening to God’s Word and hearing of God’s love for humanity moves me to go beyond the words to a life committed to love, a way of being love to the world.

In the midst of unjust suffering, my heart broke open, and I was again reminded that the call upon God’s people, then as well as today, is to be like God who reaches out and touches those who suffer—to be a community who bears one another’s burdens, to be a community who walks with one another through difficult times, through suffering

It is too easy to draw lines that exclude and not realize the consequences for me and for others. At times, I only hear what I want to hear from God. And at times, I concentrate so hard on the minute details of the law, I ignore God’s purpose for community and God’s presence today to speak and to teach.

The lists of genealogy remind me how small my life is in the story of God’s people in this expanse of time. These lists remind me that I am among generations of people who sought and searched for an intimate relationship with their Creator. They remind me that the problems of my life are not new.

I am reminded again that my call as a follower of Christ is to be like Jesus, to be a Sermon on the Mount believer and practitioner.

Such limitations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, such restraints on the liberty of prophesying, seem to be very remote from the spirit, temper, and practice of the holy men recorded in the Old and New Testament

It is a source of wisdom and understanding, and has a power of total transformation. In a word, it saves, and Quakerism has always claimed that there can be no true Christianity without an experience of this power.

Overwhelmed at all the data to sort through, we settle for easy answers. It’s understandable. But if we want to live in God’s wisdom and become people energized by God’s call on our lives, we have to learn deep work.

We should act on the Light we are given, as Quakers say, but it’s important to remember that none of us can know God completely, as God is so much bigger than we are. We grow and are always growing in our ability to perceive God and to serve God.

But when God touches our hearts, it’s not just beauty that we experience. We also become sensitive to suffering and loss and injustice.

Whether it’s a weekend getaway or a long pilgrimage, stepping away from our usual places and faces has a way of opening us to new things.... Retreat is a critical practice for finding freedom from gridlock and gaining the imaginative insights needed to move forward.

Maybe it was faith, or maybe he was desperate for change. Whatever his feelings or motives, the man took the risk, said yes to the invitation, and his life was changed forever.

And truly, my Friends, this is the Testimony this People bears this day against the corrupt Ways and Practices of the World, both among Professors and Profane, telling of them plainly, That all Unrighteousness is Sin

The first Quakers often referred to God as a fountain of divine life and love, and they learned practices that allowed the transforming power of that fountain of Spirit to flow through them. Their common experience of being immersed in God’s presence, within themselves, created deep spiritual bonds that empowered them to support the leadings of the Spirit that rose among them.

Because God is bigger than our understanding and because the world in which we live just doesn’t make sense sometimes, God’s call on our lives can feel like a mystery.