Packer43

“…( God’s) goal was not simply to fit individuals for heaven but to create a people who by the power of the Spirit lived out the life of the future (the life of God Himself) in the present age… The Spirit as the experienced, empowering return of God’s own personal presence in and among us, Who enables us to live as a radically eschatological people in the present world while we await the consummation.” -Gordon Fee”
― Eric William Gilmour, Enjoying The Gospel

“Jesus teaches us through this that the Spirit of religion is devotion to God without a living perception of Him.”
― Eric William Gilmour, Enjoying The Gospel

“Every crisis raises relational issues: Will you try it and handle it yourself? Will you find a new partner? Or will you and Jesus tackle the crisis together? In tackling the stuff of life together, you’ll see that your relationship with God will deepen. In pondering Christ, you find that you are in fact living His life, and God is living yours. Christ in you and you in Christ. God doesn’t lead you through phases or steps.”
― Leonard Sweet, Jesus Manifesto

“The Kingdom is most powerful where we least expect to find it. God does not take away our problems and trials but rather joins us in them. Such is the profound meaning of the incarnation: God becoming a human being. The Kingdom will manifest itself, not because of our efforts to keep trying, even when all effort seems hopeless, but because God loves us so much that God won't be able to stand seeing us struggle and always failing. God will do the impossible. He will give us a new attitude toward suffering. Such is the heart of the Christian ascesis, or self-discipline, and the mystery of transformation. It is the meaning of the Gospel as Therese perceived it.”
― Thomas Keating, St. Therese of Lisieux: A Transformation in Christ