Austin Fleth > Recent Status Updates

You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents—burning, purification, and separation for only one purpose-the elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do.

“It is one thing to follow God's way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a “doormat" under other people's feet…. Some saints cannot do menial work while maintaining a saintly attitude, because they feel such service is beneath their dignity.”

"HERE, I HAVE SEEN THINGS RARE AND PROFITABLE,
THINGS PLEASANT, DREADFUL, THINGS TO MAKE ME STABLE
IN WHAT I HAVE BEGUN TO TAKE IN HAND:
THEN LET ME THINK ON THEM, AND UNDERSTAND
FOR WHAT REASON THEY'VE SHOWN THESE THINGS TO ME.
FOR GOOD INTERPRETER, THANKFUL WILL I BE FOR ALL THEY HAVE SHOWN ME, AND SO AM I THANKFUL, INTERPRETER, TO HAVE STOPPED BY."

“Stubbornness and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever we are obstinate and self-willed and set on our own ambitions, we are hurting Jesus. Every time we stand on our own rights and insist that this is what we intend to do, we are persecuting Him.”

“A warning which needs to be repeated is that
"the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches," and the lust for other things, will choke out the life of God in us…"

“Jesus Christ knows our circumstances better than we do, and He says we must not think about these things to the point where they become the primary concern of our life.”

This jawn makes me sad 😔

Many of us refuse to grow where God plants us. Therefore, we don't take root anywhere. Jesus said if we would obey the life of God within us, He would look after all other things….
How much time have we wasted asking God senseless questions while we should be absolutely free to concentrate on our service to Him?

“Being made happy by someone else's best work, and then letting it inspire you to rise to the occasion, is not competi-tion. It's collaboration…. And we are all the beneficiaries of this upward spiral toward magnificence.
No system exists that can rank which work is most reflective of the maker. Great art is an invitation, calling to creators everywhere to strive for still higher and deeper levels.”

"As the King has said, 'But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
Evangelist then applied these verses saying, "You are the man that is running into this
misery. You have begun to reject the counsel of the Most High and to draw back your foot from the way of peace, even almost to the point of risking your eternal condemnation."

Acts 26:16 is tremendously compelling: "to make you a minister and a witness…..
"There would be nothing there without a personal relationship. Paul was devoted to a Person, not to a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ's. He saw nothing else and he lived for nothing else. "For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2).

“To His own children God has much more to say, so much that it requires a lifetime of eager listening to hear it all; but His message to the world is simple and brief. It is the work of the church to keep on repeating it to each generation of men till it is either accepted or rejected by those who hear.” pg. 39

“Am I so in love with Him that I take no thought for where He might lead me? Or am I watching to see how much respect I get as I measure how much service I should give Him?” - January 21

Reading this book makes me miss the south and hungry for cookout 🤤 so many hush puppies mentioned

“Kya and Pa cast some more, their lines swishing over soft yellow pollen floating on the still water, and she thought that was the end of it, but he added, "Someday Ah'll take ya to Asheville, show ya the land that was our'n, shoulda been your'n."”
pg. 58

“His dad had told him many times that the definition of a real man is one who cries without shame, reads poetry with his heart, feels opera in his soul, and does what's necessary to defend a woman.” pg. 48

“We are all prone to practice a superficial Christianity in which we ski over the rich depths of God's Word rather than scuba dive into its depths. The practice of meditation shatters superficial faith and shallow think-ing. Jesus tells us to "consider," Paul tells us to "think," and Peter tells us to "prepare our minds for action." Remember, whatever shapes your mind shapes your life.” pg. 67

“In literary criticism the critic has no choice but to make over the victim of his attention into something the size and shape of himself.” pg. 76

“For this reason I cannot commend this account as an America that you will find. So much there is to see, but our morning eyes describe a different world than do our afternoon eyes, and surely our wearied evening eyes can report only a weary evening world.” pg. 77

“From them we take a belief that every American is a natural-born hunter. And every fall a great number of men set out to prove that without talent, training, knowledge, or practice they are dead shots with rifle or shotgun. The results are horrid.”

“I do wonder if the stab of memory doesn't strike him high in the stomach just below the ribs where it hurts. And in the humid ever-summer I dare his picturing mind not to go back to the shout of color, to the clean rasp of frosty air, to the smell of pine wood burning and the caressing warmth of kitchens. For how can one know color in perpetual green, and what good is warmth without cold to give it sweetness?”