Equipped Church Blogs

  The Boy, The Giant, and The Ordinary Armor “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.”  Mark Twain “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”   Muhammad Ali “It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.”   J. R. R. Tolkien “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” Dale Carnegie “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” Maya Angelou “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” Eleanor Roosevelt      There he was, a ruddy young shepherd standing before King Saul, about to face his greatest challenge. As the Philistine giant Goliath mocked a...

  Catharsis: The Hidden Dangers of Venting “The man who is master of his passions is reason’s slave.”  attributed to Cyril Connolly “Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners: so that if we will plant nettles, or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs, or distract it with many, either to have it sterile with idleness, or manured with industry—why, the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills” William Shakespeare “If you wouldn’t write it and sign it, don’t say it.”  Earl Wilson “Be careful with your words. Once they are said, they can be only forgiven, not forgotten.”  Unknown “The tongue is the only tool that gets sharper with use.”  Washington Irving “Speech is silver, silence is golden.” Arabic Proverb “The greatest remedy for anger is delay.”  Seneca “We are masters of the unsaid words,...

  Trusting God vs. Making Risky Decisions “God is God. Because he is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.” Elisabeth Elliot “Presumption is expecting God to join our plans rather than seeking His plans.” Oswald Chambers “Faith is not jumping to conclusions; it is stepping out on the promises of God. Presumption is acting without the assurance of His leading” Warren Wiersbe “Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” Oswald Chambers “Presumption whispers false assurances where faith should seek God’s will.” Charles Stanley      Sometimes, in life, we find ourselves at a crossroads. On one side lies the path of trusting God completely. On the other, the temptation to take matters into our own hands. It is a choice echoing that fateful decision in Eden to either grasp for knowledge or trust G...