Ultimately, each church will be evaluated by only one thing - its disciples. Your church is only as good as her disciples. It does not matter how good your praise, preaching, programs or property are; if your disciples are passive, needy, consumerist, and not moving in the direction of radical obedience, your church is not good.

- Neil Cole

Willpower versus a second cookie is one thing.  But willpower versus triggered trauma?  Or willpower versus addiction?  Or willpower versus a father wound?  It doesn’t stand a chance.  As long as temptation is just interfacing with the prefrontal cortex, willpower is a great resource to draw on.  But the moment we’re dealing with the part of the brain or soul that is deeply wounded or hardwired in sinful ways of being, we are outmanned by our flesh.  If you’re trying to use willpower against your self-defeating behavior that’s rooted in trauma or past pain and you feel like you are failing, don’t beat yourself up; change your strategy.  Willpower is not the answer to your problem.

- John Mark Comer

“The Western church has lost sight of the fact that the way of Jesus is just that: a way of life.  It’s not just a set of ideas (what we call theology) or a list of dos and don’ts (what we call ethics).  I mean, it is that, but it’s so much more.  It’s a way of life based on Jesus himself...If you want to experience the life of Jesus, you have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus.”

- John Mark Comer

If we have faith in Christ, we must believe that he knew how to live. We can, through faith and grace, become like Christ by practicing the types of activities he engaged in, by arranging our whole lives around the activities he himself practiced in order to remain constantly at home in the fellowship of his Father. What activities did Jesus practice? Such things as solitude and silence, prayer, simple and sacrificial living, intense study and meditation upon God's Word and God's ways, and service to others.

- Dallas Willard