Moses chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. (Hebrews 11:25, NLT)

She who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead even while she lives. (1 Timothy 5:6, NLT)

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. (1 John 2:16-17, NLT)

God’s pleasures are perennial. This poor age loves the temporal. It lives from one passing fancy to another. Today’s hit is forgotten tomorrow. Everything is for a season. … The man who lives in God is never out of season. “The fashion of this world passeth away,” but he is not of this world. — Vance Havner

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Psalm 16:11, NIV)

Jesus said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. (1 Corinthians 11:24, KJV)

Their insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. If only one person would show some pity; if only one would turn and comfort me. But instead, … they offer me sour wine for my thirst. (Psalm 69:20-21, NLT)

Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head. (Mark 14:3, NLT)

Broken and spilled out
Just for love of you, Jesus
My most precious treasure
Lavished on thee
Broken and spilled out
And poured at your feet
In sweet abandon
Let me be spilled out
And used up for Thee — Steven Green

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. (Psalm 51:16-17, NIV)

We “walk with Jesus.” We are [to be] concerned only with the step-by-step life. We live in the present: “Today, today, today.” — Norman Grubb

The Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” (Hebrews 3:7-8, NIV)

Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3:13, NIV)

He is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. (Psalm 95:7-8, NIV)

We beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:1-2, NLT)

I do not have time to be in a hurry. — John Wesley

Samuel said to Saul, … “but you stay here for a while, so that I may give you a message from God.” (1 Samuel 9:27, NIV)

We are not to wear out or to rust out, but to live out, and God has as much to say about being still as about being busy. — Vance Havner

Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off. (Psalm 37:34, ESV)

Here is the secret of Jesus’ life and work for God: He prayerfully waited for His Father’s instructions and for the strength to follow them. Jesus had no divinely-drawn blueprint; He discerned the Father’s will day by day in a life of prayer.

                                                            — Charles E. Hummel

Jesus gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5, NIV)

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. (1 Timothy 2:1, NLT)

Prayer is the main thing—the center, the core, the root, the spirit of all we do. It is our primary task. … Prayer is our essence and genius—our principal work and the means by which everything else is done. – David Roper

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops. (James 5:16-18, NLT)

The secret of life is in the secret place where God waits. … There is nothing about which I do not pray. I go over all my life in the presence of God. All my problems are solved there. All questions of liberty as well as duty are settled there. I seek counsel of God, and submit all things to the judgement of God. The sanctuary of my soul is there. — Samuel Chadwick

King David says, “I am prayer.” (Psalm 109:4, ESV)

I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (Philippians 1:6, NLT)

The saving work of Jesus Christ is that he finds us after we lose our way in trying to become something other than who we are. That salvation invites us to live the rest of our lives in humble gratitude for the really good life Jesus keeps giving back to us. — M. Craig Barnes

Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. … The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. (Romans 12:2-3, MSG)

Jesus sees us not only as we are, but as we can be; and he says: "Give your life to me, and I will make you what you have it in you to be." Once someone came on Michelangelo chipping away with his chisel at a huge shapeless piece of rock. He asked the sculptor what he was doing. "I am releasing the angel imprisoned in this marble," he answered. Jesus is the one who sees and can release the hidden hero in every man. — William Barclay

Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, Your name is Simon, son of John—but you will be called Peter (which means “rock”). (John 1:42, NLT)

To walk is a step-by-step activity. Given the main destination, all that matters is the next step. Christian living is concerned, therefore, just with the implication of the present moment, not with past or future. — Norman Grubb

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1, KJV)

Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16, NIV)

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3, ESV)

As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7, ESV)

By this we may know that we are in [Jesus]: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (1 John 2:5-6, ESV)