Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic. This is a most searching and true diagnosis. Gratitude can be a vaccine that can prevent the invasion of a disgruntled attitude. As antitoxins prevent the disastrous effects of certain poisons and diseases, thanksgiving destroys the poison of faultfinding and grumbling. When trouble has smitten us, a spirit of thanksgiving is a soothing antiseptic.

It is in the field of prayer that life's critical battles are lost or won...In prayer we bring our spiritual enemies into the Presence of God and we fight them there.

Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude.

May my life be like a great hospitable tree, and may weary wanderers find in me a rest.

It is in the field of prayer that life's critical battles are lost or won. We must conquer all our circumstances there. We must first of all bring them there. We must survey them there. We must master them there. In prayer we bring our spiritual enemies into the Presence of God and we fight them there. Have you tried that? Or have you been satisfied to meet and fight your foes in the open spaces of the world?

Preaching that costs nothing accomplishes nothing.

...Prayer is not always petition, sometimes it is just communion. It is the exquisite ministry of friendship.