Jim Branch

The Blue Book is finally available on Amazon! Tell your friends.

“It’s not about who you are; it’s about who I am!” (Exodus 3:14-15)

“The way of Christ is a self-emptying way.” ~Henri Nouwen

Do not be high, but be low. Do not try to be great, but serve. Do not try to be somebody, but become nobody. Do not be busy and loud, but be still and quiet. Do not be big and strong, but become like a weaned child. Do not hope in yourself, but hope in the Lord. #Psalm131

“Surrender to God is the source of true peace; if we aren’t at peace, it is because our surrender is not complete.” ~François Fénelon

“The more one advances along this path, the farther one seems from the goal, and now I am resigned always to be imperfect, and I even find joy in that.” ~St. Thérèse of Lisieux

“You want to climb the mountain, whereas God wishes you to descend it. He is awaiting you in the fruitful valley of humility.” ~St. Thérèse of Lisieux

“Let us in all humility take our place among the imperfect and look upon ourselves as little souls who, at every instant, need to be upheld by the goodness of God.” ~Thérèse of Lisieux

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. (Ps. 62:5) O Lord, help my hope to truly be in you and not in myself. I say it’s all up to you, but I live as if it’s up to me. Forgive me.

“You want to climb the mountain, whereas God wishes you to descend it. He is awaiting you in the fruitful Valley of humility.” ~St. Thérèse of Lisieux

“Why count the days, when even one day is enough for a man to know all happiness. My dears, why do we quarrel, boast before each other, remember each other’s offenses? Let us go into the garden, let us walk and play and love and praise and kiss each other and bless our life.”

Help me not to hide my weaknesses, O Lord, for those are the places where your power is most visibly revealed. @2Corinthians12

“Prayer helps us to discern which of our ministerial activities are indeed for the glory of God and which are primarily for the glory of our unconverted ego.” ~Henri Nouwen

“Oh, beloved, we want to realize that it is just because there is so much of the self-life in us that the power of God cannot work in us as mightily as God is willing that it should work.” ~Andrew Murray

“Jesus, Jesus! If the mere desire of Your love awakens such delight, what will it be to possess it, to enjoy it forever?” ~Thérèse of Lisieux

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He is everything I need. I can rest secure in his love and care; I do not need to fear; I can be at peace. He holds me in his strong and tender arms of love. He will not let me go.

Lord Jesus, come through my locked doors and meet me in my fear. Give me your peace and turn my fear into faith, my need into love, my anxiety into security, so that I can live like you live and love like you love. Make my soul within me still and whole and alive and free.

God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble. #Psalm46

give it to me whatever it may be and all your fears will soon flee I might not always take it away but with you in it I will stay and your worries you may release I will replace them with my peace #Philippians4

No pride, no arrogance, no ego, O Lord. No need to be big or to do big things, just being yours is more than enough. Help me to be still and quiet in your strong and tender embrace, putting my hope fully in you. #Psalm131

Union with God is what’s meant to propel us toward and sustain us in ministry. Anything less than that is just offering people a cheap imitation of what God desires most for them.