GREAT Christian QUOTES
I will summarize the quotes and put them into categories at a later date.
Union between Christ and his people was planned already in eternity, in the sovereign pre-temporal decision whereby God the Father selected us as his own. Christ himself was chosen to be our Savior before the creation of the world (1 Pet. 1:20); Ephesians 1:4 teaches us that when the Father chose Christ, he also chose us. - - by Anthony Hoekema
God has reserved to Himself the right to determine the end of life, because He alone knows the goal to which it is His will to lead it. It is for Him alone to justify a life or to cast it away. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"If we are willing to give up only wrong things for Jesus, ever let us talk about being in love with Him. Anyone will give up wrong things if he knows how, but are we prepared to give up the best we have for Jesus Christ? The only right a Christian has is the right to give up his rights. If we are to be the best for God, there must be victory in the realm of legitimate desire as well as in the realm of unlawful indulgence.” Oswald Chambers
"Faith recognizes the fact that God is in control of my life. Whether I believe it or not, it's a fact that God is in control of the world. If I don't believe it, I'm just robbing myself of the enjoyment of the fact." Paul Little
"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." PAUL (2 Cor. 12:9).
"The real problem created by the doctrine of the divine Sovereignty has to do with the will of man. If God rules His universe by His sovereign decrees, how is it possible for man to exercise free choice?" A.W. Tozer
Divisions and separations are most objectionable in religion. They weaken the cause of true Christianity ...But before we blame people for them, we must be careful that we lay the blame where it is deserved. False doctrine and heresy are even worse than schism. If people separate themselves from teaching that is positively false and unscriptural, they ought to be praised rather than reproved. In such cases separation is a virtue and not a sin. J.C. RYLE
Men today do not, perhaps, burn the Bible, nor does the Roman Catholic Church any longer put it on the Index, as it once did. But men destroy it in the form of exegesis: they destroy it in the way they deal with it. They destroy it by not reading it as written in normal, literary form, by ignoring its historical-grammatical exegesis, by changing the Bible's own perspective of itself as propositional revelation in space and time, in history.... - Francis Schaeffer, Death in the City [1969]
“The trouble with the charismatic movement is that there is virtually no talk at all of the Spirit ‘coming down’. It is more something they do or receive: they talk now about ‘renewal’ not revival. The tendency of the modern movement is to lead people to seek experiences. True revivals humble men before God and emphasize the person of Christ. If all the talk is about experiences and gifts it does not conform to the classic instances of revival.” Martin Lloyd-Jones The Fight of Faith Banner of Truth Trust, 1990
"I would say that a 'dull preacher' is a contradiction in terms; if he is dull he is not a preacher. He may stand in a pulpit and talk, but he is certainly not a preacher." D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
"The man who is called by God is a man who realizes what he is called to do, and he so realizes the awefulness of the task that he shrinks from it. Nothing but this overwhelming sense of being called, and of compulsion, should ever lead anyone to preach." D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
"I would have been dead long ago if I had depended on men for encouragement." (Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - Welsh Preacher, 1899-1981)
We all, therefore, have to face this ultimate and final question: Do we accept the Bible as the Word of God, as the sole Authority in all matters of faith and practice, or do we not? Is the whole of my thinking governed by Scripture, or do I come with my reason and pick and choose out of Scripture and sit in judgment upon it, putting myself and modern knowledge forward as the ultimate Standard and Authority? The issue is crystal-clear: Do I accept Scripture as the revelation from God, or do I trust to speculation, human knowledge, human learning, human understanding, and human reasons? Or, putting it still more simply, do I pin my faith to and subject all my thinking to what I read in the Bible? Or do I defer to modern knowledge, to modern learning, to what people think today, to what we know at this present time (which was not known in the past)? It is inevitable that we occupy one or the other of those two positions. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones
Faith believes them and adjusts its life to those facts and walks on that basis. (Ray C. Stedman, "What Faith Is")
If faith is the gaze of the heart at God, and if this gaze is but the raising of the inward eyes to meet the all-seeing eyes of God, then it follows that it is one of the easiest things possible to do. A.W. Tozer
It is a life of FAITH, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing Who makes us "go." Oswald Chambers- "My Utmost For His Highest"(p 79)
We have no choice in what we want to do, whatever God's programmed may be we are there, ready. . . A ready person never needs to get ready. Oswald Chambers- "My Utmost For His Highest" (p l09)
Pride leads to the "I can do it myself" approach. We think we're capable of anything. We don't need God, counselors, prayer partners, or friends. Truth be told, we've got too much pride to ask for help, so we struggle along and alone. David Jeremiah
Yes, we want people to see us with approval when we are displaying that Jesus is infinitely valuable to us, but we dare not make the opinion of others the measure of our faithfulness. They may be blind and resistant to truth. Then the reproach we bear is no sign of our unfaithfulness or lack of love. John Piper
God requires elders to be men of integrity, wisdom, dignity, and virtue. But even though the standards are very high, God doesn't require perfection. If He did, no one would be qualified to lead the church because we all fail. John MacArthur
“Plenty of people who are under the Word are not in it!” Howard Hendricks
“Bibles are more often used to adorn coffee tables or press flowers than to feed souls for dis ciplined lives.” Chuck Colson
"Our thoughts not only reveal what we are, they predict what we will become. We will soon be the sum total of our thoughts." A.W. Tozer
"When you cannot answer a skeptic, be content to wait for more light; but never forsake a great principle. J.C. Ryle
Our peace and confidence are to be found not in our empirical holiness, not in our progress toward perfection, but in the alien righteousness of Jesus Christ that covers our sinfulness and alone makes us acceptable before a holy God. Donald Bloesch
Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable. C.S. Lewis
Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength. Corrie ten Boom
Our twentieth century, far from being notable for scientific scepticism, is one of the most credulous eras in all history. It is not that people believe in nothing - which would be bad enough - but that they believe in anything - which is really terrible. Malcolm Muggeridge
Faith recognizes the fact that God is in control of my life. Whether I believe it or not, it's a fact that God is in control of the world. If I don't believe it, I"m just robbing myself of the enjoyment of the fact. Paul Little
"Faith never means gullibility. The man who believes everything is as far from God as the man who refuses to believe anything." The Root of the Righteous, 120. A.W. Tozer
God has reserved to Himself the right to determine the end of life, because He alone knows the goal to which it is His will to lead it. It is for Him alone to justify a life or to cast it away. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Someone once asked Billy Graham, "If Christianity is valid, why is there so much evil in the world?" To this the famous preacher replied, "With so much soap, why are there so many dirty people in the world? Christianity, like soap, must be personally applied if it is to make a difference in our lives." Billy Graham
Circumstances may appear to wreck our lives and God's plans, but God is not helpless among the ruins. God's love is still working. He comes in and takes the calamity and uses it victoriously, working out His wonderful plan of love. Eric Liddell
You don't have to be alone in your hurt! Comfort is yours. Joy is an option. And it's all been made possible by your Saviour. He went without comfort so you might have it. He postponed joy so you might share in it. He willingly chose isolation so you might never be alone in your hurt and sorrow. Joni Eareckson Tada
When God is involved, anything can happen. Be open. Stay that way. God has a beautiful way of bringing good vibrations out of broken chords. Charles (Chuck) Swindoll
Trying to do the Lord's work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you. Corrie Ten Boom
It is the duty of every Christian to be Christ to his neighbour. Martin Luther
We must never minimize the suffering of another. Scripture's mandate to us is, "Weep with them that weep." (Romans 12:15, KJV) Billy Graham
If we have no zeal for the glory of God our mercy must be superficial, man-centred human improvement with no eternal significance. And if our zeal for the glory of God is not a revelling in his mercy, than our so-called zeal, in spite of all its protests, is our of touch with God and hypocritical. John Piper
One thing we may be sure of, however: For the believer all pain has meaning; all adversity is profitable. There is no question that adversity is difficult. It usually takes us by surprise and seems to strike where we are most vulnerable. To us it often appears completely senseless and irrational, but to God none of it is either senseless or irrational. He has a purpose in every pain He brings or allows in our lives. We can be sure that in some way He intends it for our profit and His glory. Jerry Bridges
I am not a theologian or a scholar, but I am very aware of the fact that pain is necessary to all of us. In my own life, I think I can honestly say that out of the deepest pain has come the strongest conviction of the presence of God and the love of God. Elisabeth Elliot
In a Christian community, everything depends upon whether each individual is an indispensable link in a chain. Only when even the smallest link is securely interlocked is the chain unbreakable. A community which allows unemployed members to exist within it will perish because of them. It will be well, therefore, if every member receives a definite task to perform for the community, that he may know in hours of doubt that he, too, is not useless and unusable. Every Christian community must realize that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of the fellowship. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
What good would outward appearance be, if the soul were in hopeless darkness? To strive to keep our bodies fit and healthy is good, but a fit and healthy soul is even better. Anonymous
When I was on my feet, big boisterous pleasures provided only fleeting satisfaction. In a wheelchair, satisfaction settles in as I sit under an oak tree on a windy day and delight in the rustle of the leaves or sit by a fire and enjoy the soothing strains of a symphony. These smaller, less noisy pleasures are rich because, unlike the fun on my feet, these things yield patience, endurance, and a spirit of gratitude, all of which fits me further for eternity. It is this yieldedness that gains you the most here on earth. Joni Eareckson Tada
When you say that a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God. Charles L. Allen
Perhaps the Spirit of God is saying to many of us today, "I want to minister through you. But before I can ever minister through you, I must minister to you." Don't despise the educational experience of your drying brook. Don't throw in the towel... Let patience have her perfect work, that you may be mature and complete. He wants to make you just like His Son. Howard G. Hendricks
If I cannot hear "The sound of rain' long before the rain falls, and then go out to some hilltop of the Spirit, as near to my God as I can and have faith to wait there with my face between my knees, though six times or sixty times I am told "There is nothing', till at last there arises a little cloud out of the sea, then I know nothing of Calvary love. (Read 1 Kings 18:41-45) Amy Carmichael
The times we find ourselves having to wait on others may be the perfect opportunities to train ourselves to wait on the Lord. Joni Eareckson Tada
We say, then, to anyone who is under trial, give Him time to steep the soul in His eternal truth. Go into the open air, look up into the depths of the sky, or out upon the wideness of the sea, or on the strength of the hills that is His also; or, if bound in the body, go forth in the spirit; spirit is not bound. Give Him time and, as surely as dawn follows night, there will break upon the heart a sense of certainty that cannot be shaken. Amy Carmichael
Not until we have become humble and teachable, standing in awe of God's holiness and sovereignty... acknowledging our own littleness, distrusting our own thoughts, and willing to have our minds turned upside down, can divine wisdom become ours. James I (J. I.) Packer
If... a doubt should at any time arise in your mind concerning what you are going to expend, either on yourself or any part of your family, you have an easy way to remove it. Calmly and seriously inquire,
1. In expending this, am I acting according to my character? Am I acting herein, not as a proprietor, but as a steward of my Lord's goods?
2. Am I doing this in obedience to his Word? In what Scripture does he require me so to do?
3. Can I offer up this action, this expense, as a sacrifice to God through Jesus Christ?... You will seldom need anything more to remove any doubt which arises on this head; but by this consideration you will receive clear light as to the way wherein you should go. John Wesley
The Christian faith is meant to be lived moment by moment. It isn't some broad, general outline--it's a long walk with a real Person. Details count: passing thoughts, small sacrifices, a few encouraging words, little acts of kindness, brief victories over nagging sins. Joni Eareckson Tada
We fail to see the place of suffering in the broader scheme of things. We fail to see that suffering is an inevitable dimension of life. Because we have lost perspective, we fail to see that unless one is willing to accept suffering properly, he or she is really refusing to continue in the quest for maturity. To refuse suffering is to refuse personal growth. Henri J. M. Nouwen
The readiest way to escape from our sufferings is, to be willing they should endure as long as God pleases. John Wesley
When you and I hurt deeply, what we really need is not an explanation from God but a revelation of God. We need to see how great God is; we need to recover our lost perspective on life. , Things get out of proportion when we are suffering, and it takes a vision of something bigger than ourselves to get life's dimensions adjusted again. Warren W. Wiersbe
We are puzzled and bewildered whenever we see suffering in this world because we have become accustomed to the mercy and the long-suffering of God. Amazing grace is no longer amazing to us. R. C. Sproul
Tell me how it is that in this room there are three candles and but one light, and I will explain to you the mode of the divine existence. John Wesley (About Trinity)
Spell this out in capital letters: THE Holy Spirit IS A PERSON. He is not enthusiasm. He is not courage. He is not energy. He is not the personification of all good qualities, like Jack Frost is the personification of cold weather. Actually, the Holy Spirit is not the personification of anything...... He has individuality. He is one being and not another. He has will and intelligence. He has hearing. He has knowledge and sympathy and ability to love and see and think. He can hear, speak, desire, grieve and rejoice. He is a Person. A. W. Tozer
Nothing can alter the character of God. In the course of a human life, tastes and outlook and temper may change radically: a kin, equable man may turn bitter and crotchety: a man of good-will may grow cynical and callous. But nothing of this sort happens to the Creator. He never becomes less truthful, or merciful, or just, or good, than He used to be. The character of God is today, and always will be, exactly what it was in Bible times. James I (J. I.) Packer
A good witness isn't like a salesman, emphasis is on a person rather than a product. A good witness is like a signpost. It doesn't matter whether it is old, young, pretty, ugly; it has to point the right direction and be able to be understood. We are witnesses to Christ, we point to him. John White (Evangelism)
At a certain meeting two and a half people were converted to Christ. A friend asked if he meant two adults and a child. The facts were just the opposite - two children and an adult. When a child is led to Christ, a whole life is saved! Dwight L Moody
There is all the difference in the world between preaching merely from human understanding and energy, and preaching in the conscious smile of God. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Believe that if an angel were to wing his way from earth up to Heaven, and were to say that there was one poor, ragged boy, without father or mother, with no one to care for him and teach him the way of life; and if God were to ask who among them were willing to come down to this earth and live here for fifty years and lead that one to Jesus Christ, every angel in Heaven would volunteer to go. Even Gabriel, who stands in the presence of the Almighty, would say, "Let me leave my high and lofty position, and let me have the luxury of leading one soul to Jesus Christ." There is no greater honour than to be the instrument in God's hands of leading one person out of the kingdom of Satan into the glorious light of Heaven. Dwight L Moody
I have always found it depressing to listen to the kind of people who, whenever you meet them, will always for sure tell you the story of their conversion many years ago. They tell you that story every time. I have known people do exactly the same thing with revival..... There is always something about an initial experience that is remarkable and outstanding. And a time of revival is so amazing and wonderful that it is not surprising that people go on talking about it. But, if they give the impression that they have had nothing since that wonderful experience, that ever after they have been walking through a wilderness, and travelling through a desert, then it is absolutely wrong.... Their idea of the Christian life is of a dramatic experience, perhaps at the outset, after which they just trudge along, living on the strength of that and partly keeping their eye turned backwards as they go forward. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Few things are more infectious than a godly lifestyle. The people you rub shoulders with everyday need that kind of challenge. Not prudish. Not preachy. Just cracker jack clean living. Just honest to goodness, bone - deep, non-hypocritical integrity. Charles (Chuck) Swindoll
If we have no zeal for the glory of God our mercy must be superficial, man-centred human improvement with no eternal significance. And if our zeal for the glory of God is not a revelling in his mercy, than our so-called zeal, in spite of all its protests, is out of touch with God and hypocritical. John Piper
How do you convince a world that God is alive? By His aliveness in your life, by His work in producing reality in your experience. Howard G. Hendricks
When God doesn't want me to do something, I definitely know it. When he wants me to do something, even if it means going outside my comfort zone, I know that too. I feel pushed in the direction I need to go... I try to stand up for my faith at school... It can be discouraging, but it can also be rewarding... I will die for my God. I will die for my faith. It's the least I can do for Christ dying for me. Cassie Rene Bernall (A 17-year-old from Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, USA who died April 20, 1999)
If I profess with loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not a confessing Christian. Martin Luther
Sometimes we don't need another chance to express how we feel or to ask someone to understand our situation. Sometimes we just need a firm kick in the pants. An unsmiling expectation that if we mean all these wonderful things we talk about and sing about, then lets see something to prove it. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
In Proverbs we read: "He that winneth souls is wise." If any man, women, or child by a godly life and example can win one soul to God, his life will not have been a failure. He will have outshone all the mighty men of his day, because he will have set a stream in motion that will flow on and on forever and ever. Dwight L Moody
Don't stay away from church because there are so many hypocrites. There's always room for one more. Arthur R. Adams
The degree to which I am able and willing to forgive others is a clear indication of the extent to which I have personally experienced God my Father’s forgiveness for me. The corollary to this is that anyone who is not willing to forgive another has certainly not known God’s loving forgiveness. Philipp Keller
Whenever I see myself before God and realize something of what my blessed Lord has done for me at Calvary, I am ready to forgive anybody anything. I cannot withhold it. I do not even want to withhold it. Martin Lloyd-Jones
The best testimony that Stephen bore was his last: not when preaching and working miracles, but when he pleaded for his persecutors; for then he most resembled the Lord Jesus in patience, forgiveness and love.
Robert C. Chapman The wisdom of God has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the justice of God. John Piper
God has cast our confessed sins into the depths of the sea, and He's even put a "no fishing" sign over the spot. Dwight L. Moody
When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy. Corrie ten Boom
Faith is kindled and is preserved and made strong by grace alone. R.C.H. Lenski
Looking forward to our eternal inheritance will help us maintain a proper perspective on temporal things and motivate us to praise and adore God. John MacArthur, Page 16, Our Great Salvation, Study Guide
Don't be a crackers-and-cheese Christian, distressed by your present circumstances and failing to experience joy when it is rightfully yours. Remember your eternal inheritance and God's purpose in the trials you face. John MacArthur, Pg 53, Our Great Salvation, Study Guide
The popular point of view is unconsciously syncretistic: it is widely believed that "all religions really mean the same thing." C.S. Lewis
In the history of humanity there are no civilizations or cultures which fail to manifest, in one or a thousand ways, this need for an absolute that is called heaven, freedom, a miracle, a lost paradise to be regained, peace, the going beyond History....There is no religion in which everyday life is not considered a prison; there is no philosophy or idealogy that does not think that we live in alienation....Humanity has always had a nostalgia for the freedom that is only beauty, that is only real life, plenitude and light. Philip Yancey
When we listen to the religion that is largely preached in our generation, we hear the same thing the unbelieving philosophers and sociologists are saying. The only difference is that theological language is used. But, God says, "It will not do. This brings you under my judgment. Francis Schaeffer Death in the City (Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press: 1969) 53
Religion is the process of turning your skull into a tabernacle, not of going up to Jerusalem once a year. Austin O'Malley
The publicity surrounding religious activities is usually in inverse ratio to their intrinsic importance. Aelred Graham
Religion that costs nothing is worth nothing. There are no spiritual gains without pains. J.C. Ryle
Religion is a dish to be served hot; once it becomes lukewarm it is sickening. Our baptism must be with the Holy Ghost and with fire if we would win the masses to hear the gospel. Charles Spurgeon
There's not much practical Christianity in the man who lives on better terms with angels and seraphs, than with his children, servants and neighbors. Henry Ward Beecher
The same fire which melts the wax hardens the clay; the same sun which makes the living tree grow, dries up the dead tree, and prepares it for burning. Nothing so hardens the heart of man as a barren familiarity with sacred things... it is not privileges alone which make people Christians, but the Grace of the Holy Ghost. J.C. Ryle
The mind which asks for a non-miraculous Christianity is a mind in process of relapsing from Christianity into mere "religion." C.S. Lewis
The Christians are unhappy men who are persuaded that they will survive death and live forever; in consequence, they despise death and are willing to sacrifice their lives to their faith. Lucian
The Bible knows nothing of solitary religion. John Wesley
To pretend that Christianity was intended to stereotype existing forms of government and society, and protect them against change, is to reduce it to the level of Islamism and Brahminism. It is precisely because Christianity has not done this that it has been the religion of the progressive portion of mankind. John Stuart Mill
A little child is easily quieted and amused with gaudy toys and dolls and rattles, so long as it is not hungry; but once let it feel the cravings of nature within, and we know that nothing will satisfy it but food. So it is with man in the matter of his soul. Music and flowers and candles and incense and banners and processions and beautiful vestments and confessionals and man-made ceremonies of a semi-Romish character may do well enough for him under certain conditions. But once let him 'awake and arise from the dead', and he will not rest content with these things. They will seem to him mere solemn triflings and a waste of time. Once let him see his sin, and he must see his Saviour. J.C. Ryle
People in general are equally horrified at hearing the Christian religion doubted, and at seeing it practiced. Samuel Butler I declare I know of no state of soul more dangerous than to imagine we are born again and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, because we have picked up a few religious feelings. J.C. Ryle
There is a philosophy which is a noble exercise of our reasonable faculties, and highly serviceable to religion, such a study of the works of God as leads us to the knowledge of God and confirms our faith in him. But there is a philosophy which is vain and deceitful, which is prejudicial to religion, and sets up the wisdom of man in competition with the wisdom of God, and while it pleases men's fancies ruins their faith; as nice and curious speculations about things above us, or of no use and concern to us; or a care of words and terms of art, which have only an empty and often a cheating appearance of knowledge. Matthew Henry
If a man cannot be a Christian in the place where he lives, he cannot be a Christian anywhere. Henry Ward Beecher
Christianity is both science and art. Science is to know; art is to do. What we know is incomplete until fulfilled in the act. The most practical of all religions is Christianity, because it demands that the act accompany the thought.
Richard Lynch The man who has nothing more than a kind of Sunday religion -- whose Christianity is like his Sunday clothes put on once a week, and then laid aside -- such a man cannot, of course, be expected to care about growth in grace. J.C. Ryle
The followers of Jesus are to be different-different from both the nominal church and the secular world, different from both the religious and the irreligious. The Sermon on the Mount is the most complete delineation anywhere in the New Testament of the Christian value-system, ethical standard, religious devotion, attitude to money, ambition, life-style and network of relationships-all of which are totally at variance with those of the non-Christian world. And this Christian Counterculture is the life of the kingdom of God, a fully human life indeed but lived out under the divine rule. John Stott Christianity
If false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis
What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. Martin Luther
Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become "unity" conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. A.W. Tozer
Christianity is not just a mental assent that certain doctrines are true -- not even that the right doctrines are true. This is only the beginning. This would be rather like a starving man sitting in front of great heaps of food and saying, "I believe the food exists; I believe it is real," and yet never eating it. It is not enough merely to say, "I am a Christian," and then in practice to live as if present contact with the supernatural were something far off and strange. Many Christians I know seem to act as though they come in contact with the supernatural just twice -- once when they are justified and become a Christian and once when they die. The rest of the time they act as though they were sitting in the materialist's chair. Francis Schaeffer Death in the City (Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press: 1969) 134
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Verses and Quotes of a Christian who is..........
A Christian who is a servant
A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone Martin Luther
God may allow His servant to succeed when He has disciplined him to a point where he does not need to succeed to be happy. The man who is elated by success and is cast down by failure is still a carnal man. At best, his fruit will have a worm in it. A. W. Tozer
Anyone who wants to be the first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else. Jesus Christ, Mark 9:35
A Christian who is rooted deeply and very fruitful The man who concentrates on the root system of his life is going to bear fruit upward, but if he concentrates on the eye-appealing foliage, he may end up a rootless failure. Robert D. Foster
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more." Jesus Christ John 15:1-2
"Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." Jesus Christ 15:5
A Christian and Money
Get to know two things about a man- How he earns his money and how he spends it- and you have the clue to his character, for you have a search light that shows up the inmost recesses of his soul. You know all you need to know about his standards, his motives, his driving desires, and his real religion. Robert J. McCracken
"Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren't lying to us but to God." Peter, Acts 5:3-4
A Christian with a discerning heart
It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according what he has. Henry Ward Beecher Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do. Solomon, Proverbs 4:23
A Christian who is not afraid
Lord, make me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road. Make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me. Jim Elliot
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Wherever we find the Word of God surely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to the institution of Christ, there, it is not to be doubted, is a church of God. John Calvin
Churchgoers are like coals in a fire. When they cling together, they keep the flame aglow; when they separate, they die out. Billy Graham
The difference between listening to a radio sermon and going to church...is almost like the difference between calling your girl on the phone and spending an evening with her. Dwight L. Moody
One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organizations do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always. A. W. Tozer
Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. You are to uproot some and tear them down, to destroy and overthrow them. You are to build others up and plant them. Jeremiah 1:10
God will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of election, predestination, and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence say, "0 Lord, Thou knowest." Those things belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God's omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians, but it will never make saints.... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God
We of the churches often gather our robes away from contamination, and thank God that we are not as other men. We don't despise God's name; in fact, we call upon it constantly to justify ourselves... If we object to meat-eating, we declare that God is vegetarian; if we abhor war, we proclaim a pacifist Deity. He who turned water into wine to gladden a wedding it now accused by many of favouring that abominable fluid grape juice. There can hardly be a more evil way of taking God's name in vain than this way of presuming to speak in it. For here is spiritual pride, the ultimate sin, in action - the sin of believing in one's own righteousness. The true prophet says humbly, "To me, a sinful man, God spoke." But the scribes and Pharisees declare, "When we speak, God agrees." They feel no need of a special revelation, for they are always, in their own view, infallible. It is this self-righteousness of the pious that most breeds atheism, by inspiring all decent, ordinary men with loathing of the enormous lie. ... Joy Davidman, Smoke on the Mountain
But when once Christ had called him, Peter had no alternative he must leave the ship and come to Him. In the end, the first step of obedience proves to be an act of faith in the word of Christ. But we should completely misunderstand the nature of grace if we were to suppose that there was no need to take the first-step, because faith was already there. Against that, we must boldly assert that the step of obedience must be taken before faith can be possible. Unless he obeys, a man cannot believe. ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1905-1945), The Cost of Discipleship
We are to believe and follow Christ in all things, including his words about Scripture. And this means that Scripture is to be for us what it was to him: the unique, authoritative, and inerrant Word of God, and not merely a human testimony to Christ, however carefully guided and preserved by God. If the Bible is less than this to us, we are not fully Christ's disciples. ... James Montgomery Boice, "The Preacher & God's Word"
When He wore a crown of thorns, do you wish to wear a crown of gold?" Johann Arndt, *True Christianity*.
"To know the mechanics does not mean that we are practicing the Disciplines. The Spiritual Disciplines are an inward and spiritual reality, and the inner attitude of the heart is far more crucial than the mechanics for coming into the reality of the spiritual life." ------- Richard Foster, *Celebration Of Discipline* 2nd ed. (Harper, 1988), p.3
"Resolved : that all men should live for the glory of God. Resolved second : that whether others do or not, I will." ------- Jonathan Edwards
"You may as well quit reading and hearing the Word of God, and give it to the devil, if you do not desire to live according to it." -------- Martin Luther
"Faith, if it be true faith, is a sure trust and confidence of the heart, and a firm consent whereby Christ is apprehended: so that Christ is the object of faith, yea, rather he is not the object, but, as it were, in the faith itself Christ is present." ------ Martin Luther
"Faith...comes only when the outward fact penetrates to the inner heart of man and takes possession of him there -- and this is the work of the Spirit." ------ George Hendry, *The Holy Spirit in Christian Theology*.
"By faith we receive the saving grace of God that delivers us from guilt and sin. In love we participate in the victorious struggle of God against the principalities and powers of evil." ------ Gabriel Fackre, *A Christian Story*, p.203
"If knowing answers to life's questions is absolutely necessary to you, then forget the journey. You will never make it, for this is a journey of unknowables -- of unanswered questions, enigmas, incomprehensibles, and, most of all, things unfair." ------ Jeanne Guyon, in *Spiritual Torrents*
"Spell this out in capital letters: THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A PERSON. He is not enthusiasm. He is not courage. He is not energy. He is not the personification of all good qualities, like Jack Frost is the personification of cold weather. Actually, the Holy Spirit is not the personification of anything...... He has individuality. He is one being and not another. He has will and intelligence. He has hearing. He has knowledge and sympathy and ability to love and see and think. He can hear, speak, desire, grieve and rejoice. He is a Person." ------ A W Tozer, *The Counselor*
"Medicine makes people ill, mathematics makes them sad, and theology makes them sinful." ~ Martin Luther (1483-1546) German Reformation leader
"Although Satan does his part, God still retains supreme authority." (John Calvin)
"If there were no God, there would be no atheists." - Where All Roads Lead, 1922 The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man." - Introduction to the Book of Job, 1907
"Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross." Dietrich Bonhoeffer, *Cost Of Discipleship*, p.47
"When a successful figure becomes especially prominent and conspicuous, the majority give way to the idolization of success. They become blind to right and wrong, truth and untruth, fair play and foul play." Dietrich Bonhoeffer, *Ethics*
"God never gives us discernment in order that we may criticize, but that we may intercede." ------ Oswald Chambers "Defend the Bible?
I would just as soon defend a lion. Just turn the Bible loose. It will defend itself." (Charles Haddon Spurgeon)
Every time we say, "I believe in the Holy Spirit," we mean that we believe that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it. J. B. Phillips, *Plain Christianity*
The incentive to peacemaking is love, but it degenerates into appeasement whenever justice is ignored. To forgive and to ask for forgiveness are both costly exercises. All authentic Christian peacemaking exhibits the love and justice—and so the pain—of the cross. John R. W. Stott
Love is an act of endless forgiveness. Jean Vanier
Faith is believing He, the miracle worker, can turn my stone-cold indifference into a fire of love toward certain "unlovables". Pamela Reeve
If we want the advantages of love, then we must be willing to take the risks of love. And that requires vulnerability. Of course, we can refuse this path and trod another one devoid of openness. But the toll on such a road is extremely high. Charles (Chuck) R. Swindoll
Not all of passion is love and not all of love is passion. Ed Cole, Christian Men's Network
Our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner - no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis, Into The Wardrobe
If we truly love people, we will desire for them far more than it is within our power to give them, and this will lead us to prayer: Intercession is a way of loving others. Richard J. Foster
Instead of allowing yourself to be unhappy, just let your love grow as God wants it to grow. Seek goodness in others. Love more persons more -- love them more impersonally, more unselfishly, without thought of return. The return, never fear, will take care of itself. Henry Drummond
The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved - loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. Victor Hugo
Dare to love and to be a real friend. The love you give and receive is a reality that will lead you closer and closer to God as well as those whom God has given you to love. Henri J. M. Nouwen
Love finds no steady home in psychological health. I am sure God wants us to be whole and healthy in every way possible, but love neither depends upon these things nor ends with them. In fact, blessings sometimes come through brokenness that could never come in any other way. Gerald May
There are so many different ways of being healed. The best way, and by far the commonest, is to be loved. To be loved by God, and to know it and live it, is to be healed indeed. The Good News first of all is that you and I are accepted and loved by God. From all eternity you and I have been in the mind of God. God’s love for us is utterly reliable and has no conditions whatsoever. Cyril Brooks
"We do not choose suffering simply because we are told to, but because the one who tells us to describes it as the path to everlasting joy." John Piper
"Thinking Theologically is a tough thing to do. It works against our human and horizontal perspective on life. Thinking vertically is a discipline few have mastered. We much prefer to live in a here-and-now realm, seeing life as others see it, dealing with realities we can touch, analyze, prove, and explain. We are much more comfortable with the tattile, the familiar, the logic shaped by our culture and lived out our times." Chuck Swindoll, The Mystery of God's Will (pg 17)
"It is misleading to imagine that we are developed in spite of our circumstances, for we are developed because of them. It is mastery in circumstances that is needed, not mastery over them." - Oswald Chambers
People with disabilities are God's best visual aids to demonstrate who He really is. His power shows up best in weakness. And who by the world's standards is weaker than the mentally or physically disabled? As the world watches, these people persevere. They live, love, trust and obey Him. Eventually the world is forced to say, "How great their God must be to inspire this kind of loyalty." Joni Eareckson Tada
"You as a family have been chosen in a special way to display His unique Masterwork. I pray that your roots of faith will grow deep down into the faithfulness of God's Loving Plan, that you will exchange your inadequacy for the Adequacy of Jesus' resurrection power, and that you will be awed as you witness the fruits of the Spirit manifested in your family." Elisabeth Elliot (Back to the Bible)
It is easier for me to have faith in the Bible than to have faith in D.L. Moody, for Moody has fooled me lots of time. Dwight L. Moody
Of course, the Bible does not answer every question about life. Not every fork in the road has a biblical arrow. John Piper
I would rather lay my soul asoak in a half a dozen verses all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Charles Spurgeon
Sin will keep you from this book. This book will keep you from sin. Dwight L. Moody
If you would follow on to know the Lord, come at once to the open Bible expecting it to speak to you. Do not come with the notion that it is a thing which you may push around at your convenience. A.W. Tozer
We ought to see the face of God every morning before we see the face of man. Dwight L. Moody
Acts 2:42 Teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. Paul—First Corinthians 12:12, 27
When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy. Corrie ten Boom
Our calling is to enjoy God as well as glorify Him. Real fulfillment relates to the purpose for which we were made, to be in reference to God, to be in personal relationship with Him, to be fulfilled by Him, and thus to have an affirmation of life. Christianity should never give any onlooker the right to conclude that Christianity believes in the negation of life. Christianity is able to make a real affirmation because we affirm that it is possible to be in personal relationship to the personal God who is there and who is the final environment of all He created. All else but God is dependent, but being in the image of God, man can be in personal relationship to that which is ultimate and has always been. We can be fulfilled in the highest level of our personality and in all the parts and portions of life... There is nothing Platonic in Christianity... The whole man is to be fulfilled; there is to be an affirmation of life that is filled with joy. Francis Schaeffer Death in the City (Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press: 1969) 26
Each local church is a fellowship in the deepest spiritual meaning of that word........Every local church is an expression of Church because as believers we are members of Christ's body through whom He seeks to reach out to people around us. A.W. Tozer
God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world -- C. S. Lewis
Nothing under God's control is ever out of control. - Charles Swindoll
To gain self-control, give God control. (Unknown) Be as patient with others as God is with you. (Unknown)
Christianity is a battle, not a dream. - Wendell Phillips
God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him. - Jim Elliot
The Bible was not written to satisfy your curiosity; it was written to transform your life. - Howard Hendricks, 1991.
Sin adds to your trouble, subtracts from your energy, multiplies your difficulties, and divides you from God. (Unknown)
God and his work are one. (Unknown) To God, our journey is as important as our destinations. - Beth Moore
If being Christian was a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict you? (Unknown)
Deny your weakness, and you will never realize God's strength in you. (Joni Eareckson Tada)
Man, made in the image of God, has a purpose - to be in relationship to God, who is there. Man forgets his purpose and thus he forgets who he is and what life means. (Francis Schaeffer)
We never know when our disappointment will be His appointment. (Charles Swindoll)
The best prayers have often more groans than words. John Bunyan
We do not choose suffering simply because we are told to, but because the one who tells us to describes it as the path to everlasting joy. John Piper
Christianity is a battle - not a dream. Wendell Phillips
This is God's universal purpose for all Christian suffering: more contentment in God and less satisfaction in the world. John Piper
Truly it is a misery even to live upon the earth. The more spiritual a man desires to be, the more bitter does his present life become to him; because he sees more clearly and perceives more sensibly the defects of human corruption. Thomas a Kempis
Paul's sufferings complete Christ's afflictions not by adding anything to their worth, but by extending them to the people they were meant to save. John Piper
God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will to overcome them. C.S. Lewis
"God's purpose in increasing our trials is to sensitize us to people we never would have been able to relate to otherwise." Joni Eareckson Tada
"God deliberately chooses weak, suffering and unlikely candidates to get His work done, so that in the end, the glory goes to God and not to the person." Joni Eareckson Tada
"Suffering drives us to our knees in weakness, where God wants us, so that His strength is most obvious, not ours." Joni Eareckson Tada
"God wants us to lay our burdens on Him and rest in His love. It's His responsibility to work out the purpose and plan in our hardships. Only our refusal to trust Him....can hinder His purposes in our lives." Joni Eareckson Tada
Canadian Mark Pickup (disabled with multiple sclerosis) said, “I have been more service to God disabled than during my able-bodied years. This didn’t happen despite my disability but because of my disability.”
"Sometimes God will use suffering and affliction to sandblast us to the core and get us seriously thinking about larger than life issues of heaven and hell, I just don't know that we would think about these issues were it not for an ice-cold splash of suffering waking us out of our spiritual slumber. God's purpose in redeeming us is not to make our lives happy, healthy, and free of trouble. It is not an escape from our physical pains. His purpose is to make us more like Christ. He will chose to allow spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis or blindness or stroke or Alzheimer's or whatever to not only teach us, but also our loved ones, about what it means to become more like him." Joni Eareckson Tada
"Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ." Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"Moses spent 40 years thinking he was somebody; 40 years learning he was nobody; and 40 years discovering what God can do with a nobody." DL Moody
"God’s goal is not to make sure you’re happy. Life is not about your being comfortable, happy, successful and pain free. It is about becoming the man God has called you to be. Life is not about you. It’s about God. He doesn’t exist to make us happy. We exist to bring Him glory." Chuck Swindoll
"The level of our obedience is most often determined by the behavior standard of other Christians around us." Jerry Bridges
"Jesus reserved his hardest words for the hidden sins of hypocrisy, pride, greed and legalism." Philip Yancey
"Obedience is the only validation of your salvation. It is the only possible indication that you recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ." John MacArthur
"We are saved by faith alone. However, faith that saves is never alone...it is always accompanied by works." Martin Luther
There are thousands of professing Christians who think they have been justified, who think their sins are forgiven and that they are on their way to heaven, who show no evidence of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in their lives." Jerry Bridges
"Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I choose to respond to it." Chuck Swindoll
"Whatever makes us feel superior to other people, whatever tempts us to convey a sense of superiority, that is the gravity of our sinful nature, not grace." Phillip Yancey
"Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy...He who is alone with his sins is utterly alone. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Introspection can easily become the tool of Satan, who is called the accuser. One of his chief weapons is discouragement. He knows that if he can make us discouraged and dispirited we will not fight the battle for holiness. Jerry Bridges
Man, made in the image of God, has a purpose - to be in relationship to God, who is there. Man forgets his purpose and thus he forgets who he is and what life means. (Francis Schaeffer)
We never know when our disappointment will be His appointment. (Charles Swindoll)
Deny your weakness, and you will never realize God's strength in you. (Joni Eareckson Tada)
Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?-- Corrie Ten Boom
Those who know God the best are the richest and most powerful in prayer. Little acquaintance with God, and strangeness and coldness to Him, make prayer a rare and feeble thing. --E. M. Bounds
God's answers are wiser than our prayers. –Unknown
The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men…Men of prayer." --E. M. Bounds
So when we sing, 'Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,' we are not thinking of the nearness of place, but of the nearness of relationship. It is for increasing degrees of awareness that we pray, for a more perfect consciousness of the divine Presence. We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts. --A.W. Tozer
We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties. - Oswald Chambers
"Christianity is NOT a religion; it's the proclamation of the end of religion. Religion is a human activity dedicated to the job of reconciling God to humanity and humanity to itself. The Gospel, however - the Good News of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - is the astonishing announcement that God has done the whole work of reconciliation without a scrap of human assistance. It is the bizarre proclamation that religion is over, period." -Robert F. Capon, "The Astonished Heart"
There is a war going on. All talk of a Christian's right to live luxuriously "as a child of the King" in this atmosphere sounds hollow -- especially since the King himself is stripped for battle. John Piper
"If we could CONTROL God, HE would not be God, WE would be God and WE ARE NOT God!" - Sherri L. Connell
Instead of being seen as having courage in tribulation, we are often viewed as being uncertain of God’s power, because we are still sick. But, the Lord knows it takes true faith to perseverance through the storms! "No faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity" (Spurgeon, 1991, p. 636).
Here are some questions I recommend you ask yourself. In quiet silence ask, "Am I always truthful and honest? I claim to be a Christian, and I believe that the root of the matter is in me and the seed of God is in my heart. I believe I am the Lord"s child, but I am not satisfied with the frozen-over rut. Lord, help me to be honest while I answer. Am I always truthful on the telephone? Am I always honest with my creditors, with my employers, with my employees and in all social contracts and contacts?" Somebody may say, "What's the difference?" Dishonesty and shading of the truth are sins that grieve the Holy Spirit and bring on the winter. The winter of your discontent may be upon you, and like the life in a leafless tree, your life is buried within. You may have grieved the Holy Spirit by untruthfulness. One of the first things Christians have to do is become perfectly honest with God and perfectly truthful in everything they say. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:15 Our motives in the Christian life should be both right and genuine. A.W. Tozer
Ignorance is the mark of the heathen, knowledge of the true church, and conceit of the heretics. Clement of Alexandria
He that is not a son of Peace is not a son of God. All other sins destroy the Church consequentially; but Division and Separation demolish it directly... Richard Baxter
Theologians are called to be the church's water engineers and sewage officers; it is their job to see that God's pure truth flows abundantly where it is needed, and to filter out any intrusive pollution that might damage health. J.I. Packer
It is surely harmful to souls to make it a heresy to believe what is proved. Galileo Heresy is the school of pride. George Herbert
When God's sheep are in danger, the shepherd must not gaze at the stars and meditate on "inspirational" themes. He is morally obliged to grab his weapon and run to their defense. A.W. Tozer
As Christ is the end of the Law and the Gospel and has within himself all the treasures of wisdom and understanding, so also is he the mark at which all heretics aim and direct their arrows. John Calvin
...he that will blow the Coals must not wonder if some Sparks do fly in his face... Richard Baxter
Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable. C.S. Lewis
Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it." Pascal "OUR wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves." Calvin, John
"A man may be theologically knowing and spiritually ignorant" Charnock, Stephen
"We cannot but admit that not even the least thing takes place unless it is ordered by God. For who have ever been so concerned and curious as to find out how much hair he has on his head? There is no one. God, however, knows the number. Indeed, nothing is too small in us or in any other creature, not to be ordered by the all-knowing and all-powerful providence of God." Zwingli, Huldryrch
"If Christianity is untrue, then no honest man will want to believe it, however helpful it might be: if it is true, every honest man will want to believe it, even if it gives him no help at all." Lewis, C.S.
"He has once for all determined, both whom he would admit to salvation, and whom he would condemn to destruction." Calvin, John
"Reason is always a kind of brute force; those who appeal to the head rather than the heart, however pallid and polite, are necessarily men of violence. We speak of 'touching' a man's heart, but we can do nothing to his head but hit it." Chesterton, G.K.
"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important." Lewis, C.S.
"If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning." Tozer, A.W.
"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair." Lewis, C.S.
"For not only does sound reason direct us to refuse the guidance of those who do or teach anything wrong, but it is by all means vital for the lover of truth, regardless of the threat of death, to choose to do and say what is right even before saving his own life." Tozer, A.W.
Doctrines are not God: they are only a kind of map. But that map is based on the experience of hundreds of people who really were in touch with God. C.S. Lewis
If we take our doctrines into our hearts where they belong, they can cause upheavals of emotion and sleepless nights. This is far better than toying with academic ideas that never touch life. John Piper
Doctrinal preaching certainly bores the hypocrites; but it is only doctrinal preaching that will save Christ's sheep. J.I. Packer
If Christianity is really true, then it involves the whole man, including his intellect and creativeness. Christianity is not just "dogmatically" true or "doctrinally" true. Rather, it is true to what is there, true in the whole area of the whole man in all of life. Francis Schaeffer
Humility is the only state of mind in which to approach the Scriptures. The Spirit will teach the humble soul those things that make for his salvation and for a holy walk and fruitful service here below. And little else matters. A.W. Tozer
There is head knowledge, head and heart and just heart knowledge. In knowing God (not just about Him) the heart must be involved. A.W. Tozer
It is disciple of Christ we are to make (Matthew 28:19) not disciples of ourselves, our churches or our denominations. Granted that in discipling we can hardly avoid transmitting our own truth perspectives. Yet we ourselves must keep in mind, and those we disciple, that truth is greater than our understanding of it. A.W. Tozer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: To understand reality is not the same as to know about outward events. It is to perceive the essential nature of things. The best-informed man is not necessarily the wisest. Indeed there is a danger that precisely in the multiplicity of his knowledge he will lose sight of what is essential. But on the other hand, knowledge of an apparently trivial detail quite often makes it possible to see into the depth of things. And so the wise man will seek to acquire the best possible knowledge about events, but always without becoming dependent upon this knowledge. To recognize the significant in the factual is wisdom.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. -- Proverbs 3:5-6
A true love of God must begin with a delight in his holiness. -- Jonathan Edwards
All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired. -- Martin Luther
The purpose of Christianity is not to avoid difficulty, but to produce a character adequate to meet it when it comes. It does not make life easy; rather it tries to make us great enough for life. -- James L. Christensen
To be like Christ is to be a Christian. -- Daniel Webster
For we walk by faith, not by sight. -- Corinthians 5:7
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. -- Timothy 6:12
Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe. -- Saint Augustine
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. -- Hebrews 11:1
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. -- Matthew 7:21
And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. -- Luke 23:46.
Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. -- Luke 9:1,2.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. -- Romans 10:9
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. -- Hebrews 13:8
In trouble then and fear I sought The Man who taught in Galilee; And peace unto my soul was brought, All my faith came back to me. Anonymous
If Christ is the wisdom of God and the power of God in the experience of those who trust and love him, there needs no further argument of his divinity. -- Henry Ward Beecher
Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe." Augustine
"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading." Chambers, Oswald
"Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods." Lewis, C.S.
"Without Christ, not one step; with Him, anywhere!" Livingstone, David
"If we cannot believe God when circumstances seem be against us, we do not believe Him at all." Spurgeon, Charles
"Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing yet had been done." Lewis, C.S. "When you have no helpers, see your helpers in God. When you have many helpers, see God in all your helpers. When you have nothing but God, see all in God. When you have everything, see God in everything. Under all conditions, stay thy heart only on the Lord." Spurgeon, Charles
"God loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the IMPOSSIBLE." Booth, William
"I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done." Taylor, Hudson
Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible." Category: Ten, Boom, Corrie
"Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God." Carey, William
"Faith, as Paul saw it, was a living, flaming thing leading to surrender and obedience to the commandments of Christ." Tozer, A.W.
"What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow." Luther, Martin
"Monastic vows rest on the false assumption that there is a special calling, a vocation, to which superior Christians are invited to observe the counsels of perfection while ordinary Christians fulfill only the commands; but there simply is no special religious vocation since the call of God comes to each at the common tasks." Luther, Martin
"This life was not intended to be the place of our perfection, but the preparation for it." Baxter, Richard
"We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in his word, he intended to be conspicuous in our lives." Spurgeon, Charles
"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." Corrie Ten Boom
"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength." Corrie Ten Boom
"If God has fit you to be a missionary, I would not have you shrivel down to be a king." Spurgeon, Charles
Adversity will develop a strong character or a weak coward which one is up to you. (Unknown)
"My disabilities do not have me. I have the disabilities and I accept them because I know who I am from the inside." Jim
"Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I choose to respond to it." Chuck Swindoll
You may be disappointed if you fail but you are doomed if you do not try -Beverly Sills
"Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn; my God, do you learn!" (Clive Staples Lewis)
We can stand affliction better than we can prosperity, for in prosperity we forget God. (D.L. Moody)
Sometimes the struggle is exactly what we need to become what God intends us to be (Joanie Yoder, Our Daily Bread)
If you can't be thankful for what you receive, be thankful for what you escape. Anon.
You can either hold yourself up to the unrealistic standards of others, or ignore them and concentrate on being happy with yourself as you are. J. Jacques, Questionable Content webcomic, #352, 05-04-05
"A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself." Tozer, A.W.
If lips and life do not agree, the testimony will not amount to much. H. A. Ironside (1876-1951) American Bible teacher, commentator, pastor; “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18
Though we claim to believe the whole of Scripture, in practice we frequently deny much of it by ignoring it. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) Welsh preacher and expositor; But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. James 1:22 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. James 4:17
The devil knows that if he can capture our mind, he holds our future. [Joe Campbell]
The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian. A. W. Tozer
“Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible." Category: Ten, Boom, Corrie
"God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will to overcome them." Lewis, C.S.
"If Christianity is untrue, then no honest man will want to believe it, however helpful it might be: if it is true, every honest man will want to believe it, even if it gives him no help at all." Lewis, C.S.
"To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you." Lewis, C.S.
"Important as it is that we recognize God working in us, I would yet warn against an over preoccupation with the thought. It is a sure road to sterile passivity. God will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of election, predestination and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence say, 'Oh Lord Thou knowest.' Those things belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God's omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians, but it will never make saints." Tozer, A.W.
"I thank God for my handicaps, for through them I have found myself, my work and my God." Helen Keller
"God wants us to lay our burdens on Him and rest in His love. It's His responsibility to work out the purpose and plan in our hardships. Only our refusal to trust Him....can hinder His purposes in our lives." Joni Eareckson Tada
"The hands and feet of God are strengthened when the body includes someone who is suffering." Joni Eareckson Tada [Comment on I Cor 12:24-26]
"God uses suffering to purge sin from our lives, strengthen our commitment to Him, force us to depend on grace, bind us together with other believers, produce discernment, foster sensitivity, discipline our minds, spend our time wisely, stretch our hope, cause us to know Christ better, make us long for truth, lead us to repentance of sin, teach us to give thanks in time of sorrow, increase faith, and strengthen character." Joni Eareckson Tada
One thing we may be sure of, however: For the believer all pain has meaning; all adversity is profitable. There is no question that adversity is difficult. It usually takes us by surprise and seems to strike where we are most vulnerable. To us it often appears completely senseless and irrational, but to God none of it is either senseless or irrational. He has a purpose in every pain He brings or allows in our lives. We can be sure that in some way He intends it for our profit and His glory. Jerry Bridges Navigators
When you and I hurt deeply, what we really need is not an explanation from God but a revelation of God. We need to see how great God is; we need to recover our lost perspective on life. Things get out of proportion when we are suffering, and it takes a vision of something bigger than ourselves to get life's dimensions adjusted again. Warren W. Wiersbe Biography/Daily Devotional
"God's purpose in increasing our trials is to sensitize us to people we never would have been able to relate to otherwise." Joni Eareckson Tada
"God deliberately chooses weak, suffering and unlikely candidates to get His work done, so that in the end, the glory goes to God and not to the person." Joni Eareckson Tada
"Suffering drives us to our knees in weakness, where God wants us, so that His strength is most obvious, not ours." Joni Eareckson Tada
Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you.... as by the attitude you bring to life. John Homer Mills
The Constitution only guarantees the American People the right to pursue happiness; you have to catch it yourself. Benjamin Franklin
An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist sees calamity in every opportunity. Sir Winston Churchill
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal: nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. Thomas Jefferson
Life is 10% what you make it, and 90% how you take it. Irving Berlin
If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm. Vince Lombardi
The most handicapped person in the world is a negative thinker. Unknown
Everything starts with yourself - with you making up your mind about what you're going to do with your life. Tony Dorsett.
You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be. David Viscott
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing. Abraham Lincoln
Life can only disappoint you if you let it. Mark Hopkins
You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try. Beverly Sills
If you do not believe in yourself, do NOT blame others for lacking faith in you. Brendan Frances
Making a success of something has nothing to do with luck. Care, thought, and study go into making something succeed; luck is something you get playing the lottery or roulette. Unknown
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. Colin L. Powell
I've always tried to go a step past wherever people expected me to end up. Beverly Sills
The Difference between the "impossible" and the "possible" lies in a person's determination. Tommy Larsorda
If you can't change your fate, change your attitude. Amy Tan
Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely. Karen Kaiser Clark
Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you. They're supposed to help you discover who you are. Bernice Johnson Reagan
To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly. Henri Bergson
Holding resentment is like eating poison and then waiting for the other person to keel over. Unknown
If you want to be strong, know your weakness. Unknown He who conquers his anger has conquered an enemy. Unknown
Learning to live is learning to let go. Sogyal Rimpoche
Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much. Oscar Wilde
When you judge others, you define yourself. Unknown
God's timing is infallible. He takes every factor and contingency into account. We often want to pluck unripe fruit, but He will not be pressured into premature action. If He in His wisdom delays the answer to our prayer, that delay will in the long run prove to be for our good (Hebrews 12:10). It will be either because He has some better thing for us, or because there is something He desires to achieve in our lives that can be affected in no other way. J.Oswald Sanders, Guidelines for Disciples, pg 126
Tepid praying does not move God's arm. J.Oswald Sanders, Guidelines for Disciples, pg 124
The mature disciple will not stumble because of apparently unanswered prayer. He will not, however, adopt a fatalistic attitude; he will examine his prayers and seek to discover the cause of failure" J.Oswald Sanders, Guidelines for Disciples, pg 124-125
Dwight Moody is in of my list personal Hall of Faith. Moody was unquestionably the chief spokesman for the revivalist wing of the flourishing American evangelicals of his day. His central leadership role was very similar to that played by Charles Finney before the Civil War or that of Billy Graham in the era after 1950. Moody’s style on the platform was not sensational or spectacular, but more like that of a nineteenth-century businessman who won the hearts of his audiences by homely illustrations that effectively appealed to their sentiments.
Quotes by Moody:
It is easier for me to have faith in the Bible than to have faith in D.L. Moody, for Moody has fooled me lots of time. Dwight L. Moody
Sin will keep you from this book. This book will keep you from sin. Dwight L. Moody
We ought to see the face of God every morning before we see the face of man. Dwight L. Moody
We can stand affliction better than we can prosperity, for in prosperity we forget God. (D.L. Moody)
"Moses spent 40 years thinking he was somebody; 40 years learning he was nobody; and 40 years discovering what God can do with a nobody." DL Moody
The difference between listening to a radio sermon and going to church...is almost like the difference between calling your girl on the phone and spending an evening with her. Dwight L. Moody
God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves. Dwight L. Moody
(About Pride) God has cast our confessed sins into the depths of the sea, and He's even put a "no fishing" sign over the spot. Dwight L. Moody
At a certain meeting two and a half people were converted to Christ. "A friend asked if he meant two adults and a child. The facts were just the opposite - two children and an adult. When a child is led to Christ, a whole life is saved!" Dwight L Moody
God is still calling us to live by faith. (Ray C. Stedman, "What Faith Is")
The great enemy of faith is a complacent spirit, an attitude of self-satisfaction with the status quo. (Ray C. Stedman, "What Faith Is")
"Faith, for instance, is not positive thinking; that is something quite different. Faith is not a hunch that is followed. Faith is not hoping for the best, hoping that everything will turn out all right. Faith is not a feeling of optimism. Faith is none of these things, though all of them have been identified as faith." (Ray C. Stedman, "What Faith Is")
Faith is believing there is another dimension to life other than those which can be touched, tasted, seen or felt. There is more to life than that. There is also the realm of the spirit, the invisible spiritual kingdom of God. All the ultimate answers of life lie in that kingdom. (Ray C. Stedman, "What Faith Is")
Faith believes that God, in his grace, has stepped over the boundary into human history and told us some great and very valuable facts. (Ray C. Stedman, "What Faith Is")
Faith believes them and adjusts its life to those facts and walks on that basis. (Ray C. Stedman, "What Faith Is")
If faith is the gaze of the heart at God, and if this gaze is but the raising of the inward eyes to meet the all-seeing eyes of God, then it follows that it is one of the easiest things possible to do. A.W. Tozer
God has reserved to Himself the right to determine the end of life, because He alone knows the goal to which it is His will to lead it. It is for Him alone to justify a life or to cast it away. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Wherever there is any element of pride or of conceit, Jesus cannot expound a thing. He will take us through the disappointment of a wounded pride of intellect, through disappointment of heart. He will reveal inordinate affections-things over which we never thought He would have to get us alone. Oswald Chambers
If our hopes are being disappointed just now, it means that they are being purified. . .One of the greatest strains in life is the strain of waiting for God. Oswald Chambers - "My Utmost For His Highest" (p 53)
Never consider whether you are of use; but ever consider that you are not your own but His. Oswald Chambers- "My Utmost For His Highest" (p 64)
The thing that tells in the long run for God and for men is the steady persevering work in the unseen, and the only way to keep the life uncrushed is to live looking to God. Oswald Chambers- "My Utmost For His Highest" (p 66)
It is a life of FAITH, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing Who makes us "go." Oswald Chambers- "My Utmost For His Highest"(p 79)
Many of us are loyal to our notions of Jesus Christ, but how many of us are loyal to Him?. . .Faith is not intelligent understanding, faith is deliberate commitment to a Person where I see no way. Oswald Chambers- "My Utmost For His Highest" (p 88)
After we have been perfectly related to God in sanctification, our faith has to be worked out in actualities. We shall be scattered, not into work, but into inner desolations and made to know what internal death to God's blessings means. Are we prepared for this? Oswald Chambers- "My Utmost For His Highest" (p 95)
God is never in a hurry. Oswald Chambers- "My Utmost For His Highest" (p 95)
We have no choice in what we want to do, whatever God's programmed may be we are there, ready. . . A ready person never needs to get ready. Oswald Chambers- "My Utmost For His Highest" (p l09)
The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never get your eyes on the obstacle or on the difficulty. Oswald Chambers- "My Utmost For His Highest" (p 250)
It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him. Oswald Chambers- "My Utmost For His Highest" (p 243)
“The fact is, if there were no sin in the world, there would be no suffering. God allows suffering as part of his judgement, but he also uses it for our redemption-to shape our character and build up our faith.” R.C. Sproul
“We need to begin by recognizing that God is sovereign over all tribulations. In the midst of tribulation, instead of losing myself in trying to discern for sure what the cause is and trying to figure out why this thing is happening to me, it’s important that I ask the deeper question, How am I to respond to it?” R.C. Sproul "
God wants us to lay our burdens on Him and rest in His love. It's His responsibility to work out the purpose and plan in our hardships. Only our refusal to trust Him....can hinder His purposes in our lives." Joni Eareckson Tada
Faith recognizes the fact that God is in control of my life. Whether I believe it or not, it's a fact that God is in control of the world. If I don't believe it, I"m just robbing myself of the enjoyment of the fact. Paul Little
It matters little what form of prayer we adopt or how many words we use. What matters is the faith which lays hold on God, knowing that He knows our needs before we even ask Him. That is what gives Christian prayer its boundless confidence and its joyous certainty. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
When you accept rather than fight your circumstances ---even though you don't understand them --- you open your heart's gate to God's love, peace, joy and contentment. Amy Carmichael
Most of the verses written about praise in God's Word were voiced by people faced with crushing heartaches, injustice, treachery, slander, and scores of other difficult situations. Joni Eareckson Tada, Joni and Friends
"God's purpose in increasing our trials is to sensitize us to people we never would have been able to relate to otherwise." Joni Eareckson Tada
"God deliberately chooses weak, suffering and unlikely candidates to get His work done, so that in the end, the glory goes to God and not to the person." Joni Eareckson Tada
"Suffering drives us to our knees in weakness, where God wants us, so that His strength is most obvious, not ours." Joni Eareckson Tada
"God cannot use mightily the man whom he has not wounded deeply." AW Tozer
"Although our suffering is real and although our pain abides, we know that this is the way that God in His magnificent sovereignty has chosen to save the world." RC Sproul, Reason to Believe
"This is God's universal purpose for all Christian suffering - more contentment in God and less satisfaction with self." John Piper
Union between Christ and his people was planned already in eternity, in the sovereign pretemporal decision whereby God the Father selected us as his own. Christ himself was chosen to be our Savior before the creation of the world (1 Pet. 1:20); Ephesians 1:4 teaches us that when the Father chose Christ, he also chose us. - - by Anthony Hoekema
God has reserved to Himself the right to determine the end of life, because He alone knows the goal to which it is His will to lead it. It is for Him alone to justify a life or to cast it away. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
We have no choice in what we want to do, whatever God's programmed may be we are there, ready. . . A ready person never needs to get ready. Oswald Chambers- “My Utmost For His Highest" (p l09)
"Grace is but Glory begun, and Glory is but Grace perfected." Edwards, Jonathan
"This is the mystery of the riches of divine grace for sinners, for by a wonderful exchange our sins are now not ours but Christ's, and Christ's righteousnes." Luther, Martin
"Bear up the hands that hang down, by faith and prayer; support the tottering knees. Have you any days of fasting and prayer? Storm the throne of grace and persevere therein, and mercy will come down." Wesley, John
"In efficacious grace we are not merely passive, nor yet does God do some and we do the rest. But God does all, and we do all. God produces all, we act all. For that is what produces, viz. our own acts. God is the only proper author and fountain; we only are the proper actors. We are in different respects, wholly passive and wholly active." Edwards, Jonathan
"Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that 'the just shall live by his faith.' Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise." Luther, Martin
"No erudition, no purity of diction, no width of mental outlook, no flowers of eloquence, no grace of person can atone for lack of fire. Prayer ascends by fire. Flame gives prayer access as well as wings, acceptance as well as energy. There is no incense without fire; no prayer without flame." Bounds, E.M.
"In Shansi I found Chinese Christians who were accustomed to spend time in fasting and prayer. They recognized that this fasting, which so many dislike, which requires faith in God, since it makes one feel weak and poorly, is really a Divinely appointed means of grace. Perhaps the greatest hindrance to our work is our own imagined strength; and in fasting we learn what poor, weak creatures we are-dependent on a meal of meat for the little strength which we are so apt to lean upon." Taylor, Hudson
"This is the mystery of the riches of divine grace for sinners; for by a wonderful exchange our sins are now not ours but Christ’s, and Christ’s righteousness is not Christ’s but ours." Luther, Martin
"This is the mystery of the riches of divine grace for sinners; for by a wonderful exchange our sins are now not ours but Christ’s, and Christ’s righteousness is not Christ’s but ours." Luther, Martin
"The bridge of grace will bear your weight, brother. Thousands of big sinners have gone across that bridge, yea, tens of thousands have gone over it. I can hear their trampings now as they traverse the great arches of the bridge of salvation. They come by the thousands, by their myriads, err since that day when Christ first entered His glory. They come and yet never a stone has sprung in that mighty bridge. Some have been the chief of sinners and some have come at the very last of their days but the arch has never yielded beneath their weight. I will go with them trusting to the same support. It will bear me over as it has for them." Spurgeon, Charles
This dual salutation is found in all the Pauline letters (with "mercy" add in 1 Tim. 1:2 and II Tim. 1:2). Grace is the divine favor showed to man, and peace is that state of spiritual well-being which follows as a result. More than a casual greeting, it bestows what it proclaims. Robert Mounce The Book of Revelation NICNT (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans: 1977) 68
Past grace is glorified by intense and joyful gratitude. Future grace is glorified by intense and joyful confidence. This faith is what frees us and empowers us for venturesome obedience n the cause of Christ. John Piper, Future Grace (Multnomah: 2005) 47
We have suffered from the preaching of cheap grace. Grace is free, but it is not cheap. People will take anything that is free, but they are not interested in discipleship. They will take Christ as Savior but not as Lord. Vance Havner
Law tells me how crooked I am; grace comes along and straightens me out. Dwight L. Moody
Many times I say, "I can't go up the hill once more. I can't do it again." And what is God's answer? Well, first it is important to know that God doesn't scold a man when his tiredness comes from his battles and his tears from compassion. Francis Schaeffer, Death in the City (Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press: 1969) 69
A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart. Charles G. Finney
They travel lightly whom God's grace carries. Thomas a Kempis
My dear brother, let God make of you what He will, He will end all with consolation, and shall make glory out of your suffering. Samuel Rutherford
The same fire which melts the wax hardens the clay; the same sun which makes the living tree grow, dries up the dead tree, and prepares it for burning. Nothing so hardens the heart of man as a barren familiarity with sacred things... it is not privileges alone which make people Christians, but the Grace of the Holy Ghost. J.C. Ryle
Many Christians seem to understand the concept of being saved by grace, but they have missed the concept of being sustained by grace. James D. Mallory, Jr.
...what God has done in Christ exhausts all that God has to do for us. R.C. Lucas
Grace despised is grace forfeited, like Esau's birthright. They that will not have Christ when they may shall not have him when they would. Matthew Henry
"God wants us to lay our burdens on Him and rest in His love. It's His responsibility to work out the purpose and plan in our hardships. Only our refusal to trust Him....can hinder His purposes in our lives." Joni Eareckson Tada
"God uses suffering to purge sin from our lives, strengthen our commitment to Him, force us to depend on grace, bind us together with other believers, produce discernment, foster sensitivity, discipline our minds, spend our time wisely, stretch our hope, cause us to know Christ better, make us long for truth, lead us to repentance of sin, teach us to give thanks in time of sorrow, increase faith, and strengthen character." Joni Eareckson Tada
One thing we may be sure of, however: For the believer all pain has meaning; all adversity is profitable. There is no question that adversity is difficult. It usually takes us by surprise and seems to strike where we are most vulnerable. To us it often appears completely senseless and irrational, but to God none of it is either senseless or irrational. He has a purpose in every pain He brings or allows in our lives. We can be sure that in some way He intends it for our profit and His glory. Jerry Bridges Navigators
"Suffering drives us to our knees in weakness, where God wants us, so that His strength is most obvious, not ours." Joni Eareckson Tada
"Salvation is free, ... but discipleship will cost you your life." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
...the eyes of God will always be attentive to guard those who shall be attentive to his instructions. John Calvin
The Lord will not save those he cannot command. A.W. Tozer Humility is the secret of fellowship, and pride the secret of division. Robert C. Chapman
God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves. Dwight L. Moody
Pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes. John Ruskin
Pride consists in an unduly exalted opinion of one's self. It is, therefore, impatient of a rival, hates a superior, and cannot endure a master. Edward Payson
When men stand high their heads do not grow dizzy till they look down; when men look down upon those that are worse than themselves, or less holy than themselves, then their heads turn round; looking up would cure this disease. The most holy men, when once they have fixed their eyes awhile upon God's holiness, and then looked upon themselves, have been quite out of love with themselves. William Gurnall
Proud hearts breed proud looks and stiff knees. Charles Spurgeon
Many ask good questions with a design rather to justify themselves than inform themselves, rather proudly to show what is good in them than humbly to see what is bad in them. Matthew Henry
Pride is at the bottom of a great many errors and corruptions, and even of many evil practices, which have a great show and appearance of humility. Matthew Henry
posted by Jim @ 9:16 PM
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