A collection of quotes that I find interesting
A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy
“The man who has a right belief about God is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems”(2)
“The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God” (4)
“The picture of a nervous, ingratiating God fawning over men to win their favor is not a pleasant one; yet if we look at the popular conception of God, that is precisely what we see. Twentieth-century Christianity has put God on charity. So lofty is our opinion of ourselves that we find it quite easy, not to say enjoyable, to believe that we are necessary to God” (34)
“To be made for eternity and forced to dwell in time is for mankind a tragedy of huge proportions” (41)
“With the goodness of God to desire our highest welfare, the wisdom of God to plan it, and the power of God to achieve it, what do we lack? Surely we are the most favored of all creatures” (64)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
“Let us try and get away from the poverty and pettiness of our own little convictions and problems, and seek the wealth and splendor which are vouchsafed to us in Jesus Christ.” (39)
“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” (47)
“The response of the disciples is an act of obedience, not a confession of faith in Jesus.” (61)
“And what does the text inform us about the content of discipleship? Follow me, run along behind me! That is all. To follow in his steps is something which is void of all content. It gives us no intelligible programme for a way of life, no goal or ideal to strive after. It is not a cause which human calculation might deem worthy of devotion…” (62)
“You can only learn what obedience is by obeying.” (86)
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” (99)
“Discipleship is not limited to what you can comprehend. Plunge into the deep waters beyond your comprehension.” (103)
Andrew Murray, How to Work for God
“God’s work must be done God’s way and in God’s power. It is spiritual work to be done by spiritual men in the power of the Spirit.” (5)
“God makes grace abound, that good works may abound.” (63)
“Love is inventive. It seeks patiently and suffers long, until it finds a way to reach its object.” (69)
Andrew Murray, Daily Experience with God
“You are in danger of substituting prayer and Bible study for living fellowship with God.” (13)
“Human understanding, ‘It will deceive you with the thought that the truth, if received into the mind, will somehow surely enter your heart.’” (60)
“Unlearning is often the most important part of learning: Wrong impressions, prejudices, and beliefs are obstacles in the way of learning. Until these have been removed, the teacher labors in vain.” (81)
“The word, separate from God and his direct operation, cannot accomplish anything in us. The word is an instrument: God himself must use it.” (125)
Charles Spurgeon, Revival: The Spurgeon Collection
“Men dying, the Church slumbering, and error covering the land—doth not God say anything in all of this?” (12)
“To be upon the master’s errands is always well, but to sit at the Master’s feet is quite as necessary.” (21)
“Words, words, words; we have so many words, and they are but chaff.” (21)
“Wherefore does he compel us to use entreaties, unless it be that he loves to hear the voices of his children?” (21)
“The Church of God has never gained a victory but in answer to prayer. Her whole history is to the praise of the glory of a prayer-hearing God.” (21)
“I believe that half a dozen persons, with vital religion in their souls, and really in earnest, may pray a church right out of any ditch which it may have fallen, or bring it up even from the sepulcher where it has been buried, and make it live again in fulness of life.” (48)
“Those people who only sail in a little boat on a lake have no stories to tell of adventures at sea; but he who is to write a book describing long voyages must travel far out of sight of land, and behold the sea in time of storms, as well as in a calm.” (50)
“Your extremity is God’s opportunity. The difficulty all along has been to get to the end of you; for when a man gets to the end of himself, he has reached the beginning of God’s working.” (53)
“He who looks sinward has his back to God—he who looks Godward has his back to sin.”(71)
“What is not believed in practice is in fact not believed at all.”(84)
“The work of divine grace does not run in a groove, but breaks out where it seems least likely to do so.” (89)
“Man, what have they sins done for thee that thou shouldst prefer them to Jesus?” (102)
“They were Christian indeed, for they were Christian in their deeds.” (113)
“If preaching is not a supernatural exercise, it is a useless procedure.” (128)
“A man of no desire gets what he longs for.” (129)
“When you are at home let no one see your face till God has seen it.” (155)
“Pray brothers pray, for when God inspires you, your prayer is as potent as the decrees of God.” (160)
“God keeps the mercy back at times, and puts it out at compound interest, because he means to pay it to us interest and all; whereas if we had it at once, we should miss the interest, which sometimes doubles and trebles the principal. We are never losers by his delays, but always gainers.” (165)
“God is as much pleased to give you his blessing as ever you are to receive it. It is much to his honor as it is to your comfort. He takes more pleasure in your prayers than you do in his answer.” (167)
“When the pulpit is without Christ the pews are soon without people.” (185)
“A sermon without Christ at its beginning, middle, and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution.” (186)
“We have not believed him yet up to the hem of his garment.” (190)
“If you are quite alone, so much the better: there is more room for God. When desertions have cleaned the place out, and left you no friend, now every corner can be filled with deity.” (206)
Charles Spurgeon, Joy in Christ’s Presence
“To know that Jesus loves me is one thing, to be visited by him in love is much more.” (12)
“I am convinced that there is no great distance between heaven and earth, that the distance lies in our finite minds. When the Beloved visits us in the night, he turns our chambers into the vestibules of his palace halls. Earth rises to heaven wen heaven comes down to earth.” (14)
“God only works with those who are in his hand, and the more we lie hidden there, the more surely he will use us before long.” (27)
“It is a pity that we know so much about Christ and yet enjoy him so little. Our experience ought to keep pace with out knowledge.” (29)
Quotes about Leadership
“With God, timing is more important than time.” – Ron Dunn
“As with any change, one person’s disaster is another person’s opportunity.” - Spiritual Leadership, (2011), 9.
“An army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep” – Arab Proverb
“The American church is dying due to a lack of strong leadership. In this time of unprecedented and plentiful resources, the church is actually losing influence. The primary reason is the lack of leadership. Nothing is more important than leadership.” – George Barna, Leaders on Leadership, 18.
“Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomenon on earth.” – James MacGregor Burns, Leadership, 2.
“Popularity is not leadership. Results are.”– Peter Drucker, in The Leader of the Future, vii.
“They may have exhorted, manipulated, bullied, or held an office, but they have not led unless their people have adjusted their lives to God’s will.” – Spiritual Leadership, (2011), 37.
“We are sentenced to live with who we become.” – Max DePree, Leading Without Power, 32.
“In almost every case, the factors that eventually undermine us are shadows of the ones that contribute to our success.” – Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership, 22.
“Someone who never fails probably isn’t stretching enough.” – A Company of Leaders, 121.
“A mistake is an event, the full benefit of which has not yet been turned to your advantage.” – The Fifth Discipline, 154.
“The is no such thing as a self made spiritual leader.” – Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership, 33.
“If your place is not great enough to suit you, make it so. The minister who is unable to make a place great is too weak to hold a great one.” – L. R. Scarborough, With Christ After the Lost, 79.
“Good judgment is the result of experience. Experience is the result of bad judgment.” – On Leadership: Practical Wisdom from People Who Know, 157.
“A reputation is like fine china… expensive to acquire and easily broken.” – Warren Buffet in The Snowball, 485.
“If he is not willing to rise earlier and stay up later than others, to work harder and study more diligently than his contemporaries, he will not greatly impress his generation.” – Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership, 180.
“Make no mistakes in a hurry!” – Dwight Eisenhower in Ambrose, Eisenhower, 278.
“I often observe people in top positions doing the wrong things well.” – Warren Bennis, Why Leaders Can’t Lead, 18.
“A man has no right to occupy another man’s time unnecessarily.” – John Rockefeller, Titan, 173.
“Therefore no more words are wanted, but deeds.” – Hannibal, Hannibal: Enemy of Rome, 133.
“We have too many high sounding words and too few actions that correspond with them.” – Abigail Adams, in McCullough, John Adams, 21.
“It’s fine to reveal or even trumpet, your core values, but be careful about telling the world the exact location of the hill you’re willing to die on.” – Stephen Sample, The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership, 112.
“However inspiring martyrs may be, they do a poor job of leading organizations over the long haul.” – The Character of Leadership, 33.
“Next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained.” – The Duke of Wellington, Wellington, 250.
“A minister who inspires great actions must be a great minister.” – William Pitt the Elder, The Elder Pitt, 236.
“One who knows his weaknesses may become strong even at the weak point; but he who knows not his weak points cannot be strong at any point.” – A.B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, 469-470.
Quotes about Revival
“Revival does not need a defense; it needs to be experienced.” – Brian Edwards, Revival! A People Saturated with God, 22.
“I had rather see the real impressions of godlike nature upon my own soul, than have a vision from heaven, or angel sent to tell me my name were enrolled in the book of life.” – Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man, 48-49.
“But the humble person hath the advantage, when he is despised, that none can think more meanly of him than he doth of himself; and therefore he is not troubled at the matter, but can easily bear those reproaches which would wound the other to the soul.” – Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man, 81.
“How is it that while we make such great claims for the power of the Gospel, we see so little of the supernatural in operation?” - Duncan Campbell, The Price and Power of Revival, 21.
“The early church put power before influence… power, not influence, was the watchword of the early Church.” Duncan Campbell, The Price and Power of Revival, 23.
“It is fire that we want. The best advertising campaign that any church or any mission can put up is fire in the pulpit and a blaze in the pew. Let us be honest. We say ‘God send a revival,’ but are we prepared for the fire?” - Duncan Campbell, The Price and Power of Revival, 27.
“Revival is not normal any more than spiritual decline and backsliding are normal. They are opposite ends of the normal life of the church. Revival is supernormal and backsliding is subnormal.” - Brian Edwards, Revival, 30.
“God does not make suggestions. He speaks commands.” - Fresh Encounter, xi
“Revival is a divinely initiated work in which God’s people pray, repent of their sin, and return to a holy, Spirit-filled, obedient, love-relationship with God.” - Fresh Encounter, 15.
“God would have to deny His nature and refute His values not to deal with our sin.” - Fresh Encounter, 105.
“God is a tender, loving Father; so tender and so loving, that not one stroke, nor one cross, nor one trial more does He lay upon us, than is absolutely needful for our good; not a single ingredient does He put into our bitter cup, that is not essential to the perfection of the remedy.” - Octavius Winslow, Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul, 176.
“Of one thing a believer may be certain, that the Holy Spirit never leaves a seeking heart untouched. Skillful is all His surgery, tender all His healing.” - J. Edwin Orr, My All His All, 41.
“Get your texts from God—your thoughts, your words, from God… it is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God. A word spoken by you when your conscience is clear, and your heart full of God’s Spirit, is worth ten thousand words spoken in unbelief and sin.” - Robert Murray McCheyne, in James Alexander Stewart, William Chambers Burns and Robert Murray McCheyne, 23.
“How many today are really prepared to face the stark fact that we have been outmaneuvered by the strategy of hell, because we tried to meet the enemy on human levels by human strategy? In this we may have succeeded in making people church-conscious, without making them God-conscious.” - Duncan Campbell, in Arthur Wallis, In the Day of Your Power, xi.
“If you want to experience the life of Jesus, you have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus.” – John mark comer, The Ruthless Elimination Of Hurry, 82.