Charles R. Swindoll Quotations | Page 2

No pressure is greater than God's power.

To require God to prove that He is able and willing to fulfill His promises would be proof positive that one does not trust Him.

Noise and crowds have a way of siphoning our energy and distracting our attention, making prayer an added chore rather than a comforting relief

When you accept the fact that sometimes seasons are dry and times are hard and that God is in control of both, you will discover a sense of divine refuge, because the hope then is in God and not in yourself.

Tell yourself right now and throughout today, that it's okay to draw away from the maddening crowd. Jesus did; so can you.

There is only one you. God wanted you to be you. Don't you dare change just because you're outnumbered!

When we have God in clear focus, His powerful presence eclipses our fear.

In the wilderness, God's covenant people struggled with a choice between feeding their bellies and nourishing their souls. God provided manna-a breadlike food that fell to the ground during the night-to sustain the wandering Israelites and to teach them how to value His Word more than physical fulfillment.

Without a quest, life is quickly reduced to bleak black and wimpy white, a diet too bland to get anybody out of bed in the morning. A quest fuels our fire. It refuses to let us drift downstream gathering debris.

Those who feed on rumors are small, suspicious souls.

When we panic, we instinctively turn to our own internal resources because we doubt Him.

Boldness in the course of a noble fight is worth the risk... If you stand on truth, you'll only regret your timidity later, but you'll never regret being bold.

Cults use our vocabulary, but they don't use our dictionary.

People are far more important than rigid rules and demanding expectations.

When Christ becomes our central focus, contentment replaces our anxiety as well as our fears and insecurities.

Good intentions and earnest effort are not enough. Only Jesus can make an otherwise futile life productive.

Jesus has prepared the way and has made following our destiny possible, whereas we are helpless by ourselves. We can find and fulfill our purpose by responding to the clear, simple call of Jesus Christ: "Follow Me." He is the doorway to fulfilling our destiny, where our divine design and God-ordained purpose live in perfect harmony.

Grace releases and affirms. It doesn't smother. Grace values the dignity of individuals. It doesn't destroy. Grace supports and encourages. It isn't jealous or suspicious.

Of all the things God created, I am often most grateful He created laughter.

Jesus never commanded believers to produce fruit. Fruit is the purpose of the branch, but it is not the responsibility of the branch. The branch cannot produce anything on it's own. However, if it remains attached to the vine, it will receive life-sustaining sap, nourishment, strength, everything it needs.

Just as bank tellers need a thorough knowledge of legitimate currency in order to spot counterfeit bills, so Christians need a thorough knowledge of the Bible in order to spot bogus religious teachings. How grounded are you in the Scriptures? How deep are your theological roots? How capable are you of detecting false teachings?

In our rough and rugged individualism, we think of gentleness as weakness, being soft and virtually spineless. Not so! Gentleness includes such enviable qualities as having strength under control, being calm and peaceful when surrounded by a heated atmosphere, emitting a soothing effect on those who may be angry or otherwise beside themselves, and possessing tact and gracious courtesy that causes others to retain their self-esteem and dignity. Instead of losing, the gentle gain. Instead of being ripped off and taken advantage of, they come out ahead!

Don't seek more days in your life but more life in your days.

Give us an intense distaste for things that displease You and a renewed pleasure in things that bring You honor and magnify Your truth.

At least one indication of unbelief is the tendency to measure life's challenges against our own adequacy instead of God's promises. To enter our Sabbath rest, we must put an end to self-reliance - trusting in our own abilities to overcome difficulties, rise above challenges, escape tragedies, or achieve personal greatness.

We gain the ability to rejoice under pressure through a carefully monitored training program directed by the Lord Himself.

It takes faith to find personal significance in your relationship with God rather than how much money you earn, how beautiful you look, how many toys you own, how many trophies you collect, or how much territory you conquer and control.

You and I can become so dedicated to the will of God, we can be so driven by a false sense of purpose, that we might inadvertently take matters into our own hands and leave God completely out of the loop.

It's easy to get attached to idols, good things inappropriately adored. But when you have Jesus in the centre of a room, everything else only junks up the decor.

...when you trust the Lord God to give you the next step, when you wait in humility upon Him, *He* will open the doors or close them, and you'll get to rest and relax until He says, 'Go.

Think first. Talk less. Start today.

Rejoicing is clearly a spiritual command. To ignore it, I need to remind you, is disobedience.

There is no counsel like God's counsel. No comfort like His comfort. No wisdom more profound than the wisdom of the Scriptures.

Sometimes people can't see past us to hear our message. We never have a second chance to leave a first impression.

Hope doesn't require a massive chain where heavy links of logic hold it together. A thin wire will do...just strong enough to get us through the night until the winds die down.

Like sin itself, Satan appeals to the senses. He originated and perfected the art of disguising evil as good.

Adversity is a good test of our resiliency, our ability to cope, to stand back up, to recover from misfortune. Adversity is a painful pedagogue.

The best tests of my Christian growth occur in the mainstream of life, not in the quietness of my study

Thanksgiving is a time of quiet reflection; an annual reminder that God has, again, been ever so faithful. The solid and simple things of life are brought into clear focus.

God never calls His people to accomplish anything without promising to supply their every need.

Faith itself cannot accomplish anything, yet without faith, no one can fly.

Man is the only animal that when you pat him on the head, his head swells up.

Two words will help you cope when you run low on hope: accept and trust.

While God is not the author of evil and He never prompts or condones sin, nothing occurs without His sovereign oversight. Others may choose to do evil deeds and God's people may suffer in the short term, but He will transform the evil intentions of evil people into opportunities for the enrichment of those in His care.

When we attempt to find meaning in the pursuit of pleasure, the commitment to a job, or through plumbing intellectual depths, we all eventually find in each of these pursuits a dead end.

God's heavenly plan doesn't always make earthly sense.

Not once does the Bible report that (Jesus) rushed anywhere. He was often busy, but never in a mad dash. And yet He perfectly accomplished all the Father designed for Him to do.

If I had my life to live over, I'd have spent more hours in worship.

Precious few are those who can live in the lap of luxury ... who can keep their moral, spiritual and financial equilibrium ... while balancing on the elevated tightrope of success. ... there is about one in a hundred who can dance to the tune of success without paying the piper named Compromise.

It is in lonely solitude that God delivers His best thoughts, and the mind needs to be still and quiet to receive them.

In spite of the extent to which Solomon went to find happiness, because he left God out of the picture, nothing satisfied. It never will. Satisfaction in life will never occur until there is a meaningful connection with the living Lord above the sun.

...the single most important issue in all of life (is) your relationship with the living God... how you can know Him in a personal and meaningful way.

You may be going through a trial so overwhelming that it's borderline unbearable. You want to see the end of the tunnel. Which is only natural, because once we see that little speck of light, we feel we can make it through to the finish. But God's tunnels are often twisting, too complex and dark to see the light for many days. In such settings He says, "In that dark, twisting, seemingly endless period of time, trust Me. Stop running scared! Stop fearing!"

Faith is like lighting the torch that passes from one person to the next. You can't light the torch of another if yours isn't burning.

Worry is characteristic of the heathen, not the Christian.

People who are close to God cultivate a personal intimacy with Him like a good gardener cultivates beautiful flowers.

Our great tendency in this age is to increase our speed, to run faster, even in the Christian life. In the process our walk with God stays shallow, and our tank runs low on fumes. Intimacy offers a full tank of fuel that can only be found by pulling up closer to God, which requires taking necessary time and going to the effort to make that happen.

Christlikeness is a journey, not a destination. The joy is in the journey.

Next time you're faced with a credit-purchase decision, wait. Don't say no necessarily. Just wait. I challenge you to present your need to the Lord before presenting it to a bank, and see what He does with it.

Part of the thrill of guiding children into adulthood is the release. But it's also a parent's greatest act of surrender. Still, you have to let them go. Start now.

It's not our church; it's God's - it's not our responsibility to run it!

When each elder or pastor has his will aligned with the Lord's, we waste no time arguing for our own.

Many seducers clutter the simple message of the gospel with legalistic additions, with convoluted attempts to legitimize moral compromise, and with psychological theories that turn churches into relational support groups instead of houses of worship.

First impressions never have a second chance.

If you only knew what God had to take me through to get me to the place where he could use me to be a blessing to other people, I doubt whether you would be willing to pay the price.

Love has been called the most effective motivational force in all the world. When love is at work in us, it is remarkable how giving and forgiving, understanding and tolerant we can be.

Walk by faith! Stop the plague of worry. Relax! Learn to say, "Lord, this is Your battle."

The pursuit of happiness is a matter of choice...it is a positive attitude we choose to express. It is not a gift delivered to our door each morning, nor does it come through the window. And it is certain that our circumstances are not the things that make us joyful. If we wait for them to get just right, we will never laugh again.

I am convinced that wise planning is good. But plans, like material possessions, must always be held loosely. Yes - always! Plan wisely, but be ready for God to rearrange things and take you along paths that may feel dangerous to you. Don't sweat it; He knows what He's doing. And He isn't obligated to inform you ... or request permission to upset your neat little agenda!

You will find a common dichotomy in life. Those who don't have vision or determination, and refuse to dream the impossible, are always in the majority.

Let`s choose each day and every day to keep an attitude of faith and joy and belief and compassion.

Deep, contended joy comes from a place of complete security and confidence [in God] - even in the midst of trial.

We continually encounter hardships. People disappoint us. We disappoint ourselves. But God is constant and compassionate. We are not alone. He cares. Against all reason, the transcendent God loves us so much that He has committed Himself to us.

We are in charge of our attitudes.

One of the marks of maturity is the ability to disagree without becoming disagreeable

Humility - the discipline of putting others ahead of self, the choice to value others above self - is, at its core, a matter of faith.

You can choose to be a drag and a burden, or an inspiration and encouragement.

Envy is one of the great enemies of active spirituality. It keeps us from loving our neighbours, from functioning with others in community, and from affirming people's unique worth. It also steals contentment from the heart. Is there anything or anyone you are envious of?

Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hopes. When my attitudes are right, there is no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.

The size of a challenge should never be measured by what we have to offer. It will never be enough. Furthermore, provision is God's responsibility, not ours. We are merely called to commit what we have - even if it's no more than a sack lunch.

If we choose to be offended when we don't get our own way, Then we're going to live constantly on the edge of anger. But if we say to ourselves, " A merry heart does good like a medicine," It'll make all the difference in the world.

To be used of God. Is there anything more encouraging, more fulfilling? Perhaps not, but there is something more basic: to meet with God. To linger in His presence, to shut out the noise of the city and, in quietness, give Him the praise He deserves. Before we engage ourselves in His work, let's meet Him in His Word... in prayer... in worship.

In place of our exhaustion and spiritual fatigue, God will give us rest. All He asks is that we come to Him...that we spend a while thinking about Him, meditating on Him, talking to Him, listening in silence, occupying ourselves with Him - totally and thoroughly lost in the hiding place of His presence.

Joy is a deeply felt contentment that transcends difficult circumstances and derives maximum enjoyment from every good experience.

The beautiful thing about this adventure called faith is that we can count on Him never to lead us astray.

And when God steps in, His working is like the difference between a skyscraper and a star.

Focus on your marriage. Because that's the nucleus of the home, whatever you do to restore its health and strength will naturally restore what's broken among the other relationships. If you have no children yet, this will make a comfortable nest for them to begin life well. If you have children, the changes you make in your marriage will affect the rest of the household more quickly and dramatically than you think.

Courage is not limited to the battlefield or the Indianapolis 500 or bravely catching a thief in your house. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are the inner tests, like remaining faithful when nobody's looking, like enduring pain when the room is empty, like standing alone when you're misunderstood.

Authentic men aren't afraid to show affection, release their feelings, hug their children, cry when they're sad, admit it when they're wrong, and ask for help when they need it.

Jesus kept it simple. The lesson wasn't complicated. 'I speak; you believe My word; your son will be fine.' We complicate what God has made simple by seeing the world through human eyes. We want to see in order to believe and presume that our limitations are His.

It is often just as sacred to laugh as it is to pray.

No marriage is "too dead" for the Lord to restore.

The beautiful thing about encouragement is that anybody can do it.

The devil, darkness, and death may swagger and boast, the pangs of life will sting for a while longer, but don't worry; the forces of evil are breathing their last. Not to worry...He's risen!

The Promised Land was a tangible representation of God's ultimate desire for His people, but they failed to comprehend His gift for at least three reasons: It was unconditionally promised, it was outrageously generous, and it was absolutely free. None of those make sense in the world as we know it...

Have you ever studied Jesus's approach to talking with people? He didn't always fill the space with answers for them. Let's learn to do that with our fellow learners. Let's give them room to think and answer for themselves.

Trusting God doesn't alter our circumstances. Perfect trust in Him changes us.

It's not enough merely to believe there is a God. You must believe in the God who is there.

Good listeners believe they can learn something from everyone.

Let your life yield a sweet, winsome melody that this old world needs so desperately. Yes you can if you will.