Charles R. Swindoll Quotations | Page 3

The habit of always putting off an experience until you can afford it, or until the time is right, or until you know how to do it is one of the greatest burglars of joy. Be deliberate, but once you've made up your mind -jump in.

Nothing speaks louder or more powerfully than a life of integrity

When a person does something, it has the man or woman look about it. It drips with humanity. You can follow the logic of it and see the meaning behind it.

If the pace and the push, the noise and the crowds are getting to you, it's time to stop the nonsense and find a place of solace to refresh your spirit

I know of no realm of life that can provide more companionship in a lonely world or greater feelings of security and purpose in chaotic times than the close ties of a family.

Stand still... and refuse to retreat. Look at it as God looks at it and draw upon His power to hold up under the blast.

With vision there is no room to be frightened. No reason for intimidation. It's time to march forward! Let's be confident and positive!

Encouragement is awesome. It (can) actually change the course of another person's day, week, or life.

My order of priorities reflects the level of my commitment to Christ. Whoever or whatever is in first place, if it isn't the Lord Jesus, is in the wrong place.

If you want to stop an argument, close your mouth.

The lens of fear magnifies the size of uncertainty.

People who inspire others are those who see invisible bridges at the end of dead-end streets

Every one of us can blame somebody for something that has happened in our lives. But don't waste your time. What we need most is a steady stream of love flowing among us. Love that quickly forgives, willingly overlooks, and refuses to take offense.

Home is the bottom line of life, the anvil upon which attitudes and convictions are hammered out the single most influential force in our earthly existence. No price tag can adequately reflect its value.

Who can ever measure the benefit of a mother's inspiration?

Sometimes we are to guard our heart...protect it from invasion and keep things safe and secure. Sometimes we should give our heart... let certain qualities out and release them to others

If you want to be a person with a large vision, you must cultivate the habit of doing the little things well.

How important is the heart! It is there that character is formed. It alone holds the secrets of true success. It's treasures are priceless - but they can be stolen.

No one is immune to temptation. Not even a hero. Not even a nobody. Not even people like you and me. Lust is never very far away. And just when you least expect it, there it is again.

Vision encompasses vast vistas outside the realm of the predictable, the safe, the expected.

When the Lord makes it clear you're to follow Him in this new direction, focus fully on Him and refuse to be distracted by comparisons with others.

There can be no more reliable authority on earth than God's Word, the Bible. This timeless, trustworthy source of truth holds the key that unlocks life's mysteries. It alone provides us with the shelter we need in times of storm.

The secret to responsible trust is acceptance. Acceptance is taking from God's hand absolutely anything He gives, looking into His face in trust and thanksgiving, knowing that the confinement of the hedge we're in is good and for His glory. Even though what we're enduring may be painful, it's good simply because God Himself has allowed it.

This tendency to avoid problems and the emotional suffering inherent in them is the primary basis of all human mental illness

Ours is a bad, bad world, but does that mean nothing's good? Does it mean we have run out of things for which to be grateful? No, no, a thousand times, no!

One essential ingredient for being an original in the day of copies is courageous vision.

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to do and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody would do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

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.

God presents the Sabbath rest as a shelter we can enter. (Hebrews 4:1-11)

Don't be afraid of outgiving God. It is impossible to do that.

If you allow it, [suffering] can be the means by which God brings you His greatest blessings.

Friends make life a lot more fun.

Jesus' plan called for action, and how He expressed it predicted its success. He didn't say "you 'might' be my witnesses," or "you 'could' be my witnesses," or even "you 'should' be my witnesses." He said "you 'WILL' be my witnesses.

God does not dispense strength and encouragement like a druggist fills your prescription. The Lord doesn't promise to give us something to take so we can handle our weary moments. He promises us Himself. That is all. And that is enough.

Patience is a bitter plant that produces sweet fruit.

The benefits [of the resurrection] are innumerable. To list a few: Our illnesses don't seem nearly so final; Our fears fade and lose their grip; Our grief over those who have gone on is diminished; Our desires to press on in spite of the obstacles is rejuvenated... Our identity as Christians is strengthened as we stand in the lengthening shadows of saints down through the centuries, who have always answered back in antiphonal voice: 'He is risen, indeed!'

Oh, how horrible our sins look when they are committed by someone else.

Don't expect wisdom to come into your life like great chunks of rock on a conveyor belt. Wisdom comes privately from God as a byproduct of right decisions, godly reactions, and the application of spiritual principles to daily circumstances.

Believing in grace is one thing. Living it is another.

God never asked us to meet life's pressures and demands on our own terms or by relying upon our own strength. Nor did He demands that we win His favor by assembling an impressive portfolio of good deeds. Instead, He invites us to enter His rest.

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent of how I react to it. And so it is with you. we are in charge of our attitudes.

All he asks is that we trust Him, that we stand before Him in integrity and faith. God is just waiting for us to trust Him.

God alone is perfectly and consistently just. We forget; God remembers. We see an action; God sees a motive. This qualifies Him as the best recordkeeper and judge.

It's a delightful thing to receive a good word just at your time of need. Encourage someone today.

We shouldn't deny the pain of what happens in our lives. We should just refuse to focus only on the valleys.

Another problem with worry is that it makes you forget your worth. Worry makes you feel worthless, forgotten, and unimportant.

You want to mess up the minds of your children? Here's how - guaranteed! Rear them in a legalistic, tight context of external religion, where performance is more important than reality. Fake your faith. Sneak around and pretend your spirituality. Train your children to do the same. Embrace a long list of do's and don'ts publicly but hypocritically practice them privately... yet never own up to the fact that its hypocrisy. Act one way but live another. And you can count on it - emotional and spiritual damage will occur.

Someone has said,"Education is going from an unconscious to conscious awareness of one's ignorance."..No one has a corner on wisdom. All the name-dropping in the world does not heighten the significance of our character. If anything, it reduces it. Our acute need is to cultivate a willingness to learn and to remain teachable.

Consistency: It's the jewel worth wearing; It's the anchor worth weighing; It's the thread worth weaving; It's a battle worth winning.

You see, when we talk about perfect trust, we're talking about what gives us roots, character, the stability to handle the hard times. Trusting God doesn't alter our circumstances. Perfect trust in Him changes us.

Worry erases the promises of God from your mind.

Our identity as Christians is strengthened as we stand in the lengthening shadows of saints down through the centuries, who have always answered back in antiphonal voice: 'He is risen, indeed!'

Allowing anger to seethe on the back burner will lead to a very large lid blowing off a very hot pot.

Take charge of your thoughts!

Worry and faith just don't mix.

When you suffer and lose, that does not mean you are being disobedient to God. In fact, it might mean you're right in the center of His will. The path of obedience is often marked by times of suffering and loss.

A "godly" person is one who ceases to be self-centered in order to become God-centered.

Know yourself, like yourself, be yourself.

You know one of the most encouraging things about faith? It pleases God.

Discipline is training that corrects and perfects our mental faculties or molds our moral character. Discipline is control gained by enforced obedience. It is the deliberate cultivation of inner order.

Times may be hard and people may be demanding, but never forget that life is special. Every single day is a special day. God is at work in you!

We have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for the day. Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. Our attitude is everything.

Honesty has a beautiful and refreshing simplicity about it. No ulterior motives. No hidden meanings. An absence of hypocrisy, duplicity, political games, and verbal superficiality. As honesty and real integrity characterize our lives, there will be no need to manipulate others.

Don't get older; get better: Live realistically. Give generously. Adapt willingly. Trust fearlessly. Rejoice daily.

God would love to piece together the shattered fragments of your life. But He is waiting ... graciously waiting until the time is right. Until you are tired of the life you are living ... until you see it for what it really is. Until you are weary of coping ... of taking charge of your own life ... until you realize the mess you are making of it. Until you recognize your need for Him ... He's waiting.

Choose to view life through God's eyes. This will not be easy because it doesn't come naturally to us. We cannot do this on our own. We have to allow God to elevate our vantage point. Start by reading His Word, the Bible...Pray and ask God to transform your thinking. Let Him do what you cannot. Ask Him to give you an eternal, divine perspective.

Helen Rosevere was a British medical missionary in the Congo years ago during an uprising. Her faith was strong and her trust was confident, yet she was raped and assaulted and treated brutally. Commenting later, she said, "I must ask myself a question as if it came directly from the Lord, 'Can you thank Me for trusting you with this experience even if I never tell you why?'" What a profound thought. God has trusted each of us with our own set of unfair circumstances and unexplained experiences to deal with. Can we still trust in Him even if He never tells us why?

Dream big . . . don't let anybody or anything break your wishbone. Stay strong, full of faith, and courageous... keep that backbone straight. And along the way, don't forget to laugh and enjoy the journey.

I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position.

Grace has to be the loveliest word in the English language. It embodies almost every attractive quality we hope to find in others. Grace is a gift of the humble to the humiliated. Grace acknowledges the ugliness of sin by choosing to see beyond it. Grace accepts a person as someone worthy of kindness despite whatever grime or hard-shell casing keeps him or her separated from the rest of the world. Grace is a gift of tender mercy when it makes the least sense.

Prayer is an investment. The time you dedicate to prayer isn't lost; it will return dividends far greater than what a few moments spent on a task ever could. If we fail to cultivate this discipline, prayer winds up being our last resort rather than our first response.

Anything under God's control is never out of control.

Hope is like an anchor. Our hope in Christ stabilizes us in the storms of life, but unlike an anchor, it does not hold us back.

You won't find God at the Seminary and you won't find wisdom in the halls of intellectualism.

Your call will become clear as as your mind is transformed by the reading of Scripture and the internal work of God's Spirit. The Lord never hides His will from us. In time, as you obey the call first to follow, your destiny will unfold before you. The difficulty will lie in keeping other concerns from diverting your attention.

People who soar are those who refuse to sit back, sigh and wish things would change. They neither complain of their lot nor passively dream of some distant ship coming in. Rather, they visualize in their minds that they are not quitters; they will not allow life's circumstances to push them down and hold them under.

Focusing intently on Christ naturally results in a lifestyle of increasingly greater selflessness. And it has another benefit. Gazing on Christ gives us greater ability to look past life's trials and remain calm in the midst of what others would call chaos.

God has somehow placed into Christian's insides a special something, that extra inner reservoir of power that is more than a match for the stuff life throws at us.

Allow me to offer a simple definition of wisdom. Wisdom is looking at life from God's point of view.

Fortunately, God made all varieties of people with a wide variety of interests and abilities. He has called people of every race and color who have been hurt by life in every manner imaginable. Even the scars of past abuse and injury can be the means of bringing healing to another. What wonderful opportunities to make disciples!

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Encouragement is awesome. Think about it. It has the capacity to lift a man's or a woman's shoulders. To breathe fresh air into the fading embers of a smoldering dream. To actually change the course of another human being's day, week, or life.

Make a plan now to keep a daily appointment with God. The enemy is going to tell you to set it aside, but you must carve out the time. If you're too busy to meet with the Lord, friend, then you are simply too busy

Cultivate your own capabilities, your own style. Appreciate the members of your family for who they are, even though their outlook or style may be miles different from yours. Rabbits don't fly. Eagles don't swim. Ducks look funny trying to climb. Squirrels don't have feathers. Stop comparing. There's plenty of room in the forest.

Vision is the ability to see God’s presence, to perceive God’s power, to focus on God’s plan in spite of the obstacles.

People who soar, are those who refuse to sit back and wish things would change

Today is unique! It has never occurred and it will never be repeated. At midnight it will end, quietly, suddenly, totally. Forever. But the hours between now and then are opportunities with eternal possibilities.

Refuse to let your situation determine your attitude.

Laughter is the most beautiful and beneficial therapy God ever granted humanity.

Battles are won in the trenches, in the grit and grime of courageous determination; they are won day by day in the arena of life.

We aren't just thrown on this earth like dice tossed across a table. We are lovingly placed here for a purpose

Worry is assuming responsibilities that you cannot handle. They truth is, they are responsibilities that God never intended for you to handle, because they are His.

The stronger the winds, the deeper the roots, and the longer the winds, the more beautiful the tree.

The more impossible the situation, the greater God accomplishes His work.

No, the thing that makes for greatness is determination, persisting in the right direction over the long haul, following your dream, staying at the task.

Nothing is so common as unsuccessful men with talent. They lack only determination.

Do you want to be wise? Choose wise friends

Encourage one another. Many times a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept people on their feet.

On tough days, you gotta have heart. Don't quit, whatever you do. Persevere.

The past is over... forget it. The future holds hope... reach for it.