spiritual growth quotes

I know that when I pray, something wonderful happens. Not just to the person or persons for whom I’m praying, but also something wonderful happens to me. I’m grateful that I’m heard.

God always wants us to be growing.

Spend more time in study and prayer. That’s the secret of successful evangelism.

I deal with more practical issues of the Bible.

When you make a mistake and the devil comes and tells you ‚You’re no good,‘ you don’t have to take on the guilt and condemnation he wants to put on you. No! You can immediately confess your mistake to God, thank Him for forgiving you and cleansing you with the blood of Jesus, and move forward in the victory of His grace and forgiveness.

If you want to become fully mature in the Lord, you must learn to love truth. Otherwise, you will always leave open a door of deception for the enemy to take what is meant to be yours.

Humility may well be one of the most difficult of the fruit of the Spirit to be cultivated in us – and to maintain. That’s because without humility, it’s not likely that you will put your complete trust in God.

There’s a part of you – the born-again part, your spirit – that’s dead to sin. That’s why it bothers you now when you sin. The ‚wilderness‘ part of you – your soul – is your unrenewed mind, out-of-control emotions, and stubborn will.

We can never make ourselves better by trying… praying more or longer, studying more of the Word, performing good works, etc. Don’t get me wrong… it’s not bad to do any of these things. In fact, it’s good. It’s just that doing them in God’s power is the only way those things will have any real and lasting effect in our lives.

I’ve learned through my own relationship with God that He’s not expecting me to be perfect; He wants me to do my best to be in His will and take steps of faith as He leads me, through His Word and the promptings He speaks to my heart.

There is absolutely no power in our human effort to live holy. It is only by His grace. And the result of receiving grace is we get better at living like Christ, which is something we all want, right?

In my relationship with God, I’ve learned that if I follow a ‚formula‘ for how I spend my time with Him, then I’m just accomplishing a checklist of things I feel obligated to do to please Him. This makes my spiritual life more about doing what I need to do to fulfill an obligation than something meaningful.

When we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, something wonderful happens: God begins to change our desires, and we want to be more like Him.

Everything God tells us to do is for our good. Whether it’s direction you get in His Word or something He’s specifically put in your heart for your situation in life, the absolute best thing you can ever do is obey Him promptly and completely.

Each time we cooperate with God, we take one more giant step forward. Because when God asks us to change, it means that He always has something better to give us – more freedom, greater joy, and greater blessings.

As you read or listen to God’s Word and spend time talking to Him in prayer, your spirit will eventually become stronger than your flesh.

I am not promising that God will give you everything you want. There are times when we want things that God knows would not be good for us.

Prayer is such a basic foundation of a Christian’s relationship with God. It’s how we communicate and fellowship with Him. But a surprising number of people, young and old, new and even long-time Christians, say they’re not satisfied with their prayer life.

If you want to live in the fullness of God’s anointing, fill your mouth with His Word.

If you’re not careful to think and speak words of faith, worry will creep in, and it will not only steal your peace and joy, it will steal your ‚today.‘ The present is the greatest gift God ever gives us. So hold on to the peace that’s yours in Christ. Don’t let it go.

If God treats you well by teaching you a disastrous lesson, you never forget it.

If you will do what God tells you to do, there’s no person on Earth and no devil in Hell that can keep you from having what God wants you to have.

You’re not better than anybody else, but you’re not less than anybody else. You’re a child of the Most High God.

I’m amazed sometimes by the Christians who don’t really believe that God wants to help them and bless them.

Some people have a hard time getting rid of stuff. If that’s you, pray for God to give you the courage to get rid of things you don’t really need or things He wants you to give away. This will help keep your surroundings organized and clutter-free.

I’ve been studying the Bible for a long time. I remember that after the first five years or so of diligently studying the Word, I didn’t feel like I had made any progress. There were a lot of things in my life that were out of order, and I didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere.

Know that as a Christian, your destiny is to be Christlike in all of your ways.

Keep your nose out the sky, keep your heart to god, and keep your face to the raising sun.

Too many Christians live their lives like slaves – to the devil – because they believe his lies more than they trust God.

Many times, we miss out on God’s best because we give up too soon. We don’t realize how close we are to victory.

When you focus on being a blessing, God makes sure that you are always blessed in abundance.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

Sometimes God will deliver you from the fire, and other times God will make you fireproof.

Forgiveness is not a one-time thing that happened the day you received Christ. It is an everyday thing, for the rest of your life.

The Lord has often chosen to instruct His people in their times of trial.

I do know this: God does answer your prayers, but it’s not always in the way you expect. God knows what’s best for us, though, so there’s no need to worry when things don’t go how we originally wanted them to go.

I used to read five psalms every day – that teaches me how to get along with God. Then I read a chapter of Proverbs every day and that teaches me how to get along with my fellow man.

The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.

It’s very important for Christians to be honest with God, which often, you know, God is much more interested in who you are than who you want to be.

You can live your life angry, bitter, mad at somebody or even guilty, not letting go of your own mistakes, but you won’t receive the good things God has in store.

This Sunday School has been of help to me, greater perhaps than any other force in my Christian life, and I can ask no better things for you than that you, and all that shall come after you in this great band of workers for Christ, shall receive the same measure of blessedness which I have been permitted to have.

The wise use of your freedom to make your own decisions is crucial to your spiritual growth, now and for eternity.

When you align yourself with God’s purpose as described in the Scriptures, something special happens to your life.

In prayer, we stand where angels bow with veiled faces. There, even there, the cherubim and seraphim adore before that selfsame throne to which our prayers ascend. And shall we come there with stunted requests and narrow, contracted faith?

Now I will say this to every sinner, though he should think himself to be the worst sinner who ever lived: cry to the Lord and seek Him while He may be found. A throne of grace is a place fitted for you. By simple faith, go to your Savior, for He is the throne of grace.

Religion and ritual can be vehicles for entering stillness. It says in Psalm 46:10, ‚Be still, and know that I am God.‘ But they are still just vehicles. The Buddha called his teaching a raft: You don’t need to carry it around with you after you’ve crossed the river.

Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ, and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.

Enlightenment is always there. Small enlightenment will bring great enlightenment. If you breathe in and are aware that you are alive – that you can touch the miracle of being alive – then that is a kind of enlightenment.

There are many, many Christians who practice Buddhism, and they become better and better Christians all the time.

If every day you practice walking and sitting meditation and generate the energy of mindfulness and concentration and peace, you are a cell in the body of the new Buddha. This is not a dream but is possible today and tomorrow.

Have we been going up and down in business, and are those round about us as yet unaware of our Christian character? Have we never spoken to them the Word of Life? Lord, arouse us to a deep concern for all with whom we come in contact from day to day.

I groan daily under a body of sin and corruption. Oh for the time when I shall drop this flesh, and be free from sin!

Lord keep us all from sin. Teach us how to walk circumspectly; enable us to guard our minds against error of doctrine, our hearts against wrong feelings, and our lives against evil actions.

Time was when they that feared the Lord spake often to one another; I am afraid that now they more often speak one against another.

Knowing that the time to sleep has come, the Lord sleeps, and does well in sleeping. Often, when we have been fretting and worrying, we should have glorified God far more had we literally gone to sleep.

God gives the nuts, but he does not crack them.

Grow in the root of all grace, which is faith. Believe God’s promises more firmly than ever. Allow your faith to increase in its fullness, firmness, and simplicity.

As you pray for the Holy Spirit to make you aware of thoughts that come into your mind that don’t line up with God’s Word, you’ll begin to realize when those thoughts come and you can renew your mind with the Word.

Cast away your sloth, your lethargy, your coldness, or whatever interferes with your chaste and pure love for Christ, your soul’s husband. Make Him the source, the center, and the circumference of all your soul’s range of delight.

Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.