Understanding By Obeying

"Men would understand; they do not care to obey. They try to understand where it is impossible they could understand except by obeying. They would search into the work of the Lord instead of doing their part in it—thus making is impossible for the Lord to go on with his work, and for themselves to become capable of seeing and understanding what he does."

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald, George. Knowing the Heart of God. Compiled by Michael R. Phillips. Bethany House Publishers, 1990: p. 213.

What makes a Christian

"A Christian is one who does what the Lord Jesus tells him. Neither more nor less than that makes a Christian. It is not even understanding the Lord Jesus that makes one a Christian. It is doing what he tells us that makes us Christians, and that is the only way to understand him."

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald, George. Knowing the Heart of God. Compiled by Michael R. Phillips. Bethany House Publishers, 1990: p. 254.

The Rich, Young Ruler And The Rest Of Us

"There are good people who. . . cannot believe [the rich, young ruler] would have been better off without his wealth. The multitude of those who thus read the tale are of the same mind as the youth himself—in his worst moment, as he turned and went—with one vast difference: they are not sorrowful."

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald, George. Knowing the Hearth of God. Compiled by Michael R. Phillips. Bethany House Publishers, 1990: p. 202.

Possess The Kingdom, Inherit The Earth

"If we are the Lord's we possess the kingdom of heaven, and so inherit the earth. How many who call themselves by his name would have it otherwise: they would rather possess the earth and inherit the kingdom! Such as these fill our churches every Sunday: anywhere is suitable for the worship of Mammon."

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald, George. Knowing the Heart of God. Compiled by Michael R. Phillips. Bethany House Publishers, 1990: p. 200.

Free in Christ

"Christ came to set the captive free—no matter what kind of yoke binds them. He came to bind up the brokenhearted—no matter what broke the heart. He came to open the eyes of the blind—no matter what veiled their vision."

- Beth Moore

Source: Moore, Beth. Breaking Free: Discovering the Victory of Total Surrender. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2000. Pg. 22.

The Dust Of Self-Satisfaction

"The man who is proud of any accomplishment has not reached it. He is only proud of himself, and imagining a cause for his pride. If he had truly reached something worthwhile, he would already have begun to forget, for he who delights in contemplating what he has attained is not merely sliding back, but is already in the dust of self-satisfaction."

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald, George. Knowing the Heart of God. Compiled by Michael R. Phillips. Bethany House Publishers, 1990: p. 185.

Divine Love

"Be not disturbed by what you feel,
but set your thoughts on what you know
and what I have revealed to you,
and new faith shall spring forth.

Never doubt My love when things are dark.
Situations never change Me.
The deeper your need,
the more I will respond if you call on Me.
In this way you can turn the darkness into blessing.

Hold to My hand.
No other support is necessary.
Human love is comforting, but divine love,
the love of God the Father, is greater."

- Frances J. Roberts

Source: Roberts, Frances J. Progress of Another Pilgrim. Uhrichsville, Ohio: Barbour Publishing, 1970. Pg. 25-26.

Why God Gives His Spirit

"Each must carry the question that perplexes him to the Light of the World. To what purpose is the Spirit of God promised to them that ask it, if not to help them order the behavior of their way aright?"

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald, George. Knowing the Heart of God. Compiled by Michael R. Phillips. Bethany House Publishers, 1990: p. 175.

Safety in God's Arms

"We sleep in peace in the arms of God, when we yield ourselves up to His providence, in a delightful consciousness of His tender mercies; no more restless uncertainties, no more anxious desires, no more impatience at the place we are in; for it is God who has put us there, and who holds us in His arms. Can we be unsafe where He has placed us?"

- FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON

Source: Tileston, Mary W. Daily Strength for Daily Needs. Public Domain Books. Digital.

Goodness Is Not Boring

"Dull are those—at least they can have little of Christian imagination—who think that where all are good, things must be dull. It is because there is so little good yet in them that they know so little of the power and beauty of the merest life divine."

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald, George. Knowing the Heart of God. Compiled by Michael R. Phillips. Bethany House Publishers, 1990: p. 137.

The Will of God

"There are no disappointments to those whose wills are buried in the will of God."

- F. W. Faber

Source: Tileston, Mary W. Daily Strength for Daily Needs. Public Domain Books. Digital.

An Essential Part Of Our Being

"In how many souls has not the very thought of a real God awakened a longing to be different, to be pure, to be good? The fact that this feeling is possible, that a soul can become dissatisfied with itself, reveals that God is an essential part of its being."

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald, George. Knowing the Heart of God. Compiled by Michael R. Phillips. Bethany House Publishers, 1990: p.162.

Freedom of Conscience

"It is easy to cry "Freedom" when some theological dictator has his foot on your neck. It is a more principled position, however, to cry for freedom when you are in the majority but still lift up your voice on behalf of new minorities."

- Michael Williams

Source: Williams, Michael E., and Walter B. Shurden. Turning Points in Baptist History. 1st ed. Macon: Mercer UP, 2008. 28. Print.

Too Good To Be True

"To think anything too good to be true is to deny God..."

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald, George. Knowing the Heart of God. Compiled by Michael R. Phillips. Bethany House Publishers, 1990: p. 147.

True Faith

"The faith which will thus remove mountains is that confidence in God which comes from seeking nothing but His will. A man who was thus faithful would die of hunger sooner than say to the stone, 'Be bread.'"

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald, George. Unspoken Sermon Series I., II., and III. Public Domain Books, 2009. Electronic.

Fruit

"There's no fruit without some kind of root. So whatever comes out of our mouths actually comes from the roots that have taken hold deep in our souls."

- Louie Giglio

Source: Giglio, Louie. The Air I Breathe. Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, Inc. 2003. p. 92.

Potential For Good And Potential For Evil

"The greater the potential for good, the greater the potential for evil. That is what Jim and I found in the force of the love we bore for each other. A good and perfect gift, these natural desires. But so much the more necessary that they be restrained, controlled, corrected, even crucified, that they might be reborn in power and purity for God."

- Elizabeth Elliot

Source: Elliot, Elizabeth. Passion and Purity. Fleming H. Revell, 1997: p. 68.

The Ultimate Paradox

"Infinitely Awesome—Intimately Approachable. Creator—Father. Lord Almighty—Friend. A contradiction? No. A paradox? For sure."

- Louie Giglio

Source: Giglio, Louie. The Air I Breathe. Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, Inc. 2003. p. 70.

Why George Müller Started An Orphanage

"I certainly did from my heart desire to be used by God to benefit the bodies of poor children, bereaved of both parents, and seek in other respects, with the help of God, to do them good for this life;--I also particularly longed to be used by God in getting the dear orphans trained up in the fear of God;--but still, the first and primary object of the work was (and still is:) that God might be magnified by the fact, that the orphans under my care are provided with all they need, only by prayer and faith without anyone being asked by me or my fellow-laborers whereby it may be seen, that God is FAITHFUL STILL, and HEARS PRAYER STILL."

- George Müller

Source: Müller, George. Answers To Prayer From George Müller's Narratives. Compiled by A. E. C. Brooks. The Moody Press, 2008: p. 4-5.

How Great is Our God?

"So often in the Psalms we find expressions very similar to this one: "Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised." When you break it all down, true worship is simply catching sight of the greatness, majesty, glory, and grace of an infinite God. When God is not greatly praised, it's only because we don't think He's that great of a God. When our worship is small, it's because our concept of God is small. When we offer God little-bitty sacrifices, it's because we've somehow reduced him in our hearts to a little-bitty God. Our vision has become clouded, our hearts distracted."

- Louie Giglio

Source: Giglio, Louie. The Air I Breathe. Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, Inc. 2003. p. 55.

Faith Is Selfless

"Faith is the least self-regarding of the virtues. It is by its very nature scarcely conscious of its own existence. Like the eye which sees everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with the Object upon which is rests and pays no attention to itself at all."

- A. W. Tozer

Source: Tozer, A. W. The Pursuit of God. Christian Publications, 1982: p. 91.

Waiting For His Calling?

"Most of us use 'I'm waiting for God to reveal His calling on my life' as a means of avoiding action. Did you hear God calling you to sit in front of the television yesterday? Or to go on your last vacation? Or exercise this morning? Probably not, but you still did it. The point isn't that vacations and exercise are wrong, but that we are quick to rationalize our entertainment and priorities yet are slow to commit to serving God."

- Francis Chan

Source: Chan, Francis. Crazy Love: Overwhelmed By A Relentless God. David C. Cooke, 2008: p. 169.

Worship In Spirit and In Truth

"To worship God in spirit requires that we be alive on the inside, experiencing the life He gives by spiritual birth. Without His life, you can never truly worship. And to worship in truth means to worship God as He really is, bringing more than our words, but bringing words amplified by an authentic life that flows from being spiritually remade within."

- Louie Giglio

Source: Giglio, Louie. The Air I Breathe. Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, Inc. 2003. p. 43.

Lukewarm Toward Sin

"Lukewarm people don't really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin. They don't genuinely hate sin and aren't truly sorry for it; they're merely sorry because God is going to punish them."

- Francis Chan

Source: Chan, Francis. Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. David C. Cooke, 2008: p. 70.

The Blessing of Thankfulness

"It is certain that whatever seeming calamity happens to you, if you thank and praise God for it, you turn it into a blessing. Could you, therefore, work miracles, you could not do more for yourself than by this thankful spirit; for it heals with a word speaking, and it turns all that it touches into happiness."

- W. M. Law

Source: Tileston, Mary W. Daily Strength for Daily Needs. Public Domain Books. Digital.

The Privilege Of Giving Your Riches Away

"Do you find comfort in the fact that perhaps the Lord does not require of you what he required of the rich Jewish youth? Then I am sorry for you. Your relief is to know that the Lord does not require you to part with your money and possessions, but he also does not offer you himself instead! You did not sell him for thirty pieces of silver, but you are glad not to buy him with all that you have?"

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald George. Knowing the Heart of God. Edited by Michael R. Phillips. Bethany House Publishers, 1990: p. 58.

Burning the Destructible

"That which is immortal in God shall remain in man. The death that is in them shall be consumed. It is the law of Nature--that is, the law of God--that all that is destructible shall be destroyed. When that which is immortal buries itself in the destructible--when it receives all the messages from without, through the surrounding region of decadence, and none from within, from the eternal doors--it cannot, though immortal still, know its own immortality. The destructible must be burned out of it, or begin to be burned out of it, before it can _partake_ of eternal life."

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald, George. Unspoken Sermon Series I., II., and III. Johannesen, 1997. Digital.

God's Impartation Of Life

"life is nothing else than God Himself. It should be evident that there can be no true Christian sharing unless there is first an impartation of life. . . One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organization do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always."

- A. W. Tozer

Source: Tozer, A. W. (1966). Man: the dwelling place of god. Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, Inc.

Pursuing Knowledge vs. Pursuing Life

"It may be my reader will desire me to say how the Lord will save him from his sin. That is like the lawyer's question, 'Who is my neighbor?' . . . Such questions spring from the passion for the fruit of the tree of knowledge, not the fruit of the tree of life."

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald, George. Knowing the Heart of God. Edited by Michael R. Phillips. Bethany House Publishers, 1990: p. 213.

Worship

"Whatever you worship, you become obsessed with. Whatever you become obsessed with, you imitate. And whatever you imitate, you become. In other words, whatever you value most will ultimately determine who you are."

- Louie Giglio

Source: Giglio, Louie. The Air I Breathe. Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, Inc. 2003. p. 37.

False Explanations About God

"I hardly know which error is worse--the untruth of Christians who have erected a false system of doctrines to explain a God whose heart they have not sought to know, or the untruth of non-Christians who foolishly do not look beyond such flimsy fabrications. Neither side, it seems, is hungry to find the real truth, but only to build up or tear down something that is not even there!"

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald, George. Knowing The Heart Of God. Compiled, arranged, and edited by Michael R. Phillips. Bethany House Publishers, 1990: p. 19.

Faith

"Faith is the foot of the soul by which it can march along the road of the commandments. Love can make your feet move swiftly, but faith is the foot which carries the soul. Faith is the oil enabling the wheels of holy devotion and of earnest piety to move well, and without faith the wheels are taken from the chariot and we drag heavily."

- Charles Spurgeon 

 Source: Morning Devotion. 16 Mar 2011. Blue Letter Bible. 6 Mar 2011. <http://www.blueletterbible.org/devotionals/me/view.cfm?Date=03/16&Time=pm>

War

"Let's check back in with Paul. Remember his message to the men of Athens? Remember his audience? The council Paul addressed that day was called the Aeropagus, named after Ares, the Greek god of war. Isn't it interesting that this is the setting God chose for Paul to give this address on the real meaning of life? On this day God's words of truth landed in the very arena where opinions battled. Where war was waged daily to shape the philosophical foundation of man's existence."

- Louie Giglio

Source: Giglio, Louie. The Air I Breathe. Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, Inc. 2003. p. 34.

The Obedience Watershed

"It makes little difference in the end if Scripture is compromised by theological infiltration or by infiltration from the surrounding culture. It is the obeying of Scripture which is the watershed--obeying the Bible equally in doctrine and in the way we live in the full spectrum of life."

- Francis A. Schaeffer

Source: Schaeffer, Francis A. The Great Evangelical Disaster. Crossway Books, 1995: p. 64.

Purpose

" Well you know you and I, we were all obviously born into a world that’s very far from God. And when somebody is very far from God, obviously we don’t even know who our creator is anymore, even if we believe think we’re created. Many think they were just evolved. But here when you get far from who created you, you now have lost an identity as to even why you were created and therefore when you don’t even know why you were created, you don’t even know what success is, or what fulfillment is. And when you don’t even know what was planned in making you for and what the ultimate design and fulfillment of man was in the mind of God now you are just left to yourself to define your own objective. “I will be fulfilled when this has happened or that has happened…I will have succeeded when this thing happens.” And so we all have re-written our own personal success pictures and images of what we believe it is."

-Don McClure

Source: McClure, Don. Sermon on Faith. Calvary Chapel La Habra. 6 March 2011.

Strength in Christ

"Leave every anxiety at the foot of the cross. I have not exhausted My resources in helping you. Your faith is flagging. Go back to the Word and strengthen your soul with heavenly manna. I will keep you and bless you, and you shall bear My words to comfort others."

- Frances J. Roberts

Source: Roberts, Frances J. Progress of Another Pilgrim. Uhrichsville, Ohio: Barbour Publishing, Inc., 1970. p. 17.

Be Guarded, Guided and Governed

"If the Scripture teaches that truly knowing God - knowing Christ - guards and guides and governs our sexuality in purity and love, then we may be sure that a pastor, or anyone else, whose sexuality is not governed and guarded and guided in purity and love does not know God - at least not as he ought."

- John Piper

Source: Piper, John, and Justin Taylor. Sex and the Supremacy of Christ. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2005. 32. Print.

How You Shape Your Life

"Life is built on character, but character is built on decisions. The decisions you make, small and great, do to your life what the sculptor's chisel does to the block of marble. You are shaping your life by your thoughts, attitudes, and actions and becoming either more or less like Jesus."

- Warren W. Wiersbe

Source: Wiersbe, Warren W. On Being a Servant of God. Revised Edition. Baker Books, 2007: p. 47.

Move

"Be not hindered. You are being held by nothing more than the usual—the familiar, the humdrum schedule. Break out of it as I direct. Let it not imprison you, for I have much work for you to do in other pastures. MOVE, and I will order your steps as you go and I will give you rich ministry."

- Frances J. Roberts

Source: Roberts, Frances J. Progress of Another Pilgrim. Uhrichsville, Ohio: Barbour Publishing, Inc., 1970. p. 16.

Commitment & Continence

"God created human beings in his image - "male and female he created them" (Gen 1:27) - with capacities for intense sexual pleasure and with a calling to commitment in marriage and continence in singleness."

- John Piper

Source: Piper, John, and Justin Taylor. Sex and the Supremacy of Christ. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2005. 26. Print.

The Testimony of Judas

"We may depend upon it that if Judas had ever seen, in public or in private, anything in the character of Jesus inconsistent with His claims, he would, if only to mitigate the poignancy of his remorse, have dragged it into the light of day. But conscience compelled him to testify that He whom he betrayed was innocent."

- Joseph W. Kemp

Source: Sanders, J. Oswald. The Incomparable Christ. Moody Publishers, 2009: p. 139-149.

Celebrating Heaven

"You'll have to wait until you get to Heaven to have a struggle-free life. But you don't have to wait to start celebrating."

- Alan D. Wright

Source: Wright, Alan D. A Childlike Heart. Multnomah Publishers, 1997: p. 173.

The Lord's Prayer

"And as to the Lord’s prayer, although it be an easy thing to say, Our Father, etc., with the mouth; yet there is very few that can, in the Spirit, say the two first words in that prayer; that is, that can call God their Father, as knowing what it is to be born again, and as having experience, that they are begotten of the Spirit of God: which if they do not, all is but babbling, etc."

- John Bunyan

Source: Bunyan, John. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. Public Domain Books, 1996. Digital.

Christians Who Do Not Believe The Bible

"[U]ntil recent times, 1) belief in the inerrancy of Scripture (even when it was not practiced fully) and 2) claiming to be a Christian were seen as two things which necessarily went together. . . . [N]o one, until the past two hundred years or so, tried to say, 'I am a Christian, but at the same time I believe the Bible to be full of errors.' "

- Francis A. Schaeffer

Source: Schaeffer, Francis A. The Great Evangelical Disaster. Crossway Books, 1995: p. 45.

Holiness

"**We have defined holiness through what we separate ourselves from rather than what we give ourselves to. I am convinced that the great tragedy is not the sins that we commit, but the life we fail to live.**."

- **Erwin McManus**

Source: **McManus, Erwin. Chasing Daylight. Nelson Books. 2002. Pg. 36**

The Purpose of Life

"The purpose of our lives transcends the country and culture in which we live. Meaning is found in community, not individualism; joy is found in generosity, not materialism; and truth is found in Christ, not universalism."

- David Platt

Source: Platt, David. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream. Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2010. Pg. 184.

Preaching What People Understand

"Ministers generally avoid preaching what the people before them will understand. . . . They studiously avoid being personal, in the sense of making anyone present feel he is the man. I have always pursued a different course. I have often said, 'Do not think I am talking about anybody else; for I mean you, you and you.' "

- Charles Finney

Source: Finney, Charles. Holy Spirit Revivals. Whitaker House, 1999: p. 68.

God on High

"God, let thy mighty heart beat into mine, And let mine answer as a pulse to thine. See, I am low; yea, very low; but thou Art high, and thou canst lift me up to thee. I am a child, a fool before thee, God; But thou hast made my weakness as my strength. I am an emptiness for thee to fill; My soul, a cavern for thy sea. I lie Diffused, abandoning myself to thee.... --I will look up, if life should fail in looking."

- George MacDonald

Source: MacDonald, George. The Poetical Works of George MacDonald in Two Volumes. Volume 1.  General Books LLC, 2010.

Real Confession

"Real confession means to say the same thing about sin that God says. Real confession involves humbling ourselves and agreeing with him about the very nature of our sinfulness."

- Jim Cymbala

Source: Cymbala, Jim. The Church God Blesses. Zondervan, 2002: p. 94.

Joy and Fear

"The joy of the Lord grows primarily out of our relationship with Him, while the fear of the Lord grows out of our responsibility to Him. Joy and fear are neither enemies nor competitors; they're friends and allies."

- Warren Wiersbe

Source: 

Wiersbe, Warren W. On Being A Servant of God. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1993. Pg. 125.

Devil's Advocate

"When men commit sin they are the devil's servants; when they plead for it they are the devil's attorneys, and he will give them a fee."

- Thomas Watson

Source: Watson, Thomas. The Doctrine of Repentance. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1987 (originally published in 1668). 34. Print.

Deep People

"Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people."

- Richard Foster

Source: Charles Swindoll. Intimacy With The Almighty. J. Countryman, 1999: p. 16.

The Enemy's Favorite Tactic

"One of the enemy's favorite tactics is to question the Word of God and undermine your faith. 'Has God indeed said...' is his usual approach (Gen. 3:1). Satan knows that once you start questioning God's Word, the next step is to deny God's Word; and that opens the way for him to substitute one of his own lies."

- Warren Wiersbe

Source: 

Wiersbe, Warren W. On Being A Servant of God. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1993. Pg. 108.

On Interpreting Metaphors

"Some people when they say that a thing is meant 'metaphorically' conclude from this that it is hardly meant at all. They rightly think that Christ spoke metaphorically when he told us to carry the cross: they wrongly conclude that carrying the cross means nothing more than leading a respectable life and subscribing moderately to charities."

- C. S. Lewis

Source: Lewis, C. S. Miracles. Macmillan Publishing Company, 1978: p. 78-79.

Good Bread

"Be content, ye are His wheat growing in our Lord's field. And if wheat, ye must go under our Lord's threshing instrument, in His barn-floor, and through His sieve, and through His mill to be bruised, as the Prince of your salvation, Jesus was (Isa. 53:9), that ye may be found good bread in your Lord's house."

- Samuel Rutherford

Source: Rutherford, Samuel. The Loveliness of Christ. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2007. Pg 84.

What Reward Are You Inheriting?

"The reward of the American dream is safety, security, and success found in more comfort, better stuff, and greater prosperity. But the reward of Christ trumps all these things and beckons us to live for an eternal safety, security, and satisfaction that far outweigh everything this world has to offer."

- David Platt

Source: Platt, David. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. Multnomah Books, 2010. 171-172. Print.

Love>Duty

"A perfect man w[oul]d never act from a sense of duty; he'd always want the right thing more than the wrong one. Duty is only a substitute for love (of God and of other people), like a crutch, which is a substitute for a leg. Most of us need the crutch at times; but of course it's idiotic to use the crutch when our own legs (our own loves, tastes, habits etc) can do the journey on their own!"

- C. S. Lewis

Source: Lewis, C. S. Letters to Children. 1st Touchstone ed. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1995. 72. Print.

Another Kind Of Thief

"If the price of labor is one dollar for the day, then to waste half the day in idleness is to defraud the employer of half a dollar; this is as dishonest as to take half a dollar from his chest."

- Noah Webster

Source: Noah Webster. Noah Webster's Advice to the Young and Moral Catechism. WallBuilder Press, 1999: p. 32.

Why We Read The Bible

"We don't read the Bible to mark 'precious promises,' although hundreds of them are there; nor do we read the Bible to understand 'Biblical doctrine,' although doctrine is essential. We read the Bible to get to know the heart and mind of God."

- Warren Wiersbe

Source: 

Wiersbe, Warren W. On Being A Servant of God. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1993. Pg. 105.

Sell Your Possessions?

"If Mark 10 teaches anything, it teaches us that Jesus does sometimes call people to sell everything they have and give it to the poor. This means he might call you or me to do this. I love the way one writer put it. He wrote, 'That Jesus did not command all his followers to sell all their possessions gives comfort only to the kind of people to whom he would issue that command.'"

- David Platt

Source: Platt, David. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. Multnomah Books, 2010. 120. Print.

The Holy Spirit, Not Discipline

"The biblical prescription for resolving the conflict between flesh and Spirit is not personal discipline or self-control. It is the power of the Holy Spirit."

- Chuck Smith

Source: Smith, Chuck. Why Grace Changes Everything. The Word For Today, 2001: p. 131.

God's Calling

"No matter what task He calls you to do, God will use them to help somebody if you do them in the power of the Spirit and for His glory. You may not even know about it! Bt you can trust your Father to see to it that nothing is ever wasted that is done in the will of God and for the love of God."

- Warren Wiersbe

Source: 

Wiersbe, Warren W. On Being A Servant of God. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1993. Pg. 101.

Listen to Teach Others

"We are, by nature, receivers. Even if we have a desire to learn God's Word, we still listen from a default self-centered mind-set that is always asking, What can I get out of this? But as we have seen, this is unbiblical Christianity. What if we changed the question whenever we gathered to learn God's Word? What if we began to think, How can I listen to his Word so that I am equipped to teach this Word to others?"

- David Platt

Source: Platt, David. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. Multnomah Books, 2010. 102. Print.