“I hate how hard spiritual transformation is and how long it takes. I hate thinking about how many people have gone to church for decades and remain joyless or judgmental or bitter or superior.”

One reason why we fail to hear God speak is that we are not attentive. We suffer from what might be called ‘spiritual mindlessness.’

True love is willing to warn, reprove, confront or admonish when necessary.

Failure does not shape you; the way you respond to failure shapes you.

Real question is not who was this man (Jesus), but who is this man?

We are too often double espresso followers of a decaf Sovereign.

Make your life about something bigger than your life.

To become truly free, you must surrender.

The Holy Spirit says: You are it. You are God’s plan. In a thirsty world, people need to be refreshed. It is a broken world, and people need to be healed. Now get out there and do it!

The good news as Jesus preached it is not just about the minimal entrance requirements for getting into heaven when you die. It is about the glorious redemption of human life-your life.

The character of the faith that allows us to be transformed by suffering and darkness is not doubt-free certainty; rather, it is tenacious obedience.

The decision to grow always involves a choice between risk and comfort. This means that to be a follower of Jesus, you must renounce comfort as the ultimate value of your life.

The harder you strike it, the deeper it goes.

Jesus is mysterious not just because of what we don’t know about him, but because of what we do know about him.

Genuine brokenness pleases God more than pretend spirituality.

Disciplined people can do the right thing at the right time in the right way for the right reason.

Self-improvement is no more God’s plan than self-salvation.

It is not necessary that the scion of a singing family, even if he sings, can excel in it. In order to reach his peak he has to work very, very hard.

Life sometimes brings enormous difficulties and challenges that seem just too hard to bear. But bear them you can, and bear them you will, and your life can have a purpose.

No matter how hard you work to bring yourself up, there’s someone out there working just as hard, to put you down.

Excess of joy is harder to bear than any amount of sorrow.

You have come into a hard world. I know of only one easy place in it, and that is the grave.

Changing your nature is the hardest thing to do. But I discovered that you can be who you choose to be.

This is the hardest part for me. Just the waiting – the waiting to fight. The work has all been done, and you just have to wait.

Do you know what is the hardest thing in life? To make a choice.