John Ortberg Quotes

The Holy Spirit will lead you to be with people as Jesus would be with them if He were in your place.

The test of love is that it gives even when there is no expectation of a return.

Willpower is trying very hard not to do something you want to do very much.

One of the hardest things in the world is to stop being the prodigal son without turning into the elder brother.

I am disappointed with myself. I am disappointed not so much with the particular things I have done as with the aspects of who I have become. I have a nagging sense that all is not as it should be.

Habits eat good intentions for breakfast.

Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love always takes time, and time is the one thing hurried people don’t have.

Every day you and I walk through God’s shop. Every day we brush up against objects of incalculable worth to Him. People. Every one of them carries a price tag, if only we could see it.

Prudence is not hesitation, procrastination, or moderation. It is not driving in the middle of the road. It is not the way of ambivalence, indecision, or safety.

There is no way for a human being to come to God that does not involve surrender.

God has entrusted us with his most precious treasure – people. He asks us to shepherd and mold them into strong disciples, with brave faith and good character.

A bad sermon is like a car wreck – everyone slows down to see what happened.

Today, see each problem as an invitation to prayer.

Imagine watching all that God might have done with your life if you had let him.

You must arrange your days so that you are experiencing deep contentment, joy and confidence in your everyday life with God.

The life of Abraham Lincoln is by most accounts an amazing study in character formation. Yet he was notoriously disorganized; he even had a file in his law office labeled If you can’t find it anywhere else, try looking here.

In reality, each thought we have carries with it a little spiritual power, a tug toward or away from God. No thought is purely neutral.

When preaching is done right, it can change lives. When it’s done badly, my failure goes beyond the merely human.

Ever console or scold people hurt in human relationships that satisfaction comes from God alone? Stop. Adam’s fellowship with God was perfect, and God Himself declared Adam needed other humans.

God sees with utter clarity who we are. He is undeceived as to our warts and wickedness. But when God looks at us that is not all He sees. He also sees who we are intended to be, who we will one day become.

What repeatedly enters your mind and occupies your mind, eventually shapes your mind, and will ultimately express itself in what you do and who you become.

sometimes we do not realize how much we have to be grateful for until it is threatened.

Skeptics would rather, even at their own expense, appear to be right than take the risk of trusting.

Churches can become places of cynicism, resistance, and pessimism.

It only makes sense to ask God for guidance in the context of a life committed to “seeking first the kingdom.”

Jesus associated with the outcasts; he spoke with them, touched them, ate with them, loved them.

The primary goal of spiritual life is human transformation.