Quotes from Elyse M. Fitzpatrick

It's essential for us to think about God's love today because it is only his love that can grant us the joy that will strengthen our hearts, the courage that will embolden us in our fight against sin, and the assurance that will enable us to open up our lives to him so that he might deal powerfully with our unbelief and idolatry.

Most of us have never really understood that Christianity is not a self-help religion meant to enable moral people to become more moral. We don't need a self-help book; we need a Savior. We don't need to get our collective act together; we need death and resurrection and the life-transforming truths of the gospel. And we don't need them just once, at the beginning of our Christian life;we need them every moment of every day.

Perhaps one of the reasons why God chooses to leave us in this terribly broken world with its various disappointments is to create in our souls a certain dissatisfaction, an insatiable hunger for home.

the Spirit of God can change a human heart. Only God's love in Christ can make us grow in love and delight in him.

Any obedience that isn't motivated by his great love is nothing more than penance.

Because he loves and welcomes us as he does, we are transformed in our relationships with others. Because we have been loved as a child or a bride is loved, we are now free to love and welcome others generously, warmly, and joyously. His love for us is to have a powerful effect on our love for others, and it is the only thing that will motivate us to love as we have been called to.

We're very comfortable thinking, good parenting in, good children out.

Because we don't know the state of our children's souls, and because they might simply want to please us by praying to be saved, we must continue to give them the Law and encourage them to ask God for faith to believe that He is as good as He says He is.

We need assurance that there is a God who is sovereignly ruling over our journeys and will one day put everything right.

The story of Jonah isn't about learning to be obedient or facing the consequences. The story of Jonah is about how God is merciful to both the religiously self-righteous, unloving Pharisee (Jonah) and the irreligious, violent pagan. The story is a story about God's ability to save souls and use us even when we disobey. It's a story about God's mercy, not our obedience.

It is only within the context of the church that ongoing spiritual care, encouragement, and accountability can occur. It is only as we use the powerful word of the gospel in each other's lives that we can change.

If you're willing to sin to obtain your goal or if you sin when you don't get what you want, then your desire has taken God's place and you're functioning as an idolater.

Again, the resurrection is God's "Amen" to Christ's "It is finished!

God is too great to be glorified only through the lives of His victorious children. He is glorified by our suffering and even by our sin. His sustaining strength is glorified when we walk through the furnace of affliction.

But that's not all. The resurrection is also God's "Amen" to our "It is finished, for I believe that when he died, I died, and when he rose, I arose; I believe that you have forgiven me and made me righteous and will raise me up on the last day.

Since the fall of the human race, we've been alternately telling ourselves that we are good, that if we try hard enough we'll be good enough, or that being or that being good is an impossibility, so we should just give up and have fun.

The obvious difference between Paul and us is that Paul bragged about his weakness, and we try to hide it.

The Lord teaches us of His grace and the Gospel through difficult children. We learn what it's like to love like He loved. It is there, in our personal upper room, where we learn to wash the feet of those that are betraying us. It is there, kneeling before our rebellious children, that the real power of God is demonstrated.

The gospel is not good news to those who pride themselves on their hard work. It is infuriating news.

Every faithful parent must give their children guidance, direction, rules, and commands. What we are saying is that these things are not to be the primary theme of our teaching. The primary theme is to be Jesus Christ and the work he's already done.

Like us, our children crave the blessed benediction: "You are good!" But the Bible says that because we are not good, those words no longer apply to us. We're not good.

Oh, how different this groom is! So many men look for a woman who is already beautiful—one who will enhance their resume and make other men think that they have value. Jesus did just the opposite. He went and found the most vile creature he could and set about beautifying her by taking her vileness upon himself and fully identifying with her, thereby remaking her into his image. Yes, eventually this does accrue to his glory, but it's not how most men look to advance themselves.

Let's face it: most of our children believe that God is happy if they're "good for goodness' sake." We've transformed the holy, terrifying, magnificent, and loving God of the Bible into Santa and his elves.

Love is the first cause of all the graces we desire; it "warms the heart, and sweetly and powerfully influences our affections to delight in, and to walk in love with such an exceedingly gracious and merciful God.