Quotes from Randy Alcorn

God, like a father, doesn't just give advice. He gives himself. He becomes the husband to the grieving widow (Isaiah 54:5). He becomes the comforter to the barren woman (Isaiah 54:1). He becomes the father of the orphaned (Psalm 10:14). He becomes the bridegroom to the single person (Isaiah 62:5). He is the healer to the sick (Exodus 15:26). He is the wonderful counselor to the confused and depressed (Isaiah 9:6).

The circumstances surrounding our lives are no accident: they may be the work of evil, but that evil is held firmly within the mighty hand of our sovereign

God does something to us as well as for us through the cross. He persuades us that He loves us." —Sinclair Ferguson

We don't pretend all is well. But knowing God's commands to rejoice in him through his all-sufficient power, we meditate on his Word and call on him to impart his gladness to us. In time God exchanges our natural responses with his supernatural, joy-giving presence. Sometimes sorrow and joy do battle; sometimes they coexist, but when our hearts and minds are on Christ, joy is never far away:

The thing that awakens the deepest well of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven sin." —Oswald Chambers

We are [God's] by creation, and again by redemption. He has every right to tell me what to do with my mind and body. I have. I right to do whatever I want with my body.

Good-hearted laughter is a tribute to the happy God, who created laughter and delights to enter into it with us.

Shallow books make shallow men.)

we are not "to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Our parting is not the end of our relationship, only an interruption.

should have lived. But then it was too late! As long as they're alive, there's still one thing they can do to stay out of hell. But once they're dead, there's nothing they can do to get out of hell.

Romans 8 contains a powerful theology of suffering. There's the groaning of those dying without hope, and in contrast, the groaning of those in childbirth. Both processes are painful, yet they are very different. The one is the pain of hopeless dread, the other the pain of hopeful anticipation. The Christian's pain is very real, but it's the pain of a mother anticipating the joy of holding her child. It

It is no coincidence that the first two chapters of the Bible (Genesis 1–2) begin with the creation of the heavens and the earth and the last two chapters (Revelation 21–22) begin with the re-creation of the heavens and the earth. All

Nothing can make that man truly miserable that hath God for his portion, nor nothing can make that man truly happy that [lacks] God for his portion. God is the author of all true happiness; he is the donor of all true happiness; he is the maintainer of all true happiness, and he is the centre of all true happiness. . . . He that hath him for his God, for his portion, is the only happy man in the world.

When we offend everybody, we've declared truth without grace. When we offend nobody, we've watered down truth in the name of grace. John 1:14 tells us Jesus came full of grace AND truth. Let's not choose between them, but be characterized by both.

Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms." —C. S. Lewis

Bishop Ryle assured his flock, "Those whom you laid in the grave with many tears are in good keeping: you will yet see them again with joy. Believe it, think it, rest on it. It is all true."[9]

Wesley said, "Every Christian is happy; . . . he who is not happy is not a Christian.

When we become proud, we operate outside the grace God only gives to the humble. Humility preserves us; pride destroys us.

Too often we've been taught that Heaven is a non-physical realm, which cannot have real gardens, cities, kingdoms, buildings, banquets, or bodies. So we fail to take seriously what Scripture tells us about Heaven as a familiar,  physical, tangible place.

Our degree of happiness in life largely depends on: the amount of happiness we believe should be rightfully ours our ability to find delight in a fallen world God will redeem our ability to see the little things—the ten thousand reasons for happiness that surround us that we easily ignore

When I believe ultimate happiness is found only in God, then I will shut out distractions and open His Word.

The single greatest contributor to our inability to see money and possessions in their true light—and our tendency to ignore the law of rewards—is our persistent failure to see our present lives through the lens of eternity.

It is Satan's desire to destroy the world. God's intent is not to destroy the world but to deliver it from destruction. His plan is to redeem this fallen world, which he designed for greatness.

The work of Christ, therefore, is not just to save certain individuals, not even to save an innumerable throng of blood-bought people. The total work of Christ is nothing less than to redeem this entire creation from the effects of sin. That purpose will not be accomplished until God has ushered in the new earth, until Paradise Lost has become Paradise Regained.