Quotes from Randy Alcorn

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28, ESV).

in Heaven (and ultimately on the New Earth) is a line going out from that dot for eternity. If we're smart, we'll live not for the dot, but for the line.

God has his hands on the earth. He will not let go—even when it requires that his hands be pierced by nails. Both his incarnation and those nails secured him to Earth and its eternal future. In a redemptive work far larger than most imagine, Christ bought

What if one day we discover that God has wasted nothing in our life on Earth? What if we see that every agony was part of giving birth to an eternal joy?

Augustine insisted that this longing is as true for Christ-followers as it is for anyone else: "If I should ask you why you believe in Christ, and why you have become Christians, every man will answer truthfully by saying: for the sake of a happy life.

Giving sacrificially also means giving the best. If we have two blankets and someone needs one of them, sacrificial giving hands over the better of the two. Sadly, much of our "giving" is merely discarding. Donating secondhand goods to church rummage sales

God has his hands on the earth. He will not let go—even when it requires that his hands be pierced by nails. Both his incarnation and those nails secured him to Earth and its eternal future. In a redemptive work far larger than most imagine, Christ bought and paid for our future and the earth's. A

Our minds are so much set on Earth that we are unaccustomed to heavenly thinking. So we must work at it.

It is impossible for a believer, no matter what his experience, to keep right with God if he will not take the trouble to spend time with God. Spend plenty of time with him; let other things go, but don't neglect Him." —J. Oswald Sanders

Prayer isn't the least we can do; it's the most.

C. S. Lewis wrote, "To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you." Jesus said if your brother "sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him" (Luke 17:4).

Tozer wrote, When the followers of Jesus Christ lose their interest in heaven they will no longer be happy Christians, and when they are no longer happy Christians they cannot be a powerful force in a sad and sinful world.

I have no room for a God who lets children die." "The innkeeper had no room, but it did not thwart God's plan. Who is Ben Fielding to have no room for God? Shall the dog decide whether there is room in the house for the Master? Shall the cricket decide whether there is room in the forest for the Lion?

Are we not the clay and God the potter? When he refuses to conform to our wills, do we discard him? If you are looking for a religion centered around yourself, Ben, I must agree that Christianity is a poor choice.

Despite what Americans believe, the universe is not a democracy. Truth is not determined by the majority. As for hell, if you were as just and holy as God is, you would understand that all men deserve hell. It is no puzzle that men should go to hell. What is a puzzle is that men should go to heaven." "He killed my only son!

A true believer may spend a sleepless night doubting God. But what keeps a Communist awake at night is his fear there is a God. His wishful thinking is that God does not exist. For if there is no God, there is no Judge and, therefore, no judgment for his wickedness. But if there is a God, he knows he will not fare well before him. Or that God will make demands on him he does not wish to fulfill.

We see that the world seeks happiness instead of holiness. Therefore, we assume we should do the opposite. But we're wrong.

Imagine if our churches were known for being communities of Jesus-centered happiness, overflowing with the sheer gladness of what it means to live out the good news of great joy. Imagine if our children brought their friends to church and their comment was, "Those people seem so nice . . . and happy.

Octavius Winslow was a prominent evangelical preacher in the 1800s. He said of the Holy Spirit, "It is his aim . . . to increase our happiness by making us more holy."[717]

He was so strong." "Compared to Yesu, he is weak. The evil one is but a gou, a dog on a leash." "I've . . . never heard a demon's voice before." "You are wrong." "What do you mean?" "It is not that you have never heard the voices of demons, but that you haven't known you were hearing them." Quan put his hand on Ben's trembling arm. "In America, the voices of demons sound more pleasant.

The vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts." —George Müller

In the mid-1600s, Puritan John Gibbon said, "God alone is enough, but without him, nothing [is enough] for thy happiness."[218] Whether or not we're conscious of it, since God is the fountainhead of happiness, the search for happiness is always the search for God.

countless people step into financial bondage because they spend money they don't have in order to underwrite a "once in a lifetime opportunity." God is not behind every good deal! Self-control means turning down most good deals on things we want because God may have other and better plans for his money.

Thomas Watson (1620–1686), a Puritan preacher and author, said, "He has no design upon us, but to make us happy. . . . Who should be cheerful, if not the people of God?