Quotes from Dallas Willard

Search me, O God." "Let the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you." "Renew in me a right spirit." At a certain point my own "beyond that is within" (my heart) has been formed and I am then at its mercy. Only God can save me.

Evolution itself is an "order" that requires explanation if any order does, and it presupposes, as we have just seen, a vast scale of order and existence within which alone it can occur. Whether evolution occurs with regard to plant and animal species (which was Darwin's concern), that has no serious implications at all, taken by itself, for the existence of God.

Notice there are three things about the tree that caught Eve's attention. It was (1) good for food, (2) pleasant to the eyes, and (3) desirable to make one wise.

When you think "whirlwind," think "God is coming.

wanting to look good to others is also a form of the desire of the eyes.

Keep in mind that God did not say that Job was wrong in what he said, but that he did not understand what he was saying.

From Jesus' perspective, there is no greater calling than to be a servant.*

In accord with his original intent, the heavenly Father has in fact prepared an individualized kingdom for every person, from the outset of creation. That

JESUS' TEMPTATION EVE'S TEMPTATION THE WORLD Turning stones into bread Good for food Desire of the flesh Jumping off the temple Pleasant to the eyes Desire of the eyes Political power and glory Desirable to make one wise The pride of life

Emergencies are opportunities to bring God into the realities of your life.

we get a totally different picture of salvation, faith, and forgiveness if we regard having life from the kingdom of the heavens now—the eternal kind of life—as the target. The words and acts of Jesus naturally suggest that this is indeed salvation, with discipleship, forgiveness, and heaven to come as natural parts. And

So the kingdom of the heavens, from the practical point of view in which we all must live, is simply our experience of Jesus' continual interaction with us in history and throughout the days, hours, and moments of our earthly existence. This

We cannot behave on the spot as he did and taught if in the rest of our time we live as everybody else does. The on the spot episodes are not the place where we can, even by the grace of God, redirect unchristlike but ingrained tendencies of action toward sudden Christlikeness. Our efforts to take control at that moment will fail so uniformly and ingloriously that the whole project of following Christ will appear ridiculous to the watching world.

Discipline, strictly speaking, is activity carried on to prepare us indirectly for some activity other than itself. We do not practice the piano to practice the piano well, but to play it well.

That is not the way of God. It is asking, it is seeking, it is knocking.

And of course it is discipleship, real-life apprenticeship to Jesus, that is the passageway within The Kingdom Among Us from initial faith in Jesus to a life of fulfillment and routine obedience. That

Satan uses not only our desires to deceive us but also our fears. Fear that we will not get what we desire can provide the motivation for actions that cause so many of our problems.

Religion as a historical human practice was therefore not of divine origin, and its developments and activities had to be of an entirely human origin.

We are meant to exercise our "rule" only in union with God, as he acts with us. He intended to be our constant companion or coworker in the creative enterprise of life on earth. That is what his love for us means in practical terms.

They do not know what they are doing and do not have the ability to distance themselves from it so they can see it for what it is. That is the power of "culture.

Life as usual must go. It will be replaced by something far better.

Self-denial means knowing only Christ, no longer knowing oneself. It means no longer seeing oneself, only him who is going ahead, no longer seeing the way which is too difficult for us. Self-denial says only: he is going ahead; hold fast to him. —DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

The heart is our point of contact with God's unlimited capacity to protect and provide, which flows to those who choose to keep their minds fixed on him.

Brother Lawrence, who was a kitchen worker and cook, remarks. Our sanctification does not depend upon changing our works, but in doing that for God's sake which we commonly do for our own…. It is a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times. We are as strictly obliged to adhere to God by action in the time of action as by prayer in the season of prayer.5