Quotes from Dallas Willard

our minds have come down to us through history

Indeed, for anyone who has a genuine knowledge of God, praise is the only appropriate attitude in which to live. It is the only sane attitude.

As creators and consumers they fill the field of pop culture today, which is an economic enterprise and only by accident occasionally has something to do with art. Art objects are now commonly referred to as "product" by those who handle them and only make news when they are sold for absurdly large sums or are stolen.

God both develops and, for our good, tests our character by leaving us to decide. He calls us to responsible citizenship in his kingdom by saying—in effect or in reality—as often as possible, "My will for you in this case is that you to decide on your own.

Now just think of what the quality of life and character must be in a person who would routinely interrupt sacred rituals to pursue reconciliation with a fellow human being. What kind of thought life, what feeling tones and moods, what habits of body and mind, what kinds of deliberations and choices would you find in such a person? When you answer these questions, you will have a vision of the true "rightness beyond" that is at home in God's kingdom of power and love. Of

Works" are simply a natural part of faith. James's statement is about the inherent nature of faith, about what makes it up. It concerns what believing something really amounts to. It is not an exhortation to prove that one has faith or to work to keep one's faith alive.

Recall, now, that the kingdom of God is the range of his effective will: that is, it is the domain where what he prefers is actually what happens. And

The church of Jesus Christ is not necessarily present when there is a correct administration of the sacrament and faithful preaching of the Word of God. The church of God is present where people gather together in the power of the resurrected life of Jesus Christ.

the situations in which we find ourselves are never as important as our responses to them, which come from our "spiritual" side. A carefully cultivated heart will, assisted by the grace of God, foresee, forestall, or transform most of the painful situations before which others stand like helpless children saying "Why?

Practice in not speaking can at least give us enough control over what we say that our tongues do not "go off" automatically. This discipline provides us with a certain inner distance that gives us time to consider our words fully and the presence of mind to control what we say and when we say it.

But this is an age for spiritual heroes—a time for men and women to be heroic in faith and in spiritual character and power.

We forgive someone of a wrong they have done us when we decide that we will not make them suffer for it in any way. This

It is possible to have the administration of the sacraments and the preaching of the Word of God and to have it be simply a human exercise.

To say that "the righteous (or just) shall live by faith" does not mean that they live by blind and irresponsible leaps in total absence, or even in defiance, of knowledge. It does not mean that the "just" live in a state of ignorance or stupidity.1 They do on occasion act in specific ways beyond what they know, but only within a framework of knowledge that makes such action reasonable.

The blessedness was not in their condition of being poor, mournful, or disrespected. They were blessed because they could enter the kingdom, and to be in the kingdom means to be blessed no matter what else happens. They can rest in that. Their future in God is secured, and their present condition redeemed. Forever. No matter what.

invite Jesus into each new situation or interaction.

They then easily moved on to the faith-destroying, even blasphemous idea that everything that happens in this world is caused by God.

He is going to create a community of loving, creative, intelligent, loyal, faithful, and powerful human beings, and they are going to rule the earth. It is going to come to pass. If you want to be a part of that, just get on board.

Our search for safety and contentment is endless and inexhaustible precisely because of the intrinsic futility of relying on human abilities to provide resolution to our problems.

Develop the habit of seeing the world through God's eyes.

we are not only asking to be forgiven, we are asking for guidance and wisdom and strength to respond differently tomorrow.

Anyone who is not a continual student of Jesus, and who nevertheless reads the great promises of the Bible as if they were for him or her, is like someone trying to cash a check on another person's account. At best, it succeeds only sporadically.

an aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick…

Such planning should include identifying the things in your life that you believe trouble Jesus—impatience, overeating, lying, or whatever it may be for you.