Quotes from Jerry Bridges

For us to trust God in times of adversity, we must believe in God's sovereignty, His love, and His wisdom. Of these three truths, the sovereignty of God seems to be questioned the most frequently and most stridently. It seems we will allow God to be anywhere except upon His throne ruling His universe according to His good pleasure and His sovereign will.

It seems we will allow God to be anywhere except upon His throne ruling His universe according to His good pleasure and His sovereign will.

John Owen said, "When [indwelling sin] is least felt, it is in fact most powerful."[2]

I realized anew that, just as we must learn to obey God one choice at a time, we must also learn to trust God one circumstance at a time. Trusting God is not a matter of my feelings but of my will. I never feel like trusting God when adversity strikes, but I can choose to do so even when I don't feel like it. That act of the will, though, must be based on belief, and belief must be based on truth.

Only when we're thoroughly convinced that the Christian life is entirely of grace are we able to serve God out of a grateful and loving heart.

Jesus did not die just to give us peace and a purpose in life; he died to save us from the wrath of God.

No detail of your life is too insignificant for your heavenly Father's attention.

Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit in us whereby our inner being is progressively changed, freeing us more and more from sinful traits and developing within us over time the virtues of Christlike character.

Giving thanks to God for both His temporal and spiritual blessings in our lives is not just a nice thing to do - it is the moral will of God. Failure to give Him the thanks due Him is sin.

We ought to be as earnest and frequent in our prayers of thanksgiving when the cupboard is full as we would be in our prayers of supplication if the cupboards were bare.

Instead of living in the sunshine of God's forgiveness through Christ, we tend to live under an overcast sky of guilt most of the time.

Patience is the ability to suffer a long time under the mistreatment of others without growing resentful or bitter.

Love provides the motive for obeying the commands of the law, but the law provides specific direction for exercising love.

Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely. It is God reaching downward to people who are in rebellion against him.

Some days we may be more acutely conscious of our sinfulness and hence more aware of our need of His grace, but there is never a day when we can stand before Him on our own two feet of performance, when we are worthy enough to deserve His blessing.

God's plan and His ways of working out His plan are frequently beyond our ability to fathom and understand. We must learn to trust when we don't understand.

Trusting God is not a matter of my feelings but of my will.

Don't believe everything you think. You cannot be trusted to tell yourself the truth. Stay in The Word.

Biblical love is not emotions or feelings, but attitudes and actions that seek the best interests of the other person, regardless of how we feel toward him.

God's love to us cannot fail any more than His love to Christ can fail.

We take what we think are the tools of spiritual transformation into our own hands and try to sculpt ourselves into robust Christlike specimens. But spiritual transformation is primarily the work of the Holy Spirit. He is the Master Sculptor.

Duty or guilt may motivate us for awhile, but only a sense of Christ's love for us will motivate us for a lifetime.

God in His love always wills what is best for us. In His wisdom He always knows what is best, and in His sovereignty He has the power to bring it about.

God does not delight in our sufferings. He brings only that which is necessary, but He does not shrink from that which will help us grow.