Quotes About Resistance

And when any internal or external force tried to change the past, they responded with anger and resolution: "We will die before we change." And they did.

If given a choice between life and death, most church members and church leaders choose death if they have to make substantive changes in their churches.

The denier is one of the most difficult to lead in change because he or she does not think anything needs changing. The church is just fine the way it is, and there is no motivation to do things differently. Denial is the fastest path to death.

The blamers resist change because they do not need to change, at least from their perspective. The problems all reside with other people and other situations. They don't see anything wrong with themselves. Blamers will blame. Blamers do not want to change.

The most pervasive and common thread of our autopsies was that the deceased churches lived for a long time with the past as hero. They held on more tightly with each progressive year. They often clung to things of the past with desperation and fear. And when any internal or external force tried to change the past, they responded with anger and resolution: "We will die before we change.

If given a choice between life and death, most people and leaders choose death if life requires substantive changes.

Members of the dying churches really didn't want growth unless that growth met their preferences and allowed them to remain comfortable.

If we got into a situation where people start burning our records, then bring it on. That's the whole point. The gloaming has begun. We're in the darkness. This has happened before. Go read some history.

I believe that any great work of art is, in itself, a form of resistance against a sense of powerlessness.

I'm not afraid of computers taking over the world. They're just sitting there. I can hit them with a two-by-four.

It is not really a small thing when in small things we resist self.

Who struggles more than those who strive to overcome themselves?

It is a hard thing to break through a habit and a yet harder thing to go contrary to our own will. Yet if thou overcome not slight and easy obstacles how wilt thou overcome greater ones Withstand thy will at the beginning and unlearn an evil habit lest it lead thee little by little into worse difficulties. Oh if thou knewest what peace to thyself thy holy life should bring ...and what joy to others methinketh thou wouldst be more zealous for spiritual profit.

Who hath a harder battle to fight than he who striveth for self-mastery?

Satan leaves unbelievers and sinners alone because he already has them in his grip; he goes after believers who are faithful and devout.

Atajar al principio el mal procura; si llega a echar raíz, tarde se cura (1): Porque primeramente se ofrece al alma el pensamiento sencillo; después, la importuna imaginación; luego, la delectación y el torpe movimiento y el. Consentimiento. Y así se entra poco a poco el maligno enemigo, y se apodera de todo, por no resistirle al principio.

It is a hard thing to break through a habit, and a yet harder thing to go contrary to our own will. Yet if thou overcome not slight and easy obstacles, how shalt thou overcome greater ones? Withstand thy will at the beginning, and unlearn an evil habit, lest it lead thee little by little into worse difficulties. Oh, if thou knewest what peace to thyself thy holy life should bring to thyself, and what joy to others, methinketh thou wouldst be more zealous for spiritual profit.

For first cometh to the mind the simple suggestion, then the strong imagination, afterwards pleasure, evil affection, assent. And so little by little the enemy entereth in altogether, because he was not resisted at the beginning. And the longer a man delayeth his resistance, the weaker he groweth, and the stronger groweth the enemy against him.

Job: "The life of man upon earth is a warfare.

The man who is not yet wholly dead to self, is soon tempted, and is overcome in small and trifling matters.

For true peace of heart is to be found in resisting passion, not in yielding to it. And therefore there is no peace in the heart of a man who is carnal, nor in him who is given up to the things that are without him, but only in him who is fervent towards God and living the life of the Spirit.

The man who is not yet wholly dead to self, is soon tempted, and is overcome in small and trifling matters. It is hard for him who is weak in spirit, and still in part carnal and inclined to the pleasures of sense, to withdraw himself altogether from earthly desires. And therefore, when he withdraweth himself from these, he is often sad, and easily angered too if any oppose his will.

You got to knock a man down and put your knife at his throat before he'll hear you, like I did to that trooper. The truth seems hateful to most everybody.

The giving way to a less sin makes way for the committing of a greater.