You can live opposite of what you profess, but you cannot live opposite of what you believe.

As we mature in Christ, it is actually possible to outgrow fear.

It would be of course a low voltage spiritual life in which prayer was chiefly undertaken as a discipline, rather than as a way of co-labouring with God to accomplish good things and advancing his Kingdom purposes.

Spiritual transformation into Christ-likeness in not going to happen unless we act... What transforms us is the will to obey Jesus Christ.

Dallas Willard warns us too of the "cost of non-discipleship." We may be able to live with some pain, but when our whole self becomes more and more rotten, the cost is far greater than dealing with the problem as soon as possible. This is why I think following Jesus, though challenging, is much easier than following anything else. The world has nothing better to offer me. Jesus has come to right my wrongs and to make me refreshingly new.

The effect of standing before God by welcoming him before us will be the transformation of our entire life.

It's important to distinguish the soul from the spirit, or will, because the will or the heart or the spirit is the executive center of the self.