Our afflictions brothers and sisters often will not be extinguished, they will be dwarfed and swallowed up in the joy of Christ. That’s how we overcome, most of the time. It’s not their elimination, but the placing of them in that larger context.

I assume, gladly, that in the allocation to America of remarkable leaders like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln, the Lord was just as careful. After all, if you've got only one Abraham Lincoln, you'd better put him in that point in history when he's most needed-much as some of us might like to have him now.

When one comes to know God and His Son Jesus Christ through the scriptures, the Spirit, and personal revelation, it is impossible to feel anything other than overwhelmed by the attributes so perfectly developed in them and so tentatively and superficially developed in oneself. Even so, we are told to strive to become like them.

We can be walking witnesses and standing sermons to which objective onlookers can say a quiet amen.

Discouragement is not the absence of adequacy but the absence of courage.

The more quickly we loosen our grip on the things of the world the more firmly we can take hold of the things of eternity.

I know sanctification comes not with any particular calling, but with genuine acts of service, often for which there is no specific calling.