Prayer-though it is often draining, even an agony-is in the long term the greatest source of power that is possible.

There seems to be a human instinct for prayer. Swiss theologian Karl Barth calls it our 'incurable God-sickness.'

Most people want Jesus as a consultant rather than a King, and He does not come that way.

Christians don't believe that goodness gets you to heaven. Christians believe it's exhausting to rely on your own goodness to please God.

Suffering is the stripping of our hope in finite things, therefore we do not put our ultimate hope in anything finite.

We can only grasp the gospel's sweetness if we first grapple with its offense- you can't save yourself.

God so loved us and hates suffering that he was willing to come down and get involved in it.