Woman was taken out of man; not out of his head to top him, nor out of his feet to be trampled underfoot; but out of his side to be equal to him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be loved.    Matthew Henry

Family education and order are some of the chief means of grace; if these are duly maintained, all the means of grace are likely to prosper and become effectual.   Jonathan Edwards

What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow.   Martin Luther

He that has no fools, knaves nor beggars in his family was begot by a flash of lightning.   Thomas Fuller

A man’s best fortune, or his worst, is his wife.   Thomas Fuller

A family is a place where principles are hammered and honed on the anvil of everyday living.   Chuck Swindoll

Home: The place in which you are treated the best and grumble the most.  Author Unknown

A man ought to live so that everybody knows he is a Christian… and most of all, his family ought to know.   D.L. Moody

We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves.   Henry Ward Beecher

The family circle is the supreme conductor of Christianity.   Henry Drummond

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.   Albert Schweitzer

God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy.   Jeremy Taylor

If you hope for happiness in the world, hope for it from God, and not from the world.   David Brainerd

Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.   Augustine

Everyone, without exception, is searching for happiness.   Blaise Pascal

It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.   Charles Spurgeon

When we are such as He can love without impediment, we shall in fact be happy.   C.S. Lewis

There is a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious. It is too good to waste on jokes.   C.S. Lewis

Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.   Helen Keller

No one has a right to consume happiness without producing it.   Helen Keller

The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.   Henry Ward Beecher

Good-humor makes all things tolerable.    Henry Ward Beecher

Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit. Hosea Ballou

Do not be deceived; happiness and enjoyment do not lie in wicked ways.   Isaac Watts

The world looks for happiness through self-assertion. The Christian knows that joy is found in self-abandonment. ‘If a man will let himself be lost for My sake,’ Jesus said, ‘he will find his true self.’    Elisabeth Elliot

Happy are those whose self-centered lives have been crushed and reshaped by the Master’s hand to be full of mercy.   John Hagee

No man should desire to be happy who is not at the same time holy. He should spend his efforts in seeking to know and do the will of God, leaving to Christ the matter of how happy he should be.   A.W. Tozer

Holiness is the only path to happiness.   Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Do you want a happy heart when you are old? Then get with the Lord and stay with Him. That is how it works.   Shelton Smith

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.   C.S. Lewis

I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.   C.S. Lewis

All mankind’s unhappiness derives from one thing: his inability to know how to remain in repose in one room.   Blaise Pascal

He is happy that knoweth not himself to be otherwise.   Thomas Fuller

Happy the man who sees a God employed in all the good and ills that checker life.   William Cowper

God would have us part with nothing for Him, but that which will damn us if we keep it. He has no design upon us, but to make us happy.    Thomas Watson

They are the happiest Christians, who have the lowest thoughts of themselves, and in whose eyes Jesus is most glorious and precious.    John Newton

The strength and happiness of a man consists in finding out the way in which God is going, and going that way too.   Henry Ward Beecher

The key to lasting happiness and real pleasure in this world is not found in seeking gratification, but in pleasing God. And while the Lord desires that we enjoy His gifts and the people to whom we are joined, He wants us to know that we were created first for His pleasure.   Francis Frangipane

I have had more trouble with myself than with any other man.   D.L. Moody

God’s whole employment is to lift up the humble and cast down the proud.  Author Unknown

In the midst of a world of light and love, of song and feast and dance, Lucifer could find nothing to think of more interesting than his own prestige.   C.S. Lewis

Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.   Thomas Merton

There is no greater punishment than that of being abandoned to one’s self.  Pasquier Quesnel

A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package.   Author Unknown

It is very easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements in comparison with what we owe others.   Dietrich Bonhoeffer

If I had only one sermon to preach it would be a sermon against pride.   G.K. Chesterton

No one enjoys feeling weak, whether it is emotionally, spiritually or physically. There is something within the human spirit that wants to resist the thought of weakness. Many times this is nothing more than our human pride at work. Just as weakness carries a great potential for strength, pride carries an equally great potential for defeat.   Charles Stanley

The way we respond to criticism pretty much depends on the way we respond to praise. If praise humbles us, then criticism will build us up. But if praise inflates us, then criticism will crush us; and both responses lead to our defeat.  Warren Wiersbe

Be not proud of race, face, place, or grace.   Samuel Rutherford

When a man thinks he has got a good deal of strength, and is self-confident, you may look for his downfall. It may be years before it comes to light, but it is already commenced.   D.L. Moody

Do not be taken in or flattered by your own success or fame. Take not only as to whether or not the old creation, including everything which comes by birth, has gone through the cross.    Watchman Nee

Often Satan injects pride into the believer’s spirit, evoking in him an attitude of self-importance and of self-conceit. He causes him to esteem himself a very outstanding person, one who is indispensable in God’s work. Such a spirit constitutes one of the major reasons for the fall of believers.   Watchman Nee

A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.   Henry Ward Beecher

Know that you are your greatest enemy, but also your greatest friend.   Jeremy Taylor

The proud are ever most provoked by pride.   William Cowper

Pride, perceiving humility honorable, often borrows her cloak.   Thomas Fuller

Pride thrust Nebuchadnezzar out of men’s society, Saul out of his kingdom, Adam out of paradise, Haman out of court, and Lucifer out of heaven.   Thomas Adams

Whatever makes us feel superior to other people, whatever tempts us to convey a sense of superiority, that is the gravity of our sinful nature, not grace.  Philip Yancey

Pride builds walls between people, humility builds bridges.   Rick Warren

A proud faith is as much a contradiction as a humble devil.   Stephen Charnock

Sin came through the pride of Lucifer and salvation came through the humility of Jesus.   Zac Poonen

The chief occupational hazard of leadership is pride.   John Stott

God can never entrust His Kingdom to anyone who has not been broken of pride, for pride is the armour of darkness itself.   Francis Frangipane

When Jesus entered Jerusalem the people spread their clothes in the way and strewed branches before Him in order to do Him honour. Jesus rode upon an ass, according to the word of the prophet. His feet did not touch the road which was decorated in His honour. It was the ass which trod upon the garments and the branches. But the ass would have been very foolish to have been uplifted on that account; for the road really was not decked in its honour! It would be just as foolish if those who bear Christ to men were to think anything of themselves because of what men do to them for the sake of Jesus.   Sadhu Sundar Singh

In our proud love affair with ourselves we pour contempt, whether we know it or not, on the worth of God’s glory. As our pride pours contempt upon God’s glory, His righteousness obliges Him to pour wrath upon our pride.   John Piper

Pride comes from not knowing yourself and the world. The older you grow, and the more you see, the less reason you will find for being proud. Ignorance and inexperience are the pedestal of pride; once the pedestal is removed – pride will soon come down.   J.C. Ryle

And yet we are very apt to be full of ourselves, instead of Him that made what we so much value, and but for whom we can have no reason to value ourselves.  William Penn

Proud people keep others at arm’s length. Broken people are willing to take the risks of getting close to others and loving intimately.   Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Proud people focus on the failures of others and can readily point out those faults. Broken people are more conscious of their own spiritual need than of anyone else’s.  Nancy Leigh DeMoss

The very first thing which needs to be said about Christian ministers of all kinds is that they are “under” people as their servants rather than “over” them (as their leaders, let alone their lords). Jesus made this absolutely plain. he chief characteristic of Christian leaders, he insisted, is humility not authority, and gentleness not power.   John Stott

The modern world detests authority but worships relevance. Our Christian conviction is that the Bible has both authority and relevance, and that the secret of both is Jesus Christ.   John Stott

His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the nations. His authority in heaven gives us our only hope of success. And His presence with us leaves us no other choice.   John Stott

[If] preachers wish to preach with divine authority, they must proclaim this message of the inspired Scriptures, for the Scriptures alone have divine authority. If preachers wish to preach with divine authority, they must submit themselves and echo the Word of God. Preachers are literally to be ministers of the Word.   Sidney Greidanus 

Prayer is the risen Jesus coming in with His resurrection power, given free rein in our lives, and then using His authority to enter any situation and change things.   Ole Hallesby

God speaks by the Church (the true Church we mean); but He speaks nothing by her but what He speaks in the Scriptures, which she does onlyministerially declare to us; and therefore the authority of God and His law is above hers, who, though she publish, yet did not make it, but is herself subject to it.   John Owen

Jesus preached with authority.  Why?  Because He had authority!  And the preachers of old preached with authority. They preached, “Thus saiththe Lord.” We have lost that today, I’m afraid. Our preaching reflects it and the lives of our people reflect it well. They live as if the pastor had no authority, as if the elders had no authority, and, even more appalling, as if the Word of God itself had no authority. We have returned to the place of the church in the Old Testament where “every man did what was right in his own eyes.” It is true today; every man thinks what is right in his own mind, regardless of what Scripture or sound exegesis may say otherwise.   Don Kistler

We can preach with authority because Christ has given us that authority.  Did He not say, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”  It wasn’t “teaching them to observe all that I have suggested to you,” but “all that I have commanded you!”   Don Kistler

The speaker’s authority does not derive from himself; it derives from the Word. It’s tied to his faithful presentation of it.   Jonathan Leeman

Government is not mere advice; it is authority, with power to enforce its laws.   George Washington

The Bible was the only book Jesus every quoted, and then never as a basis for discussion but to decide the point at issue.   Leon Morris

In order to the existence of such a ministry in the Church, there is requisite an authority received from God, and consequently power and knowledge imparted from God for the exercise of such ministry; and where a man possesses these, although the bishop has not laid hands upon him according to his traditions, God has Himself appointed him.   John Wycliffe

God has work to do in this world; and to desert it because of its difficulties and entanglements, is to cast off His authority. It is not enough that we be just, that we be righteous, and walk with God in holiness; but we must also serve our generation, as David did before he fell asleep. God has a work to do; and not to help Him is to oppose Him.   John Owen

[If] preachers wish to preach with divine authority, they must proclaim this message of the inspired Scriptures, for the Scriptures alone have divine authority. If preachers wish to preach with divine authority, they must submit themselves and echo the Word of God. Preachers are literally to be ministers of the Word.   Sidney Greidanus 

Man and woman are one in essence. That is to say, Adam and Eve are equal in dignity, value, and glory. In essential unity there is absolutely no room for inferiority of person. The man and woman are equal in every respect except one – authority. Two different tasks are given to people of equal value and dignity. In the economy of marriage, only the job descriptions are different. R.C. Sproul

Supreme authority in both church and home has been divinely vested in the male as the representative of Christ, who is Head of the church. It is in willing submission rather than grudging capitulation that the woman in the church (whether married or single) and the wife in the home find their fulfillment.   Elisabeth Elliot

The very word authority has within it the word author.  An author is someone who creates and possesses a particular work. Insofar as God is the foundation of all authority, He exercises that foundation because He is the author and the owner of His creation. He is the foundation upon which all other authority stands or falls.   R.C. Sproul

Until the will and the affections are brought under the authority of Christ, we have not begun to understand, let alone to accept, His lordship.   Elisabeth Elliot

It is not that God is stingy and must be coaxed, for He “giveth liberally and upbraideth not.” It is that we ourselves are so shallow and sinful that we need to tarry before Him until our restless natures can be stilled and the clamor of outside voices be deadened so that we can hear His voice. Such a state is not easily reached, and the men God uses have paid a price in wrestlings and prevailing prayer. But it is such men who rise from their knees confident of His power and go forth to speak with authority.   Vance Havner

Our first remark on this subject is that the ministry is an office, and not merely a work. Our second remark is, that the office is of divine appointment, not merely in the sense in which the civil powers are ordained of God, but in the sense that ministers derive their authority from Christ, and not from the people.    Charles Hodge

Ruling elders are declared to be the representatives of the people.   Charles Hodge

If preachers insist on competing with psychiatrists as counselors, with physicians as healers, with politicians as statesmen and with philosophers as speculators, then these specialists have every right to tell them how to preach.  If a minister’s message is not based on “Thus saith the Lord,” then as a sermon it is good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of the specialists in the department with which it deals.   John Gerstner

The speaker’s authority does not derive from himself; it derives from the Word. It’s tied to his faithful presentation of it.   Jonathan Leeman

Can a self-called man preach with the same authority as a God-called preacher?  Can a man whose confidence in the Holy Scriptures is shaken by personal doubts preach with the authority of the man whose whole heart, soul and mind are dominated by conviction concerning the absolute accuracy of the Bible?  Can a man whose own conscience rises up in condemnation of him for some secret sin in his life preach with the same authority as the man whose conscience condemns him not (I John 3:21-22)?   Richard Owen Roberts

If Jesus, the sinless and perfect Son of God, limited Himself to speaking nothing during His incarnation except the truth He received from His Father, how much more should those who have been called into ministry speak only on the authority of divine Scripture.    John MacArthur

The preacher must put himself out of the way and let God’s Word speak through him unhindered.  No matter what his training, experience, or personal abilities, he has spiritual authority only to the extent that what he says conforms to God’s Word.  But as with Jesus’ own teaching, when a minister of God does faithfully proclaim that Word, those who reject his teaching reject God’s truth and are as much accountable for their rejection as if the Lord had spoken the truth with His own lips.  It is in that way, and only in that way, that a pastor is able to speak with spiritual authority.  It is also in that way that he is commanded to speak with spiritual authority.   John MacArthur

You are not your own; you are a man under orders.  And the One who has drafted you and signed your orders expects that you carry them out in a manner worthy of Him, and in such a way that His authority and His kingdom cannot be ignored.  Now go, labor, work, and do your duty well knowing that it is the greatest privilege under heaven to be in the personal service of the Almighty.   David W. Hegg

The source of my authority in this pulpit is not…my wisdom; nor is it a private revelation granted to me beyond the revelation of Scripture.  My words have authority only insofar as they are the repetition, unfolding and proper application of the words of Scripture.  I have authority only when I stand under authority.  And our corporate symbol of that truth is the sound of your Bibles opening to the text.  My deep conviction about preaching is that a pastor must show the people that what he is saying was already said or implied in the Bible.  If it cannot be shown it has no special authority.   John Piper

Here it is, plain and unvarnished.  Unless I am convinced of error by the testimony of Scriptures or…by manifest reasoning I stand convicted by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and my conscience is taken captive by God’s Word, I cannot and will not recant anything…On this I take my stand.  I can do no other.  God help me.   Martin Luther

The authority of Scripture is greater than the comprehension of the whole of man’s reason.   Martin Luther

We must not allow our emotions to hold sway over our minds. Rather, we must seek to let the truth of God rule our minds. Our emotions must become subservient to the truth.   Jerry Bridges

There is nothing so deluding as feelings.  Christians cannot live by feelings.  Let me further tell you that these feelings are the work of Satan, for they are not right feelings.  What right have you to set up your feelings against the Word of Christ.   C.H. Spurgeon

The Bible alone is the only authority that can bind the conscience of a person absolutely because it is the only authority that carries with it the intrinsic authority of God Himself.   R.C. Sproul

The inspiration and authority of the Bible is the bedrock upon which our faith is built. Without it, we are doomed to uncertainty, doubt, and a hopeless groping in the darkness of human speculation.   Sam Storms

Authority resides in God’s inspired Word (the Bible) interpreted by God’s Spirit operating through Spirit-taught human agents.   M.F. Unger

The supreme judge by which all controversies are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.   Westminster Confession of Faith

The Bible says that all people, not just believers, possess part of the image of God; that is why murder and abortion are wrong.  Rick Warren

I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is “Abortion”, because it is a war against the child… A direct killing of the innocent child, “Murder” by the mother herself… And if we can accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love… And we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts…   Mother Teresa

Abortion is too often an atonement for the consequences of immorality, the sins of the parents.   Ed Cole

No human being…is ever conceived outside God’s will or ever conceived apart from God’s image. Life is a gift from God created in His own image.   John MacArthur

How many physicians, scientists, teachers, pastors, missionaries, statesmen, musicians, businessmen, and notable contributors to society have been murdered in the womb?   Chuck Baldwin

Just because Congress passes a law and says it’s all right to do a certain thing does not mean that it’s all right to do it. Abortion is still just as wrong today as it was the first day of January, 1973.   Shelton Smith

Whenever I see an unmarried woman carrying a child, my first response is one of respect. I know she could have taken the quick fix without anyone knowing, but she chose instead to let an innocent child live.   Randy Alcorn

The prochoice position always overlooks the victim’s right to choose. The women don’t choose rape. The blacks didn’t choose slavery. The Jews didn’t choose the ovens. And the babies don’t choose abortion.   Randy Alcorn

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention about 43% of all American women will have at least one abortion by the age 45 (p. 18). 20% of these are performed on teenagers (p. 28). 50% are performed on women who have had at least one abortion already (p. 31). Every third baby conceived and viable in this country is killed by abortion (p. 35).   John Piper

Christ died that we might live. This is the opposite of abortion. Abortion kills that someone might live differently.   John Piper

The abortion industry kills as many Black people every four days as the Klan killed in 150 years.   John Piper

The dismembering of a human being routinely in 30 minutes on an outpatient bases – or any other way – is barbaric. Four blocks from our church all year long – like churches within smelling distance of Auschwitz or Dachau or Buchenwald.   John Piper

Liberals are more upset when a tree is chopped down than when a child is aborted. Even if one rates an unborn child less than a full-blown person, doesn’t the unborn child rate slightly higher than vegetation?   Ann Coulter

Since we have become culturally dispassionate regarding abortion–and the reality that living humans are killed largely for the sake of convenience–it is small wonder that contemporary Big Brother would also target the elderly.   Jonathan Falwell

The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father’s role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts–a child–as a competitor, an intrusion and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the dependent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters. And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners.   Mother Teresa

It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.
Mother Teresa

When we consider that women are treated as property it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.    Elizabeth Cady Stanton

I’ve noticed everyone who is for abortion has already been born.   Ronald Reagan

No one is pro-abortion.    Barack Obama

The religious leaders of the day had written the script for the Messiah. When Jesus announced he was the Messiah, the Pharisees and others screamed at him, “There is no Jesus in the Messiah script. Messiahs do not hang out with losers. Our Messiah does not break all the rules, Our Messiah does not question our leadership or threaten our religion or act so irresponsibly. Our Messiah does not disregard his reputation, befriend riffraff, or frequent the haunts of questionable people.” Jesus’ reply? “This Messiah does”! Do you see why Christianity is called “good news”? Christianity proclaims that it is an equal-opportunity faith, open to all, in spite of the abundance of playwrights in the church who are more than anxious to announce, “There is no place for you in Christianity if you [wear an earring/have a tattoo/drink wine/have too many questions/look weird/smoke/dance/haven't been filled with the Spirit/aren't baptized/swear/have pink hair/are in the wrong ethnic group/have a nose ring/have had an abortion/are gay or lesbian/are too conservative or too liberal].   Mike Yaconelli

If a mother can kill her own child – what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me – there is nothing between.    Mother Teresa

The courageous strong stand up for and protect the vulnerable; the cowardly weak see them as disposable.   Donna Schoenrock

If women ruled the world there would be no wars. But, we all would have been aborted.   Christy Leigh Stewart

Annie turned away, her eyes glittering. ‘Here’s what no one tells you,’ she said. ‘When you deliver a fetus, you get a death certificate, but not a birth certificate. And afterward, your milk comes in, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.’ She looked up at me. ‘You can’t win. Either you have the baby and wear your pain on the outside, or you don’t have the baby, and you keep that ache in you forever. I know I didn’t do the wrong thing. But I don’t feel like I did the right thing, either.   Jodi Picoult

I certainly supported a woman’s right to choose, but to my mind the time to choose was before, not after the fact.   Ann B. Ross 

I pretended it was nothing. That day I told you about my baby, and why I had had an abortion. It would have damaged other lives. I had killed my own real baby ten years before, but it remains my living child, and will always be so. It is worse when there is no grave. I wanted you to recognize its existence. No one else does, and that is what I cannot bear.    Sarah Ferguson 

Few delights can equal the presence of one whom we trust utterly.  George Macdonald

Trust to God to weave your thread into the great web, though the pattern shows it not yet.   George Macdonald

When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.   Corrie Ten Boom

 I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain.    John Henry Newman

If you can’t see His goodness, you can trust His goodness.   Jack Hyles

What is needed for happy effectual service is simply to put your work into the Lord’s hand, and leave it there. Do not take it to Him in prayer, saying, “Lord, guide me, Lord, give me wisdom, Lord, arrange for me,” and then arise from your knees, and take the burden all back, and try to guide and arrange for yourself. Leave it with the Lord, and remember that what you trust to Him you must not worry over nor feel anxious about. Trust and worry cannot go together.   Hannah Whitall Smith

I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain.    John Henry Newman

Trust the past to God’s mercy, the present to God’s love and the future to God’s providence.   Augustine

Genuine faith that saves the soul has for its main element – trust – absolute rest of the whole soul – on the Lord Jesus Christ to save me, whether He died in particular or in special to save me or not, and relying, as I am, wholly and alone on Him, I am saved.   Charles Spurgeon

I find myself frequently depressed – perhaps more so than any other person here. And I find no better cure for that depression than to trust in the Lord with all my heart, and seek to realize afresh the power of the peace-speaking blood of Jesus, and His infinite love in dying upon the cross to put away all my transgressions.   Charles Spurgeon

Trust God or die.   Winkie Pratney

I am so weak that I can hardly write, I cannot read my Bible, I cannot even pray, I can only lie still in God’s arms like a little child, and trust.    Hudson Taylor

When you lie down with a short prayer, commit yourself into the hands of your Creator; and when you have done so, trust Him with yourself, as you must do when you are dying.    Jeremy Taylor

God won’t light your second step until you have taken the first one.   Woodrow Kroll

Most Christians are like a man who was toiling along the road, bending under a heavy burden, when a wagon overtook him, and the driver kindly offered to help him on his journey. He joyfully accepted the offer, but when seated, continued to bend beneath his burden, which he still kept on his shoulders. “Why do you not lay down your burden?” asked the kind-hearted driver. “Oh!” replied the man, “I feel that it is almost too much to ask you to carry me, and I could not think of letting you carry my burden too.” And so Christians, who have given themselves into the care and keeping of the Lord Jesus, still continue to bend beneath the weight of their burden, and often go weary and heavy-laden throughout the whole length of their journey.    Hannah Whitall Smith

Faith is a reasoning trust, a trust which reckons thoughtfully and confidently upon the trustworthiness of God.   John Stott

God will never, never, never let us down if we have faith and put our trust in Him. He will always look after us. So we must cleave to Jesus. Our whole life must simply be woven into Jesus.    Mother Teresa

Real satisfaction comes not in understanding God’s motives, but in understanding His character, in trusting in His promises, and in leaning on Him and resting in Him as the Sovereign who knows what He is doing and does all things well.   Joni Eareckson Tada

I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain.    John Henry Newman

Keep praying, but be thankful that God’s answers are wiser than your prayers !
William Culbertson

Satan is ever seeking to inject that poison into our hearts to distrust God’s goodness – especially in connection with his commandments. That is what really lies behind all evil, lusting and disobedience. A discontent with our position and portion, a craving from something which God has wisely held from us. Reject any suggestion that God is unduly severe with you. Resist with the utmost abhorrence anything that causes you to doubt God’s love and his lovingkindness toward you. Allow nothing to make you question the Father’s love for his child.    Arthur W. Pink

He who breathes into our hearts the heavenly hope, will not deceive or fail us when we press forward to its realization.    Anonymous

To trust Him means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way.    C. S. Lewis

Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee,
Trust Him when thy strength is small,
Trust Him when to simply trust Him
Seems the hardest thing of all.
Trust Him, He is ever faithful,
Trust Him, for his will is best,
Trust Him, for the heart of Jesus
Is the only place of rest.     Anonymous 

What is needed for happy effectual service is simply to put your work into the Lord’s hand, and leave it there. Do not take it to Him in prayer, saying, “Lord, guide me, Lord, give me wisdom, Lord, arrange for me,” and then arise from your knees, and take the burden all back, and try to guide and arrange for yourself. Leave it with the Lord, and remember that what you trust to Him you must not worry over nor feel anxious about. Trust and worry cannot go together.    Hannah Whitall Smith

Every evening I turn my troubles over to God – He’s going to be up all night anyway.    Donald J. Morgan 

There is no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment. But I refuse to become panicky, as I lift up my eyes to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart.    Alan Redpath

It is a glorious thing to know that your Father God makes no mistakes in directing or permitting that which crosses the path of your life. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. It is our glory to trust Him, no matter what.  Joni Eareckson Tada

The more we trust, the more reasonable we find it to trust.    George Macdonald

I can only fly freely when I know there is a catcher to catch me. If we are to take risks, to be free, in the air, in life, we have to know that when we come down from it all, we’re going to be caught, we’re going to be safe. The great hero is the least visible. Trust the Catcher.    Henri J. M. Nouwen

On days when life is difficult and I feel overwhelmed, as I do fairly often, it helps to remember in my prayers that all God requires of me is to trust Him and be His friend. I find I can do that.    Bruce Larson 

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.    Corrie Ten Boom

There were many who saw the babe, but did not see the salvation.    Author Unknown

For the Christ-child who comes is the Master of all; No palace too great, no cottage too small.    Phillips Brooks

Rejoice, that the immortal God is born, so that mortal man may live in eternity.    John Hus

His poverty was so great that He was born in another man’s house, and buried in another man’s tomb.    John Boys

It is here, in the thing that happened at the first Christmas, that the most profound unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie. God became man; Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the incarnation.   J.I. Packer

Who can add to Christmas? The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son. The only requirement is to believe in Him. The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life.   Corrie Ten Boom

The Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the Incarnation.    J.I. Packer

There were only a few shepherds at the first Bethlehem. The ox and the donkey understood more of the first Christmas than the high priests in Jerusalem. And it is the same today.    Thomas Merton

Christmas is based on an exchange of gifts, the gift of God to man – His unspeakable gift of His Son, and the gift of man to God – when we present our bodies a living sacrifice.    Vance Havner

The idea that there’s a force of love and logic behind the universe is overwhelming to start with, if you believe it. Actually, maybe even far-fetched to start with, but the idea that that same love and logic would choose to describe itself as a baby born in shit and straw and poverty is genius, and brings me to my knees, literally. To me, as a poet, I am just in awe of that. It makes some sort of poetic sense. It’s the thing that makes me a believer, though it didn’t dawn on me for many years.    Bono

The central miracle asserted by Christians is the incarnation. They say that God became man.    C.S. Lewis

 Infinite, and an infant. Eternal, and yet born of a woman. Almighty, and yet hanging on a woman’s breast. Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother’s arms. King of angels, and yet the reputed son of Joseph. Heir of all things, and yet the carpenter’s despised son.   Charles Spurgeon

Hark the herald angels sing,
  Glory to the new-born king.”
    Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
      God and sinners reconciled.!   Charles Wesley

This Gospel anticipates a world far different from C.S. Lewis’s Narnia, where it is “always winter, and never Christmas.” The promise of the Gospel is that it is “always Christmas.”  To be “in Christ” is to enjoy each morning as a Christmas morning with the family of God, celebrating the gift of God around the tree of life.   Kevin VanHoozer

The spirit of Christmas needs to be superseded by the Spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christmas is annual; the Spirit of Christ is eternal. The spirit of Christmas is sentimental; the Spirit of Christ is supernatural. The spirit of Christmas is a human product; the Spirit of Christ is a divine person. That makes all the difference in the world.   Stuart Briscoe

Here’s a side to the Christmas story that isn’t often told: Those soft little hands, fashioned by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb, were made so that nails might be driven through them. Those baby feet, pink and unable to walk, would one day walk up a dusty hill to be nailed to a cross. That sweet infant’s head with sparkling eyes and eager mouth was formed so that someday men might force a crown of thorns onto it. That tender body, warm and soft, wrapped in swaddling clothes, would one day be ripped open by a spear. Jesus was born to die.    John MacArthur

There is no connection between the worship of idols and the use of Christmas trees. We should not be anxious about baseless arguments against Christmas decorations. Rather, we should be focused on the Christ of Christmas and giving all diligence to remembering the real reason for the season.   John MacArthur

When we bless God for mercies, we usually prolong them.  When we bless God for miseries, we usually end them.  Praise is the honey of life which a devout heart extracts from every bloom of providence and grace.   C.H. Spurgeon

The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!   Henry Ward Beecher

An evidence that our will has been broken is that we begin to thank God for that which once seemed so bitter, knowing that His will is good and that, in His time and in His way, He is able to make the most bitter waters sweet.   Nancy Leigh DeMoss 

Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and be not poorer but richer for having made it.   A.W. Tozer

A thankful heart is one of the primary identifying characteristics of a believer. It stands in stark contrast to pride, selfishness, and worry. And it helps fortify the believer’s trust in the Lord and reliance of His provision, even in the toughest times. No matter how choppy the seas become, a believer’s heart is buoyed by constant praise and gratefulness to the Lord.   John MacArthur

It must be an odd feeling to be thankful to nobody in particular. Christians in public institutions often see this odd thing happening on Thanksgiving Day. Everyone in the institution seems to be thankful “in general.” It’s very strange. It’s a little like being married in general.   Cornelius Plantinga

The problem with being thankful is not so much one of manners as it is of alertness to the facts, that is, simply having open eyes to what is true. And it is true that you and I deserve nothing good. No, more than that, we deserve everything bad – an eternity in hell.   Jim Elliff

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.   G.K. Chesterton

The art of thanksgiving is thanksliving.   Author Unknown

We ought to shout out our thanksgiving as if every war were over; as if there were no more big taxes; as if there were no sickness, no crime.    John R. Rice

The whole life of a Christian should be nothing but praises and thanks to God; we should neither eat nor sleep, but eat to God and sleep to God and work to God and talk to God, do all to His glory and praise.   Richard Sibbes

God is pleased with no music below so much as with the thanksgiving songs of relieved widows and supported orphans; of rejoicing, comforted, and thankful persons.   Jeremy Taylor

If I succeed, I will give thanks. If I fail, I will seek His grace.   Max Lucado

Thankfulness to God is a recognition that God in His goodness and faithfulness has provided for us and cared for us, both physically and spiritually.  It is a recognition that we are totally dependent upon Him; that all that we are and have comes from God.   Jerry Bridges

The things we take for granted are dreams to many people.   Author Unknown

I preached on the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of faith. While I was speaking, several dropped down as dead and among the rest such a cry was heard of sinners groaning for the righteousness of faith that it almost drowned my voice. But many of these soon lifted up their heads with joy and broke out into thanksgiving, being assured they now had the desire of their soul – the forgiveness of their sins.   John Wesley

Thanksgiving comes after Christmas.   Peter Kreeft

Thanksgiving is the language of heaven, and we had better start to learn it if we are not to be mere dumb aliens there.   A.J. Gossip

We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction.   Harry Ironside

Biblical prophecy provides some of the greatest encouragement and hope available to us today. Just as the Old Testament is saturated with prophecies concerning Christ’s first advent, so both testaments are filled with references to the second coming of Christ. One scholar has estimated that there are 1,845 references to Christ’s second coming in the Old Testament, where 17 books give it prominence. In the 260 chapters of the New Testament, there are 318 references to the second advent of Christ – an amazing 1 out of every 30 verses. Twenty-three of the 27 New Testament books refer to this great event. For every prophecy in the Bible concerning Christ’s first advent, there are 8 which look forward to His second!   Author Unknown

The center of Christianity is the coming of the Son of God into the world as a real man to destroy the works of the devil and create a new people for His own glory. The very heart of our faith is that He did this by obeying the law of God, dying for the sins of His people, rising victorious over death, ascending to God’s right hand with all His enemies under his feet. The second coming of Christ is the completion of His saving work. If you take it away, the whole fabric of His saving work unravels.   John Piper

The doctrine of the Second Coming is deeply uncongenial to the whole evolutionary or developmental character of modern thought. We have been taught to think of the world as something that grows slowly towards perfection, something that “progresses” or “evolves.” Christian Apocalyptic offers us no such hope.   C.S. Lewis

Jesus will come bathed in radiant splendor, enveloped within an atmosphere of indescribable brilliance, surrounded by the ear-piercing praise of angels and saints. Scintillating light shining from His eyes. Irresistible power pouring from His hands. None will deny His beauty or escape its transforming energy.   Sam Storms

The apostolic church thought more about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ than about death and heaven. The early Christians were looking, not for a cleft in the ground called a grave but for a cleavage in the sky called Glory.   Alexander MacLaren

Nowhere is salvation conceived of as a flight from history as in Greek thought; it is always the coming of God to man in history. Man does not ascend to God; God descends to man.   George Eldon Ladd

Jesus is now the Lord; He is enthroned at the right hand of God; He is reigning in His kingdom. But this is a Lordship and a kingly reign which is known only to believers. It must be confessed by faith. His Second Coming will mean nothing less than the Lordship which is His now will be visible to all the world. When we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” this is what we are praying for: the effectual and universal rule of Christ in all the world, not only over believers.   George Eldon Ladd

The idea which shuts out the Second Coming from our minds, the idea of the world slowly ripening to perfection, is a myth, not a generalization from experience.   C.S. Lewis

More than a fourth of the Bible is predictive prophecy. Approximately one-third of it has yet to be fulfilled. Both the Old and New Testaments are full of promises about the return of Jesus Christ. Over 1,800 references appear in the Old Testament, and seventeen Old Testament books give prominence to this theme. Of the 260 chapters in the New Testament, there are more than 300 references to the Lord’s return – one out of every thirty verses. Twenty-three of the twenty-seven New Testament books refer to this great event. Three of the four other books are single-chapter letters written to individuals concerning a particular subject, and the fourth is Galatians, which does imply Christ’s coming again. For every prophecy on the first coming of Christ, there are eight on Christ’s second coming.   George Sweeting

Compassion costs. It is easy enough to argue, criticize and condemn, but redemption is costly, and comfort draws from the deep. Brains can argue, but It takes heart to comfort.   Samuel Chadwick

“We must feel toward our people as a father toward his children; yea, the most tender love of a mother must not surpass ours. We must even travail in birth, till Christ be formed in them. They should see that we care for no outward thing, neither liberty, nor honor, nor life, in comparison to their salvation… When the people see that you truly love them, they will hear anything from you…Oh therefore, see that you feel a tender love for your people in your hearts, and let them perceive it in your speech and conduct. Let them see that you spend and are spent for their sakes.”   Richard Baxter

“Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”
— JRR Tolkein

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”   Plato

“Without suffering, there’d be no compassion.”   Nicolas Sparks

“The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.”   John Green

“A fight is going on inside me,” said an old man to his son. “It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other wolf is good. he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you.”

The son thought about it for a minute and then asked, “Which wolf will win?”

The old man replied simply, “The one you feed.”    Wendy Mass

“It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.”    Albert Camus

“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world…would do this, it would change the earth. ”    William Faulkner

The badge of courage does not require that we walk through something dangerous. It simply requires that we continue to share God’s love whenever and wherever we are.   Tom White

The difference between mercy and grace? Mercy gave the prodigal son a second chance. Grace gave him a feast.    Max Lucado

“I have no idea what’s awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends. For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing.”   Albert Camus

I have come to realize more and more that the greatest disease and the greatest suffering is to be unwanted, unloved, uncared for, to be shunned by everybody, to be just nobody.   Mother Teresa

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”   Elisabeth Kubler  Ross

“Every single person has at least one secret that would break your heart. If we could just remember this, I think there would be a lot more compassion and tolerance in the world.”    Frank  Warren

“When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”    Helder Camara

“I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.”    Mother Teresa

The gospel of a broken heart demands the ministry of bleeding hearts…We can never heal the needs we do not feel. Tearless hearts can never be heralds of the passion. We must pity if we would redeem. We must bleed if we would be ministers of the saving blood.    Dr. John Henry J. H. Jowett

I choose kindness… I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.   Max Lucado

The Christian faith is meant to be lived moment by moment. It isn’t some broad, general outline–it’s a long walk with a real Person. Details count: passing thoughts, small sacrifices, a few encouraging words, little acts of kindness, brief victories over nagging sins.    Joni Eareckson Tada

Social responsibility becomes an aspect not of Christian mission only, but also of Christian conversion. It is impossible to be truly converted to God without being thereby converted to our neighbour.    John R. W. Stott

While women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight; while children go hungry, as they do now I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll fight; I’ll fight to the very end!    General William Booth

The “least of my brethren” are the hungry and the lonely, not only for food, but for the Word of God; the thirsty and the ignorant not only for water, but also for knowledge, peace, truth, justice and love; the naked and the unloved, not only for clothes but also for human dignity; the unwanted; the unborn child; the racially discriminated against; the homeless and abandoned, not only for a shelter made of bricks, but for a heart that understands, that covers, that loves; the sick, the dying destitutes, and the captives, not only in body, but also in mind and spirit; all those who have lost all hope and faith in life; the alcoholics and dying addicts and all those who have lost God (for them God was but God is) and who have lost all hope in the power of the Spirit.    Mother Teresa

It is the duty of every Christian to be Christ to his neighbour.    Martin Luther

Faith is believing He, the miracle worker, can turn my stone-cold indifference into a fire of love toward certain “unlovables”.    Pamela Reeve

God does not comfort us to make us comfortable only, but to make us comforters.    Dr. John Henry J. H. Jowett

Please, Lord, teach us to laugh again; but, God, don’t ever let us forget that we cried.   Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson

Good preaching to some extent at least, can be developed through close study and application of sound principles of speech, homiletics and communications, but the awesome demands of ministering to someone who is hurting can only be met by an active and believing prayer life.    John Wimber

Do not keep the alabaster boxes of your kindness sealed until your friends are gone. Speak aprovingly, cheering words while their ears can hear them and be made happier by them.    George W Childs

We must never minimize the suffering of another. Scripture’s mandate to us is, “Weep with them that weep.” (Romans 12:15, KJV)    Billy Graham

Do you wish to commune with God in your mind? Strive to be merciful… A man should first of all begin to be merciful in the measure that our heavenly Father is merciful.    Isaac of Syria

Christianity is not about ideas but about deeds inspired by love.    Frederic Ozanam

May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector for those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter
And a servant to all in need.     Anonymous

Compassion means to suffer with, to live with those who suffer. When Jesus saw the woman of Nain he realized, This is a widow who has lost her only son, and he was moved by compassion. He felt the pain of that woman in his guts. He felt her pain so deeply in his spirit that out of compassion he called the son to life so he could give that son back to his mother.    Henri J. M. Nouwen

Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you.    Mother Teresa

I have discovered that the people who believe most strongly in the next life do the most good in the present one.     C. S. Lewis

Love every man in spite of his falling into sin. Never mind the sins, but remember that the foundation of the man is the same – the image of God.    John of Kronstadt

If faith is lacking, it is because there is too much selfishness, too much concern for personal gain. For faith to be true, it has to be generous and loving. Love and faith go together, they complete each other.    Mother Teresa