“is but another way of declaring that God has of His own motion placed Himself under the law of prayer, and has obligated Himself to answer the prayers of men.”

“God can even affect the mind of a heathen ruler, and this he can do in answer to prayer without in the least overturning his free agency or forcing his will.”

“Unction in the preacher puts God in the gospel.”

“God will manifest himself in direct proportion to our passion for him.”

“Did you bring people to where the action could be found?" God asks: "if you just entertain them or console them, tickle theirs, woe to you! At the throne of grace, I could have CHANGED THEIR LIVES! Did you dazzle them with your cleverness or did you make them hunger for ME!?" If a meeting doesn't end with people touching God - what kind of meeting is it? - Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire”

“Choose your foundation carefully. Your identity, purpose, values, priorities, goals, time, and ultimate legacy will all stand or fall on this foundation.”

“If God is not changing you, you have to honestly ask, “Have I ever really converted?” To put it another way, “If your faith isn’t changing you, it hasn’t saved you.” The people who really have the new birth—the people who really have that conversion experience—are changing.”

“Do you believe in the “power of positive thinking”? I don’t! In fact, I thank God for those who have exposed and repudiated the so-called preachers who promote positives and possibilities. While I seriously doubt that positive thinking has any inherent power, I do believe in the power of negative thinking. I believe that negative thinking is often nothing more than a lack of faith and therefore sin (according to Romans 14:23). If you didn’t want to change, you would not still be reading this book on change; but I have to stop you now and say as plainly as I know how, “You will never experience life change unless you believe within your heart that change is truly possible.” Believing that failure is inevitable is a self-fulfilling prophecy. We must believe that we have a choice in what we do, that by God’s grace we can choose to do what is right. If we don’t believe that we can make the choice to change at a specific moment in time, we will always only wonder why others are changing while we are stuck in the rut of sameness year after year.”

“For life change to happen, we must commit to full cooperation with God’s desire to transform us.”

“Love is what we need in friendship when we stumble, and truth is what we need when we stray.”

“Perhaps you grew up in a legalistic spiritual environment as I did. With legalism, Christianity is all about conforming to a code of conduct that has been added to the precepts and principles of the Bible and then judging people on the degree to which they conform to the extrabiblical code. “I’m a good Christian because I don’t do the ‘filthy five’ (or the ‘dirty dozen’).” That kind of legalistic focus produces external conformity, like in the military, but not the kind of true life change we are looking for. Actually, I believe there’s more disobedience to God in the legalistic Christian subculture than anywhere else, because so often there has been no real heart change. Instead, sinful patterns that God wants to change are forced under the surface—a sort of conspiracy of silence. Legalistic Christians are hiding the real truth of who they are from everyone around them. The result? Biblical fellowship is hindered and true life change becomes very difficult. Legalism is a stifling environment where lasting heart change is impossible. Over the Christmas holidays, my family and I visited a church caught in legalism. I didn’t want to go, but I had no choice and so I went. The problem was I forgot about the dress code. I was sort of “dress casual,” if you know what I mean. Then we got in the building. Oops! Every single male from three years of age to ninety-nine had a suit on, and those ties sure looked tight. Now to their credit, they were friendly, but even the handshake itself was kind of compassionate. “Oh, poor brother. We hope you’ll soon be within the reach of the gospel.” You know, that feeling you get when people are judging you because you’re not quite like they are. Anyway, I snuggled up my coat, brought my kids in, and sat down. Being familiar with this approach, I was doing really well until they started a baptismal service where the pastor walked right into the baptistery with his suit on, coat and all. I just wanted to stand up and go, “What are you thinking! It’s not about rules! Jesus died so we could have a genuine intimacy with Him, not just look the part, or what you think looks the part. Won’t you ever learn that rules by themselves don’t change us? They just force our sinful natures under the surface and help us hide behind externals and pretend we’re closer to God than we really are.” Of course, God is not for or against suits. Dressing up for church when motivated by reverence and not religion can be good. Similarly, dressing down can be”

“Half of all believers say they do not feel they have entered the presence of God or experienced a genuine connection with Him in the past year.”

“According to George Barna, the majority of born-again Christians admit that their bi-weekly attendance at worship services is generally the only time they worship God.”

“I say often that prayerlessness is our declaration of independence from God.”

“Prayer becomes transformational when we embrace the original and enduring context for all praying. A worship-based approach fixes our heart first on the majesty of God, the person of Christ, the purity of His Word – and excites within us an appetite for Him. Our very motives for prayer are changed and elevated beyond anything merely earthly. Our heart is renewed with a longing for His glory.”

“in these times, it appears they were directly related to fresh empowerment for His self-less, sacrificial service. There are also occasions where Jesus blesses people, but His exact words are not given (Mark 10:16; Luke 24:50). In the final part of this book we will look at the”

“I have heard Pastor Cymbala say many times that we will not one day stand before Christ to announce the size of our ministry, but to give an account of the substance of our ministry. Christ’s evaluation, both now and in eternity, is based upon the fruit evidenced in the lives of the people to whom we minister.”

“Peter Lord, one of my personal mentors and a pastor for over five decades, states, “Most Christians pray out of crisis or from a grocery list – period.” His point is that God has much more for us in our walk with Him when we learn to seek His face, not just His hand. This is the discovery so many are making today in their relationship with Christ.”

“specifically of the basic provisions of bread and fish, with no mention of fishing boats, lake cabins, or new video games. Perhaps the answer is in the point He has already made, that the truly “good” things we seek first are the issues pertaining to the kingdom of God. In a parallel passage found in Luke’s gospel, Jesus clarifies His focus on the good things we should expect with”

“Every time I set my face to seeking God in a fresh way, God begins to change my heart, my mind, my preaching, and my leadership skills. When any believer commits his or her heart to seeking the Lord, everything is going to change.”