Top 85 Quotes & Sayings by Jim Elliot

I many no longer depend on pleasant impulses to bring me before the Lord. I must rather response to principles I know to be right, whether I feel them to be enjoyable or not.

Coming home, we stopped for a bite to eat and ran into a confused waitress. Had a heart-rending time trying to speak the Words of Life to her, and as I think of all this country now, many just as confused, and more so, I realized that the 39th Street bus is as much a mission field as Africa ever was.

Most laws condemn the soul and pronounce sentence. The result of the law of my God is perfect. It condemns but forgives. It restores - more than abundantly - what it takes away.

Grieve not, then, if your sons seem to desert you, but rejoice, rather, seeing the will of God done gladly.

God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with him.

Wherever you are - be all there.

No one warns young people to follow Adam's example. He waited till God saw his need. Then God made Adam sleep, prepared for his mate, and brought her to him. We need more of this 'being asleep' in the will of God.

Ninety-five percent of our wool is going to China.

The Lord has done what I wanted Him to do this week. I wanted, primarily, peace about going into pioneer Indian work. And as I analyze my feelings now, I feel quite at ease about saying that tribal work in South American jungles is the general direction of my missionary purpose.

Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.

How wonderful to know that Christianity is more than a padded pew or a dim cathedral, but that it is a real, living, daily experience which goes on from grace to grace.

What a brutish master sin is, taking the joy from one's life, stealing money and health, giving promise of tomorrow's pleasures, and finally leading one onto the rotten planking that overlies the mouth of the pit.

Systematic theology - be careful how you tie down the Word to fit your set and final creeds, systems, dogmas, and organized theistic philosophies! The Word of God is not bound! It's free to say what it will to the individual, and no one can outline it into dispensations which cannot be broken.

Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr, the man who will not act until he knows all will never act at all.

We wouldn't think of rising in the morning without a face-wash, but we often neglect that purgative cleansing of the Word of the Lord. It wakes us up to our responsibility.

Domesticated males aren't much use for adventure.

It is true that a fellow cannot ignore women - but he can think of them as he ought - as sisters, not as sparring partners.

I wanted to sail when I was in grammar school and well remember memorizing the names of the sails from the Merriam-Webster's ponderous dictionary in the library. Now I am actually at sea - as a passenger, of course, but at sea nevertheless - and bound for Ecuador.

Missionaries are very human folks, just doing what they are asked. Simply a bunch of nobodies trying to exalt Somebody.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

I only hope that He will let me preach to those who have never heard that name Jesus. What else is worthwhile in this life? I have heard of nothing better. 'Lord, send me!'

Lord, make my way prosperous, not that I achieve high station, but that my life may be an exhibit to the value of knowing God.

Begin each day with private reading of the Word and prayer.

I dare not stay home while Quichuas perish. What if the well-filled church in the homeland needs stirring? They have the Scriptures, Moses, and the prophets, and a whole lot more. Their condemnation is written on their bank books and in the dust on their Bible covers.

The sound of 'gentle stillness' after all the thunder and wind have passed will the ultimate Word from God.

I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you Lord Jesus.

Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.

It's hard to steer a parked car.

Father, take my life, yea, my blood if Thou wilt, and consume it with Thine enveloping fire. I would not save it, for it is not mine to save. Have it Lord, have it all. Pour out my life as an oblation for the world. Blood is only of value as it flows before Thine altar

It makes me boil when I think of the power we profess and the utter impotency of our action. Believers who know one-tenth as much as we do are doing one-hundred times more for God, with His blessing and our criticism. Oh if I could write it, preach it, say it, paint it, anything at all, if only God's power would become known among us.

The will of God is always a bigger thing than we bargain for, but we must believe that whatever it involves, it is good, acceptable and perfect.

Missionaries are very human folks, simply a bunch of nobodies trying to exalt somebody.

If we are the sheep of His pasture, remember that sheep are headed for the altar.

I couldn’t have asked for more than God in deliberate grace has surprised me with!

He makes His ministers a flame of fire. Am I ignitible? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of 'other things.' Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame. But flame is transient, often short lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul - short life? ... Make me thy fuel, Flame of God.

Always seek peace between your heart and God, but in this world, always be careful to remain ever-restless, never satisfied, and always abounding in the work of the Lord.

Father, let me be weak that I might loose my clutch on everything temporal. My life, my reputation, my possessions, Lord, let me loose the tension of the grasping hand. Even, Father, would I lose the love of fondling. How often I have released a grasp only to retain what I prized by 'harmless' longing, the fondling touch. Rather, open my hand to received the nail of Calvary, as Christ's was opened- that I, releasing all, might be released, unleashed from all that binds me now. He thought Heaven, yea, equality with God, not a thing to be clutched at. So let me release my grasp.

We are so utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we profess to know a Power the Twentieth Century does not reckon with.... Oh that God would make us dangerous!

When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die.

Lord, give me firmness without hardness, steadfastness without dogmatism, love without weakness.

Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.

God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.

As your life is in His hands, so are the days of your life. But don’t let the sands of time get into the eye of your vision to reach those who sit in darkness. They simply must hear.

Why do you need a voice when you have a verse?

That saint who advances on his knees never retreats.

Children are arrows in a quiver, and they are to be trained as missionaries and shot at the Devil.

In my own experience I have found that the most extravagant dreams of boyhood have not surpassed the great experience of being in the Will of God, and I believe that nothing could be better. That is not to say that I do not want other things, and other ways of living, and other places to see, but in my right mind I know that my hopes and plans for myself could not be any better than He has arranged and fulfilled them. Thus may we all find it, and know the truth of the Word which says, He will be our guide even until death.

Desire is the putting of my will into God’s concern. It’s not a passive, sitting back in your easy chair, folding your arms sort of thing, which says, 'Well, I’m willing, if God would only give me a good swift kick and send me.' That’s willingness all right. But God doesn’t want willingness, He wants will! He wants your will put behind those desires.

Eternity shall be at once a great eye-opener and a great mouth-shutter.

Those whimpering Stateside young people will wake up on the Day of Judgment condemned to worse fates than these demon-fearing Indians, because, having a Bible, they were bored with it - while these never heard of such a thing as writing.

Forgive me for being so ordinary while claiming to know so extraordinary a God.

Live every day as if the Son of Man were at the door, and gear your thinking to the fleeting moment. Just how can it be redeemed? Walk as if the next step would carry you across the threshold of Heaven. Pray. That saint who advances on his knees never retreats.

Our young men are going into the professional fields because they don't 'feel called' to the mission field. We don't need a call; we need a kick in the pants. We must begin thinking in terms of 'going out,' and stop our weeping because 'they won't come in.' Who wants to step into an igloo? The tombs themselves are not colder than the churches. May God send us forth.

Ps 119:89-91: The settled Word in Heaven makes for a solid foundation on earth and a safe path for today.

He is no fool who parts with that which he cannot keep, when he is sure to be recompensed with that which he cannot lose.

I have prayed for new men, fiery, reckless men, possessed of uncontrollably youthful passion-these lit by the Spirit of God. I have prayed for new words, explosive, direct, simple words. I have prayed for new miracles. Explaining old miracles will not do. If God is to be known as the God who does wonders in heaven and earth, then God must produce for this generation. Lord, fill preachers and preaching with Thy power. How long dare we go on without tears, without moral passions, hatred and love? Not long, I pray, Lord Jesus, not long.

I pray for you, that all your misgivings will be melted to thanksgivings. Remember that the shadow a thing casts often far exceeds the size of the thing itself (especially if the light be low on the horizon) and though some future fear may strut brave darkness as you approach, the thing itself will be but a speck when seen from beyond. Oh that He would restore us often with that 'aspect from beyond,' to see a thing as He sees it, to remember that He dealeth with us as with sons.

Rest in this - it is His business to lead, command, impel, send, call... It is your business to obey, follow, move, respond.

Lord, make my way prosperous not that I achieve high station, but that my life be an exhibit to the value of knowing God.

The will of God is always a bigger thing than we bargain for.