Top 804 Quotes & Sayings by Max Lucado - Page 3

Refusing to forgive is like ingesting a lethal dose of poison and hoping it kills my enemy.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To these I commit my day.

Next time a sunrise steals your breath or a meadow of flowers leave you speechless, remain that way. Say nothing, and listen as Heaven whispers, "Do you like it? I did it just for you."

The Bible is the story of two gardens. Eden and Gethsemane. In the first, Adam took a fall. In the second, Jesus took a stand.

Feed your fears and your faith will starve. Feed your faith, and your fears will.

No one can pray and worry at the same time.

Conflict is inevitable but combat is optional.

When we put someone in our jail cell of hatred, we are stuck guarding the door.

Yesterday you can't alter, but your reaction to yesterday you can. The past you cannot change, but your response to your past you can.

God's present is his presence. His greatest gift is himself.

What you and I might rate as an absolute disaster, God may rate as a pimple-level problem that will pass. He views your life the way you view a movie after you've read the book. When something bad happens, you feel the air sucked out of the theater. Everyone else gasps at the crisis on the screen. Not you. Why? You've read the book. You know how the good guy gets out of the tight spot. God views your life with the same confidence. He's not only read your story...he wrote it.

Christ entered our world. As a result, we can enter His.

Changing directions in life is not tragic. Losing passion in life is.

Don't measure the size of the mountain; talk to the One who can move it.

The church is never a place to show off. Do your good deeds quietly. Serve; don't seek to be seen

There are many things in life over which you have no choice. But the greatest activity of life is well within your dominion. You can choose what you think about. You can be the air traffic controller of your mental airport. You occupy the control tower and can direct the mental traffic of your world. Thoughts circle above, coming and going. If one of them lands, it's because you gave it permission. If it leaves, it's because you directed it to do so. You can select your thought pattern.

If today were your last, would you do what you're doing? Or would you love more, give more, forgive more?

Give your problems to Christ before your problems get to you.

We need hope. There's nothing worse than to live a life of despair. For a person to have no hope just sucks the blue out of every sky.

God sees us with the eyes of a Father. He sees our defects, errors and blemishes. But He also sees our value.

Don't worry about having the right words; worry more about having the right heart. It's not eloquence he seeks, just honesty.

Two types of voices command your attention today. Negative ones fill your mind with doubt, bitterness, and fear. Positive ones purvey hope and strength. Which one will you choose to heed?

If you knew Jesus was coming tomorrow, what would you do today? Then do it!

You're never without hope, because you're never without prayer.

Let your failures refine you, not define you.

The people who make a difference are not the ones with the credentials but the ones with the concern.

When God gives an assignment, he also gives the skill. Study your skills, then, to reveal your assignment.

I choose love. No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness, I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.

Rather than seeking total control, relinquish it. You can't run the world, but you can entrust it to God. This is the message behind Paul's admonition to "rejoice in the Lord." Peace is within reach, not for lack of problems, but because of the presence of a sovereign Lord. Rather than rehearse the chaos of the world, rejoice in the Lord's sovereignty, as Paul did. Sovereignty gives the saint the inside track to peace. Others see the problems of the world and wring their hands. We see the problems of the world and bend our knees.

God has proven himself as a faithful father. Now it falls to us to be trusting children.

When we look at the love of Christ, we make a wonderful discovery. Love is more a decision than an emotion! Christ-like love applauds good behavior. At the same time Christ-like love refuses to endorse misbehavior. Jesus loved His apostles, but He wasn't silent when they were faithless. Jesus loved the people in the temple, but He didn't sit still when they were hypocritical.

God's love never ceases. Never... God doesn't love us less if we fail or more if we succeed. God's love never ceases.

Don't quit. For if you do, you may miss the answer to your prayers.

The maker of the stars would rather die for you than live without you. And that is a fact. So if you need to brag, brag about that.

God's mercies are new every morning. Receive them.

Faith is the bird that sings while it is yet dark.

First, God does not send people to hell. He simply honors their choice. Hell is the ultimate expression of God's high regard for the dignity of man. He has never forced us to choose Him, even when that means we would choose Hell.

And we need to share our story. Not with everyone but with someone. There is someone who is like you were. And he or she needs to know what God can do. Your honest portrayal of your past may be the courage for another's future.

Write today's worries in sand. Chisel yesterday's victories in stone.

God will use your mess for good. We see a perfect mess; God sees a perfect chance to train, test , and teach.

Prayer lets God do what he does best. Take a pebble & kill a Goliath. Take the common, make it spectacular! Pray & see what He can do.

We see a hearse; we think sorrow. We see a grave; we think despair. We hear of a death; we think of a loss. Not so in heaven. When heaven sees a breathless body, it sees the vacated cocoon & the liberated butterfly.

You are never more like Jesus than when you pray for others. Pray for this hurting world.

Gratitude is a mindful awareness of the benefits of life. It's the greatest of virtues. Studies have linked the emotion with a variety of positive effects. Grateful people tend to be more empathetic and forgiving of others. People who keep a gratitude journal are more likely to have a positive outlook on life. Grateful individuals demonstrate less envy, materialism, and self-centeredness. Gratitude improves self-esteem and enhances relationships, quality of sleep, and longevity.

The greater your cares, the more genuine your prayers

You will never forgive anyone more than God has already forgiven you.

Let God have you, and let God love you - and don’t be surprised if your heart begins to hear music you’ve never heard and your feet learn to dance as never before.

Don't see yourself as a product of your parents DNA, but rather as a brand new idea from heaven.

When he says we’re forgiven, let’s unload the guilt. When he says we’re valuable, let’s believe him. . . . When he says we’re provided for, let’s stop worrying. God’s efforts are strongest when our efforts are useless

God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way.

What causes us to think of prayer as the last option rather than the first? I can think of two reasons: feelings of independence and feelings of insignificance.

God sees in you a masterpiece about to happen

You need someone to lift your spirits. You need someone to look you in the face and say, "This isn't the end. Don't give up. There is a better place than this. And I'll lead you there.

If the purpose of life is just to live this life and then die, it's hard to answer the purpose of pain question; but if we can help people see from an eternal perspective - that all of this is working together to prepare us for something higher than we've ever imagined, more noble than we've ever dreamed - then we discover some hope that we can hold on to.

The great promise of Scripture is that every day is a day that's worth rejoicing in.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus . As we do our part rejoice in the Lord, pursue a gentle spirit, pray about everything, and cling to gratitude, God does his part. He bestows upon us the peace of God. Note, this is not a peace from God. Our Father gives us the very peace of God. He downloads the tranquility of the throne room into our world, resulting in an inexplicable calm. We should be worried, but we aren't. We should be upset, but we're comforted.

When God is all you have, then all you have, is all you need.

God rewards those who seek Him. Not those who seek doctrine of religion or systems or creeds. Many settle for these lesser passions, but the reward goes to those who settle for nothing less than Jesus himself. And what is the reward? What awaits those who seek Jesus? Nothing short of the heart of Jesus.

The next time you are called to suffer, pay attention. It may be the closest you'll ever get to God.

God has work for you to do.