Billy Graham Quotes - Page 26

[The Bible] has survived attack of every kind. Neither barbaric vandalism nor civilized scholarship has touched it. Neither the burning of fire nor the laughter of skepticism has accomplished its annihilation. Through the many dark ages of man, its glorious promises have survived unchanged.

Do young people have the moral stamina to carry through in case of economic depression? . . . The real tests of the [younger] generations have not yet come, but they are on their way!

God speaks to us through our conscience. This may be a “still small voice” that will not let us go until we do what we know is right . . .we must never silence that inner voice—[but] check what we think it is saying against the Scriptures.

The Bible teaches that whether we are saved or lost, there is conscious and everlasting existence of the soul and personality.

Being a Christian does not exempt us from tough training, which may mean suffering. If the training were easy, we would not be prepared for the tough days ahead.

It is strange that the world accepts enthusiasm in every realm but the spiritual.

Our magazine covers frequently feature the immoral, the perverted, the psychologically sick. Sin is “in.” People don’t like to be told they are sinners.

Our lives speak loudly to those around us, especially the children in our home.

God is the Ruler of His mighty creation. There is no reason to despair, because He holds in His hands the whole world, while His Spirit is able to fill the void in man’s heart.

Our emotions can lie to us, and we need to counter our emotions with truth.

A muscle becomes weak if it is not used. To become strong, a muscle must push against something.

One can approach the Bible with a cold, rationalistic attitude, or one can do so with reverence and the desire to hear God speak.

Right is right, and wrong is wrong, in small things as well as in big things.

Before Satan there was no sin, and before sin there was no pain.

One of the worst things we can do is allow our children to grow up thinking they don’t need to keep any rules. A spoiled child becomes a spoiled adult.

Let [Christ] transform your life so that you will have a glow on your face, a spring in your step, and joy in your soul.

The Bible is a living Book and can be trusted for its advice and direction and knowledge of God.

There may have been a time when pride was the very center of your life. You had ambitious thoughts of yourself, your powers, desires, and aims; but now that will begin to change . . . you have been born again.

I [will] not go to heaven because I am a preacher. I am going to heaven entirely on the merit of the work of Christ.

The happiness which brings enduring worth to life is not the superficial happiness that is dependent on circumstances. It is the happiness and contentment that fills the soul even in the midst of the most distressing circumstances and the most bitter environment. It is the kind of happiness that grins when things go wrong and smiles through the tears. The happiness for which our souls ache is one undisturbed by success or failure, one which will deeply root inside us and give us inward relaxation, peace, and contentment, no matter what the surface problems may be. That kind of happiness stands in need of no outward stimulas.

Becoming “new” in Christ is a wonderful beginning, but it isn’t the end of pain or problems in our lives. It is the beginning of our facing up to them. Being a Christian involves a lifetime of hard work, dedicated study, and difficult decisions.

Many homes are on the rocks today because God has been left out of the domestic picture. With the clash of personalities in a domestic pattern, there must be an integrating force, and the living God is that Force!

Apart from religious influence, the family is the most important unit of society.

Man boasts of his nobility, his ideals, and his progress. Man’s goal is imitation, not redemption.

The fiercest storm is taking place in some of our churches—the unbelief and disobedience of God’s Word.

God and God’s Word are inseparable.

Before asking God’s forgiveness there is something important you must do. You must repent, that is, turn from the behavior and lifestyle that [leads to sin].

What does repentance mean? It means to change—to change your mind, change the way that you’re living—and to determine that with God’s help you will live for Christ.

Many people turn to alcohol to try to drown the [cries] and longings of the soul. Others attempt to quiet the longings of their souls in other ways. Nothing but God ever completely satisfies, because the soul is made for God.

The word church as applied to the Christian society was first used by Jesus Himself when He told Peter, “Upon this rock I will build my church” [Matthew 16:18]. He is the foundation of all Christian experience.

A life without God is like a boat without an anchor.

O God! There are many things in [the Bible] I do not understand . . . I am going to accept this as Thy Word—by faith! I’m going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be Your inspired Word.

If we are at peace with this world, it may be because we have sold out to it and compromised with it.

Getting to know God and being able to call on Him is the most important step in storing up for the storms.

Denying the existence of God cannot make Him go away any more than denying the existence of the Internal Revenue Service can make the tax man vanish. Many people who imagine a god of their own choosing will be horrified when they stand before the true God of heaven.

If it is Christian, it will be Bible-centered.

If we are living according to what we believe, we may be falsely accused.

God is able to do what we can’t do.

God’s church is a Bible-centered church, and it grows strong under persecution.

Men and women may devise plans to satisfy their inner longings, but in the midst of all the “religions” of the world, God’s way is available in the Bible for all who will come to Him on His terms.

When I have a problem of deciding right from wrong, I always give it three tests.First, I give it the common-sense test, and ask if it is reasonable. Then, I give it the prayer test. I ask God if it is good and edifying. Then, I give it the Scripture test. I see if the Bible has anything to say for or against it.

What a moment to take the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other and watch the unfolding of the great drama of the ages. This is an exciting and thrilling time to be alive. I would not want to live in any other period.

When we are young and restless to be free, home is the place from which we long to escape. But if there is still a home intact when trouble arises and life becomes a battlefield, home is the place to which we yearn to return.

There is a strong movement, especially in Protestantism, to recast the Christian message in order to make it acceptable to modern man.

We should go to no place that we would not go in His Presence. But He is not with us just to judge or condemn us; He is near to comfort, protect, guide, encourage, strengthen, cleanse, and help.

Suppose there was no anger, no profanity, no lying, no grumbling or complaining; suppose there were no dirty stories told, no unjust criticism—what a different world this would be!

Materialism and self-centeredness are the great vices of our age.

I have had the privilege of preaching the Gospel on every continent in most of the countries of the world, and I have found that when I present the simple message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with authority, quoting from the very Word of God—He takes that message and drives it supernaturally into the human heart.

As life hits us head-on we can respond with resentment, resignation, acceptance, or welcome. We are the living examples of our responses.

This self-confident generation has produced more alcoholics, more drug addicts, more criminals, more wars, more broken homes, more assaults, more embezzlements, more murders, and more suicides . . .it is time all of us . . . begin to take stock of our failures, blunders, and costly mistakes. It is about time that we place less confidence in ourselves and more trust and faith in God.

Every word that [Jesus] spoke was historically true. Every word that He spoke was scientifically true. Every word that He spoke was ethically true. There were no loopholes in the moral conceptionsand statements of Jesus Christ. His ethical vision was wholly correct, correct in the age in which He lived and correct in every age that has followed it.

Heaven is real and hell is real, and eternity is but a breath away.

It could be said that going to church will not make one a Christian. But . . . refusing to fellowship with believers will not make you one either.

Millions today want salvation, but on their own terms. They want to come their own way, and so we have hundreds of schemes and plans devised by men to regain paradise.

Christ warned His followers that to believe in Him would not make them popular, and that they should be prepared to face affliction for His sake.

We need to encourage new believers to feed on God’s Word—it is nourishment for the soul.

Sin’s masterpiece of shame and hate became God’s masterpiece of mercy and forgiveness. Through the death of Christ upon the cross, sin itself was crucified for those who believe in Him.

Peace with God and the peace of God in a man’s heart and the joy of fellowship with Christ have in themselves a beneficial effect upon the body and mind and will lead to the development and preservation of physical and mental power.

Our nation grew strong in an era when moral standards were emphasized, and it will grow weak when we condone that which we once condemned.

If you are ignorant of God’s Word, you will always be ignorant of God’s will.