Billy Graham Quotes - Page 5

The closer you are to God, the farther you are from the devil.

What makes Christians different from everyone else is that God Himself lives within them by His Holy Spirit. When we come to Christ and give our lives to Him, God actually takes up residence within us.

There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.

The church in America has been deeply infiltrated by the “world,” and in the process it is beginning to copy and resemble the world in many of its activities.

Science, they say, can tap the brain of man and alter his desires. But the Bible, which has withstood the ravages of time . . . says that we are possessed of a sinful, fallen nature which wars against us.

If the other person would just do things my way, we could get along,” one says, when the other person is probably thinking the same about us—that leads to conflict. Our deepest problems are within ourselves.

Some of the most healing words in any language are, “I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?” How much more we need that confession to our Father in heaven.

The devil has successfully fooled many churches, convincing them to follow the world. Biblical standards have been compromised by convenient social theories.

God’s goal isn’t just to remove the bad things in our lives; He wants to replace them with good things. His plan is to remake us from within, by His Holy Spirit.

My father-in-law . . . was a great inspiration to me both in life and in his preparation for death.

I have yet to see Satan overcome a truly joyful Christian.

God’s laws for the spiritual world are found in the Bible. Whatever else there may be that tells us of God, it is more clearly told in the Bible.

It is man and not the Bible that needs correcting. Greater and more careful scholarship has shown that apparent contradictions were caused by incorrect translations, rather than divine inconsistencies.

Dishonesty is never justified. God will never approve, and even your own conscience will rise up to condemn you sooner or later.

Sin diverts some. Pleasure diverts others. Social service and “religious” activity divert others. We are told to be occupied with Jesus Christ Himself.

Christ’s church is a place to grow people up in the Lord, not to enhance our leisure time.

We can hold nothing back [from God]. He must control and dominate us [wholly]. It is a surrender without any conditions attached. This surrender is a definite and conscious act on our part in obedience to the Word of God.

We have been told by God that if we sin against Him and break His commandments, He will bring judgment upon the world. It is my responsibility and my duty as a minister of the Gospel to [warn] people. This is the message I must deliver.

Christ never told his disciples that they would get an Academy Award for their performances, but He did tell them to expect to have troubles.

God’s love did not begin at the cross. It began in eternity before the world was established, before the time clock of civilization began to move.

We preach Christ crucified. The cross is the focal point in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. It was no afterthought or emergency measure with God. Christ was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” [Revelation 3:8 KJV].

The world by its advertisements, its conversation, and its philosophy is engaged in a gigantic brainwashing task . . . The Christian is beset by secular and worldly propaganda.

The blood of Christ justifies and saves us . . .The word justification means “just as if you had never sinned.

Speak about the love of God and faces light up, but speak of God as a Judge, and our attitudes change.

There is not a day that we do not have a chance to choose between the devil’s clever promises and God’s sure Word.

Because [the Holy Spirit] is a spirit, [He] isn’t limited by time or space. He can be everywhere at once. He is in the midst of the largest galaxy—and the smallest atom.

Learn from your disappointments and failures and with God’s help seek to overcome them. Ask yourself, could I have done anything to prevent this? Were my hopes and dreams unrealistic, or were my motives wrong?Is there a new path God wants me to explore?

Satan exalted himself above God and endeavored to get man to doubt the reliability of God’s Word.

God takes the weak and makes them strong. He takes the vile and makes them clean. He takes the worthless and makes them worthwhile. He takes the sinful and makes them sinless.

God did not ordain that the church should drift aimlessly in the seas of uncertainty without compass, captain, or crew.

Nothing will help us grow spiritually more than spending time alone with God every day, reading His Word and praying. Time alone with God is essential to our spiritual welfare.

It is the presence of sin that prevents man from being truly happy.

Talk about God can become dreary and lackluster if God isn’t in you. Church can become a drab thing and the Bible an irksome Book if the Holy Spirit does not illuminate your soul with His indwelling presence.

As Christians we have a responsibility toward the poor, the oppressed, the downtrodden, and the many innocent people around the world who are caught in wars, natural disasters, and situations beyond their control.

Some people resist the idea of a choice of any sort. They don’t want to be called “narrow.” But Jesus taught that there are two roads, and you have to choose which road you will take.

Though [Jesus’] words were profound, they were plain. His words were weighty, yet they shone with a luster and simplicity of statement that staggered His enemies.

There are no new sins—only new sinners. There are no new crimes—only new criminals, No new evils—only new evildoers. No new pleasures—only new pleasure seekers. We must distinguish between wholesome, God-ordained pleasure and sinful, worldly pleasure.

Scripture makes it clear that our first love is always to be for our Lord.

When Jesus was tempted, He didn’t debate the devil. He quoted Scripture: “It is written . . . It is written . . . It is written” (Matthew 4:4–10 NKJV). And each time the devil was defeated.

God does not want an apartment in our house. He claims our entire home from attic to cellar.

Life is a glorious opportunity if it is used to condition us for eternity.

If you don’t take your stand for Christ, you will be on the wrong side, and someday when it is too late, you’ll cry out, “I’ve taken the wrong stand!” You’ll be in the devil’s trap! You can’t lick the devil.

Man has not changed. Man still rejects the testimony of the Scripture.

Jesus was born with the cross darkening His pathway . . . From the cradle to the cross, [Jesus’] purpose was to die.

The promoters of change offer a grand vision of world unity. While the globalists and international affairs specialists continue their chant for “peace, peace,” we are reminded that the Bible says that there can be no lasting peace until Christ returns. So the world remains restless and uncertain.

When the church begins to entertain the flock and respond to the cult of self—it is diminished to a mere community center.

Exercise and proper eating habits are very important, since the Bible says that the body is God’s holy temple, but I don’t think that superbodies equate with committed Christian discipleship. Some of the greatest saints I’ve known have been those with physical infirmities.

Some of the most heart-breaking letters I receive are from people who tell how alcohol or drugs have ravaged their lives and destroyed their families.

The greatest vision of sin that a person canever receive is to look at the cross.

There are too many professed Christians who never get “wrought up” about anything; they never get indignant with injustice, with corruption in high places, or with the godless traffics which barter away the souls and bodies of people.

If we truly love Christ, we will want to please and honor Him by the way we live. Even the thought of hurting Him or bringing disgrace to His name will be abhorrent to us.

The greatest way to witness is through the life you live. Let the radiance of your Christian life be such that it will make [others] ask questions about your [faith].

No one is exempt from the touch of tragedy: neither the Christian nor the non-Christian; neither the rich nor the poor; neither the leader or the commoner. Crossing all racial, social, political, and economic barriers, suffering reaches out to unite mankind.

God does not discipline us to subdue us but to condition us for a life of usefulness and blessedness. In His wisdom, He knows that an uncontrolled life is an unhappy life, so He puts reins on our wayward souls that they may be directed into the paths of righteousness.

Once you have been to the cross, you will never be the same.

Be attractive and winsome, but do not compromise your convictions for the sake of popularity.

We must face honestly the toll that anger and bitterness take on our lives. They are our enemies! The Bible says, “An angry person stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins.

Christianity is not primarily a matter of externals, nevertheless it does find expression in conversation, habits, recreation, emphasis, and ambitions to be noted in our daily life.

The Bible clearly says that faithfulness and persecution often go hand in hand.

What I find disturbing in America is the consuming desire for leisure, convenience, and fun. It seems we, as a nation, have traded God for gadgets. We have traded eternal truth for momentary self-gratification—worshipping false gods of materialism and humanism instead of the Creator of all things.