Charles Swindoll has devoted over four decades to two passions: an unwavering commitment to the practical communication and application of God's Word, and an untiring devotion to seeing lives transformed by God's grace. Chuck graduated magna cum laude from Dallas Theological Seminary and has since been honored with four doctorates. For his teaching on Insight for Living, he has received the Program of the Year award and the Hall of Fame award from the National Religious Broadcasters as well as multiple book awards.
Attitude is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, money, circumstances, than failures and success, than what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance, ability, or skill. It will make or break a business, a home, a friendship, an organization. The remarkable thing is I have a choice every day of what my attitude will be. I cannot change my past. I cannot change the actions of others. I cannot change the inevitable. The only thing I can change is attitude. Life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent how I react to it.
Fortunately, God made all varieties of people with a wide variety of interests and abilities. He has called people of every race and color who have been hurt by life in every manner imaginable. Even the scars of past abuse and injury can be the means of bringing healing to another. What wonderful opportunities to make disciples!,Grace has to be the loveliest word in the English language. It embodies almost every attractive quality we hope to find in others. Grace is a gift of the humble to the humiliated. Grace acknowledges the ugliness of sin by choosing to see beyond it. Grace accepts a person as someone worthy of kindness despite whatever grime or hard-shell casing keeps him or her separated from the rest of the world. Grace is a gift of tender mercy when it makes the least sense.
It takes faith to find personal significance in your relationship with God rather than how much money you earn, how beautiful you look, how many toys you own, how many trophies you collect, or how much territory you conquer and control.
God never calls His people to accomplish anything without promising to supply their every need.
The matters we or the world might consider trivial, He cares about and wants to remedy. He longs to relieve our worries and has promised to supply our most fundamental needs.
God presents the Sabbath rest as a shelter we can enter. (Hebrews 4:1-11),Life. . . as God intended it enables us to live above the drag of fear, superstition, shame, pessimism, guilt, anxiety, worry, and all the negativity that keeps people from seizing each day as a gift from Him.
The crisis of physical hunger is essentially a crisis of faith. What or whom will you trust to meet your most basic needs? Will you trust the God who made human bodies, or will you seek your own way? (Deuteronomy 8:1-3),While God, for the most part, allows this cosmos [creation] to work according to the laws of nature, there is never a time when He is not actively involved in every detail of life.
When we panic, we instinctively turn to our own internal resources because we doubt Him.
To require God to prove that He is able and willing to fulfill His promises would be proof positive that one does not trust Him.
Consistent, Timely encouragement has the staggering magnetic power to draw an immortal soul to the God of Hope. The one whose name is Wonderful Counselor.
Someone has said,”Education is going from an unconscious to conscious awareness of one’s ignorance. ”. . No one has a corner on wisdom. All the name-dropping in the world does not heighten the significance of our character. If anything, it reduces it. Our acute need is to cultivate a willingness to learn and to remain teachable.
If you allow it, [suffering] can be the means by which God brings you His greatest blessings.
Deep, contended joy comes from a place of complete security and confidence [in God] - even in the midst of trial.
Jesus has prepared the way and has made following our destiny possible, whereas we are helpless by ourselves. We can find and fulfill our purpose by responding to the clear, simple call of Jesus Christ: "Follow Me. " He is the doorway to fulfilling our destiny, where our divine design and God-ordained purpose live in perfect harmony.
Joy is a deeply felt contentment that transcends difficult circumstances and derives maximum enjoyment from every good experience.
Peter must have thought, "Who am I compared to Mr. Faithfulness (John)?" But Jesus clarified the issue. John was responsible for John. Peter was responsible for Peter. And each had only one command to heed: "Follow Me. " (John 21:20-22),Good intentions and earnest effort are not enough. Only Jesus can make an otherwise futile life productive.
The abundance Jesus offers is a spiritual abundance that transcends circumstances, like income, health, living conditions, and even death. The abundant life is eternal.
Which should be an excellent reminder that when God tells you to do something, you’d better do it; He always has a reason.
After Peter came to recognize his own inadequacy, his utter inability to fulfill his destiny apart from obedience to his only true responsibility, he became a rock-solid leader. As his story unfolds in the book of acts, we can clearly see that when Peter kept his eyes on Jesus and followed Him, others followed to. And they followed by the thousands. Needed today: more Peters.
Give us an intense distaste for things that displease You and a renewed pleasure in things that bring You honor and magnify Your truth.
Like sin itself, Satan appeals to the senses. He originated and perfected the art of disguising evil as good.
Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.
When I have a wrong attitude, I look at life humanly. When I have a right attitude, I look at life divinely.
In solitude, struggles occur that no one else knows about. Inner battles are fought here that seldom become fodder for sermons or illustrations for books. God, who probes our deepest thoughts during protracted segments of solitude, opens our eyes to things that need attention. It is here He makes us aware of those things we try to hide from others.
Believe me, once you have tasted worship—the kind of worship that captures your heart and rivets your full attention on the living Lord—nothing less satisfies. Nothing else even comes close. Once you have tasted true worship, you will never want to play church again.
In many (most?) churches there are programs and activities. . . but so little worship. There are songs and anthems and musicals. . . but so little worship. There are announcements and readings and prayers. . . but so little worship.
We cannot change our past. We can not change the fact that people act in a certain way. We can not change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.
The remarkable thing is, we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.
When you have vision it affects your attitude. Your attitude is optimistic rather than pessimistic.
I am often the brunt of my own humor.
Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.
There is nothing more fearful for the average person in our society than to stand before a group of people and speak.
A family is a place where principles are hammered and honed on the anvil of everyday living.
The difference between something good and something great is attention to detail.
It is easy for Christians to have the false impression that once we have established a relationship with Christ, which we believe sets us right with God, the problems of life will somehow scoot away or they will slowly be removed from our lives.
We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.
A teardrop on earth summons the King of heaven.
Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. .
