Billy Graham Quotes - Page 28

When Scripture talks about the heart, it’s not talking about that life-sustaining muscle. It’s talking about our entire inner being. The heart is the seat of our emotions, the seat of decisive action, and the seat of belief (as well as doubt).

Christ . . . didn’t come to treat symptoms. He came to get at the very heart of man’s disease.

I am convinced that when a man sincerely searches for God with all his heart, God will reveal Himself in some way.

Reading the Bible has a purifying effect upon the heart and mind. As you read, the Holy Spirit will enlighten the passages for you.

A true messenger lives a burdened life. If he is the Lord’s vessel, he carries in his heart a burden for souls none can share but those who know it firsthand.

The heart of man, though small, is big enough for Christ to live in, if man will only make room for Him.

Many young people are building their lives on the rock of materialism. I find across the country a deep economic discontent among people in every walk of life.

Tell me what you think about money, and I will tell you what you think about God, for these two are closely related. A man’s heart is closer to his wallet than anything else.

Money represents your time, your energy, your talents, your total personality converted into currency. We usually hold on to it tenaciously, yet it is uncertain in value and we cannot take it into the next world.

The Bible warns that money cannot buy happiness! Money cannot buy true pleasure. Money cannot buy peace of heart. And money certainly cannot buy entrance into the kingdom of God.

We have tried to enthrone the false gods of money, fame, and human intelligence; but however we try, the end is always the same: “It is appointed unto men once to die” [Hebrews 9:27 KJV].

The Internal Revenue Service wants a record of how you spend your money, but that is nothing compared to the books God is keeping.

Money takes our minds off God.

Covetousness puts money above manhood. It shackles its devotee and makes him its victim. It hardens the heart and deadens the noble impulses and destroys the vital qualities of life.

Today we are putting our hopes in materialism, in technological progress, and in freedom from moral absolutes. They have all failed. They’ve failed because they’ve been powerless to change the human heart. What is the answer? There is hope, if we will turn to God.

If we allow our Christian faith to be adulterated with materialism, watered down by secularism, and intermingled with a bland humanism, we cannot stand up to a system that has vowed to bury us.

Part of our problem with debt is that we have confused needs with wants. Yesterday’s luxuries are today’s necessities.

There are two ways of being rich—have a lot, or want very little. The latter way is the easier for most.

There are those who have made their fortunes on other people’s misfortune. The Bible never promised that life would be fair.

Pleasure depends on circumstances, but Christian joy is completely independent of health, money, or surroundings.

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

God does not need our money. He owns everything, including “our” money. What He wants [us] to discover is where our central focus of worship lies. Is that focus on God or our money?

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

We are only stewards of the world’s resources. They are not ours; they are God’s. When we find our security in Him, we can then give generously from what He has entrusted to us. This is our Christian duty.

We can possess nothing—no property and no person . . . It is God who owns everything, and we are but stewards of His property during the brief time we are on earth.

Can people tell from the emphasis we attach to material things whether we have set our affection on things above, or whether we are primarily attached to this world?

If young people could only realize that a happy marriage depends not only on the present, but upon the past, they would be more reluctant to enter into loose, intimate relations with anyone and everyone.

Marriage is a holy bond because it permits two people to help each other work out their spiritual destinies. God declared marriage to be good.

Marriage is the most serious long-term contract a couple will make in their lifetime, but many enter into it with a lack of maturity and knowledge. The growing number of divorces shows how imperative it is that young people be adequately prepared for marriage.

Nothing brings more joy than a good marriage, and nothing brings more misery than a bad marriage.

Thousands of young couples go through with a loveless marriage because no one ever told them what genuine love is. If people today knew that kind of love, the divorce rate would be sharply reduced.

The perfect marriage is a uniting of three persons—a man and a woman and God. That is what makes marriage holy.

The secret of domestic happiness is to let God, the party of the third part in the marriage contract, have His rightful place in the home. Make peace with Him and then you can be a real peacemaker in the home.

Marriage is not a reform school . . .Instead of you reforming [your spouse], [he or she] will instead influence you.

As husband and wife, to have a happy life together, you must have confidence and respect, and you must have substantial agreement in your faith.

The only really sound marriages are those based on mutual respect.

Our culture puts feelings first, but true love isn’t based on feelings. That is why there are so many divorces today. When the early romantic feelings in a marriage do not remain constant . . .many people believe divorce is the answer.

[God] can help you begin to rebuild your marriage and your life if you will let Him rule in your life.

[Ruth’s] disposition is the same all the time—very sweet and very gracious and very charming. When it comes to spiritual things, my wife has had the greatest influence on my ministry.

Every divorce represents a broken dream, a shattered hope, a ruined expectation.

Many people today have discarded the Bible’s clear teaching on sexual relations outside of marriage, simply because they are absorbed only in their own pleasures and desires.

A good marriage is not “made in heaven,” but on earth. Love is a fragile commodity which needs to be cultivated and nourished constantly.

Marriage is God’s invention, not ours! Society didn’t establish it; God did.

Satan’s first appearance in the Bible included an attack on a marriage—trying to divide Adam and Eve. His tactics have not changed. He wants our marriages to flounder and fail, because he knows that few things will discourage us more.

I know of few families today that aren’t touched to some extent by the heartache of divorce, including our own.

A marriage based only on physical attraction or romantic emotions is almost certainly doomed to failure right from the start.

[My wife] is a great student of the Bible. Her life is ruled by the Bible more than any person I’ve ever known. That’s her rule book, her compass.

Young people, look to your Bible when thinking about any matter, including getting married.

I have been asked the question, “Who do you go to for counsel, for spiritual guidance?’ My answer: My wife, Ruth. She is the only one I completely confide in.

When a husband and wife are concerned only about their own individual desires, the stage is set for conflict.

My wife often said that “a good marriage consists of two good forgivers.

I’m afraid many young people today have very romantic ideas about marriage—ideas that do not necessarily reflect the truth . . .Romantic feelings alone are not enough when the problems and strains come—as they inevitably do.

Too many husbands and wives enter into marriage with the idea that their spouse exists for one purpose: to make them happy.

While God’s will is that every marriage will endure, man’s sin has poisoned many relationships.

Without Ruth’s partnership and encouragement over the years, my own work would have been impossible. We were called by God as a team.

A loving God ordained monogamous marriage and the sanctity of what we call the traditional family.

It’s amazing how we can hurt others, especially those close to us . . .subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which wives belittle husbands and vice versa.

I get many letters every day from people who got married because they wanted their own selfish needs satisfied, and have only later come to realize that this does not work.

If the United Nations could bring lasting peace, man could say to God, “We do not need You anymore. We have brought peace on earth and have organized humanity in righteousness.” All of these schemes are patchwork remedies that a sick and dying world must use while waiting for the Great Physician.

Only Christ can meet the deepest needs of our world and our hearts. Christ alone can bring lasting peace—peace with God, peace among men and nations, and peace within our hearts. He transcends the political and social boundaries of our world.

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