Warren W. Wiersbe Quotes

God does not ask people to behave in order to be saved, but to believe.

Wisdom will guide us and guard us in our daily walk.

What the majority calls "blessing" may actually be a judgment from God.

God doesn't promise to remove the stones from the path, but He does promise to make them stepping-stones and not stumbling blocks. He promises to help us climb higher because of the difficulties of life.

If you look to others you will be distracted; if you look to yourselves you will be discouraged; but if you look to Christ you'll be delighted.

When it seems as if God is far away, remind yourself that He is near. Nearness is not a matter of geography. God is everywhere. Nearness is likeness. The more we become like the Lord, the nearer He is to us.

Yield your heart and life to Jesus Christ. Be faithful to Him, no matter what men may do. The important thing is not the praise of men; it is the approval of God.

Contentment is not escape from the battle, but rather an abiding peace and confidence in the midst of the battle.

If the only way I can make myself look good is to criticize you, something is seriously wrong with me.

Opportunities energize the faithful and paralyze the fearful.

God made us and God is able to empower us to do whatever he calls us to do. Denying that we can accomplish God's work is not humility; it is the worst kind of pride.

In spite of his painful encounters with the world and its problems, Solomon does not recommend either pessimism or cynicism. Rather, he admonishes us to be realistic about life, accept God's gifts and enjoy them. He advises us to trust God and enjoy what we do have rather than complain about what we don't have.

He knows when we go into the storm, He watches over us in the storm, and He can bring us out of the storm when His purposes have been fulfilled.

The most miserable prison in the world is the prison we make for ourselves when we refuse to show mercy. Our thoughts become shackled, our emotions are chained, the will is almost paralyzed. But when we show mercy, all of these bonds are broken, and we enter into a joyful liberty that frees us to share God's love with others.

Remember, your worth is founded in Jesus Christ.

People still ask questions and hope the answers will be what they think they already know. They need to pray this prayer by an anonymous believer: From the cowardice that shrinks from new truths, From the laziness that is content with half-truths, From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth, O God of truth, deliver us!

God would rather have His people living in shameful captivity in a pagan land than living like pagans in the Holy Land and disgracing His name.

Don't waste time and energy being an imitation. Let God make you into an original.

Saving faith involves the mind, the emotions, and the will. With the mind we understand the truth of the gospel, and with the heart we feel conviction and the need to be saved. But it is only when we exercise the will and commit ourselves to Christ that the process is complete. Faith is not mental assent to a body of doctrines, no matter how true those doctrines may be. Faith is not emotional concern. Faith is commitment to Jesus Christ.

God doesn't always change the circumstances, but He can change us to meet the circumstances. That's what it means to live by faith.

Paul did not begin by attacking the false teachers and their doctrines. He began by exalting Jesus Christ and showing His preeminence in five areas: the gospel message, redemption, creation, the church, and Paul's own ministry.

Nearly twenty years before, Hudson Taylor had written in an editorial: "All God's giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them." As he looked at himself, Hudson Taylor saw nothing but weakness; but as generations of Christians have studied Taylor's life, they have become acquainted with a man who dared to believe the Word of God and, by faith, carried the gospel to inland China - and saw God work wonders! "Want of trust is at the root of almost all our sins and all our weaknesses," he wrote in that same editorial, "and how shall we escape it but by looking to Him and observing His faithfulness. The man who holds God's faithfulness will not be foolhardy or reckless, but he will be ready for every emergency.

A little boy was leading his sister up a mountain path and the way was not too easy. "Why, this isn't a path at all," the little girl complained. "It's all rocky and bumpy." And her brother replied, "Sure, the bumps are what you climb on." That's a remarkable piece of philosophy.

Trusting God means thinking and acting according to God's word in spite of circumstances, feelings, or consequences.

If the Lord calls you, He will equip you for the task He wants you to fulfill

Some people hold back the truth because they think this is one way to show love. Others tell the truth but have no love. Jesus Christ is able to blend both truth and love, and this makes him an effective counselor.

The bumps are what you climb on.

True saving faith involves "the whole personality": the mind is instructed, the emotions are stirred, and the will then acts in obedience to God.

God will open up places of service for you as He sees you are ready. Meanwhile, study the Bible and give yourself a chance to grow.

Those who do not know the past are condemned to repeat it.

we must be careful what we do with this gospel, for it is not the invention of men, but the very truth of God.

The cross was a divine assignment, not a human accident; it was a God-given obligation, not a human option.

Those times when you feel like quitting can be times of great opportunity, for God uses your troubles to help you grow.

Your . . . sermon lasts but an hour or two - your life preaches all the week.

Faith in God's promises is the only way to find peace in the midst of trouble. "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You" (26:3 NKJV).

We seek to do what Jesus would do, the way Jesus would do it, so that he alone gets the glory. Doing so isn't always easy, but it is necessary; it isn't always comfortable, but it is Christlike.

Don't test God's truth by the "many books" written by men; test men's books by the truth of God's Word. Yes,

God's grace is greater than man's sin and can accomplish God's best even when men do their worst.

Proverbs 17:6 reminds grandparents, Children's children are a crown to the aged.

Satan is a destroyer and a divider when it comes to the church; but in his own kingdom, he is very well organized.

Daily I have asked Him to feed me from His Word, and there has always been bread in the cupboard.

Outlook determines outcome, and attitude determines action.

The believer who harbors bitterness and malice in his heart is giving Satan one of his most effective beachheads! These

You feel like quitting, like giving up. You can't understand why the road doesn't get easier, why God doesn't remove the stones and straighten the path. If God did that, you might never get to the top, because the bumps are what you can climb on.

The snare in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service, to rejoice in the fact that God has used you. . . If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure that ever lived. The lodestar of the saint is God Himself, not estimated usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him.[27]

When we walk by faith, we live on promises, not on explanations.

The people who refuse to submit to God's authority will never really discover who they are and what God wants them to do. No matter how successful they may be in the eyes of the world, unless they change they will be failures in the eyes of God.

Above all, joy should come from the true story of the joyful God bringing salvation to sinners so they could become His children.

Is your Christian experience a set of definitions, a list of orthodox doctrines, or a living relationship with God?

That this complex universe should appear by accident out of nothing from a "big bang" is as probable as the works of Shakespeare resulting from an explosion in a printing plant.

Jesus asked the Father for his disciples' security, sanctity and unity. Jesus still intercedes for us so fervently because we live in a world that is deceived, dangerous, defiled and divided.

An older generation, chastened by one depression, is afraid to be optimistic; and a younger generation, accustomed to security, is inexperienced at being pessimistic.

Wise people listen to wise instruction, especially instruction from the Word of God.

The school of suffering never graduates any students, so ask God to teach to you the lessons He wants you to learn.

When you walk by faith, you will claim all that God has for you, but unbelief is always content to settle for something less than God's best.

Discipleship is a daily discipline; we follow Jesus a step at a time, a day at a time

Divine truth becomes dynamic life only when we yield to Jesus by faith and follow Him.

The virgin birth of Christ is a key doctrine; for if Jesus Christ is not God come in sinless human flesh, then we have no Savior. Jesus had to be

When you find yourself sinking in the quicksand, there is little else you can do but cry to the Lord. Sometimes He allows the "quicksand" experiences to turn you to Him. Wait for God. Acknowledge that He is in control. Give Him the pieces of your broken heart and watch Him work for you. You can depend on His faithfulness.

Material wealth is either a window through which we see God or a mirror in which we see ourselves.

God has ordained that His people live by promises and not by explanations.

People who walk by faith don't see obstacles, they see opportunities.

Wiersbe suggests that a distinction can be made between regret, remorse and repentance. Regret is that activity of the mind (intellect) that causes us to say, "Why did I do that?" Remorse touches us a little deeper causing us to feel disgust and pain (involving both the intellect and the heart), but not causing us to change our ways. True repentance brings in the third aspect of our minds – our will. To truly repent one must have a change of will. "Godly sorrow" is the catalyst that brings us to true repentance. [Warren Wiersbe, Be Reverent, p. 149.]
By Carey Dillinger
From Expository Files 11.6; June 2004

When God wants to accomplish something, He calls dedicated men and women to challenge His people and lead the way

We cannot learn patience by reading a book or hearing a lecture. The only way we can learn patience is by going through the trials that God assigns to us. The trials of life are the tools God uses to mature us, to build our faith, and to get us to trust the Spirit and not the flesh.

It is futile for us to try to serve God without the power of the Holy Spirit. Talent, training, and experience cannot take the place of the power of the Spirit.

Right now, at this very moment, Jesus is preparing a place for His loyal subjects a home in heaven where their will be no more death, crying, or pain - a paradise where we will live with Him for eternity. He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. Are you getting the picture yet? The evidence is clear, compelling and overwhelming: JESUS IS THE KING.

Faithfulness in the small things will lead to blessing in the big things.

God has not forsaken you, and God will not forsake you.

People can't see your root system, but God can. Praying and meditating on the Word of God will cause your roots to go down deep into His love.

But it is not the length of life that counts - it is the depth and strength of life.

In our universe there is God and there are people and things. We were made so that we should worship God, love people and use things. However if we worship ourselves, we will ignore God, start loving things and begin to use people.

If you are going to live by faith, then expect your faith to be tested. A faith that can't be tested can't be trusted.

The proof of salvation is not listening to the Word, or having a quick emotional response to the Word, or even cultivating the Word so that it grows in a life. The proof of salvation is fruit, for as Christ said, "Ye shall know them by their fruits" (Matt. 7:16).

Hypocrisy means deliberately pretending. None of us lives up to his ideals; none of us is all that he would like to be or all that he could be in Christ. But that is not hypocrisy. Falling short of our ideals is not hypocrisy. Pretending we have reached our ideals when we have not - that is hypocrisy.

Worship is the believer's response of all that they are - mind, emotions, will, body - to what God is and says and does.

Biblical hope means confidence in the future. It's a confidence born of faith. Faith, hope and love go together (1 Cor. 13). When we have faith in God, we claim His promises, and they give us hope for the future. Hope for the Christian is not a feeling of "I hope it's going to happen." It's exciting expectancy because God controls the future. When Jesus Christ is your Savior and your Lord, the future is your friend. You don't have to worry.

God doesn't bless us just to make us happy; He blesses us to make us a blessing.

God is glorified when people see the Master and not the minister.

The secret of a happy life is to delight in duty. When duty becomes delight, then burdens become blessings

It has well been said that an opinion is something that you hold, but a conviction is something that holds you. Most of us have very few convictions, but the ones we do have are important to us. Convictions are the compasses of life - that keep us moving in the right direction. They are the foundation stones that help us to stand firm when everything around us is shaking and changing.

Leaders must learn to obey before they have the privilege of asking others to obey them.

Some of your greatest blessings come with patience.

The way we respond to criticism pretty much depends on the way we respond to praise. If praise humbles us, then criticism will build us up. But if praise inflates us, then criticism will crush us; and both responses lead to our defeat.

This surely is a good rule: whenever you see a fault in any other man, or any other church, look for it in yourself and in your own church.

Charles Spurgeon used to say, "Little faith will take your soul to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your soul." It is not enough that we long for heaven during times of suffering, for anybody can do that. What Peter urged his readers to do was exercise love, faith, and rejoicing, so that they might experience some of the glory of heaven in the midst of suffering now.

Do not sow the Word of God plus man's philosophies, man's theories, man's traditions. Just sow the pure Word of God. A good farmer washes his seed before he sows it. A good spiritual farmer makes sure he does not mix God's Word with anything defiling.

Christians have a dual citizenship - on earth and in heaven - and our citizenship in heaven ought to make us better people here on earth.

I have thanked Him for it," she wrote to her sisters, "more than I have prayed about it.

Christ is more concerned about what we do with Him than for Him.

Real contentment must come from within. You and I can not change or control the world around us, but we can change and control the world within us.

Many people try to avoid looking back. To be sure, there is a wrong way to look back; it is wrong to look back at past sins and failures and defeats. That can only make you fail even more today. But it is good to look back to see where we have been and what the Lord has done in us and through us.

I will be satisfied to the extent that I see everything I have as a gift from God. Here is the truth: Everything you have – your money, talent, friendships, marriage, children, material possessions, health, home, bike, car, even the country you live in – is a gift from God that He had chosen out of His generous nature to give you.

Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human needs through loving channels to the glory of God.

At this stage in your experience, lay hold of the truth that God loves you, and don't let anybody steal it away from you. Circumstances may assail you; Satan may accuse you; your Christian friends may even abandon you, but God loves you just as much as He did when He gave Jesus to die for you on the cross. Your circumstances have changed, and your feelings have changed, but God's love has not changed. When you experience the love of God in your heart, then your faith will grow stronger, and you will be able to give thanks.

But the Christian with the submissive mind does not expect others to serve him; he serves others. He considers the good of others to be more important than his own plans and desires.

There is no substitute for an understanding mind. Satan can defeat the ignorant believer, but he cannot overcome the Christian who knows his Bible and understands the purposes of God.

The words of Jim Elliot were true: He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

The greatest judgment God can send on His people is letting them have their own way.

The Submissive Mind (Phil. 2). This chapter focuses on people, and the key verse says, "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better [more important] than themselves" (v. 3). In chapter 1, Paul puts Christ first. In this chapter, he puts others second. Which means he puts himself last! The reason people aggravate us so much is usually because we do not have our own way. If we go through life putting ourselves first, and others go through life putting themselves first, then at many points there are going to be terrific battles.