Quotes about Guidance

I fear that our clumsy pronouncements, our name-calling, our hysteria about important issues—in short, our lack of grace—may in the end prove so damaging that society no longer looks to us for the guidance it needs.

The things, good Lord, that we pray for, give us the grace to labour for', as Sir Thomas More expressed it. The inner voice of prayer expresses itself naturally in action, just as the inner voice of my brain guides all my bodily actions.

instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, admonish sinners, bear wrongs patiently, forgive offences willingly, comfort the afflicted, pray for the living and the dead.

President Bill Clinton tried to make that distinction. As a Christian, he said, he sought guidance on moral issues from the Bible. As president of the United States, though, he could not automatically propose that everything immoral should therefore be made illegal.

One reason the broader world does not look to Christianity for guidance is that we Christians have not spoken with a credible voice.

We must stop setting our sights by the light of each passing ship; instead we must set our course by the stars. GEORGE MARSHALL

To gain the hearing of a post-Christian society already skeptical about religion will require careful strategy. We must, in Jesus' words, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. I fear that our clumsy pronouncements, our name-calling, our stridency — ?in short, our lack of grace — ?has proved so damaging that society will no longer look to us for the guidance it needs.

For me, at least, guidance only becomes evident when I look backward, months and years later. Then the circuitous process falls into place and the hand of God seems clear. But at the moment of decision I feel mainly confusion and uncertainty. Indeed, almost all the guidance in my life has been subtle and indirect.

God's impressions within and His Word without are always corroborated by His providence around, and we should quietly wait until these three focus into one point. … If you do not know what you ought to do, stand still until you do.

Persistent, internal inklings matched by external confirmation is often the way God directs believers into His will.

We think we know what we want. In reality we should want nothing else but to be completely in line with His desires for us and His purposes in our generation. So we must resolve to let God be God on His terms, not ours.

Ministry is when the people who hear you, don't want more of you; they want more of Him because of what you've said. When you point them to God's fire instead of trying to get attention for yourself-that's ministry.