Dallas Willard Quotes

“Kingdom obedience is kingdom abundance”

“No one need worry about our getting the best of God in some bargain with him, or that we might somehow succeed in using him for our purposes. Anyone who thinks this is a problem has seriously underestimated the intelligence and agility of our Father in the heavens. He will not be tricked or cheated.”

Thinking Needs Problem Might Purpose Father Heaven Worry Succeed Our Father Bargains Cheated Underestimated Agility

Author:Dallas Willard

“We don't believe something by merely saying we believe it, or even when we believe that we believe it. We believe something when we act as if it were true.”

Ifs Believe Don't Believe

Author:Dallas Willard

“The assumption of Jesus' program for his people on earth was that they would live their lives as his students and co-laborers.”

People Earth Jesus Students Program Assumption Laborers

Author:Dallas Willard

“The sinner is not the one who uses a lot of grace... The saint burns grace like a 747 burns fuel on take off.”

Use Grace Saint Fuel Sinner

Author:Dallas Willard

“We are unceasing spiritual beings with an eternal destiny in God's great universe.”

Spiritual Universe Destiny Eternal Spiritual Beings

Author:Dallas Willard

“The people to whom we minister and speak will not recall 99 percent of what we say to them, but they will never forget the kind of persons we are.”

People Kind Persons Speak Forget Percent Ministers Never Forget Recalls

Author:Dallas Willard

“God's aim in human history is the creation of an inclusive community of loving persons, with himself included as its primary sustainer and most glorious inhabitant.”

Humans Persons Community Creation Aim Primaries Glorious Human History Loving Person

Author:Dallas Willard

“The humility that cringes in order that reproof may be escaped or favor obtained is as unchristian as it is profoundly immoral.”

May Order Humility Favors Immoral Cringe Reproof Unchristian

Author:Dallas Willard

“The truly powerful ideas are precisely the ones that never have to justify themselves.”

Ideas Powerful Justify

Book:The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God

Source: The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God

“The cautious faith that never saws off a limb on which it is sitting, never learns that unattached limbs may find strange unaccountable ways of not falling.”

Way May Fall Saws Strange Sitting Limbs Cautious

Author:Dallas Willard

“Many people have found prayer impossible because they thought they should only pray for wonderful but remote needs they actually had little or no interest in or even knowledge of. Prayer simply dies from efforts to pray about ‘good things’ that honestly do not matter to us. The way to get to meaningful prayer for those good things is to start by praying for what we are truly interested in. The circle of our interests will inevitably grow in the largeness of God’s love.”

People Way Needs Should Littles Matter Dies Found Grows Interest Prayer Effort Wonderful Impossible Praying Good Things Honestly Meaningful Circles God's Love

Author:Dallas Willard

“The idea of having faith in Jesus has come to be totally isolated from being his apprentice and learning how to do what he said.”

Said Ideas Jesus Have Faith Isolated Apprentice Faith In Jesus

Author:Dallas Willard

“The key, then, to loving God is to see Jesus, to hold him before the mind with as much fullness and clarity as possible. It is to adore him.”

Mind Jesus Keys Clarity Adore Fullness Loving God

Book:Renewing the Christian Mind: Essays, Interviews, and Talks

Source: Renewing the Christian Mind: Essays, Interviews, and Talks

“God is the treasure, and where the treasure is, there is the heart. By this we may test our love to God. What are our thoughts most upon? Can we say we are ravished with delight when we think on God? Have our thoughts got wings? Are they fled aloft? Do we contemplate Christ and glory? A sinner crowds God out of his thoughts. He never thinks of God, unless with horror, as the prisoner thinks of the judge.”

Thinking Heart May Christ Judging Horror Glory Tests Wings Crowds Delight Treasure Sinner Prisoner Contemplating Our Thoughts Our Love

Author:Dallas Willard

“And God has set up prayer in such a way that, if you want to explain it away, you can. That's the human mind. God set it up like that for a reason, which is this: God ordained that people should be governed in the end by what they want.”

People Ifs Way Want Should Mind Humans Ends Reason Prayer Human Mind

Author:Dallas Willard

“Today it is the skeptics who are the social conformists, though because of powerful intellectual propaganda they continue to enjoy thinking of themselves as wildly individualistic and unbearably bright.”

Thinking Today Social Enjoy Powerful Intellectual Propaganda Skeptic Conformist Individualistic

Book:Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God

Source: Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God

“My hope is to gain a fresh hearing for Jesus, especially among those who believe they already understand him. In his case, quite frankly, presumed familiarity has led to unfamiliarity, unfamiliarity has led to contempt, and contempt has led to profound ignorance.”

Believe Jesus Cases Ignorance Gains Profound Hearing Contempt Familiarity

Book:The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God

Source: The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God

“My central claim is that we can become like Christ by doing one thing -- by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself.”

Christ One Thing Style Claims Following

Author:Dallas Willard

“As we mature in Christ, it is actually possible to outgrow fear.”

Christ Mature

Author:Dallas Willard

“The greatest danger to the Christian church today is that of pitching its message too low.”

Today Christian Church Danger Messages Lows Pitching Christian Church Church Today

Author:Dallas Willard

“If our gospel does not free the individual up for a unique life of spiritual adventure in living with God daily, we simply have not entered fully into the good news that Jesus brought.”

Ifs Doe Spiritual Jesus Individual Adventure News Unique Good News Unique Life

Book:Hearing God Through the Year: A 365-Day Devotional

Source: Hearing God Through the Year: A 365-Day Devotional

“The true saint burns grace like a 747 burns fuel on takeoff.”

Grace Saint Fuel Takeoff

Author:Dallas Willard

“Jesus came among us to show and teach the life for which we were made. He came very gently, opened access to the governance of God with him, and set afoot a conspiracy of freedom in truth among human beings. Having overcome death he remains among us. By relying on his word and presence we are enabled to reintegrate the little realm that makes up our life in the infinite rule of God. And that is the eternal kind of life. Caught up in his active rule, our deeds become an element in God’s eternal history. They are what God and we do together, making us part of his life and him a part of ours.”

Source: The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God

“The acid test for any theology is this: Is the God presented one that can be loved, heart, soul, mind, and strength? ... If it fails to set a lovable God--a radiant, happy, friendly, accessible, and totally competent being--before ordinary people, we have gone wrong”

People Ifs Mind Heart Soul Gone Failing Ordinary Tests Theology Friendly Ordinary People Acid Competent Radiant Lovable

Author:Dallas Willard

“A disciple is a learner, a student, an apprentice – a practitioner… Disciples of Jesus are people who do not just profess certain views as their own but apply their growing understanding of life in the Kingdom of the Heavens to every aspect of their life on earth.”

People Earth Certain Jesus Heaven Understanding Views Growing Students Aspect Kingdoms Disciple Learners Apprentice

Book:The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship

Source: The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship

“God does not 'love' us without liking us.”

Doe Fondness

Author:Dallas Willard

“The kingdom of God is the true ecology of the human soul.”

Humans Soul Kingdoms Ecology Kingdom Of God Human Soul

Author:Dallas Willard

“We are built to live in the kingdom of God. It is our natural habitat.”

Natural Built Kingdoms Kingdom Of God Habitat Natural Habitats

Author:Dallas Willard

“Projects of personal transformation rarely succeed by accident, drift, or imposition.”

Ifs Succeed Projects Transformation Accidents Imposition Personal Transformation

Author:Dallas Willard

“You cannot trust Jesus in areas in which you don't think him competent.”

Thinking Jesus Areas Competent

Author:Dallas Willard

“Every church needs to be able to answer two questions. First, what is our plan for making disciples? And second, does our plan work?”

Needs Firsts Doe Two Able Church Answers Plans Disciple

Author:Dallas Willard

“It is the responsibility of every Christ-centred follower to carve out a satisfying life under the loving rule of God or else sin will start to look good.”

Looks Christ Sin Responsibility Followers Satisfying

Author:Dallas Willard

“Consumer Christianity is now normative. The consumer Christian is one who utilizes the grace of God for forgiveness and the services of the church for special occasions, but does not give his or her life and innermost thoughts, feelings, and intentions over to the kingdom of the heavens. Such Christians are not inwardly transformed and not committed to it.”

Giving Doe Feelings Christian Heaven Church Christianity Grace Special Intention Committed Kingdoms Occasions Consumers Transformed Grace Of God Special Occasion

Author:Dallas Willard

“Imagine that you had discovered gold or oil on a certain property, and no one else knew about it. Can you see yourself being sad and feeling deprived for having to gather all your resources and sacrifice them in order to buy that property? Hardly. Now you know what it is like to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus.”

Knows Feelings Certain Order Jesus Imagine Sacrifice Resources Crosses Gold Property Deny Oil Imagine That Deprived Being Sad

Author:Dallas Willard

“Jesus is actually looking for people he can trust with his power.”

People Jesus

Book:The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship

Source: The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship

“Everyone gets a spiritual formation. It's like education. Everyone gets an education; it's just a matter of which one you get.”

Matter Spiritual Formation Spiritual Formation

Author:Dallas Willard

“A disciple is a person who has decided that the most important thing in their life is to learn how to do what Jesus said to do.”

Persons Said Important Life Is Jesus Decided Important Things Disciple

Author:Dallas Willard

“Discipleship is the process of becoming who Jesus would be if he were you.”

Ifs Would Be Jesus Process Becoming Discipleship

Author:Dallas Willard

“Spiritual formation for the Christian basically refers to the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself.”

World Way Humans Self Christian Spiritual Spirit Process Christ Driven Formation Inner World Spiritual Formation

Book:Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ

Source: Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ

“A great part of the disaster of contemporary life lies in the fact that it is organized around feelings. People nearly always act on their feelings, and think it only right. The will is then left at the mercy of circumstances that evoke feelings. Christian spiritual formation today must squarely confront this fact and overcome it.”

People Thinking Facts Feelings Today Christian Spiritual Lying Left Circumstances Mercy Overcoming Disaster Contemporary Organized Formation Evoke Spiritual Formation Contemporary Life

Author:Dallas Willard

“There is absolutely nothing in what Jesus himself or his early followers taught that suggests you can decide just to enjoy forgiveness at Jesus' expense and have nothing more to do with him.”

Jesus Enjoy Taught Expenses Followers Absolutely Nothing

Book:The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship

Source: The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship

“God may not guide us in an obvious way because he wants us to make decisions based on faith and character.”

Way Want May Character Decision Obvious Guides Want U

Author:Dallas Willard

“One of the hardest things in the world is to be right and not hurt other people with it.”

People World Hurt Hardest Hardest Thing

Author:Dallas Willard

“Most problems in contemporary churches can be explained by the fact that members have never decided to follow Christ.”

Facts Problem Christ Church Members Decided Contemporary

Book:The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship

Source: The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship

“The more we pray, the more we think to pray, and as we see the results of prayer-the responses of our Father to our requests-our confidence in God's power spills over into other areas of our life.”

Thinking Father Prayer Results Our Lives Praying Areas Response Our Father Request Confidence In God Spills

Author:Dallas Willard

“Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in Him a source of sustenance beyond food.”

Source Findings Dependence Fasting Sustenance

Author:Dallas Willard

“Solitude well practiced will break the power of busyness, haste, isolation, & loneliness.”

Wells Break Loneliness Solitude Isolation Haste

Author:Dallas Willard

“Blessing is the projection of good into the life of another.”

Blessing Projection

Book:Living in Christ's Presence: Final Words on Heaven and the Kingdom of God

Source: Living in Christ's Presence: Final Words on Heaven and the Kingdom of God

“It would be strange if we came to shun the genuine simply because it resembled the counterfeit.”

Ifs Would Be Strange Genuine Counterfeit

Book:Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God

Source: Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God

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Famous Dallas Willard Quotes