“In the story of the good Samaritan, Jesus not only teaches us to help people in need; more deeply, he teaches us that we cannot identify who “has it”, who is “in” with God, who is “blessed”, by looking at exteriors of any sort. That is a matter of the heart. There alone the kingdom of the heavens and human kingdoms great and small are knit together. Draw any cultural or social line you wish, and God will find his way beyond it.” PeopleWayNeedsHumansHeartMatterHelpingStoriesTogetherJesusHeavenWishSocialLinesTeachDrawsBlessedGods WillKingdomsExteriorMatters Of The HeartSamaritans Author:Dallas Willard
“God inducts us into the eternal kind of life that flows through himself. He does this first by bringing that life to bear upon our needs, and then by diffusing it throughout our deeds - deeds done with expectation that he and his Father will act with and in our actions.” NeedsFirstsKindDoeDoneActionFatherBearsEternalExpectationsFlowDeedsOur ActionsDeeds Done Book:The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God Source: The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God
“Almost everything worth doing in human life is very difficult in its early stages and the good we are aiming at is never available at first, to strengthen us when we seem to need it most.” NeedsFirstsHumansSeemsLife IsDifficultStageAvailableHuman Life Author:Dallas Willard
“We need to understand that Jesus is a thinker, that this is not a dirty word but an essential work, and that his other attributes do not preclude thought, but only ensure that he is certainly the greatest thinker of the human race: "the most intelligent person who ever lived on earth"” NeedsHumansPersonsEarthJesusRaceEssentialsIntelligentDirtyHuman RaceThinkerAttributesDirty WordsIntelligent Person Author:Dallas Willard
“The greatest need you and I have-the greatest need of collective humanity-is renovation of our heart. That spiritual place with in us from which outlook, choices, and actions come has been formed by a world away from God. Now it must be transformed. Indeed, the only hope of humanity lies in the fact that, as our spiritual dimension has been formed, so it also can be transformed.” WorldNeedsHeartHas BeensFactsActionSpiritualLyingHumanityChoicesDimensionsCollectivesTransformedOutlookNeed YouRenovationSpiritual Dimensions Author:Dallas Willard
“Jesus offers himself as God's doorway into the life that is truly life. Confidence in him leads us today, as in other times, to become his apprentices in eternal living. "Those who come though me will be safe," he said. "They will go in and out and find all they need. I have come into their world that they may have life, and life to the fullest.” WorldNeedsMaySaidTodayJesusOffersSafeEternalDoorwaysApprentice Author:Dallas Willard
“Spiritual formation cannot, in the nature of the case, be a 'private' thing, because it is a matter of whole-life transformation. You need to seek out others in your community who are pursuing the renovation of the heart.” NeedsHeartMatterWholeSpiritualCommunityCasesTransformationWhole LifeFormationRenovationSpiritual FormationPrivate Things Author:Dallas Willard
“Everyone receives spiritual formation, just as everyone gets an education. The only question is whether it is a good one or a bad one. We need to take a conscious, intentional hand in the developmental process. We need to understand what the formation of the human spirit is, and how it can best be done as Christ would have it done. This is an indispensable aspect of developing a psychology that is adequate to human life.” NeedsHumansDoneHandsSpiritualSpiritProcessChristPsychologyConsciousAspectDevelopingHuman LifeIndispensableHuman SpiritAdequateFormationDevelopmentalSpiritual Formation Author:Dallas Willard
“We have to have the Vision. And we have to form the Intention. And we have to adopt the Means. Vision. Intention. Means. And if we do that, then it works! Every individual, every church, every organization... that's all we need to do.” IfsNeedsMeanFormIndividualChurchVisionOrganizationIntention Author:Dallas Willard
“Many people get what they need from church attendance because the Word is preached, and the rituals are carried on, and God works, but it's drift more than anything else. And that's why the churches keep reaching for some programmatic formula that will make people come and give money. It's just really very sad.” PeopleNeedsGivingChurchReachingRitualFormulasVery SadAttendanceChurch Attendance Author:Dallas Willard
“The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.” WorldNeedsHumansTodayChristianCultureJesusHeavenChristExistenceIssuesStudentsJesus ChristCornersProfessionKingdomsLive LifeDiscipleWorld TodayHuman ExistenceHeartbreakingApprentice Book:The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship Source: The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship
“In many cases, our need to wonder about or be told what God wants in a certain situation is nothing short of a clear indication of how little we are engaged in His work.” WantNeedsLittlesCertainSituationWonderCasesClearGods WillEngagedIndication Author:Dallas Willard
“Our failure to hear His voice when we want to is due to the fact that we do not in general want to hear it, that we want it only when we think we need it.” ThinkingWantNeedsFactsVoiceDuesVoice Of GodHearing God Author:Dallas Willard
“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.” ThinkingNeedsProblemMightPurposeFatherHeavenWorrySucceedOur FatherBargainsCheatedUnderestimatedAgility 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.” PeopleWayNeedsShouldLittlesMatterDiesFoundGrowsInterestPrayerEffortWonderfulImpossiblePrayingGood ThingsHonestlyMeaningfulCirclesGod's Love 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?” NeedsFirstsDoeTwoAbleChurchAnswersPlansDisciple Author:Dallas Willard
