Charles R. Swindoll Quotes

“We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Grace has to be the loveliest word in the English language. It embodies almost every attractive quality we hope to find in others. Grace is a gift of the humble to the humiliated. Grace acknowledges the ugliness of sin by choosing to see beyond it. Grace accepts a person as someone worthy of kindness despite whatever grime or hard-shell casing keeps him or her separated from the rest of the world. Grace is a gift of tender mercy when it makes the least sense.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“The pursuit of happiness is a matter of choice…it is a positive attitude we choose to express. It is not a gift delivered to our door each morning, nor does it come through the window. And it is certain that our circumstances are not the things that make us joyful. If we wait for them to get just right, we will never laugh again.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“We must cease striving and trust God to provide what He thinks is best and in whatever time He chooses to make it available. But this kind of trusting doesn’t come naturally. It’s a spiritual crisis of the will in which we must choose to exercise faith.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“God never asked us to meet life’s pressures and demands on our own terms or by relying upon our own strength. Nor did He demands that we win His favor by assembling an impressive portfolio of good deeds. Instead, He invites us to enter His rest.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“When the Lord makes it clear you’re to follow Him in this new direction, focus fully on Him and refuse to be distracted by comparisons with others.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“Joy is a deeply felt contentment that transcends difficult circumstances and derives maximum enjoyment from every good experience.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“[God] is able to take your life, with all of the heartache, all of the pain, all of the regret, all of the missed opportunities, and use you for His glory.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Fortunately, God made all varieties of people with a wide variety of interests and abilities. He has called people of every race and color who have been hurt by life in every manner imaginable. Even the scars of past abuse and injury can be the means of bringing healing to another. What wonderful opportunities to make disciples!”― Swindoll Charles R.

“Your call will become clear as as your mind is transformed by the reading of Scripture and the internal work of God’s Spirit. The Lord never hides His will from us. In time, as you obey the call first to follow, your destiny will unfold before you. The difficulty will lie in keeping other concerns from diverting your attention.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let’s face it, friends make life a lot more fun.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Choose to view life through God’s eyes. This will not be easy because it doesn’t come naturally to us. We cannot do this on our own. We have to allow God to elevate our vantage point. Start by reading His Word, the Bible…Pray and ask God to transform your thinking. Let Him do what you cannot. Ask Him to give you an eternal, divine perspective.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“Vision is the ability to see God’s presence, to perceive God’s power, to focus on God’s plan in spite of the obstacles.”― Charles Swindoll

“This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to do and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody would do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“God never calls His people to accomplish anything without promising to supply their every need.”
― Charles R. Swindoll

“God has called His creation to find satisfaction in a personal relationship with Him, and stop trying to manage the world by conforming it to our expectations, and to allow Him to govern His creation. He continues to say through an ancient Hebrew worship song, “Be still and know that I am God!”― Swindoll Charles R.

“Jesus kept it simple. The lesson wasn’t complicated. ‘I speak; you believe My word; your son will be fine.’ We complicate what God has made simple by seeing the world through human eyes. We want to see in order to believe and presume that our limitations are His.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“When I have a wrong attitude, I look at life humanly. When I have a right attitude, I look at life divinely.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Whatever we do, we must not treat the Great Commission like it’s the Great Suggestion.”
― Swindoll Charles R.

“Today is unique! It has never occurred before, and it will never be repeated. At midnight it will end, quietly, suddenly, totally. Forever. But the hours between now and then are opportunities with eternal possibilities.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“To require God to prove that He is able and willing to fulfill His promises would be proof positive that one does not trust Him.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“Faith itself cannot accomplish anything, yet without faith, no one can fly.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“It takes faith to find personal significance in your relationship with God rather than how much money you earn, how beautiful you look, how many toys you own, how many trophies you collect, or how much territory you conquer and control.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“Boldness in the course of a noble fight is worth the risk…If you stand on truth, you’ll only regret your timidity later, but you’ll never regret being bold.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“God gave laws to His people to bless them, not to burden them. Every rule either elevates the quality of human life or restores one’s relationship with God after a breach. He makes no extraneous demands and He is never capricious.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“Good intentions and earnest effort are not enough. Only Jesus can make an otherwise futile life productive.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“The matters we or the world might consider trivial, He cares about and wants to remedy. He longs to relieve our worries and has promised to supply our most fundamental needs.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“…when you trust the Lord God to give you the next step, when you wait in humility upon Him, *He* will open the doors or close them, and you’ll get to rest and relax until He says, ‘Go.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters.
Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Because of Jesus, we can view life as a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Elizabeth’s barreness and advanced age–a double symbol of hopelessness–became the means by which God would announce to the world that nothing is impossible for Him.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“The abundance Jesus offers is a spiritual abundance that transcends circumstances, like income, health, living conditions, and even death. The abundant life is eternal.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“When you suffer and lose, that does not mean you are being disobedient to God. In fact, it might mean you’re right in the center of His will. The path of obedience is often marked by times of suffering and loss.”
― Charles R. Swindoll

“Someone has said,”Education is going from an unconscious to conscious awareness of one’s ignorance.”..No one has a corner on wisdom. All the name-dropping in the world does not heighten the significance of our character. If anything, it reduces it. Our acute need is to cultivate a willingness to learn and to remain teachable.”― Charles Swindoll

“Worry about nothing. Pray about everything.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“A selfless devotion. High-impact people don’t care about who gets the credit, and they never complain about the role they fill.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“…goals not bathed in prayer or brought in humility before the Lord turn out to be downright useless. They don’t go anywhere. They don’t accomplish anything.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Thoughts, positive or negative, grow stronger when fertilized with constant repetition.”
― Charles Swindoll

“Sound advice comes from veterans of pain.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Pain knocked upon my door and said That she had come to stay; And though I would not welcome her But bade her go away, She entered in. And like my own shade She followed after me, And from her stabbing, stinging sword, No moment was I free. And then one day another knocked Most gently at my door. I said, “No, Pain is here. There’s not room for more.” And then I heard His tender voice, “It is I, be not afraid.” And from the day He entered in— Ah, the difference He made!”― Charles R. Swindoll

“…ask yourself, “Who’s getting the glory in this ministry?” You see, if we do ministry OUR way, it won’t be for His glory, because our ways are not His ways.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“The world is waiting to hear an authentic voice, a voice from God—not an echo of what others are doing and saying, but an authentic voice. —A. W. Tozer3”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Grace strips away the tin, rips off the masks, helps us to be ourselves so that when we speak of our faith it rings true.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“We don’t like waiting, but that’s when God does some of His best work on our souls.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Nothing can compensate for a lack of authenticity.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Tribulation brings about perseverance.” Thlipsis cultivates hypomon which means “remaining under” in the literal sense and “patiently enduring” in the figurative. Naturally, when the pressure builds we should take reasonable measures to relieve the discomfort. No one is suggesting we volunteer for pain or ignore the opportunity to eliminate it. But sometimes there is no solution, no remedy, no relief. Sometimes we cannot avoid or escape the pressure. When that happens, we deliberately choose to “remain under” and to do so with graceful and calm dignity.”
― Charles R. Swindoll

“Consistent, Timely encouragement has the staggering magnetic power to draw an immortal soul to the God of Hope. The one whose name is Wonderful Counselor.”― Charles Swindall

“Hope doesn’t require a massive chain where heavy links of logic hold it together. A thin wire will do…just strong enough to get us through the night until the winds die down.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“At least one indication of unbelief is the tendency to measure life’s challenges against our own adequacy instead of God’s promises. To enter our Sabbath rest, we must put an end to self-reliance – trusting in our own abilities to overcome difficulties, rise above challenges, escape tragedies, or achieve personal greatness.”
― Swindoll Charles R.

“You and I can become so dedicated to the will of God, we can be so driven by a false sense of purpose, that we might inadvertently take matters into our own hands and leave God completely out of the loop.”
― Charles R. Swindoll

“Believe me, once you have tasted worship—the kind of worship that captures your heart and rivets your full attention on the living Lord—nothing less satisfies. Nothing else even comes close. Once you have tasted true worship, you will never want to play church again.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“The glory of God is a man fully alive, and the life of a man consists in beholding God.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“The Promised Land was a tangible representation of God’s ultimate desire for His people, but they failed to comprehend His gift for at least three reasons: It was unconditionally promised, it was outrageously generous, and it was absolutely free. None of those make sense in the world as we know it…”― Swindoll Charles R.

“Jesus never commanded believers to produce fruit. Fruit is the *purpose* of the branch, but it is not the *responsibility* of the branch. The branch cannot produce anything on it’s own. However, if it remains attached to the vine, it will receive life-sustaining sap, nourishment, strength, everything it needs.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“In solitude, struggles occur that no one else knows about. Inner battles are fought here that seldom become fodder for sermons or illustrations for books. God, who probes our deepest thoughts during protracted segments of solitude, opens our eyes to things that need attention. It is here He makes us aware of those things we try to hide from others.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“God uses those who seem ill-fitted for a significant life.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“When we panic, we instinctively turn to our own internal resources because we doubt Him.”
― Swindoll Charles R.

“It’s not enough merely to believe there is a God. You must believe in the God who is there.”
― Swindoll Charles R.

“While God is not the author of evil and He never prompts or condones sin, nothing occurs without His sovereign oversight. Others may choose to do evil deeds and God’s people may suffer in the short term, but He will transform the evil intentions of evil people into opportunities for the enrichment of those in His care.”
― Swindoll Charles R.

“Like sin itself, Satan appeals to the senses. He originated and perfected the art of disguising evil as good.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“While God, for the most part, allows this cosmos [creation] to work according to the laws of nature, there is never a time when He is not actively involved in every detail of life.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“Life…as God intended it enables us to live above the drag of fear, superstition, shame, pessimism, guilt, anxiety, worry, and all the negativity that keeps people from seizing each day as a gift from Him.”
― Swindoll Charles R.

“Neglecting to ask God’s counsel, neglecting to seek God’s timing, you step in to *handle* things. And by and by, you’ve got a mess on your hands.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“While I wholeheartedly believe in choosing to approach every challenge with a great attitude, I don’t mean that we should abandon authenticity and live in fantasyland.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“When God’s in it, the job gets done.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Noise and crowds have a way of siphoning our energy and distracting our attention, making prayer an added chore rather than a comforting relief”― Charles Swindoll

“[Jesus] tilted His head back, pulled up one last time to draw breath and cried, “Tetelestai!” It was a Greek expression most everyone present would have understood. It was an accounting term. Archaeologists have found papyrus tax receipts with “Tetelestai” written across them, meaning “paid in full.” With Jesus’ last breath on the cross, He declared the debt of sin cancelled, completely satisfied. Nothing else required. Not good deeds. Not generous donations. Not penance or confession or baptism or…or…or…nothing. The penalty for sin is death, and we were all born hopelessly in debt. He paid our debt in full by giving His life so that we might live forever.”
― Swindoll Charles R.

“The size of a challenge should never be measured by what we have to offer. It will never be enough. Furthermore, provision is God’s responsibility, not ours. We are merely called to commit what we have – even if it’s no more than a sack lunch.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Learning more truth is a poor and cheap substitute for stopping and putting into action the truth already learned”― Charles R. Swindoll

“God doesn’t work on our timetable. He has a plan that He will execute perfectly and for the highest, greatest good of all, and for His ultimate glory.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“The lens of fear magnifies the size of uncertainty.”― Charles Swindoll

“Deep, contended joy comes from a place of complete security and confidence [in God] – even in the midst of trial.”― Swindoll Charles R.

“If you allow it, [suffering] can be the means by which God brings you His greatest blessings.”
― Swindoll Charles R.

“The devil, darkness, and death may swagger and boast, the pangs of life will sting for a while longer, but don’t worry; the forces of evil are breathing their last. Not to worry…He’s risen!”― Swindoll Charles R.

“Real integrity stays in place whether the test in adversity or prosperity.”― Charles Swindoll

“Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Disagreements are inevitable. There will always be opposing viewpoints and a variety of perspectives on most subjects. Tastes differ as well as preferences. That is why they make vanilla and chocolate and strawberry ice cream, why they build Fords and Chevys, Chryslers and Cadillacs, Hondas and Toyotas. That is why our nation has room for Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals – and moderates. The tension is built into our system. It is what freedom is all about, including religious freedom.
I am fairly firm in my theological convictions, but that doesn’t mean you (or anyone) must agree with me. All this explains why we must place so much importance on leaving “wobble room” in our relationships. One’s theological persuasion may not bend, but one’s involvement with others must.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”― Charles R. Swindoll

“Anything under God’s control is never out of control.”― Charles Swindoll