Craig groeschel quotes

Never let the presence of a storm cause you to doubt the presence of God.

When we love deeply, love makes us do things we wouldn't otherwise do.

We don’t recruit volunteers; we release leaders. Volunteers do good things but leaders change the world.

Boldness is behavior born out of belief.

When we generally make healthy choices about food (or wise choices about life), we tend to move in the right direction, living as we believe God wants us to live. If we make an intentional exception for a special treat or for a diversion, that might not be a big deal. But if we step off the best path, we're tempted to detour into more unwise choices. In that case, your decision does matter.

Just as we are what we eat physically, we are also what we consume spiritually.

When happiness becomes our standard for judging truth, things that make us happy give us permission to do some things that otherwise would be considered wrong.

Envy is when you resent God's goodness in other people's lives and ignore God's goodness in your own life.

The things we worry about the most are the hints we trust God with the least.

Tragically, many people have this faithless, wishy-washy mindset, which causes them to lose the battle in their minds before they ever fight it in the world.

It's not easy to trust in a God you can't see. That's why so many want God to prove himself so we can trust him. In reality, God wants us to trust him so he can prove himself.

What you fear reveals where you trust God the least

God can and will break the labels that have held you hostage.

The fact is, you can't marry the best when you're dating the runner-up. While you're searching for Mr. Right, don't settle for Mr. Right Now.

When you delegate tasks, you create followers. When you delegate authority, you create leaders.

The key to success in any organization is identifying, developing, and empowering the right people.

Belief overflows to behavior. First we need to change what we believe. when we truly change what we believe, we'll gladly change how we behave.

If you want your ministry to have ‘it’, more important than anything else we’ve discussed, you must have ‘it’. When it has filtered through your heart - the rare combination of passion, integrity, focus, faith, expectation, drive, hunger, and God’s anointing - God tends to infuse your ministry with ‘it’. He blesses your work. People are changed. Leaders grow. Resources flow. The ministry seems to take on a life of its own.

The longer we view ourselves through a distorted lens, the more likely we are to believe a distorted truth.

God is not calling us to go to church; he is calling us to be his church, the hope of the world.

The pathway to your greatest potential is straight through your greatest fears!

Becoming obsessed with what people think is the quickest way to forget about what God thinks.

There is no vacation, no experience, no dream home, and no thing outside of God that can bring rest in the essence of who you are. Your soul will be restless until it finds rest in Him.

Sometimes God guides by what He withholds, rather than what He provides.

Our thoughts are either focused on what's eternal, life-changing, and true, or lost in the details of our temporary, selfish, false beliefs.

Shame usually follows a pattern—a cycle of self-recrimination and lies that claims life after life. First, we experience an intensely painful event. Second, we believe the lie that our pain and failure is who we are—not just something we’ve done, or had done to us—and we experience shame. And finally, our feelings of shame trap us into thinking that we can never recover—that, in fact, we don’t even deserve to.

As it goes with leaders, so it goes with the whole organization.

The truth: you have what you need. Watch out for excuses. Whenever you're tempted to whine about what you don't have, remember that God has given you everything you need to do everything He wants you to do.

God had to do something IN me before He could do something THROUGH me.

If you want to reach people nobody is reaching, you've got to do things nobody is doing

Your prayer for someone may or may not change them, but it always changes YOU.

Don't worry when you're being persecuted for God, worry when you're not.

Being in the wrong place never helps you do the right thing

Be careful not to blame yourself if someone rejects Christ. If you do, you might be tempted to take credit when someone accepts him.

If your character is not strengthening, your future is weakening.

I believe Christians often perceive obedience to God as some test designed just to see if we’re really committed to Him. But what if it’s designed as God’s way of giving us what’s best for us?

You can't walk on water until you get yourself out the boat.

You want to make a big bold difference in this world? Then pray big, bold prayers.

When it comes to your marriage, if the grass looks greener somewhere else, it's time to water your own yard!

Don’t worry when you meet opposition for obeying God. Worry when you don’t have opposition, because you’re probably not obeying God.

True loyalty is proven not proclaimed.

Reputation shows who people think you are. Character shows who you really are.

Unfortunately, the Bible won't tell you directly, "Thou shalt take the new job in marketing..." or "Thou shalt go directly from undergraduate school to honor me in graduate school." While the Bible doesn't speak to some of our specific decisions, it does speak to every decision about who God wants us to become.

I'd argue that people today aren't rejecting Christ so much as they're rejecting the church.

Get out of the boat. Face your fears. Fail. Learn. Adjust. Try again. And watch God do more than you can imagine.

To reach people that no one is reaching you have to do things that no one is doing.

Good things are not necessarily God things.

If you are not offending some Pharisees, you are not being effective.

All people end up somewhere in life, but few end up there on purpose.

The problem is that many bitter people don't know they are bitter. since they are so convinced that they are right, they can't see their own wrong in the mirror. And the longer the root of bitterness grows, the more difficult it is to remove.

When we look at other people comparatively and competitively, we're not seeing them as our brothers and sisters. We're not loving them more than we love ourselves, and we we're definitely not seeing them as God sees them.

Obedience is our responsibility. The outcome is God's responsibility. As we learn to trust him with our future, trust him with those we love, trust him as our provider, and trust his sovereign plan, that gives us the foundation to step out in faith. We can trust that he'll always be faithful.

If you're not dead...you're not done.

Most of life's battles are won or lost in the mind.

God doesn't want us to be happy when it causes us to do something wrong or unwise

The things that make us sad, the things that make us righteously angry, or the things we care about that others don’t are often a key that unlocks our reason for living. It’s our burden.

We will do anything short of sin to reach people for Christ.

Respect is EARNED but honor is GIVEN.

Integrity starts from the inside out, not the outside in.

If your vision doesn’t compel, move or stir people, your vision is too small.

You can't change in your own power. If you feel overwhelmed by something bigger than you, let the one who is bigger than all things be the power you need in your weakness.

Because God loves us, he gives us the freedom to make choices. That's good news if we choose wisely. But it also gives us the capacity to sin.

Gentleman, God created you with the heart of a warrior. Until there’s something you’re willing to die for, you can’t truly live.

Being consumed by what people think of you is the fastest way to forget what God thinks of you.

If we want to be better than normal we must move from good intentions to what I call God intentions.

Most of us could stop doing something that's hindering our passion for Jesus and effectiveness in following him.

God will often give you more than you can handle so you can learn to depend on Him rather than on yourself.

We don't have eternal life because we're good, we have it because God is good.

God often guides by what He doesn't provide.

Our greatest priority as Christian parents is to gradually transfer our children's dependence away from us until it rests solely on God.

If you delegate authority, you will build leaders.

Failure is an event, not a person. You are NOT a failure!

Don't resent, fear, or judge the next generation, believe in them.

Don't insult God with safe living and small thinking.

You are not who others say you are. You are who God says you are.

If you don't know the purpose of something, all you can do is misuse it.

Your life is too valuable, your calling too great, & your God too awesome to waste your life on what doesn't matter.

We need to step into certain uncertainty. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

You don't have to know what to say or what to do; just listen to the one who sent you.

God's will is clear about many things. We're to be holy. I like the metaphor that his Word is a lamp to our feet. A lamp may help guide my next one or two steps, but it's not a crystal ball into the future.

You see, religion alone can only take a person so far. Religion can make us nice, but only Christ can make us new. Religion focuses on outward behavior. Relationship is an inward transformation. Religion focuses on what I do, while relationship centers on what Jesus did. Religion is about me. Relationship is about Jesus

How bad you want something determines what you will do to get it.

Passion creates motivation, which leads to innovation.

Without being legalistic, we should be careful and wise in all decisions we make.

Scripture teaches us that we should trust God and not lean on our own wisdom or understanding. To do this, we have to strive to know God intimately, walking by faith and not by sight. This may not be easy at first, but it starts with simple obedience.

Lord, use me today, use me for your glory, make me bold, stir me up, give me eyes to see the needs of those I work with, give me a heart sensitive to those who are hurting, give me a prompting of the Spirit to minister to those who are around me.

Offer God what you have and trust Him to give you what you need.

To those of you who are leading LifeGroups, I want you to know, you are the heroes of our mission.

If you show me who you are being influenced by I will show you what you are becoming.

You can have control. You can have growth. But, you can't have both.

To step toward your destiny, you may have to step away from your security.

God has blessed me with more than I need. I'm rich. I will not trust in riches but in Him who richly provides. Because I have more, I will give more and do more.

Bitterness is a nonproductive, toxic emotion, usually resulting from resentment over unmet needs.

When something goes wrong, what's the best course of action? To change your direction. The word repentance means to stop going one direction (your own way) and turn toward the right direction (God's way). Your past may be a part of who you are, but it certainly doesn't have to define your future. Or if you feel stuck and unable to change directions and move toward God, think of this transformation another way. The Bible says that God is the Potter and we are his clay (Jer. 18:2-6).

Your brain does not understand what you are capable of. There is way more inside of you than you can imagine.

Rather than just reacting to the waves of things that come, ride them with deliberate intention.

The New Testament is peppered with "one another" reminders. While Scripture says to love another, encourage one another, offer hospitality to one another, be kind to one another, many people are content tolerating one another, if not ignoring one another.

God's Word instructs us, teaches us, guides us, encourages us, convicts us, and helps conform us to the image of Christ.

Failure is not an option. Failure is necessary...We try. We fail. We learn. We adjust.

A keystone habit leads to other positive habits and disciplines. These positive traits start a chain reaction that produces other positive outcomes. The presence of these important habits help you become more faithful in other areas of your life. On the other hand, the absence of these key disciplines can impact you negatively.

Most leaders are trying to figure out the right strategy. The best leaders are obsessed with empowering the right people.

You are only as strong as you are honest.

The clearer your vision becomes, the easier it is to guard what God calls you to do.

When you accept the fact that your true identity includes being an overcomer, you will never settle for less than a miracle.

It's almost impossible to live the right life when you have the wrong friends.

What you pray for reflects what you believe about God.

If you want what NORMAL people have, do what normal people DO. If you want what FEW people have, do what few people DO.

Good can be the enemy of great.

The decisions you make today will determine the stories you tell tomorrow.

Don't blame yourself for the declines, because one day you will credit yourself for the increases.

There is no sin too great for God's grace. There is no habit too big for his healing. There is no label too strong for his love.

If you are not ready to face opposition then you are not ready to be used by God.

Not taking risks ultimately leads to failure.

To step toward your destiny, you have to step away from your security.

As an organization changes your mindset as a leader also has to change. This becomes the lid to you organization. Whenever my organization starts to settle I believe I have to lift my lid, my capacity I have to think and act in a different way to achieve different results.

When focus increases, options decrease.

To be great at a few things and experience it, you'll have to say no to many things.

Life is uncertain. Eternity is not. Unforgiveness cannot be allowed to last another day. Are you holding a grudge? You will never be more like God than when you forgive. Let it go. Kill the root of bitterness. Let the hurt go and set yourself free.

The difference between where you are and where God wants you to be is equal to the pain you're willing to endure.

We might impress people with our strengths, but we connect with people through our weaknesses.

If the Devil can’t make us really bad, then he’ll try to make us really busy.

To reach people no one else is reaching we must do things no one else is doing

The things closest to the heart of God are often the most offensive to the Pharisees.

What we value determines what we do.

Don't build your ministry on what you're against. Build your ministry on what you're for.