From Elisabeth Elliot (1926 – 2015) Part 3

What God gives in answer to our prayers—will always be the thing we most urgently need, and it will always be sufficient.

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The God who created, names, and numbers the stars in the heavens—also numbers the hairs of my head. He pays attention to very big things—and to very small ones. What matters to me matters to Him, and that changes my life.

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Worship is not an experience. Worship is an act, and this takes discipline. We are to worship “in spirit and in truth.” Never mind about the feelings. We are to worship in spite of them.

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If we hold tightly to anything given to us, unwilling to allow it to be used as the Giver means it to be used—we stunt the growth of the soul. What God gives us is not necessarily “ours” but only ours to offer back to him, ours to relinquish, ours to lose, ours to let go of. Many deaths must go into reaching our maturity in Christ—many letting go’s.

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I asked Him to give or withhold anything according to his plan for me. Nothing is too big to ask of Him. It is God’s business to decide if it is good for me. It is my business to obey Him.

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God will never disappoint us. If deep in our hearts we suspect that God does not love us and cannot manage our affairs as well as we can—we certainly will not submit to His discipline. To the unbeliever—the fact of suffering only convinces him that God is not to be trusted, does not love us. To the believer—the opposite is true.

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Not everything needs to be said. There are very few things that need to be said by me.

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Modesty means to be free from undue familiarity, from indecency, from lewdness, pure in thought and conduct. Speaking of modest apparel, it means decent, befitting. The opposite of modesty is conceit, boldness, immodesty, brazenness, lewdness.

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God’s command ‘Go and preach the gospel to every creature’ was the categorical imperative. The question of personal safety was wholly irrelevant.

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The world cries for men who are strong; strong in conviction, strong to lead, to stand, to suffer.

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It is God to whom and with whom we travel—and He is also the end of our journey.

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Silence is the mother of prayer and the nurse of holy thoughts. Silence cuts down on our sins. We can’t be sinning in so many different ways, if we are being quiet before God. Silence nourishes patience, charity, discretion.

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Everything, if given to God, can become your gateway to joy.

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I think growing older is a wonderful privilege. I want to learn to glorify God in every stage of my life.

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The way you keep your house,
the way you organize your time,
the care you take in your personal appearance,
the things you spend your money on—
all speak loudly about what you believe.
The beauty of your peace shines forth in an ordered life.
A disordered life—speaks loudly of disorder in the soul.

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My most earnest of all pleas to others, is abandonment of the self, surrender to Christ of all unfulfilled longings, an unequivocal willingness to receive whatever God assigns, and a determination to practice the sacrificial principle of service. Then life becomes not only far simpler—but surprisingly joyful and free.

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When our plans are interrupted, his are not. His plans are proceeding exactly as scheduled. They include our minutes or hours or years which seem most useless or wasted or unendurable.

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“If God gave it to me,” we say “it’s mine. I can do what I want with it.” No. The truth is, that it is ours to thank Him for, ours to offer back to Him, ours to relinquish, ours to lose, ours to let go of—if we want real life, if our hearts are set on glory.

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Work is a blessing. God has so arranged the world that work is necessary, and He gives us hands and strength to do it. There would be not enjoyment of leisure—if we had only leisure. It is the joy of work well done—which enables us to enjoy rest; just as it is the experiences of hunger and thirst, which make food and drink such pleasures.