Beth Moore Breaking Free Quotes

God surpasses our dreams when we reach past our personal plans and agenda to grab the hand of Christ and walk the path he chose for us.  He is obligated to keep us dissatisfied until we come to him and his plan for complete satisfaction.

Faith is not believing in my own unshakable belief. Faith is believing an unshakable God when everything in me trembles and quakes.

May God remind us daily—no matter what kind of obstacles we face—that we are loved and empowered by the One who brought the universe into existence with the mere sound of His voice. Nothing is impossible for Him.

...if God teaches us victory in Christ Jesus day by day, we live in the constant awareness of His greatness and His sufficiency. Hard lessons are often long-lasting lessons. Never forget that God is far more interested in our getting to know the Deliverer than simply being delivered.

God will sometimes allow things to get bad enough that we will be forced to look up. Victory always begins with a cry for help. When we come to the end of ourselves and cry out for help, amazing things happen.

Lord, please help me to revere Your name. You have promised that, if I do, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings and that I will go out and leap like a calf released from the stall. (Mal. 4:2)

The enemy's hope for Christians is that we will either be so ineffective we have no testimony, or we’ll ruin the one we have.

Shall we call coincidence what God calls providence?

A Christian is held captive by anything that hinders the abundant and effective Spirit-filled life God planned for him or her.

We can be saved, the Holy Spirit can dwell in us, and yet we can continually live in defeat because the enemy can outwit us if we do not depend on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

Without Christ, every woman has intense insecurities. Unless we find our identity in Him, we Christian women can be just as prone to insecurities about our appearance as unbelievers. To Christ, the most beautiful person on earth is the one making preparation to meet the Groom.

When you are trying to discern whether God or Satan is the author of a hardship, one of your best clues is whether sin is involved. God never entices us to sin, nor does he employ sin or perversion as a means of molding us into the image of Christ. Impossible!

To be free in Christ, our high places will have to fall. We must be willing to take a stand against idolatry.

Five obstacles block our access to the benefits God wants for us: Unbelief, which hinders knowing God Pride, which prevents us from glorifying God Idolatry, which keeps us from being satisfied with God Prayerlessness, which blocks our experience of God's peace Legalism, which stops our enjoyment of God's presence

God may not always will for us to be physically healed in these earthly bodies or tangibly prosperous, but He always wills for us to be free from strongholds.

We have a crippling tendency to forget what God has done for us. For a while, we’re humbled. Then, if we do not guard our hearts and minds, we begin to think we must have done something right for God to have been so good to us. Therein lies another road to captivity. It is the road of legalism.

When we’re most exhausted, we’re expending more energy fighting the enemy than we are seeking God's presence. More than you seek to win, seek Christ! More than you seek to defeat the enemy, seek his foe! More than you seek victory, seek the Victor!

Every human being longs for unfailing love. Lavish love. Focused love. Radical love. Love we can count on.

My name is Pride. I am a cheater. I cheat you of your God-given destiny . . . because you demand your own way. I cheat you of contentment . . . because you “deserve better than this.” I cheat you of knowledge . . . because you already know it all. I cheat you of healing . . . because you’re too full of me to forgive. I cheat you of holiness . . . because you refuse to admit when you’re wrong. I cheat you of vision . . . because you’d rather look in the mirror than out a window. I cheat you of genuine friendship . . . because nobody’s going to know the real you. I cheat you of love . . . because real romance demands sacrifice. I cheat you of greatness in heaven . . . because you refuse to wash another’s feet on earth. I cheat you of God’s glory . . . because I convince you to seek your own. My name is Pride. I am a cheater. You like me because you think I’m always looking out for you. Untrue. I’m looking to make a fool of you. God has so much for you, I admit, but don’t worry . . . If you stick with me You’ll never know.

We glorify God to the degree that we externalize the internal existence of the living Christ. A life that glorifies God is not something we suddenly attain. As we spend time in the presence of God, His glory both transforms us and radiates from us.

We'll probably never learn to enjoy our storms, but we can learn to enjoy God's presence in the midst of them.

The giant stop in the walk of faith is the one we take when we decide God no longer is a part of our life.

No amount of determination will bring freedom. We’re going to learn to be victorious by surrendering our lives completely to the Spirit of God, not by gritting our teeth and trying harder.

I don’t believe God allows surrendered hearts to continue to long for things He will not ultimately grant in one way or another. Our disappointment with God is often the result of our small thinking.

If my Father says something about me, even if I cannot see it yet, I can rest assured it is so . . . and begin to put on that truth . . . and walk in it. I can no longer blame someone else for how I view myself. I cannot make the old excuse "that's just the way I am" because it is no longer "the way I am." I take back the stolen ground by simply being in relationship with my Father. His holy genes are now part of my inheritance from Him. I must simply stand and be who He says I am. Dennis Jernigan, This Is My Destiny

Let's consider a series of lessons that lay the groundwork for our discussion of breaking free. I will list them as nine lessons about captivity and freedom. LESSON 1 The people of God can be oppressed by the enemy.

The earth is Yours, O Lord, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. (Ps. 24:1) For You, my Lord, are a great God, the great King above all gods. In Your hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to You. The sea is Yours, for You made it, and Your hands formed the dry land. (Ps. 95:3–5)

We live sacrificially when we’re outside the will of God, giving up all sorts of things that were meant to be ours in Christ. We want to claim those things back, but in the process we’re going to be putting a few other things on the altar.

Father God, I ask You to lead me when I’m blinded by ways I have not known, along unfamiliar paths please guide me; Lord, turn the darkness into light before me and make the rough places smooth. I pray these are the things You will do; I know You will not forsake me. (Isa. 42:16)

Beloved, whatever we are gripping to bring us satisfaction is a lie—unless it is Christ. He is the Truth that sets us free. If you are holding anything in your craving for satisfaction right now, would you be willing to acknowledge it as a lie? Even if you feel you can’t let go of it right this moment, would you lift it before Him—perhaps literally lifting your fisted hand as a symbol—and confess it as an idol? God does not condemn you. He calls you.

We're all looking for a quick fix, but God is after lasting change—a lifestyle of Christianity.

If the Word of God is about anything at all, it is about God’s will rather than ours. Our liberty is paradoxically discovered through the will of God rather than our own.

Lord, You have extended such grace to me. You have forgiven my wickedness and remembered my sins no more. (Heb. 8:12) Help me to demonstrate my gratitude by forgiving others!

We’ll probably never learn to enjoy our storms, but we can learn to enjoy God's presence in the storm!

My Father, You are the Lord my God. I desire to love You, listen to Your voice, and hold fast to You, for You, Lord, are my life. (Deut. 30:20)

You, my Lord, are a warrior; the Lord is Your name. (Exod. 15:3)

My lips will glorify You because Your faithful love is better than life. Psalm 63:3

Do you not know that if you offer yourself to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey? Romans 6:16

He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold. Job 23:10

We have a crippling tendency to forget what God has done for us. For a while, we’re humbled. Then, if we do not guard our hearts and minds, we begin to think we must have done something right for God to have been so good to us. Therein lies another road to captivity. It is the road of legalism. Hezekiah believed he was right with God because of what he had done.

O, Lord, You have made everything beautiful in Your time. You have also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet we cannot fathom what You have done from beginning to end. (Eccles. 3:11)

stronghold is anything that exalts itself in our minds, “pretending” to be bigger or more powerful than our God. It steals much of our focus and causes us to feel overpowered. Controlled. Mastered. Whether the stronghold is an addiction, unforgiveness toward a person who has hurt us, or despair over a loss, it is something that consumes so much of our emotional and mental energy that abundant life is strangled—our callings remain largely unfulfilled and our believing lives are virtually ineffective. Needless to say, these are the enemy’s precise goals.

Father God, thank You for having no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, You did by sending Your own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. (Rom. 8:1–3) Help me to understand that the loving chastisement that might come to me after I have rebelled against You is only in the purest Father’s love and is never to be confused with condemnation. (Heb. 12:6)

Let God have your failures. Surrender to Him your most dreadful moments of captivity, your most humiliating defeats. God and God alone can use them to make you twice the warrior you ever dreamed you'd be.

Christ came to set the captive free—no matter what kind of yoke binds them. He came to bind up the brokenhearted—no matter what broke the heart. He came to open the eyes of the blind—no matter what veiled their vision.

Stick with me here, because this is important: Virtually nothing we come up against in our individual Christian lives is more formidable than a stronghold. The very nature of the term tells us that whatever it is, it has a “strong hold” on us. Strongholds can’t be swept away with a spiritual broom. We can’t fuss at them and make them flee. We can’t ignore them until they disappear. Strongholds are broken one way only: they have to be demolished.

My name is Pride. I am a cheater. I cheat you of your God-given destiny . . . because you demand your own way. I cheat you of contentment . . . because you “deserve better than this.” I cheat you of knowledge . . . because you already know it all. I cheat you of healing . . . because you’re too full of me to forgive. I cheat you of holiness . . . because you refuse to admit when you’re wrong. I cheat you of vision . . . because you’d rather look in the mirror than out a window. I cheat you of genuine friendship . . . because nobody’s going to know the real you. I cheat you of love . . . because real romance demands sacrifice. I cheat you of greatness in heaven . . . because you refuse to wash another’s feet on earth. I cheat you of God’s glory . . . because I convince you to seek your own. My name is Pride. I am a cheater. You like me because you think I’m always looking out for you. Untrue.

Please don’t be dismayed if you feel you are not already living a life that glorifies God! He never sheds light on our weaknesses or shortcomings for the sake of condemnation (Rom. 8:1). God makes us aware of hindrances so He can set us free!

Why does God allow us to spend so much of life in the heart of battle? Because He never meant for us to sip His Spirit like a proper cup of tea. He meant for us to hold our sweating hands over the fountain and lap up His life with unquenchable thirst.

O, Lord, help me to lift my eyes and look to the heavens and acknowledge who created all these. You bring out the starry host one by one, and call each of them by name. Because of Your great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. (Isa. 40:26)

Father, according to Your Word, in his pride the wicked does not seek You; in all his thoughts there is no room for You. (Ps. 10:4) Please help me to always make room in my thoughts for You, God. Don’t allow me to continue on in pride that stops me from seeking You.

Lord God, if I feel hated by the world, You have told me to keep in mind that it hated You first. You said that if I belonged to the world, it would love me as its own. As it is, I do not belong to the world, but You, awesome and magnificent God, have chosen me out of the world. That is why the world hates me. Help me to remember the words You spoke to me: “No servant is greater than his master.” If they persecuted You, they will persecute me also. If they obeyed Your teaching, they will obey the teaching of Your disciples also. (John 15:18–20)

and You do not live in temples built by hands. And You are not served by human hands, as if You needed anything, because You Yourself give all men life and breath and everything else. From one man You made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and You determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. You, my Father, did this so that men would seek You and perhaps reach out for You and find You, though You are not far from each one of us. For in You we live and move and have our being! (Acts 17:24–28)

January 26 May the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 I can't overemphasize the importance of peace as a real and practical benefit of our covenant relationship with God. His peace should not be an infrequent surprise but the ongoing rule of our lives. The apostle Paul, in the verse above, underscored the essential nature of peace. Did you notice how crucial he considered peace to be? “Always … in every way.” Peace can be possible in any situation, but we cannot produce it on demand. In fact, we can't produce it at all. It is a fruit of the Spirit. God's peace has already been given to us if we have received Christ.

So how do we go from stumbling to standing? The answers will vary according to where and how we fail, but the source will always remain the same: God and His precepts of life. That’s why you must be in the Word of God on a consistent basis . . . You have to determine to take advantage of what God has made available. Kay Arthur, As Silver Refined

How great You are, My God! You are beyond my understanding! The number of Your years is past finding out. You draw up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams; the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind. Who can understand how You spread out the clouds, how You thunder from Your pavilion? (Job 36:26–29)

Psalm 31:19 reads, "How great is Your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, . . . those who take refuge in you. . . ." That is what God does for those who fear him. He sets aside and stores up goodness for His children, to be given at appropriate times in the future. What this goodness is, and when it will be bestowed, is unique to each individual according to God's plan and purpose for that person.

Our Lord Jesus does not flatter us. He lets us see our cases as they are. His searching eye perceives the bare truth of things. He is “the faithful and true witness” (Rev. 3:14) who deals with us according to the rule of uprightness. Oh, seeking soul, Jesus loves you too much to flatter you. Therefore, I ask you to have such confidence in Him that, however much He may rebuke . . . you by His Word and Spirit, you may without hesitation reply, “Truth, Lord.

Psalm 63 offers insight into the satisfied soul. Look at David's descriptions of satisfaction: “My soul thirsts for you, / my body longs for you, / in a dry and weary land” (v. 1). “Because your love is better than life, / my lips will glorify you” (v. 3). “My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods” (v. 5). The most obvious symptom of a soul in need of God's satisfaction is a sense of inner emptiness. The awareness of a “hollow place” somewhere deep inside—the inability to be satisfied.

we have never had the experience of taking our commonplace religious shoes off our commonplace religious feet, and getting rid of all the undue familiarity with which we approach God, it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and familiar are those who have never yet been introduced to Jesus Christ. After the amazing delight and liberty of realizing what Jesus Christ does, comes the impenetrable darkness of realizing Who He is. Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

I often feel very grateful to God that I have undergone fearful depression. I know the borders of despair and the horrible brink of that gulf of darkness into which my feet have almost gone. But hundreds of times I have been able to give a helpful grip to brethren and sisters who have come into that same condition, which grip I could never have given if I had not known their despondency. So I believe that the darkest and most dreadful experience of a child of God will help him to be a fisher of men if he will but follow Christ. Charles Spurgeon, 2200 Quotations from the Writings of Charles H. Spurgeon

You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God. Yes, and from ancient days I am he.” Isaiah 43:12–13 (NIV) When she was in second grade, my daughter Amanda illustrated a truth about the centrality of God. She was telling me something she had prayed over at school that day. I said, “Oh, Amanda, do you know how much it means to Mommy for you to make God a part of your day?” I'll never forget her answer: “You're so silly, Mommy. You know God made the day. I'm just glad He made me a part of His.” I was stunned. She expressed through her childlike faith the meaning of God's wonderful name, the “Ancient of Days.

Don't become discouraged if you're a person who wants to have a steadfast mind in Christ but can't seem to gain control of your thoughts. Welcome to the club! We've all been there!

Just keep telling God how much you want to give Him your whole heart and mind. The wayward, defeated mind and the willfully depraved mind are not the same thing. Left unchecked, however, the former can lead to the latter.

Here's a rule of thumb for the thought life that will be a catalyst for victory in all parts of life: starve the flesh and feed the spirit.

So either Christ can satisfy us and meet our deepest needs, or God's Word is deceptive.

Wholeness will only come when we give ourselves wholly to God and let Him fill every empty place in our lives.

I don't believe that rejection, in and of itself, is a stronghold. It's our reaction to rejection that determines whether or not we become bound by it.

No love of the natural heart is safe unless the human heart has been satisfied by God first.

Am I ministering out of my need, or out of the overflow of my own relationship with God?

Our need for love does not constitute anyone else's call but God's.

Never in all of Scripture does Christ resist the repentant sinner. He resisted the proud and the self-righteous religious, but never the humble and repentant.

The longer I’ve walked with God in prayer and His Word and come to love Him, the less I want Him to let me off easy. I’m learning that a believer’s willingness to do “the hard thing” is what sets him or her apart for the extraordinary in Christ. I’m beginning to learn to say, “Lord, my flesh is so resistant to what You want right now that I can hardly stand it. But don’t stop! Insist upon my best. Insist upon Your glory. Take me to the line on this, God. Don’t let up on me until we’ve gone every inch of the distance.” I remember when I used to complain, “What do You expect out of me?” Now, I find myself wanting God to be able to expect much from me. I don’t want to occupy this small space in time in mediocrity. Do you feel the same way?

God is as surely Lord of our souls and bodies as He is our spirits.

Single person: if you are in Christ, you have the ultimate relationship ahead of you. If God calls you to a life of singleness, feel special, and save yourself entirely for Him!

Until the ultimate relationship arrives, let your mirror image be the face of Christ. Your bridal portrait is being painted one day at a time.

In part III we’ll explore some personal matters. We’ll take a look back for the right reasons. We’ll see how strongholds take such deep root in believers’ lives. Only by facing some ancient ruins and broken hearts will we find the freedom God promises.

God desires to change us from the inside out—renewing our minds, starving our self-destructive tendencies, and teaching us to form new habits.

Prayer matters. It's not just words in the air. The Spirit of God released through our prayers and the prayers of others is enough to turn cowards into conquerors, chaos into calm, cries into comfort.

God's Word doesn't imply that we are to make ourselves ready merely for the wedding but for the Groom.

Godly sorrow is a change of heart resulting in complete agreement with God over the matter.

In fact, the absence of appropriate grief after loss may be an indicator of another kind of serious stronghold.

Satan is an opportunist.

Physical existence is not what Christ died to bring us. He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.

My Child, I knew every difficulty you would face in life. I suffered each one with you. I loved you and had a plan for your life before you were born. This plan has not changed, no matter what happened or what you have done.

We must not be defined by anything that has happened to us or anything we have done. We are defined by who we are in Christ.

If knowing God is not your chief motivation for prayer and Bible study, the last thing I want you to feel is guilt. Creating awareness is my goal. Awareness is always the first step to freedom.

empty cup and let Him pour.

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, Your justice like the great deep. O Lord, You preserve both man and beast. How priceless is Your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of Your wings. I want to feast on the abundance of Your house; I want to drink from Your river of delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light I want to see light. (Ps. 36:5–9)

My God, I acknowledge that Your thoughts are not my thoughts, neither are Your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are Your ways higher than my ways and Your thoughts than my thoughts. (Isa. 55:8–9)

Grace: mercy, forgiveness, compassion, blessing, love, kindness—all personified in our Lord. Our God is boundless in grace. Before Him, we are all like the woman caught in adultery; we have all sinned. We stand accused. But God does not condemn us to death under the law. He extends His unmerited, special favor to us. His grace is even more precious because it is free to us, but supremely costly to Him. God Himself paid the price so that He could freely lavish His grace upon us. Cynthia Heald, A Woman's Journey to the Heart of God

I’m continually amazed with my own failures. But the wonder of it all is that God keeps working on me and through me anyway. I’m convinced He’s worked more through my failures than my successes. I’m so grateful the Bible is packed with failures who became champions of the faith: the Peters, the Davids, the Moseses, the John Marks, and the Jonahs. Their stories show me that God isn’t looking at our achievements, but at us—and that even my failures can be used for His ultimate glory. Tim Hansel, Holy Sweat

Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that pride is a problem only for the lost. The most effective means the enemy has to keep believers from being full of the Spirit is to keep us full of ourselves. No wonder the Bible states and restates that God hates pride. It is the enemy of genuine ministry. It is the end of many homes.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 clearly sounds the futility of legalism: “There is not a righteous man on earth / who does what is right and never sins.

The key to peace is authority—peace is the fruit of an obedient, righteous life.

God wants to do in your life what your mind has never conceived.

I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand and say to you, “Do not fear, I will help you.” Isaiah 41:13 It's okay with God for you to be scared to death. He recognizes our fears and our insecurities. I feel like the Spirit of God sometimes says to me, “You know, Beth, I understand that you're not very happy about this. I understand that you may be crying over this. Cry, shake, whatever— but do My will, child. Do My will. I have victory for you.” So even though you may be afraid about many things, don't be afraid to allow God to do His work in you, looking into the deepest part of your heart and releasing freedom in your life, teaching you how to live in victory.

The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, did a masterful job of explaining it in 2 Corinthians 10:5. Basically, a stronghold is any argument or pretension that “sets itself up against the knowledge of God.” The wording in the King James Version draws a clearer image of a stronghold: “every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God.” A stronghold is anything that exalts itself in our minds, “pretending” to be bigger or more powerful than our God.

Have you ever seen a building demolished? In the Word of God, the term fortress is the closest equivalent to a literal, ancient stronghold. Both were fortified buildings. The most common way a modern “fortress” is demolished today is by deliberately and strategically placing dynamite in the building and then detonating it. Imagine the demolition crew showing up at the building with sticks and stones. They could holler at that building with all their might and throw sticks and stones until they fainted from exhaustion and it would still be standing. No one would doubt they had tried. They simply had the wrong tools. What they needed was dynamite. You and I are just about as effective as the crew with loud mouths, sticks, and stones when we try to break down our strongholds with carnal weapons like pure determination, secular psychology, and denial. Many of us have expended unknown energy trying hard to topple these strongholds on our own, but they won’t fall, will they? That’s because they must be demolished. God has handed us two sticks of dynamite with which to demolish our strongholds: His Word and prayer. What is more powerful than two sticks of dynamite placed in separate locations? Two strapped together. Now, that’s what this book is all about: taking our two primary sticks of dynamite—prayer and the Word—strapping them together, and igniting them with faith in what God says He can do. Hallelujah! I’m getting excited just thinking about it!

For just a moment, I don't want you to think about how far you have to go. I just want you to think about how far you've come as I pray Psalm 32:7 over you: “May God be your hiding place; may He protect you from trouble, and may He incline your spiritual ears to listen carefully while He surrounds you with joyful songs of deliverance.