Bruce Wilkinson Quotes

Not surprisingly, the place we're most likely to experience testing is exactly where we struggle most to trust God.

Keep your eyes on Christ, not the circumstances you find yourself in or the feelings you are experiencing.

The single best way to develop leaders . . . is to take people out of their safe environment and away from the people they know, and throw them into a new arena they know little about. Way over their head, preferably. In fact, the more demanding their challenges, the more pressure and risk they face, the more likely a dynamic leader will emerge.

In my experience, God rarely makes our fear disappear. Instead, He asks us to be strong and take courage. What is courage? As Ordinary discovered, courage is not the absence of fear; rather, it's choosing to act in spite of the fear. You could say that without fear, you can't have genuine courage.

Your Father knows your gifts, your hindrances, and the condition you're in at every moment. And He also knows something you can't possibly know--every single person who's in desperate need of receiving His touch through you.

courage is not the absence of fear; rather, it’s choosing to act in spite of the fear. You could say that without fear, you can’t have genuine courage. When you do act in courage, you discover that fear doesn’t have to stop you. You see that what you thought were your limits are more like starting points.

Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested. (1 Chronicles 4:9-10)

Simply put, God favors those who ask. He holds back nothing from those who want and earnestly long for what He wants.

He peered up the ladder. In his young imagination, it must have reached the clouds.

Most of us think our lives are too full already. But when, in faith, you start to pray for more ministry, amazing things occur. As your opportunities expand, your ability and resources supernaturally increase, too. Right away you’ll sense the pleasure God feels in your request and His urgency to accomplish great things through you.

The Bible wasn’t given for our information but for our transformation.

If the truth has already transformed the teacher, then the truth has a far greater chance of transforming the students.

God didn’t want me to do more for Him. He wanted me to be more with Him.

Ask,” promised Jesus, “and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7). “You do not have because you do not ask,” said James (James 4:2). Even though there is no limit to God’s goodness, if you didn’t ask Him for a blessing yesterday, you didn’t get all that you were supposed to have.

The journey to your big dream

O God and King, please expand my opportunities and my impact in such a way that I touch more lives for Your glory. Let me do more for You!

When we ask for God’s blessing, we’re not asking for more of what we could get for ourselves.

As God’s chosen, blessed sons and daughters, we are expected to attempt something large enough that failure is guaranteed…unless God steps in.

The only thing that can break the cycle of abundant living is sin. Sin breaks the flow of God’s power.

The most effective war against sin is to pray that we will not have to fight.

Our heavenly Father never takes anything from His children unless He means to give them something better.

The better you understand the journey to your Dream and what God is doing in your life, the less likely you are to abandon your Dream.

A Big Dream always seems overwhelming at first. Ultimately, a Big Dream is aimed at meeting a Big Need in the world. While you still have breath, it’s never too late to act on your Dream!

You see, every Big Dream is initially way beyond your abilities and experience. We all feel Unworthy and Unable to do a Big Dream. But the Bible says, “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.”2 God purposely picks Unworthy and Unable Dreamers like you and me!

Today, unfortunately, in the great majority of pulpits and classrooms, we rev the engine and get excited about the sound we make, while the people in the audience wonder, “When are you going to drive that thing somewhere?

it’s only when we are self-conscious rather than other-conscious that we become so very nervous. When we focus on serving our audience, then the Lord is free to use us.

The tragic truth about boredom is that I have heard teacher after teacher bore their students to the point of tears while talking about the most important subject in all the world—the Bible!

Our dreams, like the disciples’, are always too small. We are here to fulfill God’s dream—that we will bring Him glory through a remarkably abundant life. That’s how we find our greatest personal fulfillment, now and for eternity.

C. S. Lewis said that God whispers through pleasure but shouts through pain. Sometimes our Father has to shout.

Lord, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am.

Profundity is not complexity; it is simplicity.

Jesus loved to convey the deepest truths with simple, earthy examples.

Our dreams, like the disciples’, are always too small.

Let’s be honest—pruning is cutting and cutting hurts.

As unthinkable as it sounds—as contradictory as it is—the Vinedresser’s secret for more is … less.

Can I look back over my walk with God and see very clearly that a sinful behavior I used to be caught up in is no longer an issue? Are there thoughts, attitudes, or habits that used to dominate my life but don’t anymore? If you can answer yes, you’re moving forward and upward with God.

What percentage of Christians do you think have experienced scourging? It may shock you to read that God scourges “every son.

What is courage? As Ordinary discovered, courage is not the absence of fear; rather, it’s choosing to act in spite of the fear. You could say that without fear, you can’t have genuine courage.

Then Ordinary understood why he hadn't recognized his Big Dream when it was right in front of him. The lovely city he'd imagined all along was not his Dream - but a picture of what his Dream would accomplish.

With every step back toward the middle of Familiar, Ordinary grew more comfortable. But he quickly noticed he was also growing sad again. And he knew why: With each step he took, he was leaving his Big Dream farther behind

It was hard to leave my Comfort Zone. But it would have been even harder to leave behind my Dream, and I’m glad I didn’t.

There’s nothing the matter with wanting to be comfortable. But ultimately, Dreams are to help someone else. Comfort is to help yourself.

Unfortunately, many people in all walks of life end up making personal comfort their Dream. But it is a false dream, because comfort turns into a prison. How? The more you turn away from your fear, the more you believe that your Comfort Zone is home. And the more time you spend there, the more you become convinced that because you haven’t stepped through fear, you can’t!

never again run away from my Comfort Zone fears.

Bruce, some faculty members may be jealous about this arrangement, but I want you to have this. We want you to stay here forever, but I believe God has a big future for you beyond this school. Until then, we’ll be a greenhouse for the ministry God is preparing you for.” That’s a Dream Champion! He saw things I missed. He believed when I didn’t. He made things happen that I couldn’t. And he poured courage from his heart right into mine.

Who must you break free from in order to move forward with your Dream? Is there any person or group you are honoring above the Dream Giver?

It’s not really your feelings of discomfort, but what you think those feelings mean, that determines what happens next.

Comfort Zone Misconception #2: I can’t go forward unless God takes my fear away.

Unbelief is much more dangerous to your Dream than any Giant!

All the Truths you’ve learned on your journey so far will serve as your weapons and armor,

Beware of Unbelief, Ordinary,” said the Commander. “Unbelief is much more dangerous to your Dream than any Giant!

Then he had an even more disturbing thought: To do what he most loved, he would have to do what he most dreaded!

Communion with God is a relationship, not a sensation.

Do you want more abundance? More is always possible, but you’ll have to do something opposite of what you’re currently doing. You’ll have to cooperate with God’s ways and respond in obedience and trust.

Do you identify with Moses’ feelings of reluctance, fear, and inadequacy? I do. Every Dreamer I’ve met does. But the great news for Dreamers is that our success doesn’t rest only on us.

C. S. Lewis said that God whispers through pleasure but shouts through pain.

God’s actions are all intended to nudge you—lovingly, wisely, persistently—toward the life and character you desire but can’t reach without help.

When the Dream Giver asked me to give my Dream to him, I didn't think I could. But I wanted the Dream Giver more than my Dream, so I did.

Are you doing what you’ve always wished you could be doing?

if we’re just marking time—instead of making a life—we have put our Big Dream on hold. Years pass. Personal losses pile up.

No one else can do your Dream.

It’s not easy to stand up against those we love and care about. The urge to be well-liked and admired by others is deeply rooted in our nature. Yet since almost every Dream is rejected by at least one strong Bully, especially in the early stages, you will face a choice. You must decide who you want to please more—your Border Bullies or God.

What people would you identify as valuable Buddies in your life today?

Sometimes when you risk everything, you lose everything, too.

Señor, yo quiero una vida como esa. Quiero ser más ilustre para ti.

la gente que verdaderamente está bendecida va por ahí bendiciendo a otros.

Cuando seguimos a Cristo, las bendiciones siempre vienen con las luchas. Por eso, orar para ser guardados del mal es tan necesario si en verdad quieres seguir experimentando una vida verdaderamente bendecida.

Asking is the beginning of receiving. Through a simple believing prayer, you can change your future. You can change what happens one minute from now. — Dr. Bruce Wilkinson