Dawson Trotman Quotes

Discipline imposed from the outside eventually defeats when it is not matched by desire from within.

The curse of today is that we are too busy. I am not talking about being busy earning money to buy food. I am talking about being busy doing Christian things. We have spiritual activity with little productivity.

How do you know if you are a servant? By how you react when someone treats you as one.

What you are praying for is what you are living for.

You can lead a soul to Christ in from 20 minutes to a couple of hours. But it takes from 20 weeks to a couple of years to get him on the road to maturity, victorious over the sins and the recurring problems that come along.

I don't think that time has much to do with whether God hears you or not; but I do believe that time has something to do with whether or not your faith is built up as you pray and ask. I don't believe that God will ever give much to those who hove their little conscience-easer prayers in the morning and evening. If you cannot take 1/48th of your day to be alone with your mighty God and King, I rather doubt that He is going to do very much through you.

There are millions of thirsty souls. There is sufficient water in the 'well of salvation' to adequately quench every one of those thirsty souls. God is looking for vessels through which He might transmit this living water to them. It matters not regarding the apparent outward value of the vessel or the seeming lack of worth. The only kind of vessel that He can use to carry this living water to these dying souls is a vessel that is 'meet for the Master's use,' that is one that is first cleansed of sin and then emptied of self. Perhaps this truth can be more readily made clear by a simple illustration. Let us imagine a clear, crystal stream of living water flowing beside a broad way. There comes a tired, worn-out, thirsty traveller. He sees the water, but it flows under such circumstances as to make it impossible for him to reach this stream from his mouth. He spies three vessels: a golden goblet, a silver pitcher, and a tin cup. Upon investigation he finds that the golden goblet us filled with something else. The silver pitcher is empty, apparently ready for service but is soiled within; the tin cup alone is clean and emptied. We leave it to you to decide which one he chooses. To rightly get at the heart of this great truth, meditate on: Acts 24:16; 2 Tim. 2:20-21; and 1 Cor. 1:26-30. Which kind are you?

Thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass through your fingertips.

One of the first verses of Scripture that Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators, made me memorize was, “The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2 KJV). This is a little like a mathematical formula for spreading the gospel and enlarging the Church. Paul taught Timothy; Timothy shared what he knew with faithful men; these faithful men would then teach others. And so the process goes on and on. If every believer followed this pattern, the Church could reach the entire world with the gospel in one generation! Mass crusades, in which I believe and to which I have committed my life, will never finish the Great Commission; but a one-by-one ministry

It’s hard for the flesh to think God thoughts. It’s hard to concentrate on spiritual concepts. The brain doesn’t like to think, especially if its on spiritual matters. We like to sit down in a nice, soft chair in a cool breeze and float to heaven on a flowery bed of ease. I’m that way and I know that in life, there are a lot of things that come easy, but getting the Word of God on your heart through memorization isn’t one of them. It’s spiritual. Anything spiritual is work, and my flesh and blood doesn’t like work. But it can be done, and we can do it!

Words disentangle themselves when they pass through the lips and fingertips.” (Dawson Trotman)