Steven Furtick Quotes

The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.

Great moves of God are usually preceded by simple acts of obedience.

Every second you spend wishing God would take away a struggle is a forfeited opportunity to overcome.

Enjoy the journey, because the destination is a mirage.

One of the Enemy's most effective strategies is to get you to focus on what you don't have, what you used to have, or what someone else has that you wish you had. He does this to keep you from looking around and asking, "God, what can You do through what I have?

Because the voice you believe will determine the future you experience.

Stop waiting for what you want, and start working what you have. This can turn your greatest frustration into your greatest potential innovation. If you'll do your part, God will begin to do what only He can do: He'll make your box bigger.

What matters most is not what I think I am or am not. What matters is what my Father sees in me and what He says about me.

I’m not raising my kids to survive the world. I’m raising them to change it.

If we have the audacity to ask, God has the ability to perform.

God gives the exact experiences he wants them to have in order to shape the specific destiny he designed for them.

If God always met our expectations, He'd never be able to exceed them.

Audacious faith is not passive. Neither is audacious prayer. Every aspiration you have in prayer needs an accompanying action. Otherwise you're not really praying. You're just pontificating. You do the natural. Trust God for the super.

The One who lives outside of time invites you into a reality that is informed by His perfect plans to give you hope and a future. God speaks in the past tense about battles you’re currently fighting. And He buries the shame of yesterday in order to resurrect the moment you are in and sustain you in the season He is calling you to embrace.

And even when you can’t get seem to get your act together, your identity is secure and completely intact. Because in Christ, who you are matters infinitely more than anything you do or cannot do.

Would have. Could have. Should have. This is the language of condemnation underscored by the passivity of regret. It’s a dead language. The thing is, you can’t un-sin. You can only repent.

If you're going to ask God to do something impossible in your life, you've got to have some clarity about what you're asking for.

the voice you believe will determine the future you experience.

The next time you lose your momentum in daily life as you're chasing after God's best for you, don't give up and conclude that it's over. The greater life hasn't ended for you. It's only out of sight under the waters of the ordinary. And God can resurface it, supernaturally, as many times as it takes. As many times as you're willing.

Maybe God wants to do something beyond your abilities, and he is far less intimidated by your failures and limits than you are.

When you have a dream in your heart, but no earthly idea how to make it happen, keeping your faith intact is a full-time job.

Audacious vision never cowers in the darkness.

Accepting God’s acceptance of me doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying. It means I’m going to stop trying out. And I am intentionally redirecting my obsession.

It shouldn't freak you out to realize that God's eyes are on you. Because He doesn't see you through eyes of disapproval or disappointment. His presence is not a sign of condemnation. It's actually an invitation. God is present with you, through His Holy Spirit, because He intends to uproot you from the tyranny of the familiar, shatter the monotonous life you've had. And take you on an adventure.

The goal of faith isn't to take away your fears but to leverage those fears to create bolder belief. Faith leads you past your fears and reassures you of God's presence. And after a while, you begin to trust that God is going to lift you above the waves this time just like he did last time.

Before you were born—before any of your defects were apparent to you—they were absolutely apparent to God. That didn’t stop Him from calling your name and setting you apart. He placed you on the earth at a certain time for a pre-decided purpose.

God knows everything about you—including the ugly parts, the broken parts, and the dysfunctional parts—yet he still believes in you. He still has a future and a hope for you.

Isn’t this a microcosm of how our lives feel sometimes? I don’t completely understand the rules, and I’m surrounded by others who are smarter. Fitter. Funnier. Better. But when we narrow our focus and know where to look for the approval of our Father, life takes on a glorious simplicity. The burning question is no longer “What did they think of that?” Or even “What did I think of that?” Now it’s only “God, were You good with that? Thumbs-up? If You’re good, I’m good.” His acceptance becomes my guidance. And my reward.

Confidence without humility is arrogance. Humility without confidence is weakness. Confidence and humility are both biblical. And they're equally essential for living a life of true faith.

Gratitude begins where our sense of entitlement ends.

God performs the most impressive feats through the most unimpressive people.

If you'll do the believing, he'll do the achieving.

People don’t believe what you tell them. They rarely believe what you show them. They often believe what their friends tell them. They always believe what they tell themselves. —SETH GODIN

The only opportunity the chatterbox ever has to download lies into our heads is if we have allowed it first to delete the memory of who we are in Christ.

You can’t be afraid to stare into the pupils of the possibility of pain and see it for what it is.

The more deeply we reinforce our identity in Christ, the more fortified we will be against the onslaught of opposing voices in our lives.

The Enemy can’t keep you from being who God says you are. But he can blind you from realizing who God says you are.

I choose to believe that the same God who intervened to bring his Son back to life intervened on this day in history to help his people.

Could it be that God intends for us to have the same kind of audacious faith-the kind of faith that dares to believe God for the impossible-as a normal way of life?

Extraordinary moves of God begin with ordinary acts of obedience.

One reason we struggle with insecurity: we’re comparing our behind-the-scenes to everyone else’s highlight reel. —STEVEN FURTICK

I'm determined to take ground and win big for the kingdom of God. I'm unapologetic about my mission to change the world for the glory of Jesus. I want to be a Joshua in my generation.

But sometimes, even though the life you have is good, you’re haunted by a sense that on the other side of the fence that marks off the life you’re living is a greater place that God is preparing for you.

What makes you think you have to turn your life around before you can completely commit your life to God? What makes you think you have to impress God with your obedience before He will impart His grace to you? What makes you think you have to do things to get God to like you, much less love you? What makes you think you have to be the perfect spouse or parent before God will perfectly love you? Many Christians spend a lifetime trying to achieve something that Jesus already achieved for them. God’s acceptance isn’t based on performance. It wasn’t for Jesus. And because of what He did for you, it isn’t for you either. The acceptance He had, you have. The love He unconditionally received, you unconditionally receive. Yes, Jesus was the Son of God. But through Him, you are a child of God with the same privileges.1 That includes the privilege of having God look at you and say, “I am well pleased.

I tend to be one of those people who takes great pride in calling it like I see it. I say things like, “I’m not being grumpy or negative or pessimistic. I’m just keeping it real.” “I’m not complaining. I’m just calling it like I see it.” But people armed with a spirit of gratitude know that often it is what you call it. So what if, instead of calling it like we see it, we began to call it like God says it?

It’s resolving to live with the mind-set that declares, My joy is not determined by what happens to me but by what Christ is doing in me and through me.

When you know who you are, you will know what to do.

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)

But at the bottom, you see that the same Rock that holds up your life in clear skies is supporting your future when everything around you shakes and rocks and reels.

Audacity is not an activity. Audacity is an approach.

The call to be greater is the call to walk with God, Himself.

Also, sometimes perhaps we stand by passively, waiting for God to fix the issues that He’s called us to fight in His strength. If we’re going to overcome the thoughts that hold us back, first we have to give up the hope that they’ll ever go away. Every second you spend wishing God would take away a struggle is a forfeited opportunity to overcome.

The less I can depend on circumstances to define my identity, the more I must look to the Lord to reinforce His thoughts concerning me and to impress them into my heart until I respond as if it’s second nature:

The people who accomplish the most astounding things for God's glory aren't the people who feel the least fear. Often they're the ones who deal with the most intense fear. But instead of letting that fear disable their dreams, they start increasing their capacity for faith. They act on the part of God's direction they do understand. And they leave the rest up to him.

the only force in the world powerful enough to overtake fear is the full-grown love of God.

Satan’s main job isn’t temptation. It’s accusation.

It's easy to criticize context (circumstances and situation) you've never experienced

Since God authored this day and He knows the end from the beginning, you might as well relax and enjoy the plot twists.

The Enemy does his best work in the darkness of our ignorance and speculation. He hammers away with what-ifs in the workshop of thoughts we are too afraid to face.

Because in Christ, who you are matters infinitely more than anything you do or cannot do.

What I struggle with is believing that God loves me, not just because He has to, but also because He wants to.

What is the fear of God, then? It is being terrified of ever being outside of His protection.

The only thing we ever have to be afraid of is that we would ever live one moment of one day outside the protection of the One who can command the wind and the waves to be still.

By learning to distinguish between the way God speaks and the way the Enemy speaks, we move toward words of life and grow in the ways of God.

The world of what-ifs is a black hole, and it will suck your joy, peace, and hope into its vortex if you venture near its vicinity.

There is solid rock at the bottom. If you have built your life on confidence in the promises of Christ, then you can dive into your what-ifs, and although you may lose your breath,

Our purpose statement is: So that people far from God will be filled with life in Christ.

The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)

When the devil wanted to lure Adam and Eve away from their true identity in God, he did it through the power of insinuation.

I want you to live in the middle of a move of God.

God gives people the exact experiences he wants them to have in order to shape the specific destiny he's designed for them.

Seize God's vision. Activate your faith. Make your move.

Seizing God's vision means deciding that you will not spend another day surviving your work environment, family dynamic, or dysfunctional situation.

You have a personal birthright to believe in a God-given mission for your life.

God is able to stir up your spirit, pour out his presence, and reveal his glory in your family, business or community.

There's no such thing as a part-time Christian, and there's no such thing as part-time ministry.

When you give all you've got for the cause of the One who gave it all to you in the first place, the effects of your investment will literally reach the heavens.

I had learned over time that the gospel isn’t about what God wants from us but what he wants for us.

chatterbox wants to inundate us with logorrhea.

When you discover who God is, you discover who you are. And when you discover who you are, you no longer have to struggle with the insecurity and self-promotion that define much of society. You no longer have to strain to measure up, to qualify. You are free to be yourself.

The Holy Spirit makes us more aware of our lack of holiness to stimulate us to deeper yearning and striving for holiness. But Satan will attempt to use the Holy Spirit’s work to discourage us.

Our lives can be a bit like that. We can spend so much time and energy trying to be like other people that we never let the world hear the real us. What’s worse, we never hear the real us. What

Jesus saw the best in people at their worst. He met them in their messes, in their realities, in their most desperate moments. He loved them and believed in them when there was nothing lovable or admirable about them. You

I will not let the discouragement of what I’m going through make me forget the benefits of belonging to the God who has been so good to me. He has saved me, blessed me, forgiven me, restored me, satisfied me, healed me, crowned me, and renewed me.

Living your problems and loving them like locked rooms is much different from denying them or capitulating to them. It is believing that God is with you in the imperfect, even disappointing circumstances of your life. It is saying to Him with faith in your heart,

When you realize that God is the only One who really has any lasting reward to give, He becomes the only One whose approval you desperately need. You can rest in the fact that you have it—in full measure—because the work of God’s perfect Son, Jesus, secured your acceptance the moment you placed your faith in Him. Before you ever win or lose, God has turned His face toward you. He has chosen you. And He is pleased.

If you think you have to swap unworthy for worthy, you will bang your forehead against a self-created wall for the rest of your life, and you’ll never get any closer to your goal. But once you realize that God’s acceptance overrules your unworthiness, you can instantly find peace.

The goal of faith isn't to take away your fears but to leverage those fears to create bolder belief. Faith leads you past your fears and reassures you of God's presence. And after a while, you begin to trust that God is going to lift you above the weaves this time just like he did last time.

We constantly analyze and summarize each other. We compare people to our standards—spoken or unspoken—to see how they measure up. Then we accept them or reject them; we praise them or criticize them; we revere them or ridicule them. We all secretly administer exams in the university of our own opinions.

even when you go through hell, God is there. Only people who have been to the absolute bottom have the right to report with veracity: God Himself is at the bottom. His voice is there. And when there is only silence, He is still there. At the bottom of the deepest, darkest what-if imaginable is a faithful God.

Crash the Chatterbox is about using that understanding to short-circuit the thoughts and patterns that the Enemy employs to disrupt the greatness God has initiated.

His Spirit speaks with promptings that are not audible—often they are much louder than that—always in perfect harmony with the Scriptures and always resounding with perfect wisdom.

True freedom in Christ comes when you realize you have nothing to prove to anyone, because in Christ, God fully approves of you.

Not only does the Spirit set us free from chains that have bound us to our past, but He actually unleashes the Father’s vision of our future into our present reality.

The first truth is this: When it comes to hearing God’s voice, identity always comes before activity. And that’s a spiritual secret the chatterbox was hoping you’d never discover.

If you are a believer who hopes to accomplish the will of God for your life—and go to the next level spiritually—you have to defy the inertia of internal discouragement to get there.

How are you defining the truth of who you are? By whose standards? What subtle lies has the serpent been weaving into your understanding of God’s intentions for you? How have they been corrupting your identity? What is that corruption costing you? Peace? Joy? The ability to connect with others who need you to be there for them? The ability to hear from God about His direction for your life?

I hear the things God has spoken about me, and I want so badly to believe them. I want to believe that I’m filled with the Spirit, as He says I am. But if I’m filled with the Spirit, why am I so often led by my selfishness? Why are my motives constantly compromised by socially acceptable expressions of envy and subtle manifestations of greed? If what God says about me is right, why can’t I live the way I claim to believe?

How many cycles of predictable yet completely avoidable defeat will we have to face before we get serious about replacing our faulty understandings with a foundation of God’s favor? When we neglect this process—out of ignorance or out of habit or because it’s easier to live in the predictability of slavery than the responsibility of true freedom—we sabotage ourselves.

What do you do when your greatest accomplishments lead you straight down the path of an even greater fear? Instead of summoning his faith and standing firm to see the deliverance of his God, Elijah retreats. And in his escape from his geographical surroundings, he begins to back down from the boldness that has characterized his whole ministry up to this point. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. (1 Kings 19:3–5) Now I’m confused. Verse 3 says he was running for his life. Yet verse 4 says he asked God to kill him. Which one is it? Are you looking for life support, Elijah? Or shall God send the angels of euthanasia? One of these things is not like the other. The more I studied this text, though, and considered the context of Elijah’s despair and compared it to similar feelings I’ve experienced under much less duress, the more I got it. Although the text says Elijah ran for his life—and I’m sure that’s how it appeared—it seems like something deeper is going on. In fact, I’m not sure Elijah was running for his life at all, at least not in the sense we would use that phrase. I believe Elijah was actually running from his life. You see, it had been a long, lonely three years for Elijah. Did he survive the drought? Undoubtedly. And through him God won the battle with a unanimous decision. But winning can be as exhausting as losing. Sometimes the pressure of success can drain you at an even deeper level than the frustration of failure. Elijah knows Queen Jezebel doesn’t have the power to call on her gods and end his life. If she had, he’d have been buried beside his bull back on the mountain. So it’s safe to assume that his greatest fear at this point isn’t dying. His greatest fear is living—and having to fight yet another agonizing battle. Jezebel’s threat is ultimately impotent, yes. But that doesn’t make it ineffective. Because fear often finds its power, not in our actual situation, but in what we tell ourselves about our situation.