Life Without Lack Quotes

“Your thoughts cannot be empty. As the old saying goes, nature abhors a vacuum. If you are not entertaining God’s truth, you will be entertaining Satan’s lies.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“Christ was not crucified so that we wouldn’t have to be. He was crucified so we could be crucified with him.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“We have the ability and responsibility to keep God present in our minds, and those who do so will make steady progress toward him, for he will respond by making himself known to us.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“Much of our effort to do things for the Lord is really the resurgence of our desire to dominate and make things happen in our own strength.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“We can practice this through spiritual disciplines such as fasting, which can help us stay sweet and strong when we do not get what we want. If we can cheerily give up Twinkies, and peanuts, and steak, and things of that sort for a while, this will bring us to the place where we can say, “Lord, you’re quite sufficient for me. If you want to take it away forever, that would be fine.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“First of all, my child, think magnificently of God. Magnify His providence; adore His power, pray to Him frequently and incessantly. Bear Him always in your mind. Teach your thoughts to reverence Him in every place for there is no place where He is not. Therefore, my child, fear and worship and love God; first and last, think magnificently of Him! —PATERNUS, ADVICE TO A SON”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“The experience of a life without lack depends first and foremost upon the presence of God in our lives, because the source of this life is God himself.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“My intention is to help you realize that fear and worry are worthless—indeed, vain—emotions. If you are frightened or afraid, there is no use feeling guilty about it. What you need to do is fix your mind upon God and ask him to fill your mind with himself. And as your mind is transformed, your whole personality will be transformed, including your body and your feelings. The transformation of the self away from a life of fear and insufficiency takes place as we fix our minds upon God as he truly is.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“When we fall away from God, the desire for the infinite remains, but it is displaced upon things that will certainly lead to destruction.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“When we get up out of bed in the morning, among our first thoughts should be this: Lord, speak to me. I’m listening. I want to hear your voice. This is not because it’s a nice way to start the day, but because the only thing that can keep us straight is being full of God and full of his Word. If you don’t do something like this, you do not have the option of having a neutral mind. Your thoughts cannot be empty. As the old saying goes, nature abhors a vacuum. If you are not entertaining God’s truth, you will be entertaining Satan’s lies. This is what happened to each one living in the days of Noah when “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). Now contrast that with Jesus.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“only humility leads to perfect death; only death perfects humility. Humility and death are in their very nature one: humility is the bud; in death the fruit is ripened to perfection.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“Petition: Casting Your Cares on Him Having risen in praise and thankfulness, then you pray for yourself, for the people in your life, and for the things you are facing that day. Declare your dependence upon God, asking him to remove all fear and to fill you with his love for your life and all that enters it.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“This time of reflection should also include thanksgiving for all the ways the day went well.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“we are not only asking to be forgiven, we are asking for guidance and wisdom and strength to respond differently tomorrow.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“At some point in the late afternoon, preferably before dinner, while you are still experiencing the strength and rest of God, take fifteen minutes in quiet solitude to review and examine the day.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“Train yourself to use each change of person or event to remind you to pray and to bless, so that mere change becomes a signal to turn your mind back to God.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“As you engage with others, ask Jesus to bless them. You can consciously will the peace, joy, and confidence that you are experiencing to pass from you, like “living waters,” to those with whom you are interacting.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“Develop the habit of seeing the world through God’s eyes.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“Emergencies are opportunities to bring God into the realities of your life.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“kneel for five or ten minutes and welcome the presence of Jesus. You may not think it will make any difference to kneel when you pray, but try it anyway. Then consider the difference it may have made. As you pray, give the day up to God, renewing your invitation to him to be with you each moment.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“It is fitting that we arise with thankfulness and praise to God. This is fundamental and will be a natural (and supernatural!) beginning to your day after having retired in faith and prayer.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“So make the necessary arrangements to get the rest you need, planning to begin your morning with Jesus on the foundation of a quiet evening and a good night’s sleep. Then, as you retire to bed, commit to meet with God first thing when you wake, and go over in your mind how that will be. This is a wonderful way to fall asleep in prayer. You can also use the simple prayers of childhood, the Lord’s Prayer, or Psalm 23 to lead you into restful sleep. Whatever you choose, let it include this simple prayer of faith: “I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety” (Ps. 4:8). If you approach the evening in this way, you will awaken with great anticipation of your day with Jesus.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“in a day spent with him, we can expect to be receiving his strength to do those things that will please him, and avoid those things that bring him pain.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“You cannot drift into a life of constant companionship with Jesus”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“it is good that you are alive: your life is good, it is good that you are who you are, and it is good that you do the work you do.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“Fact 1: It is okay to be who you are wherever you are.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“We should not try to love that person; we should train to become the kind of person who would love them. Only then can the ideal of love pass into a real possibility and practice. Our aim under love is not to be loving to this or that person, or in this or that kind of situation, but to be a person possessed by love as an overall character of life.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“Love is a gift from God, who is love. We can seek a gift and we can receive a gift, but we do not perform for a gift. So, when we read passages of Scripture like those above, we must remember that the call to us is not to do as much as it is to receive.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“Humility is the beautiful condition of people who have learned to surrender their desires, their glory, and their power.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

“This is certainly true for those in professional ministry. In humility, every Christian leader is subject to the people to whom he or she ministers. This is, after all, what ministry is, professional or not—being subject to the needs of other people. That involves listening to them, being attentive to them. But if we become dependent on their opinions, we have ruined any chance of truly helping them, because now our primary concern is to gain their approval.”
― Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23