Gene Edwards > Quotes

“David was caught in a very uncomfortable position; however, he seemed to grasp a deep understanding of the unfolding drama in which he had been caught. He seemed to understand something that few of even the wisest men of his day understood. Something that in our day, when men are wiser still, even fewer understand.

And what was that?

God did not have - but wanted very much to have - men and women who would live in pain.

God wanted a broken vessel.”
― Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness

“...he seemed to grasp a deep understanding of the unfolding drama in which he had been caught. He seemed to understand something that few of even the wisest men of his day understood...God wanted a broken vessel.”
― Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness

“You can easily tell when someone has been hit by a spear. he turns a deep shade of bitter. David never got hit. Gradually, he learned a very well-kept secret...
One, never learn anything about the fashionable, easily mastered art of spear throwing. Two, stay out of the company of all spear throwers. And three, keep your mouth tightly closed.
In this way, spears will never touch you, even when they pierce your heart.”
― Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness

“Rules were invented by elders so they could get to bed early. Men who speak endlessly on authority only prove they have none. And kings who make speeches about submission only betray twin fears in their hearts: they are not certain they are really true leaders, sent of God. And they live in mortal fear of a rebellion...
No... authority from God is not afraid of challenges, makes no defense, and cares not one whit if it must be dethroned.”
― Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness

“you must carry the cross with Christ in this life. Soon enough there will come a time when you will no longer suffer. You will reign with God and He will wipe away your tears with His own hand. In His presence, pain and sighing will forever flee away.”
― Gene Edwards, 100 Days in the Secret Place: Classic Writings from Madame Guyon, Francois Fenelon, and Michael Molinos on the Deeper Christian Life

“Here is a true spiritual principle that the Lord will not deny: God gives us the cross, and then the cross gives us God.”
― Gene Edwards, 100 Days in the Secret Place: Classic Writings from Madame Guyon, Francois Fenelon, and Michael Molinos on the Deeper Christian Life

“It appears that having a close walk with the Lord is not religiously acceptable.”
― Gene Edwards, 100 Days in the Secret Place: Classic Writings from Madame Guyon, Francois Fenelon, and Michael Molinos on the Deeper Christian Life

“Do not add to the cross in your life by becoming so busy that you have no time to sit quietly before God. Do not resist what God brings into your life. Be willing to suffer if that is what is needed. Overactivity and stubbornness will only increase your anguish.”
― Gene Edwards, 100 Days in the Secret Place: Classic Writings from Madame Guyon, Francois Fenelon, and Michael Molinos on the Deeper Christian Life

“What does this world need: gifted men and women, outwardly empowered? Or individuals who are broken, inwardly transformed?”
― Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings

“Collect yourself in His presence with the one purpose and intent of loving Him. Come to Him as one who is giving himself to God. Behold Him in the most inward recess of your spirit that you can find.”
― Gene Edwards, 100 Days in the Secret Place: Classic Writings from Madame Guyon, Francois Fenelon, and Michael Molinos on the Deeper Christian Life

“If godliness is not from deep within you, it is only a mask.”
― Gene Edwards, 100 Days in the Secret Place: Classic Writings from Madame Guyon, Francois Fenelon, and Michael Molinos on the Deeper Christian Life

“God has a university. It’s a small school. Few enroll; even fewer graduate. Very, very few indeed. God has this school because he does not have broken men and women. Instead, he has several other types of people. He has people who claim to have God’s authority . . . and don’t—people who claim to be broken . . . and aren’t. And people who do have God’s authority, but who are mad and unbroken. And he has, regretfully, a great mixture of everything in between.”
― Gene Edwards, The Gene Edwards Signature Collection: A Tale of Three Kings / The Prisoner in the Third Cell / The Divine Romance

“Beginning empty-handed and alone frightens the best of men. It also speaks volumes of just
how sure they are that God is with them.”
― Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness

“Who, then, can know who is a David and who is a Saul? God knows. But he won’t tell. Are you so certain your king is a Saul and not a David that you are willing to take the position of God and go to war against your Saul? If so, then thank God you did not live in the days of crucifixion. What, then, can you do? Very little. Perhaps nothing. However, the passing of time (and the behavior of your leader while that time passes) reveals a great deal about your leader. And the passing of time, and the way you react to that leader—be he David or Saul—reveals a great deal about you.”
― Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings

“He who takes up the sword perishes by the sword. He who refuses to take up the sword perishes on the cross.”
― Gene Edwards, The Prisoner in the Third Cell

“With that, Adam was placed into a deep sleep, his side wounded, and from that open wound was brought forth a soft-glowing bone.”
― Gene Edwards, The Beginning

“You yourself must endure the painful process of change. There is much more at work here than your instant maturity. God wants to build a relationship with you that is based on faith and trust and not on glamorous miracles.”
― Gene Edwards, 100 Days in the Secret Place: Classic Writings from Madame Guyon, Francois Fenelon, and Michael Molinos on the Deeper Christian Life

“Then do you find it strange that this remarkable event led the young man not to the throne but to a decade of hellish agony and suffering? On that day, David was enrolled, not into the lineage of royalty but into the school of brokenness.”
― Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings

“In the spiritual realm, a man who will lead a rebellion has already proven, no matter how grandiose his words or angelic his ways, that he has a critical nature, an unprincipled character, and hidden motives in his heart. Frankly, he is a thief. He creates dissatisfaction and tension within the realm, and then either seizes power or siphons off followers. The followers he gets, he uses to found his own dominion.

Such a sorry beginning,
built on the foundation of insurrection ... No, God never honors division in His realm.”
― Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness

“All sin was now accumulated in one place—in him. Divinity”
― Gene Edwards, The Divine Romance

“So this is how it feels to be a man tempted—face to face—by the tempter. So”
― Gene Edwards, The Divine Romance

“When you come before the Lord, it is not necessary that you think upon the Lord. It is only necessary that you continue in your progress.”
― Gene Edwards, 100 Days in the Secret Place: Classic Writings from Madame Guyon, Francois Fenelon, and Michael Molinos on the Deeper Christian Life

“Los rebeldes que llegan al poder mediante la rebelión son intolerantes con los
demás rebeldes y sus rebeliones. Cuando Absalón se enfrente con la rebelión, se
convertirá en un tirano. Su perversidad será diez veces la que ahora le atribuye a
tu rey. El aplastará la rebelión y gobernará con mano de hierro... y mediante el
terror. Eliminará toda oposición. Esta es siempre la última etapa de las rebeliones
altisonantes.”
― Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness

“We will come to know the Lord, to walk with Him, by learning to fellowship with Him in the worst and busiest of days. You and I will find Him in the crush of life, not in sequestration.”
― Gene Edwards, Living Close to God (When You're Not Good at It): A Spiritual Life That Takes You Deeper Than Daily Devotions

“I find it curious that men who feel qualified to split God's kingdom do not feel capable of going
somewhere else, to another land, to raise up a completely new kingdom. No, they must steal
from another leader. I have never seen the exception. They seem always to need at least a few pre-packaged followers.”
― Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness

“Do not try to measure your progress, your strength, or what God is doing. His work is not less efficient because what He is doing is invisible. Much of God’s work is done in secret because you would not die to yourself if He always visibly stretched out His hand to save you. God does not transform you on a bed of light, life, and grace. His transformation is done on the cross in darkness, poverty, and death.”
― Gene Edwards, 100 Days in the Secret Place

“God did not have - but wanted very much to have - men and women who would live in pain.

God wanted a broken vessel.”
― Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness

“outward appearance declared him a lunatic; his words declared him a prophet.”
― Gene Edwards, The Prisoner in the Third Cell

“They have come to my Gethsemane. So also will each of you--for every man must one day face his own Gethsemane.”
― Gene Edwards, The Day I Was Crucified: As Told by Christ Himself

“It is an unfortunate fact that no one has yet invented a Geiger counter which we can place over a man's heart and get a good read out of what he is really like inside. Time and time alone can accomplish that.”
― Gene Edwards, Letters to a Devastated Christian: Healing for the Brokenhearted