Nik Ripken > Quotes

“Don’t ever give up in freedom what we would never have given up in persecution! That is our witness to the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ!”
― Nik Ripken, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected

“Serving God is not a matter of location, but a matter of obedience.”
― Nik Ripken, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected

“It is a simply matter of obedience. If He is our Lord, then we will obey Him. If we do not obey Him, then He is not our Lord.”
― Nik Ripken, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected

“Then he raised his voice in a prophet-like challenge that I knew would live with me forever: "Don't ever give up in freedom what we would never give up in persecution!”
― Nik Ripkin

“Suffering is one of God’s ordained means for the growth of his church. He brought salvation to the world through Christ, our suffering Savior, and he now spreads salvation in the world through Christians as suffering saints. In the words of Paul, “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Clearly, there is a sense in which the danger of our lives increases in proportion to the depth of our relationship with Christ.”
― Nik Ripken, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected

“I cannot forget the words of my friend, Stoyan..."I took great joy that I was suffering in my country so that you could be free to witness in your country." And then he raised his voice to say: "Don't you ever give up in freedom what we would never give up in persecution - and that is our witness to the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ!”
― Nik Ripken The Insanity of God

“we can grasp the full meaning of the Resurrection, we first have to witness or experience crucifixion. If we spend our lives so afraid of suffering, so averse to sacrifice, that we avoid even the risk of persecution or crucifixion, then we might never discover the true wonder, joy and power of a resurrection faith. Ironically, avoiding suffering could be the very thing that prevents us from partnering deeply with the Risen Jesus.”
― Nik Ripken, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected

“Your fear is the greatest tool you will ever give to Satan. Overcoming your fear is your greatest tool against Satan.”
― Nik Ripken, The Insanity of Obedience: Walking with Jesus in Tough Places

“Jesus is better than all the pleasures, possessions, and pursuits of this world put together.”
― Nik Ripkin

“How is it, I wondered, that so many people are willing to die for financial or humanitarian reasons while many Christian groups insist on waiting until it is safe to obey Jesus' command to "Go" into all the world?”
― Nik Ripkin

“Those of us who have grown comfortable with the teachings of Christ have allowed His teachings to lose their edge.”
― Nik Ripkin

“I was captivated by the thought: what if persecution is the normal, expected situation for a believer? And what if persecution is, in fact, soil in which faith can grow?”
― Nik Ripkin

“The reason for persecution, then, is that people keep finding Jesus—and, then, they refuse to keep Him to themselves.”
― Nik Ripken, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected

“Those who number themselves among the followers of Jesus—but don’t witness for Him—are actually siding with the Taliban, the brutal regime that rules North Korea, the secret police in communist China, and the Somalis and Saudi Arabias of the world. Believers who do not share their faith aid and abet Satan’s ultimate goal of denying others access to Jesus. Our silence makes us accomplices.”
― Nik Ripken, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected

“He said, "Son, when did you stop reading your Bible? All of our stories are in the Bible. God has already written them down. Why would we bother writing books to tell our stories when God has already told His story. If you would just read the Bible, you would see that our stories are there.”
― Nik Ripkin

“...one of the most accurate ways to detect and measure the activity of God is to note the amount of opposition that is present.”
― Nik Ripkin

“It is crucial to understand that God values our help. But it is more crucial to remember that our all-powerful God is able to work with our without us, that our all-knowing God is not blind to the evil in His world, and that our ever-present God is there...whether we are or not.”
― Nik Ripkin

“...we should all read and forever remember Revelation 2:10 - here's what I require of you, that you should 'be faithful unto death.”
― Nik Ripkin

“one of the most accurate ways to detect and measure the activity of God is to note the amount of opposition that is present.”
― Nik Ripken, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected

“But the deacon said that the Holy Spirit told him, 'You don't have to come back. You just have to go.' So he did. . . . Long after I heard that story, I kept thinking about God's final instruction to the deacon: 'You just have do go.' You don't have to come back. You just have to go. As it turns out, he did come back. Even so, the instruction is so clear. You just have to go. You just have to go. Even if there is no clarity about your return, you just have to go.”
― Nik Ripken, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected

“Perhaps the question should not be: "Why are other persecuted?" Perhaps the better question is: "Why are we not?”
― Nik Ripkin

“You can only grow in jail what you take to jail with you. You can only grow in persecution what you take into it.”
― Nik Ripkin

“church and real life seemed to have little in common.”
― Nik Ripken, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected

“The stronger the persecution, the more significant the spiritual vitality of the believers.”
― Nik Ripkin

“...persecution is normal for millions of believers around the world.”
― Nik Ripkin

“Let us be clear; the will of God is not always the safest place to be, but it is the only place to be.”
― Nik Ripken, The Insanity of Obedience: Walking with Jesus in Tough Places

“Personal trust and spiritual maturity were often in direct proportion to the amount of suffering that had been endured for the faith.”
― Nik Ripkin

“...our pilgrimage among house churches in persecution convinced us that God may actually want to use them to save us from the often debilitating, and sometimes spiritually-fatal, effects of our watered down, powerless western faith.”
― Nik Ripkin

“For us, persecution is like the sun coming up in the east. It happens all the time. It's the way things are. There is nothing unusual or unexpected about it. Persecution for our faith has always been - and probably always will be - a normal part of life. (Spoken by a Russian pastor)”
― Nik Ripkin

“...the Russian church had lost in its first decade of 'freedom' what Soviet believers had managed to hold on to under communisn for most of a century.”
― Nik Ripkin