Stephen Kendrick > Quotes

“The only way love can last a lifetime is if it's unconditional. The truth is this: love is not determined by the one being loved but rather by the one choosing to love.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare

“Almost every sinful action ever committed can be traced back to a selfish motive. It is a trait we hate in other people but justify in ourselves. ”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare

“Patience gives your spouse permission to be human. It understands that everyone fails. When a mistake is made, it chooses to give them more time that they deserve to correct it. It gives you the ability to hold on during the rough times in your relationship rather than bailing out under the pressure.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare

“Love chooses to believe the best about people. It gives them the benefit of the doubt. It refuses to fill in the unknowns with negative assumptions. And when our worst hopes are proven to be true, love makes every effort to deal with them and move forward. As much as possible, love focuses on the positive.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare

“There must be a stronger foundation than mere friendship or sexual attraction. Unconditional love, agape love, will not be swayed by time or circumstances. ”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare

“Nobody knows you as well as our spouse. And that means no one will be quicker to recognize a change when you deliberately start sacrificing your wants and wishes to make sure his or her needs are met. ”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare

“That word is 'willing.' It's an attitude and spirit of cooperation that should permeate our conversations. It's like a palm tree by the ocean that endures the greatest winds because it knows how to gracefully bend. ”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare

“You must choose to live by enouragement rather than by expectations.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare

“There is an old story from the Eastern tradition that says that when the gods created the universe, they found a place for everything but the truth, and this created a problem, because the gods did not want this wisdom discovered right away. One of the gods suggested the top of the highest mountain, another the farthest star, a third spoke up for the dark side of the moon, and another for the bottom of the deepest ocean. Finally, they decide to place truth inside the human heart. In that way, we would search for it all over the universe, with the secret within us all the time. ”
― Stephen Kendrick, Holy Clues: The Gospel According to Sherlock Holmes

“Instead of following your heart, you are choosing to lead to lead it. The world says to follow your heart, but if you are not it, then someone or something else is. The Bible says that "the heart is more deceitful than all else" (Jeremiah 17:9), and it will always pursue that which feels right at the moment.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare

“Heavenly Father, I come to You in Jesus’ name, asking that You draw me into a closer, more personal relationship with You. Cleanse me of my sins and prepare my heart to pray in a way that pleases You. Help me know You and love You more this week. Use all the circumstances of my life to make me more like Jesus, and teach me how to pray more strategically and effectively in Your name, according to Your will and Your Word. Use my faith, my obedience, and my prayers this week for the benefit of others, for my good, and for Your glory. Amen.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Battle Plan for Prayer: From Basic Training to Targeted Strategies

“Every child is a one of a kind mini-masterpiece. No known duplicates exist. They each have distinctive fingerprints, heart rhythms, eye patterns, and blood constitution. Even identical twins can be physically alike and yet light years apart in how they are mentally wired and gifted. Our children do not just grow up different; they show up different. Though circumstances and training will greatly affect their lives, the originality that is already ingrained into each of our children reflects brilliant preplanning. Every birthmark is a trademark. Every special feature is a signature of divine design.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare for Parents

“Lukewarm belief is the weakest form of praying. Doubt locks us out of our own prayer closets.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Battle Plan for Prayer: From Basic Training to Targeted Strategies

“When I encountered these haunting words from Franz Kafka, I realized exactly why this light sermon about the search for God had struck such a nerve: "Everyday life is the greatest detective story ever written. Every second, without noticing, we pass by thousands of corpses and crimes. That's the routine of our lives.”
― Stephen Kendrick, Holy Clues: The Gospel According to Sherlock Holmes

“It is difficult to demonstrate love when you feel little to no motivation. But love in its truest sense is not based on feelings. Rather, love determines to show thoughtful actions even when there seems to be no reward. You will never learn to love until you learn to demonstrate kindness. First.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare

“Men who lead by love won’t deceive or degrade their wives or their neighbors. When love fills a woman’s mouth, she encourages her family instead of tearing them down. When you’re focused on love, you will naturally demonstrate patience, tenderness, and kindness. Rather than trying to manufacture right actions and attitudes, let love become your first response and your default position. Then you’re set to launch into any circumstance graciously and to land with no regrets.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare Day by Day

“Children are also given to us to help us personally mature as parents. They teach us how to stop being so selfish and to give sacrificially. They pull us out of our comfort zones and stretch our abilities. They repeat our words and test our integrity. They expose our pride and deepen our humility. They help us learn to love more willingly. They enter this world as if to say, “Here I am, a mirror to reveal you, ready clay for you to mold. I am given to bear your name and reflect your likeness. I am more valuable than anything you own, and I could become your greatest investment in the world.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare for Parents

“There is no greater privilege for anyone than being able to personally talk with and speak into the ears of Almighty God.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Battle Plan for Prayer: From Basic Training to Targeted Strategies

“Your quality of life is directly tied to the amount of love flowing in you and through you to others. Though it’s often overlooked, love is infinitely more valuable than riches, fame, or honor. They will pass away, but love remains.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare Day by Day: A Year of Devotions for Couples

“If you read a map with directions to get somewhere but you don’t follow it, you shouldn’t get mad at God when you become spiritually lost. The Bible is a love letter from God. But if you don’t read it and believe it, you may wonder why you’ll walk through life feeling unloved.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Resolution for Men

“about Your kingdom and Your will in my heart, my home, and my generation. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Battle Plan for Prayer: From Basic Training to Targeted Strategies

“I ask You to pour out Your Holy Spirit on me and Your church. Draw me into a daily, more intimate walk with You. May prayer become as natural to me as breathing, and may You work through my prayers to help bring”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Battle Plan for Prayer: From Basic Training to Targeted Strategies

“First, READ this book a chapter a day. We suggest at least five days a week for the next seven weeks, but whatever works for your schedule. Each chapter should only take you around ten minutes to read. Second, READ the Bible each day. Let the Word of God mold you into a person of prayer. We encourage you to read through the Gospel of Luke during these seven weeks and be studying it through the lens of what you can learn from Jesus about prayer. You are also encouraged to look up and study verses in each chapter that you are unfamiliar with that spark your interest. Third, PRAY every day. Prayer should be both scheduled and spontaneous. Choose a place and time when you can pray alone each day, preferably in the morning (Ps. 5:3). Write down specific needs and personal requests you’ll be targeting in prayer over the next few weeks, along with the following prayer: Heavenly Father, I come to You in Jesus’ name, asking that You draw me into a closer, more personal relationship with You. Cleanse me of my sins and prepare my heart to pray in a way that pleases You. Help me know You and love You more this week. Use all the circumstances of my life to make me more like Jesus, and teach me how to pray more strategically and effectively in Your name, according to Your will and Your Word. Use my faith, my obedience, and my prayers this week for the benefit of others, for my good, and for Your glory. Amen. May we each experience the amazing power of God in our generation as a testimony of His goodness for His glory! My Scheduled Prayer Time ___:___ a.m./p.m. My Scheduled Prayer Place ________________________ My Prayer Targets Develop a specific, personalized, ongoing prayer list using one or more of the following questions: What are your top three biggest needs right now? What are the top three things you are most stressed about? What are three issues in your life that would take a miracle of God to resolve? What is something good and honorable that, if God provided it, would greatly benefit you, your family, and others? What is something you believe God may be leading you to do, but you need His clarity and direction on it? What is a need from someone you love that you’d like to start praying about? 1. ______________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________ 3. ______________________________________________ 4. ______________________________________________ 5. ______________________________________________ 6. ______________________________________________”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Battle Plan for Prayer: From Basic Training to Targeted Strategies

“But approaching a holy and sovereign God in prayer is something we should prize and never take for granted. We are very needy of God. He created the universe from nothing by the power of His spoken word. We, on the other hand, have never created anything. He is perfect and maintains all authority in heaven and earth, while we stumble in many ways (Luke 9:23; James 3:2). God is dependent on nothing at all, while we are completely dependent on Him every second of every day (John 15:4–5). He knows every detail of everything in all places at all times (Psalm 139:1–18), while we don’t know what will happen tomorrow and are already forgetting what we did yesterday.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Battle Plan for Prayer: From Basic Training to Targeted Strategies

“Answered prayers aren’t merely highly unlikely coincidences. They are fingerprints of a living, loving God who invites all of us to draw close to Him, the One who made us and “is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Battle Plan for Prayer: From Basic Training to Targeted Strategies

“What if we decided to get right with God and begin humbly seeking His face in faith for revival and spiritual awakening like they did during the first and second great awakenings?”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Battle Plan for Prayer: From Basic Training to Targeted Strategies

“Prayer means that God’s miracle-working power is always a possible solution to whatever challenge stands before us.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Battle Plan for Prayer: From Basic Training to Targeted Strategies

“When love invades your heart, you are empowered to endure deeper pain, willingly pay a greater cost, and run risks to your reputation for the sake of another.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare Day by Day: A Year of Devotions for Couples

“He wrote: "A religion to be true must include everything from the amoeba to the milky way." Nothing must be excluded from our view and purview for any faith to be true. ”
― Stephen Kendrick, Holy Clues: The Gospel According to Sherlock Holmes

“God never intended for us to live out the Christian life or accomplish His work on the earth in our own wisdom or strength. His plan has always been for us to rely on the Holy Spirit and live a life of obedience in prayer.”
― Stephen Kendrick, The Battle Plan for Prayer: From Basic Training to Targeted Strategies