Mark Stevens, ThD > Mark's Quotes

“Sacred cows make the best hamburgers.”
― Aardvark Magazine

“Good is not always God's will, but God's will is always good.”
― Watchman Nee

“Our old history ends with the Cross; our new history begins with the resurrection.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“When one tries to increase his knowledge by doing mental gymnastics over books without waiting upon God and looking to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, his soul is plainly in full swing. This will deplete his spiritual life. Because the fall of man was occasioned by seeking knowledge, God uses the foolishness of the cross to "destroy the wisdom of the wise.”
― Watchman Nee

“How true it is that without the guidance of the Holy Spirit intellect not only is undependable but also extremely dangerous, because it often confuses the issue of right and wrong.”
― Watchman Nee

“All satanic works are performed from the outside inward; all divine works from the inside outward.”
― Watchman Nee

“A drowning man cannot be saved until he is utterly exhausted and ceases to make the slightest effort to save himself.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“Genuine spiritual knowledge lies not in wonderful and mysterious thoughts but in actual spiritual experience through union of the believer's life with truth.”
― Watchman Nee

“How dangerous a master human emotion is!”
― Watchman Nee

“Man may think human intellect and reasoning are almighty, that the brain is able to comprehend all truths of the world; but the verdict of God's Word is, "vanity of vanities.”
― Watchman Nee

“He who is able to accept everything gladly from the Lord - including darkness, dryness, flatness - and completely disregard self is he who lives for Him." -”
― Watchman Nee

“An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“You can't shake hands with a clenched fist.”
― Indira Gandhi

“The only way to support a revolution is to make your own.”
― Abbie Hoffman

“It is not my ability, but my response to God’s ability, that counts.”
― Corrie Ten Boom

“When I try, I fail.
When I trust,
He succeeds.”
― Corrie ten Boom

“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”
― Robert A. Heinlein

“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero

“The Spirit is both a builder and a dweller. He cannot dwell where he has not built; He builds to dwell and dwells in only what he has built.”
― Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man

“Lord, I am willing to break MY heart that I might satisfy THY heart.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“We must not pay attention just to reading and studying; rather, we should ask if we are open before the Lord. If we do not have an unveiled face, the glory of the Lord will not shine on us. If our heart is not open to God, God cannot give us any light.”
― Watchman Nee, How to Study the Bible & The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit

“Every true work is not done to the poor. Every true work is done to Me.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“There is nothing stereotyped about God's dealings with His children. Therefore, we must not by our prejudices and preconceptions make watertight compartments for the working out His Spirit, either in our own lives or in the lives of others. We must leave God free to work as He wills and to leave what evidence He pleases of the work He does.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“Man's thought is always of the punishment that will come to him if he sins. God's thought is always of the glory man will miss if he sins. God's purpose for redemption is glory, glory, glory.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“That which they have need of . . . let it be given them day by day without fail. Ezra 6:9 If we really trust God, we shall expect to bear unaided the spiritual burden both of our own needs and of those of the work. We must not secretly hope for support from some human source. Our faith is not to be in God plus man but in God alone. If brethren show their love, thank God; but if they do not, let us thank Him still. For God’s servant to have one eye on Him and one eye on other men is a shameful thing, unworthy of any Christian. To profess trust in God yet to turn to the brethren for supplies is to bring only disgrace on His name. Our living by faith must be transparently real and never deteriorate into a living charity. Yes, in all material things we dare to be utterly independent of men, because we dare to believe utterly in God. We have cast away all other hope, because we have unbounded hope in Him.”
― Watchman Nee, A Table in the Wilderness

“The idea of waste only comes into our Christianity when we underestimate the worth of our Lord.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“ The Lord continued His teaching on the matter of authority. He called His disciples together and instructed them about future things in glory. He said that, among the Gentiles, men seek for authority in order that they may rule over others. It is good for us to seek for the future glory, but we ought not have the thought of ruling or lording it over God's children. To do so would cause us to fall into the state of the Gentiles. To exercise authority and to rule are the desires of the Gentiles. Such a spirit must be driven from the church. Those whom the Lord uses are the ones who know the Lord's cup and the Lord's baptism.”
― Watchman Nee, Spiritual Authority

“We think in terms of apostolic journeys. God dares to put His greatest ambassadors in chains.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

“God will not give me humility, or patience, or holiness, or love as separate investments of His grace. He has given only one gift to meet our need, His Son Christ Jesus.”
― Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life