Quotes about obedience

Eve Ensler - I am an Emotional Creature

I finally know the difference between pleasing and loving, obeying and respecting. It has taken me so many years to be okay with being different, and with being this alive, this intense. (xxvi)

Tara Leigh Cobble - Orange Jumpsuit: Letters to the God of Freedom

The distance between your knowledge of truth and your obedience is called lack of integrity. And the amount of negative behavior--or lack of integrity--a person exhibits is directly proportional to their amount of pain." - Tara Leigh's therapist (p.118)

Criss Jami - Killosophy

God favors men and women who delight in being made worthy of happiness before the happiness itself.

Elisabeth Elliot - Discipline: The Glad Surrender

Choices will continually be necessary and -- let us not forget -- possible. Obedience to God is always possible. It is a deadly error to fall into the notion that when feelings are extremely strong we can do nothing but act on them.

Dan Simmons - The Fall of Hyperion

There would be no more offerings. Not this day. Not any day. Humankind had suffered enough for its love of gods, its long search for God. He thought of the many centuries in which his people, the Jews, had negotiated with God, complaining, bickering, decrying the unfairness of things but always - always - returning to obedience at whatever the cost. Generations dying in the ovens of hatred. Future generations scarred by the cold fires of radiation and renewed hatred.

Cassandra Clare - City of Ashes

I don't do what I'm told, but I might do what you want if you ask me nicely.

Tamora Pierce - Melting Stones

Every now and then I like to do as I'm told, just to confuse people.

Charles R. Swindoll -

Israel's first king, Saul, looked like he was born for the role. He was tall, handsome, intelligent, and sensitive to God's leading. But he eventually lost most of his attractive qualities, the most important being obedience.

Criss Jami - Killosophy

Faith, in its most correct form, never removes responsibility; it removes fear of responsibility. The results are complete opposites with the greater saying, 'God's will is my delight.

Criss Jami - Killosophy

The love of Christ is always there and unchanging, no matter what we do, but it is when we are obedient that we actually begin to feel it.

John Piper - The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God's Delight in Being God

Our obedience is God's pleasure when it proves that God is our treasure. This is good news, because it means very simply that the command to obey is the command to be happy in God. The commandments of God are only as hard to obey as the promises of God are hard to believe. The Word of God is only as hard to obey as the beauty of God is hard to cherish.

Lailah Gifty Akita -

Submit to the Father of spirit, God.

C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity

[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certai

John Bytheway - When Times Are Tough: 5 Scriptures That Will Help You Get Through Almost Anything

Everyone would like to have stronger faith. By themselves, the scriptures may not strengthen your faith, but being faithful to what they teach, does. In other words, faith cannot be separated from faithfulness.

Jerry Bridges - Holiness Day by Day: Transformational Thoughts for Your Spiritual Journey

The heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 ... obeyed by faith ... obedience is the pathway to holiness ... no one will become holy apart from a life of faith. Faith enables us to claim the promises of God, but it also enables us to obey the commands of God.

Eric Liddell -

If, in the quiet of your heart, you feel something should be done, stop and consider whether it is in line with the character and teaching of Jesus. If so, obey that impulse to do it, and in doing so you will find it was God guiding you.

Ernest Agyemang Yeboah - Philosophy and life

Religion means life. Religion means true service in love to man and God. Religion means what ought to be understood within the confines of the laws of God. Religion means discipline. Religion means uplifting the falling. Religion means caring for they that suffer in latent and understanding why Christ came to die for us. Religion means development and expansion within the scope of the laws of God that safeguards life and protects the creations of the Creator. Religion means understanding what ou

Mark Batterson - All In: You Are One Decision Away From a Totally Different Life

We want a money-back guarantee before we take a step of obedience, but that eliminates faith from the equation. Sometimes we need to take a flying leap of faith.We need to step into the conflict without knowing if we can resolve it. We need to share our faith without knowing how our friends will react to it. We need to pray for a miracle without knowing how God will answer. We need to put ourselves in a situation that activates a spiritual gift we've never exercised before. And we need to go aft

Sunday Adelaja -

It is only through faith that you will receive the patience, obedience, and humility to be submissive

Sunday Adelaja -

Obedience and submission requires faith

Lailah Gifty Akita -

Mediate on the word of God day and night, then be careful to write the sacred words on your heart. And find grace to obey it.

Lailah Gifty Akita -

Does every christian obey Christ Jesus?

Criss Jami - Killosophy

The Christian does not avoid sin to achieve salvation, but rather salvation brings him to a desire not to sin. The closer that one's spirit is synchronized with the holy knowledge of God, the more he comprehends how and why sin is destructive to himself and others in each and every circumstance. The dwindling desire for sin is a premature gift of Heaven - where there will be no sin, where all will, too, possess that full and complete wisdom; all will have perfect reasons not to sin. In this way,

D.H. Lawrence - Studies in Classic American Literature

Men are free when they are obeying some deep, inward voice of religious belief. Obeying from within. Men are free when they belong to a living, organic, believing community, active in fulfilling some unfulfilled, perhaps unrealized purpose. Not when they are escaping to some wild west. The most unfree souls go west, and shout of freedom.

Madeleine L'Engle - Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art

The artist is a servant who is willing to be a birthgiver. In a very real sense the artist (male or female) should be like Mary who, when the angel told her that she was to bear the Messiah, was obedient to the command....I believe that each work of art, whether it is a work of great genius, or something very small, comes to the artist and says, "Here I am. Enflesh me. Give birth to me." And the artist either says, "My soul doth magnify the Lord," and willingly becomes the bearer of teh work, or

H.L. Mencken -

The most erroneous assumption is to the effect that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence, and so make them fit to discharge the duties of citizenship in an enlightened and independent manner. Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to p

Albert Einstein -

He who joyfully marches to music rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so

Agatha Christie - The Murder on the Links

There! Now we're friends!" declared the minx. "Say you're sorry about my sister -""I am desolated!""That's a good boy!

Terry Pratchett - Small Gods

Fear is a strange soil. It grows obedience like corn, which grow in straight lines to make weeding easier. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground.

Lailah Gifty Akita -

I wish to walk and keep the ways of God

Sunday Adelaja -

Everything you are called to do has already been prepared for you by God, He just needs your obedience

Sunday Adelaja -

If you have answered God’s call and made the decision to fulfill your calling, then the devil will try to destroy you

Sunday Adelaja -

Don’t try to use God to achieve your purpose. Rather, aim to achieve His

Craig D. Lounsbrough -

I do not walk into the storm unless I have been called into the storm. For the former is arrogance and the latter is obedience.

Johann Baptist Metz - Poverty of Spirit

[N]one of us drinks the chalice of our existence to the last drop. None of us is fully obedient. Each of us falls short of the human nature entrusted to us.

Criss Jami -

To be respected is not my concern. So long as I seek to live in obedience to my Lord, respect will come accordingly from the people He deems it necessary.

George MacDonald - Mary Marston

Show me the person ready to step from any, let it be the narrowest, sect of Christian Pharisees into a freer and holier air, and I shall look to find in that person the one of that sect who, in the midst of its darkness and selfish worldliness, mistaken for holiness, has been living a life more obedient than the rest.

Henry David Thoreau -

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.

Dee Remy - There Once Was A Boy

Together we shared a bond not even death would violate.

George MacDonald - The Marquis' Secret

It is just the old way--that of obedience. If you have ever seen the Lord, if only from afar--if you have any vaguest suspicion that the Jew Jesus, who professed to have come from God, was a better man, a different man--one of your first duties must be to open your ears to His words and see whether they seem to you to be true. Then, if they do, to obey them with your whole strength and might. This is the way of life, which will lead a man out of its miseries into life indeed.

Stanley Milgram - Obedience to Authority

Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.

Israelmore Ayivor - Daily Drive 365

Obey every rule that will enhance your trust in God for greater work! Break every law that might cause a tear in your relationship with Him against your destiny!

Lois Lowry - A Summer to Die

Oh, sometimes it's just easier to please people," Maria said finally.

Stanley Milgram -

The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority.

Initially NO - Weird Stuff Happening

Press button woman was there for himFor whatever he was wanting.No demand was too bigPress button woman knew her gig.

Craig D. Lounsbrough -

I’ve always marveled that geese can feel a call stirring, rise on hardy wings to engage it, and without contemplation, compass or map complete the feat. And could it be that they achieve this astounding accomplishment because far too often contemplation, compass or map rob the call by sterile analysis when we should liberate the call through expectant obedience.

Noah Webster -

The reasonableness of the command to obey parents is clear to children, even when quite young.

Tedd Tripp -

God calls his creatures to live under authority. He is our authority and has vested authority in people within the institutions he has established (home, church, state, and business). You must not be embarrassed to be authorities for your children.You exercise authority as God's agent. You may not direct your children for your own agenda or convenience. You must direct your children on God's behalf for their good.Our culture tends toward the extreme poles on a continuum. In the area of authority

Marty Rubin -

All children are born rebels and explorers until they're taught to sit still and obey.

Criss Jami - Killosophy

Children are the most reasonable about discipline. When they tell you not to do something, it's always because they know why.

Eugene H. Peterson - Perseverance: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

Joy is not a requirement of Christian discipleship, it is a consequence. It is not what we have to acquire in order to experience life in Christ; it is what comes to us when we are walking in the way of faith and obedience.

Colin S. Smith - The 10 Greatest Struggles of Your Life

God had spoken to His people through His Word. It had humbled them in their sins, but it had lifted them up to see the grace and mercy of God, and then had directed them into a new life of obedience. In all our desperate searching for ways to find joy, God is telling us that we will never find joy like the joy of knowing God, being humbled in our sins, experiencing His grace, and walking in a life of obedience.

Elizabeth George - Finding God's Path Through Your Trials: His Help for Every Difficulty You Face

A joyful person is one who deals daily with their problems, faithfully and obediently counting their trials as joy.

Jim George -

God does not bless religious efforts—He blesses heart-felt obedience.

Carolyn Shields -

Any lack of joy in the world is the result of disobedience.

Conn Iggulden - Khan: Empire of Silver

They had learned that Sorhatani expected the same sort of instant obedience as her husband. She had grown up around men of power and had married into the great khan’s family at a very young age. She knew that men prefer to follow, that it takes an effort of will to lead. She had that will.

C.S. Lewis - Perelandra

I think He made one law of that kind in order that there might be obedience. In all these other matters what you call obeying Him is but doing what seems good in your own eyes also. Is love content with that?

Lailah Gifty Akita -

God give grace for obedience to His commandments.

Jane Bulos -

Experiential truth comes by obedience.

C.S. Lewis - The Problem of Pain

[But] we inherit a whole system of desires which do not necessarily contribute God's will but which, after centuries of usurped autonomy steadfastly ignore it. If the thing we like doing is, in fact, the thing God wants us to do, yet that is not our reason for doing it; it remains a mere happy coincidence. We cannot therefore know that we are acting at all, or primarily, for God's sake, unless the material of the action is contrary to our inclination or (in other words) painful and what we canno

C.S. Lewis - The Problem of Pain

God's will is determined by His wisdom which always perceives, and His goodness which always embraces the intrinsically good. But when we have said that God commands thing only because they are good, we must add that one of the things intrinsically good is that rational creatures should freely surrender themselves to their Creator in obedience. The content of our obedience - the thing we are commanded to do -- will always be something intrinsically good, something we ought to do even if (by an i

C.S. Lewis - The Problem of Pain

If pain sometimes shatters the creature's false self sufficiency, yet in supreme Trial or Sacrifice' it teaches him the self-sufficiency which really ought to be his - the 'strength which, if Heaven gave it may be called his own': for then, in the absence of all merely natural motives and supports he acts in that strength, and that alone, which God confers upon him through his subjected will. Human will becomes truly creative and truly our own when it is wholly God's, and this is one of the many

Leo Tolstoy - The Kingdom of God Is Within You

In precisely the same way the specialty of government is not to obey, but to enforce obedience. And a government is only a government so long as it can make itself obeyed, and therefore it always strives for that and will never willingly abandon its power.

George Orwell - 1984

How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?”Winston thought. “By making him suffer,” he said.“Exactly. By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own?...

Criss Jami -

Sadly enough, some people are insecure in such a way that they cannot bear the thought of the sovereignty of God, the thought of His Being as greater than themselves. It makes them feel insignificant. But I know if I were to worship and obey anything, I would like it far greater than myself or any person or human system, preferably to the point that which it, perhaps, in all its majesty, makes me feel lost and even 'creatural' in my sheer humanity. Only this God - He who is great beyond human me

Bertrand De Jouvenel - On Power

Command is a mountaintop. The air breathed there is different, and the perspectives seen there are different, from those of the valley of obedience. The passion for order and the genius for construction, which are part of man's natural endowment, get full play there. The man who has grown great sees from the top of his tower what he can make, if he so wills, of the swarming masses below him.

Stanley Milgram -

Each individual possesses a conscience which to a greater or lesser degree serves to restrain the unimpeded flow of impulses destructive to others. But when he merges his person into an organizational structure, a new creature replaces autonomous man, unhindered by the limitations of individual morality, freed of humane inhibition, mindful only of the sanctions of authority.

Renata Bowers - Frieda B. and the Zillabeast

A sweet kiss on her head made her little heart swell; she had pancakes, her dog. She had love. All was well.

Philip G. Zimbardo - The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

Majority decisions tend to be made without engaging the systematic thought and critical thinking skills of the individuals in the group. Given the force of the group's normative power to shape the opinions of the followers who conform without thinking things through, they are often taken at face value. The persistent minority forces the others to process the relevant information more mindfully. Research shows that the deciscions of a group as a whole are more thoughtful and creative when there i

Elizabeth George - Following God with All Your Heart: Believing and Living God's Plan for You

Obedience is the key ingredient in living out God’s plan for you.

TemitOpe Ibrahim -

Obedience to The Holy Spirit brings you heaven now.

Jared Brock - and Revived

Somewhere, somehow, at some unknown intersection between prayer and work, God indwells our humble offering—God indwells us—and turns human actions into spiritual awakenings.

Betsy Cornwell - Mechanica

When your heart is broken, it’s easier to follow rules

Robert D. Hales -

There is nothing that we are enduring that Jesus does not understand, and He waits for us to go to our Heavenly Father in prayer. If we will be obedient and if we are diligent, our prayers will be answered, our problems will diminish, our fears will dissipate, light will come upon us, the darkness of despair will be dispersed, and we will be close to the Lord.

E.M. Bounds - Necessity of Prayer

Obedience is love, fulfilling every command, love expressing itself. Obedience, therefore, is not a hard demand made upon us, any more than is the service a husband renders his wife, or a wife renders her husband. Love delights to obey, and please whom it loves. There are no hardships in love. There may be exactions, but no irk. There are no impossible tasks for love.With what simplicity and in what a matter-of-fact way does the apostle John say: 'And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, becaus

R.A. Torrey - How to Pray

The one who expects God to do as he asks Him must on his part do whatever God bids him.

Colin S. Smith - Jonah: Navigating a God-Centered Life

Lord, make me less like Jonah and more like Jesus. Save me from being the kind of person who cares more about my comfort, my reputation, and my success than I do about the people You are calling me to serve. Help me to keep all of my dreams on Your altar and be ready at all times to respond with faith and obedience to Your call.

George MacDonald -

Obedience is the opener of eyes.

M.F. Moonzajer - HATRED AND MADNESS

Obedience, forgiveness, and devotion are in the blood of every victim.

Maria McCann - As Meat Loves Salt

I mean that repeated offences, even when they secure forgiveness, drive out love. And from that I came to say that one may compel obedience but never love.

Tara Sue Me - The Collar

I don’t want your apology. I want your obedience.

Elisabeth Elliot -

God is God. Because he is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what he is up to.

Chris Burkmenn -

It may not of happened the way you thought it would, but in the long run it will work out as it should.

Kate McGahan - JACK McAFGHAN: Reflections on Life with my Master

I learned to accept that everything happened in her time. When you live in the moment, it’s easier to wait. When you trust and have faith, you just know that whatever it is will come when it will come. Your master will always bring everything to you at the perfect time.

Marcus J. Borg - The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a More Authentic Contemporary Faith

Our central problem is not sin and guilt, as it is within the monarchical model. For the Spirit model, our central problem is “estrangement,” whose specific meaning of “separated from that to which one belongs” is most appropriate. ... For the monarchical model, sin is primarily disloyalty to the king, seen especially as disobedience to his laws. The metaphors used to express the Spirit model suggest something else. For the metaphor of God as lover, sin is unfaithfulness—that is, sin is going af

Alan de Jager -

The man who cannot obey God cannot say that he loves or trusts his Master. If God knows best then how dare we interfere with His will?

David Jeremiah - What Are You Afraid Of?

Trust is an act of the mind, while obedience is an act of the hands and feet.

Randy Alcorn - Possessions and Eternity

A disciple does not ask, "How much can I keep?" but, "How much more can I give?" Whenever we start to get comfortable with our level of giving, it's time to raise it again.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer - The Cost of Discipleship

Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer - The Cost of Discipleship

No one should be surprised at the difficulty of faith, if there is some part of his life where he is consciously resisting or disobeying the commandment of Jesus. Is there some part of your life which you are refusing to surrender at his behest, some sinful passion, maybe, or some animosity, some hope, perhaps your ambition or your reason? ... How can you hope to enter into communion with him when at some point in your life you are running away from him?

Brent Weeks - Beyond the Shadows

Logan folded his arms. His voice was granite."My word stands.""Can you love an idea more than you love a man and not become a monster? How many friends will you sacrifice on the altar of Justice, Logan?""If you force my hand, at least one."They were standing on a precipice. Socially, Logan had always been Kylar's superior. Morally, Kylar had always felt inferior, too. But they'd never been placed in a direct hierarchical relation. Now Logan was giving an order. He would not be moved.Kylar could

Tim Fargo -

We need people who push boundaries rather than retreat inside them.

Auliq Ice -

Having confidence in your obedience, offers yourself confidence and love.

Iain Pears - The Dream of Scipio

This is a perfectly good picture. And if I didn't know you, I would be impressed and charmed. But I do know you."He thought some more, wondering whether he dared say precisely what he felt, for he knew he could never explain exactly why the idea came to him. "It's the painting of a dutiful daughter," he said eventually, looking at her cautiously to see her reaction. "You want to please. You are always aware of what the person looking at this picture will think of it. Because of that you've misse

Lysa TerKeurst - The Best Yes: Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless Demands

These were all simple acts of obedience I missed. But not missed because I was unaware. They were missed because I was busy—caught in the rush of endless demands. And the rush makes us rebellious. I knew what to do and blatantly ignored it.Ignoring God's leading doesn't seem like such a big deal in these cases. In the grand scheme of the world, how big a thing is it that I didn't pick up that cup? After all, how can I be sure it was really God?I think a better question would be, How can I be sur

A.W. Tozer - Paths to Power

To escape the error of salvation by works we have fallen into the opposite error of salvation without obedience. In our eagerness to get rid of the legalistic doctrine of works we have thrown out the baby with the bath and gotten rid of obedience as well.

Thaddeus of Vitovnica - Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

Humility is a Divine property and the perfection of the Christian life. It is attained through obedience. He who is not obedient cannot gain humility. There are very few in the world today who have obedience. Our humility is in proportion to our obedience.

Lailah Gifty Akita -

True Christianity is obedience to Jesus Christ.

Craig D. Lounsbrough -

Raw power without Godly obedience is a long walk off a short conscience.