A.B. Simpson Quotes & Sayings

Divine love loves that it may bless and do good. You ought to love not because it pleases you, but because it blesses them. — A.B. Simpson

The true Church of Jesus Christ will never be overwhelmed by the world. The waters may swirl around us, but the Lord has promised to build His Church and keep it strong until He returns.

One thing must be avoided at all costs. We must not let the world seep into the Church. When we let the world dilute our Gospel and water down our values, we'll disappear from sight. Let's keep the Church holy - and wholly committed to Scripture.

The chief danger of the Church today is that it's trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of trying to turn the world upside down. — A.B. Simpson

When I cannot understand my Father's leading, And it seems to be but hard and cruel fate, Still I hear that gentle whisper ever pleading, God is working, God is faithful-Only wait. — A.B. Simpson

We begin life with the natural, next we come into the spiritual; but then, when we have truly received the kingdom of God and His righteousness, the natural is added to the spiritual, and we are able to receive the gifts of His providence and the blessings of life without becoming centered in them or allowing them to separate us from Him. — A.B. Simpson

If God's Word is not absolutely and completely true, it is too weak a cable to fix our anchorage and guarantee our eternal peace. — A.B. Simpson

God is ever wanting to add to us, to develop us, to enlarge us, to teach us more and more, but it is ever in the line of things which He has already taught us, and in which we have been established. — A.B. Simpson

Let us honor the Holy Ghost. — A.B. Simpson

The Bible stands apart from all other books, and has survived and will survive all the attacks of its enemies. It is like the electric torch that shines over the water of New York Bay, struck by the wing of many a seabird that dashes against it in its reckless flight, but still shining on unmoved while the foolish and reckless assailant falls bleeding and wounded at its feet. It is an anvil which has worn out many a hammer of hostile criticism, while the anvil still remains unshaken amid the wreck of all that have assailed it. — A.B. Simpson

It is all right when God sends us the approval of our fellow men; however, we must never make that approval a motive in our life. — A.B. Simpson

Prayer is the ascending vapor which supplies The showers of blessing, and the stream that flows Through earth's dry places, till on every side The wilderness shall blossom as the rose. — A.B. Simpson

The devil's first trick is to get us to say, "I have not sinned." And then his last blow is to make us think, "My sin is too great to be forgiven." But humble faith accepts God's judgment upon itself, and escapes judgment. — A.B. Simpson

Some people get easily turned aside from the grandeur of their life-work by pursuing their own grievances and enemies, until their life gets turned into one little petty whirl of warfare. It is like a nest of hornets. You may disperse the hornets, but you will probably get terribly stung, and get nothing for your pains, for even their honey is not worth a search. — A.B. Simpson

Our God has boundless resources. The only limit is in us. Our asking, our thinking, our praying are too small. Our expectations are too limited. — A.B. Simpson

We cannot ask in behalf of Christ what Christ would not ask Himself if He were praying. — A.B. Simpson

God's jewels are often sent us in rough packages and by dark liveried servants, but within we find the very treasures of the King's palace and the Bridegroom's Love. — A.B. Simpson

Now this faith, the apostle declares, is indispensable in order to please God. No wonder; anything less is to treat God as if He were unreal and unreliable, and is practical atheism. It is to make His Word less sure than a mere material fact of nature — A.B. Simpson

You must have faith in God. — A.B. Simpson

The sanctified body is one whose hands are clean. The stain of dishonesty is not on them, the withering blight of ill-gotten gain has not blistered them, the mark of violence is not found upon them. They have been separated from every occupation that could displease God or injure a fellow-man. — A.B. Simpson

Christ is not a reservoir but a spring. His life is continual, active and ever passing on with an outflow as necessary as its inflow. If we do not perpetually draw the fresh supply from the living Fountain, we shall either grow stagnant or empty, It is, therefore, not so much a perpetual fullness as a perpetual filling. — A.B. Simpson

Unless I am sure I am doing more at home to send the gospel abroad than I can do abroad, I am bound to go. — A.B. Simpson

The ruin of the human race came by discrediting and doubting God's word to our first parents. "Hath God said?" was the fountain of all sin. "God hath said" is the foundation, therefore, of our restoration. — A.B. Simpson

We must learn to live on the heavenly side and look at things from above. To contemplate all things as God sees them, as Christ beholds them, overcomes sin, defies Satan, dissolves perplexities, lifts us above trials, separates us from the world and conquers fear of death. — A.B. Simpson

The Days Of Heaven The days of heaven are peaceful days, Still as yon glassy sea; So calm, so still in God, our days, As the days of heaven would be. The days of heaven are holy days, From sin forever free; So cleansed and kept our days, O Lord, As the days of heaven would be. — A.B. Simpson

There are two ways of getting out of a trial. One is simply to try to get rid of the trial, and be thankful when it is over. The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, and to hail it with delight as an opportunity of obtaining a larger measure of divine grace. — A.B. Simpson

Holiness of heart and life. This is not the perfection of the human nature, but the holiness of the divine nature dwelling within. — A.B. Simpson

The Holy Spirit is just as truly in us when He makes no sign as when the fountains of joy are overflowing, or the waters of peace are softly refreshing our weary and troubled heart. — A.B. Simpson

I like to interpose in all of my appointments, if the Lord wills. — A.B. Simpson

The difference between human heroes and sacred characters lies just in this: the man is just a man, but behind the man of God, God Himself is ever standing greater than the man and overshadowing him by His infinite and glorious presence. — A.B. Simpson

The human body has been called the microcosm of the universe, a little world of wonders and a monument of divine wisdom and power, sufficient to convince the most incredulous mind of the existence of the Great Designer. — A.B. Simpson

A friend ... said, "You were healed by faith." "Oh, no," I said, "I was healed by Christ." What is the difference? There is a great difference. There came a time when even faith seemed to come between me and Jesus. I thought I should have to work up the faith, so I laboured to get the faith. At last I thought I had it; that if I put my whole weight upon it, it would hold. I said, when I thought I had got the faith, "Heal me." I was trusting in myself, in my own heart, in my own faith. I was asking the Lord to do something for me because of something in me, not because of something in Him. — A.B. Simpson

God does not so much want us to do things as to let people see what He can do. — A.B. Simpson

When you cannot rejoice in feelings, circumstances or conditions, rejoice in the Lord. — A.B. Simpson

The heart of Christ is not only the heart of a man but has in it also the tenderness and gentleness of a woman. Jesus was not a man in the rigid sense of manhood as distinct from womanhood, but, as the Son of Man, the complete Head of Humanity. — A.B. Simpson

Peace with God is the effect of forgiveness, — A.B. Simpson

When God wants to bring more power into our lives., He brings more pressure. He is generating spiritual force by friction. — A.B. Simpson

Begin to rejoice in the Lord, and your bones will flourish like an herb, and your cheeks will glow with the bloom of health and freshness. Worry, fear, distrust, care-all are poisonous! Joy is balm and healing, and if you will but rejoice, God will give power. — A.B. Simpson

The greatest need of our age and of every age, the greatest need of every human heart, is to know the resources and sufficiency of God. — A.B. Simpson

Once a leader delegates, he should show utmost confidence in the people he has entrusted. — A.B. Simpson

I cannot understand how any man or woman can believe in the Lord's coming and not be a missionary, or at least committed to the work of missions with every power of his being. — A.B. Simpson

First, that faith is not hope, not a mere expectation of future things, but a present receiving of that which is promised in a real and substantial way. It is accepting, not expecting. Secondly, that it is not sight, for it deals with things not seen. The region of the visible is not the realm of faith. When a thing is proved by demonstration, it is not a matter of faith, but of evidence. Faith asks no other evidences than God's Word and its own assurance. It is the evidence. It is not true to say that "seeing is believing." Faith believes where it cannot see; nay, believes what sight and evidence may even seem to contradict, if only God has said it. When God said to Abraham, "I have made thee a father of many nations," there was no sign of it; indeed, the evidence of sight plainly — A.B. Simpson

No task will seem trying, and no sinner unattractive, to one whose heart has been thus possessed with the Savior's heart of love. — A.B. Simpson

Temptation exercises our faith and teaches us to pray. — A.B. Simpson

God is preparing his heroes; and when the opportunity comes, he can fit them into their places in a moment, and the world will wonder where they came from. — A.B. Simpson

Prayer is the link that connects us with God. — A.B. Simpson

Have you ever learned the beautiful art of letting God take care of you and giving all your thought and strength to pray for others and for the kingdom of God? It will relieve you of a thousand cares. — A.B. Simpson

Once I tried to use Him, now He uses me. — A.B. Simpson

I once saw a picture of the Constitution of the United States, very skillfully engraved in copper plate, so that when you looked at it closely it was nothing more than a piece of writing, but when you looked at it at a distance, it was the face of George Washington. The face shone out in the shading of the letters at a little distance, and I saw the person, not the words, nor the ideas; and I thought, "'That is the way to look at the Scriptures and understand the thoughts of God, to see in them the face of love, shining through and through; not ideas, nor doctrines, but Jesus Himself as the Life and Source and sustaining Presence of all our life. — A.B. Simpson

We do not always feel joyful, but we are always to count it joy. — A.B. Simpson

Before we can speak God's message, we must learn to listen. The opened ear comes before the opened mouth. — A.B. Simpson

One of the terrible calamities of the wicked is that they are tempted above that which they are able to bear; but one of the most blessed promises to a saint is that he shall not be so tempted, but that he shall be guarded, and when the pressure would be too strong it shall be held back. — A.B. Simpson

One of the special marks of the Holy Ghost in the Apostolic Church was the spirit of boldness. — A.B. Simpson

As long as you want anything very much, especially more than you want God, it is an idol. — A.B. Simpson

Thus saith the Lord, the Maker of it, Call unto Me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. — A.B. Simpson

The Christian that is bound by his own horizon, the church that lives simply for itself, is bound to die a spiritual death and sink into stagnancy and corruption. We never can thank God enough for giving us not only a whole Gospel to believe, but a whole world to give it to. — A.B. Simpson

Difficulties and obstacles are God's challenges to faith. When hindrances confront us in the path of duty, we are to recognize them as vessels for faith to fill with the fullness and all-sufficiency of Jesus. — A.B. Simpson

God never can use any man very much till he has grace enough to forget himself entirely while doing God's work; for He will not give His glory to another nor share with the most valued instrument the praise that belongs to Jesus Christ alone. — A.B. Simpson

The chief danger of the Church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning the world upside down. Our Master expects us to accomplish results, even if they bring opposition and conflict. Anything is better than compromise, apathy, and paralysis. God give to us an intense cry for the old-time power of the Gospel and the Holy Ghost! — A.B. Simpson

This is our high calling, to represent Christ, and act in His behalf, and in His character and spirit, under all circumstances and toward all men. — A.B. Simpson

We may not preach a crucified Saviour without being also crucified men and women. It is not enough to wear an ornamental cross as a pretty decoration. The cross that Paul speaks about was burned into his very flesh, was branded into his being, and only the Holy Spirit can burn the true cross into our innermost life. — A.B. Simpson

And so love and sacrifice is the law of Christ. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." The law of Christ is the bearing of others' burdens, the sharing of others' griefs, sacrificing yourself for another. — A.B. Simpson

faith is not hope, not a mere expectation of future things, but a present receiving of that which is promised in a real and substantial way. It is accepting, not expecting. — A.B. Simpson

One touch of Christ is worth a lifetime of struggling. — A.B. Simpson

It is not the part of faith to question, but to obey. — A.B. Simpson

God requires no person to spend his or her life reiterating the gospel to people who will not receive it. He wants everyone to have an opportunity to hear. Then He would have us move on to other areas. The mistake of the church has been that she sits down to convert all the people in one country to the neglect of the great masses who have never had the chance to hear the gospel - not even once! — A.B. Simpson

You will have no test of faith that will not fit you to be a blessing if you are obedient to the Lord. I never had a trial but when I got out of the deep river I found some poor pilgrim on the bank that I was able to help by that very experience. — A.B. Simpson

Pray, always pray; beneath sins heaviest load, Prayer claims the blood from Jesus' side that flowed. Pray, always pray; though weary, faint, and lone, Prayer nestles by the Father's sheltering throne. — A.B. Simpson

Thirdly, faith recognizes in every case an act of creation. It does not require any material to start with, for it believes in a God who can make all things out of nothing, and therefore it can step out upon the seeming void and find it full of the creations of His power. — A.B. Simpson

Warning: we may become so enamored with God's good gifts that we fail to worship the Giver. — A.B. Simpson

God is not looking for extraordinary characters as His instruments, but He is looking for humble instruments through whom He can be honored throughout the ages. — A.B. Simpson

Most persons after a step of faith are looking for sunny skies and unruffled seas, and when they meet a storm and tempest they are filled with astonishment and perplexity. — A.B. Simpson

Beloved, have you ever thought that someday you will not have anything to try you, or anyone to vex you again? There will be no opportunity in heaven to learn or to show the spirit of patience, forbearance, and longsuffering. If you are to practice these things, it must be now. — A.B. Simpson

Christ rises above all things. — A.B. Simpson

There is not a command God gives to His children for which He does not provide the enablement for obedience. — A.B. Simpson

Someone has beautifully analyzed the fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5: 22, and shown that all the graces there mentioned are but various forms of love itself. The apostle is not speaking of different fruits, but of one fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, and the various words that follow are but phrases and descriptions of the one fruit, which is love itself. Joy, which is first mentioned, is love on wings; peace, which follows, is love folding its wings, and nestling under the wings of God; longsuffering is love enduring; gentleness is love in society; goodness is love in activity, faith is love confiding; meekness is love stooping; temperance is true self-love, and the proper regard for our own real interests, which is as much the duty of love, as regard for the interests of others. — A.B. Simpson

Aggressive Christianity is the world's greatest need. — A.B. Simpson

One bright and thankful look at the cross is worth a thousand morbid, self-condemning reflections. — A.B. Simpson

There may be no sign of it, no probability of it, no germ of it from which to start, but God is able to make it out of nothing by a word. He does so make it by the word which faith claims. He needs no protoplasm to build His magnificent edifices of worlds. "He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast." Into the soul that has no basis or remnant of goodness, but is dead in trespasses and sins, He can speak life and holiness. — A.B. Simpson

There is no wonder more supernatural and divine in the life of a believer than the mystery and ministry of prayer ... the hand of the child touching the arm of the Father and moving the wheel of the universe. — A.B. Simpson

Anything is happy in life if we can enjoy it and take pleasure in it. The hardest cross is a joy if it is our delight. — A.B. Simpson

We must never forget that Christ did not suffer just during His three years of public ministry or the last few days of His life when He was crucified. No, He suffered throughout His life on earth. He who was without sin lived daily with the corruption and sinfulness of lost humanity. — A.B. Simpson

All that God requires of us is an opportunity to show what He can do. — A.B. Simpson

The safe place lies in obedience to God's Word, singleness of heart and holy vigilance. — A.B. Simpson

Pray, always pray; when sickness wastes thy frame, Prayer brings the healing power of Jesus' name. — A.B. Simpson

Prayer is the mighty engine that is to move the missionary work. — A.B. Simpson

I would rather play with forked lightning, or take in my hand living wires with their fiery current, than to speak a reckless word against any servant of Christ, or idly repeat the slanderous darts which thousands of Christians are hurling on others, to the hurt of their own souls and bodies. — A.B. Simpson

Be brave. Cowards always get hurt. Brave men generally come out unharmed. — A.B. Simpson

Fear is born of Satan, and if we would only take time to think a moment we would see that everything Satan says is founded upon a falsehood. — A.B. Simpson

The religion of the Bible is wholly supernatural. — A.B. Simpson

Your words and wishes are cheap if they do not find expression in your actual gifts. — A.B. Simpson

May God so fill us today with the heart of Christ that we may glow with the divine fire of holy desire. — A.B. Simpson

Have we forgotten that there is a Holy Ghost, that we must insist upon walking on crutches when we might fly? — A.B. Simpson

It is not enough to wear an ornamental cross as a pretty decoration. — A.B. Simpson

All earth-born hopes with time must pass away; prayer grasps eternal things; pray, always pray. — A.B. Simpson

One of the first signs of a Spirit-filled life is enthusiasm! — A.B. Simpson

We must surrender ourselves so utterly that we can never own ourselves again. We must hand over self and all its rights in an eternal covenant, and give God the absolute right to own us, control us and possess us forever. — A.B. Simpson

God wants us to speak to men so that they will feel it, so that they will never forget it. God means every Christian to be effective, to make a difference in the actual records and results of Christian work. God put each of us here to be a power. There is not one of us but is an essential wheel of the machinery and can accomplish all that God calls us to. — A.B. Simpson

The Christian is not obedient unless he is doing all in his power to send the Gospel to the heathen world. — A.B. Simpson

I want the love that cannot help but love; Loving, like God, for very sake of love. — A.B. Simpson

Often we want people to pray for us and help us, but we always defeat our object when we look too much to them and lean upon them. The true secret of union is for both to look upon God, and in the act of looking past themselves to Him they are unconsciously united. — A.B. Simpson