Blackaby Quotes & Sayings

Christianity is not a set of teachings to understand. It is a Person to follow. As he walked with Jesus, Andrew watched Jesus heal the sick, teach God's wisdom, and demonstrate God's power. Andrew not only learned about God; he actually experienced Him! Moments will come when you stand at a crossroads with your Lord. You will have a hundred questions for Him. Rather than answering the questions one by one, Jesus may say, "Put on your shoes, step out onto the road, and follow Me." As you walk daily with Him, Jesus will answer your questions, and you will discover far more than you even knew to ask. — Henry T. Blackaby

Anyone who enters into an intimate relationship with God can see God do exceptional things through his or her life. The outcome does not depend upon a person being unusually gifted, educated, or wealthy. The key is the indwelling presence of God doing unusual things — Henry T. Blackaby

You cannot stay where you are and go with God. You cannot continue doing things your way and accomplish God's purpose in His ways. Your thinking cannot come close to God's thoughts. For you to do the will of God, you must adjust your life to Him, His purposes, and His ways — Henry Blackaby

8"Forp My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. 9"Forq as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. — Richard Blackaby

When Holy God draws near in true revival, people come under terrible conviction of sin. The outstanding feature of spiritual awakening has been the profound consciousness of the Presence and holiness of God. — Henry Blackaby

Christianity is an intimate, growing relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. It is not a set of doctrines to believe, habits to practice, or sins to avoid. Every activity God commands is intended to enhance His love relationship with His people. — Henry T. Blackaby

Word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; — Richard Blackaby

When God has access to our heart, mind, and soul through years of fellowship and worship, He allows us to see more of His activity and to be more involved in His miraculous work. — Richard Blackaby

The fishermen could not remain in their fishing boats and become apostles of Jesus Christ. — Henry T. Blackaby

Revival is when God's people return to God and God returns to them, and everyone sees the difference. — Henry Blackaby

If you know that God loves you, you should never question a directive from Him. It will always be right and best. When He gives you a directive, you are not just to observe it, discuss it, or debate it. You are to obey it. — Henry Blackaby

But if you find yourself experiencing a desire to seek God, we have great news for you: God is already at work in you. — Henry T. Blackaby

Our difficulty is not that we don't know God's will. Our discomfort comes from the fact that we do know His will, but we do not want to do it. — Henry Blackaby

while theology should inform a Christian's relationship with God, it should never take its place. — Henry T. Blackaby

Many people want God to call them to a big assignment. However, they try to bypass the love relationship ... the love relationship is why God created you. That is far more important to Him than what you do. So anticipate that God will start working with you and drawing you to an intimate love relationship that is real and personal. When the love relationship is right, God will be free to begin giving you assignments at His initiative. Whenever you do not seem to be receiving assignments from God, focus on the love relationship and stay there until the assignment comes. — Henry T. Blackaby

A word from Jesus changed everything. — Henry T. Blackaby

Don't put labels on people. See them as people who Christ died for. — Henry Blackaby

The Christian never works toward victory, he always works FROM victory. — Henry Blackaby

My prayer life IS my life. — Melvin D. Blackaby

How you live your life is a testimony of what you believe about God. — Henry Blackaby

Spiritual leadership is moving people on to God's agenda. — Henry Blackaby

REALITY 4: GOD SPEAKS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT THROUGH THE BIBLE, PRAYER, CIRCUMSTANCES, AND THE CHURCH TO REVEAL HIMSELF, HIS PURPOSES, AND HIS WAYS. — Henry T. Blackaby

I recognize that there are times in God's divine will and infinite wisdom that He chooses not to heal or to protect from harm. It was out of my love relationship with God that I was able to trust Him to walk with me through the situation, regardless of how it turned out. — Henry T. Blackaby

When God spoke to Moses and others in the Old Testament, those events were encounters with God. An encounter with Jesus was an encounter with God for the disciples. In the same way an encounter with the Holy Spirit is an encounter with God for you. — Henry Blackaby

When you offer yourself to God as His servant, He first expects to shape you into the instrument of His choosing. He will always work in you before He works through you. — Henry T. Blackaby

The fact that God can bring character development and personal growth out of any situation is conditional on people's willingness to submit to God's will. God is sovereign over every life, but those who yield their will to him will be shaped according to his purposes. When God directs a life for his purposes, all of life is a school. No experience, good or bad, is ever wasted (Rom. 8:28). God doesn't squander people's time. He doesn't ignore their pain. He brings not only healing but growth out of even the worst experiences. Every relationship can be God's instrument to mature a person's character. — Henry T. Blackaby

Many people have grown up attending church and hearing about God all their lives, but they do not have a personal, dynamic, growing relationship with God. — Henry T. Blackaby

Spiritual leaders must help their people see beyond God's acts to recognize the way God consistently works with his people, time and time again. To do this, spiritual leaders must develop their own understanding and recognition of God's activity in their midst. — Richard Blackaby

Will God ever ask you to do something you are not able to do? The answer is yes
all the time! It must be that way, for God's glory and kingdom. If we function according to our ability alone, we get the glory; if we function according to the power of the Spirit within us, God gets the glory. He wants to reveal Himself to a watching world. — Henry T. Blackaby

Most fear is fear of the unknown. We do not know what lies ahead of us, so we become apprehensive. Our imaginations can magnify problems until they seem insurmountable. We need a sound mind to see things in proper perspective. That is why God gave us His Holy Spirit, to enable us to see things as God sees them. — Henry T. Blackaby

The inability to accept criticism is the short, well-traveled path to failure and disappointment. — Daniel Blackaby

Whatever your present circumstances, my sincere prayer is that this book may help you to do the following: Believe and experience daily God's infinite love for you. Hear when God is speaking to you. Identify God's unmistakable activity in your life. Believe Him to be and to do everything He promises. Adjust your beliefs, character, and behavior to Him and His ways. Identify a direction He is taking in your life, and recognize what He wants to do through you. Know clearly how to respond to what He shows you. Experience God doing through you what only He can do. — Henry T. Blackaby

God doesn't want people to do what they think is best: he wants them to do what he knows is best, and no amount of reasoning and intellectualizing will discover that. — Henry T. Blackaby

Some people can be so disoriented to God that when he begins to work around them, they actually become annoyed at the interruption! — Henry T. Blackaby

We look to the Bible but not to get ideas from what people did for God. We look to see what God did in peoples' lives. — Henry T. Blackaby

Whenever God reveals His nature in a new way, it is always for a purpose. He created you for a love relationship with Him. When He encounters you, He is allowing you to know Him by experience. Encounters with God are always an expression of God's love for you. Jesus said: "The one who has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me. And the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father. I also will love him and will reveal Myself to him" (John 14:21). — Henry T. Blackaby

If the Christian does not know when God is speaking, he is in trouble at the heart of his Christian life! — Henry Blackaby

A test of your love for God is to examine your love for others. — Henry Blackaby

Some would define a servant like this: 'A servant is one who finds out what his master wants him to do, and then he does it.' The human concept of a servant is that a servant goes to the master and says, 'Master, what do you want me to do?' The master tells him, and the servant goes off BY HIMSELF and does it. That is not the biblical concept of a servant of God. Being a servant of God is different from being a servant of a human master. A servant of a human master works FOR his master. God, however, works THROUGH His servants. — Henry T. Blackaby

We should thank God for being with us, not ask Him to be with us (this is always given!). — Henry Blackaby

If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the very heart of your Christian experience. — Henry Blackaby

When we hear His call and respond accordingly, there will be no limit to what God can and will do through His people. But if we do not even recognize when He is speaking, we are in trouble at the very heart of our relationship to Him. — Henry Blackaby

6Now godliness with econtentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into this world, 4and it is fcertain we can carry nothing out. 8And having food and clothing, with these we shall be gcontent. — Richard Blackaby

Self-centered people try to keep their lives unruffled and undisturbed, safe and secure. Our temptation is to give our time and effort to the goals of this world. Then, when we are successful in the world's eyes, we seek to bring God into our world by honoring Him with our success. We may say, "Now that I have succeeded in business [or sports, or politics, or with my family, or even Christian ministry], I want to give God the glory for it!" God is not interested in receiving secondhand glory from our activity. God receives glory from His activity through our lives. The world will entice you to adopt its goals and to invest in temporal things. Resist the temptation to pursue your own goals, asking God to bless them. Rather, deny yourself and join the activity of God as He reveals it to you. — Henry T. Blackaby

Jesus taught that your highest priority must be your relationship with Him. If anything detracts you from that relationship, that activity is not from God. God will not ask you to do something that hinders your relationship with Christ. — Henry Blackaby

You cannot stay the way you are and go with God. — Henry T. Blackaby

If you want to determine whether God loves you, don't look at your current situation; look to the cross. — Henry T. Blackaby

Great leaders don't make excuses. They make things better. They are not unrealistic or blind to the difficulties they face. They simply are not discouraged by them. They never lose confidence that the problems can be solved. They maintain a positive attitude. Great leaders don't blame their people for not being where they ought to be; they take their people from where they are to where they need to be. Great leaders never lose faith that this is possible. — Henry T. Blackaby

A sure indication of a successful leader is the collective and consistent testimony of subordinates who are grateful for what they learned and how they grew while they worked under that leader. — Richard Blackaby

It takes intentional effort to tune out every voice except God's. — Henry Blackaby

When leaders claim that God bypasses their followers and speaks directly to them, they greatly diminish all God does through the lives of believers.
Leaders who begrudge people the opportunity to seek God themselves and who do not actively teach their people how to hear God's voice have disqualified themselves as spiritual leaders. — Henry T. Blackaby

The Holy Spirit doesn't need to equip you for what you're not going to do, so if you're in rebellion against Jesus and refusing His right to be Lord, He doesn't need to send the Holy Spirit to equip you for service. And, tragically, you miss out on the joy that He brings.
So let the Holy Spirit deal with anything that's keeping you from obeying Christ. — Henry T. Blackaby

We sometimes hear people boast about their hurtful behavior: "I know I am outspoken and step on toes, but that's just the way I am!" Such people have never seriously considered the source of their offensive and divisive comments. If they did, they might be shocked to discover they were actually Satan's mouthpieces. — Henry T. Blackaby

Sometimes we see problems in our church. Such occasions are not opportunities to criticize or to leave, but to let Christ use our lives to be a part of His solution. If you are presently in a church that is suffering difficulties, could it be that Christ added you to your congregation for such a time as this? — Richard Blackaby

Even though Moses was an exile in the desert, he was right on God's schedule, in the fullness of God's timing, in the middle of God's will for that moment. — Henry T. Blackaby

Americans believe that the bottom line isn't everything, it's the only thing, and America is strangling on that lack of vision."13 Bennis also noted, "It isn't either a bull or a bear market anymore, it's a pig market."14 — Richard Blackaby

But a deep walk with God does not come effortlessly. If it did, many more people would have one.
First, you must decide you're unwilling to remain where you are.
Second, you must be prepared to pay a price. Will you rise earlier so you can spend unhurried tome with Him? Will you forgo comforts and pleasures so you can focus on your walk with Him? — Richard Blackaby

If Christians around the world were to suddenly renounce their personal agendas, their life goals and their aspirations, and begin responding in radical obedience to everything God showed them. the world would be turned upside down. How do we know? Because that's what first century Christians did, and the world is still talking about it. — Henry T. Blackaby

All revival begins, and continues, in the prayer meeting. Some have also called prayer the "great fruit of revival." In times of revival, thousands may be found on their knees for hours, lifting up their heartfelt cries, with thanksgiving, to heaven. — Henry Blackaby

Our task is to relate our lives to God, and let Him work through us. — Henry Blackaby

Some spiritual leaders try to be more committed. What they need is to be more submitted. — Henry T. Blackaby

Watch to see where God is working and join Him in His work. — Henry Blackaby

If you feel weak, limited, ordinary, you are the best material through which God can work. — Henry Blackaby

If we walk with Him closely today, we'll be in the center of His will tomorrow — Henry Blackaby

Leaders who insulate themselves from others and choose to bear their burdens single-handedly are destined for loneliness and burnout. Leaders, like everyone else, need friends and perhaps in light of the load they carry, even more so. — Richard Blackaby

The essence of sin is a shift from God centeredness to a self-centeredness. The essence of salvation is a denial of self, not an affirming of self. — Henry Blackaby

God's commands are designed to guide you to life's very best. You will not obey Him, if you do not believe Him and trust Him. You cannot believe Him if you do not love Him. You cannot love Him unless you know Him. — Henry Blackaby

If we won't be serious about dealing with our sin,we cannot expect to grow in our faith. If you want to move to a new level with God,take an inventory of what God has told you about your sin and consider what you've been doing about it. — Richard Blackaby

God created you for a love relationship with Him. He yearns for you to love Him and respond to His immeasurable love for you. God's nature is perfect, holy, total love. He will never relate to you in any other way although you may not always understand His actions. There will be times when you do not comprehend why He allows certain things to occur, and that is to be expected. He is the infinite God while we are limited human creatures. He sees the eternal ramifications of everything that happens. We don't. — Henry T. Blackaby

Have you gone beyond accepting the fact that there's a God? Have you moved beyond accepting Christ as God's Son and made Him Lord of your life? If you believe there's a God, that He sent His Son to die for you, that God raised Jesus from the dead after three days, and that Christ is coming back for His disciples - that's great. But Satan also believes all that! What makes your life any different from Satan's? To be different, you must come to Christ, pursue Him, give your life to Him, and keep growing in your relationship with Him - -for He's a Person to be loved, not an idea to be accepted. — Henry T. Blackaby

Regardless of how badly you handled yesterday, today provides a fresh opportunity to do things right! — Richard Blackaby

God is interested in developing your character. At times He lets you proceed, but He will never let you go too far without discipline to bring you back. In your relationship with God, He may let you make a wrong decision. Then the Spirit of God causes you to recognize that it is not God's will. He guides you back to the right path. — Henry Blackaby

During true revival, thousands of lost people are suddenly swept into the Kingdom of God. Scenes of the lost coming to the Savior in great, and unprecedented numbers, are common. — Henry Blackaby

Wouldn't it be a tragedy to get to the top of the ladder and find you placed it against the wrong wall? — Henry Blackaby

Grass that is here today and gone tomorrow does not require much time to mature. A giant oak tree that lasts for generations requires much more time to grow strong. — Henry T. Blackaby

If you are presently facing significant challenges in your life, trust in the Lord! Be an aggressive responder who lives with alert expectancy! — Richard Blackaby

If things are getting darker, the problem is with us. — Henry Blackaby

If they were honest, many parents would confess that their primary reasons for not allowing their child to quit something is because of financial reasons, or personal reluctance to get involved, or both. — Richard Blackaby

Alert expectancy. What an exciting way to look at things! Our faith in Christ gives us the opportunity to live in a state of alert expectancy; patiently waiting for what God will do next. People who choose this path will one day look back in amazement at what God did. — Richard Blackaby

The Christian needs to walk in peace, so no matter what happens they will be able to bear witness to a watching world. — Henry Blackaby

Leaders dramatically influence the culture of their organizations through their own work habits. Being a leader does not mean one has 'made it' and is now exempt from hard work. Rather, leaders should set the pace for others. Few things discourage employees and volunteers any more than lazy leaders. Leaders should not ask their people to undertake tasks they are unwilling to perform themselves. — Henry T. Blackaby

Every day, you are to offer your life to God for His service. You do not serve Him in your spare time or with your leftover resources. The way you live your life for God is your offering to Him. — Richard Blackaby

You cannot go with God and stay where you are. — Henry Blackaby

It is amazing to watch God do through us what we could never accomplish on our own. It is comforting to know we have a God who is, always faithful, desires more for us than we could imagine, and perfectly capable of doing the impossible. — Richard Blackaby

If you have been given a word from God, you must continue in that direction until it comes to pass (even twenty five years like Abraham). — Henry Blackaby

Let's be honest. Most of us don't want to be observers of life; we want to experience it. Well, that's exactly what God wants for us. He doesn't just want us to read about Him and talk about Him; He designed us to experience Him. — Thomas Blackaby

If we function according to our ability alone, we get the glory; if we function according to the power of the Spirit within us, God gets the glory. — Henry Blackaby

Not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his fmight, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24But glet him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, 10judgment, and righteousness in the earth. — Richard Blackaby

Why is it that when we talk to God, it's called 'prayer,' but when God speaks to us, it's called schizophrenia? — Henry Blackaby

3But You, O LORD, dknow me; You have seen me, And You have etested my heart toward You. — Richard Blackaby

You may not realize it, but your life has the potential to bless everyone you encounter. — Richard Blackaby

Christ will lead you into many situations that will seem impossible, but don't try to avoid them. Stay in the middle of them, for that is where you will experience God. The key difference between what appears to be impossible to us and what is actually possible is a word from our Master! Faith accepts His divine command and steps out in a direction that only God can complete. If you attempt only things that you know are possible with the visible resources you possess, those around you will not see God at work. — Henry T. Blackaby

Is the man who trusts in man And makes hflesh his 2strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD. 6For he shall be ilike a shrub in the desert, And jshall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, kIn a salt land which is not inhabited. — Richard Blackaby

Nothing is more pathetic than having a small character in a big assignment. Many of us don't want to give attention to our character, we just want the big assignment from God. — Henry Blackaby

We don't realise how much the world has affected us. We put God in the background. — Henry Blackaby

What an incredible witness it is to a lost and fearful society when the Christian acts like a child of God, living under the loving sovereignty of the Heavenly Father. — Henry Blackaby

When you want to know how God wants you to reach your city, start a new church, or be involved in His work, ask Him. Then when He tells you, don't be surprised if you can't find any church that is doing it the same way. — Henry T. Blackaby

We don't choose what we will do for God; He invites us to join Him where He wants to involve us. — Henry T. Blackaby

Tim Irwin cites the maxim: If the leader didn't come to work today, everything would probably still get done; but if the people didn't come to work today, nothing would get done. — Richard Blackaby

People are weary of politicians who make promises they are either unwilling or unable to keep. Society longs for statesmen but it gets politicians. Statesmen are leaders who uphold what is right regardless of the popularity of the position. Statesmen speak out to achieve good for their people, not to win votes. Statesmen promote the general good rather than regional or personal self-interest. — Henry T. Blackaby