God will not protect you from anything that will make you more like Jesus.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that challenges are used for personal growth and to develop a Christ-like character.
Elisabeth Elliot's quote highlights the idea that instead of shielding us from difficulties, God allows us to face them in order to shape us into better versions of ourselves, reflecting the virtues and spirit of Jesus. It suggests that trials and tribulations are essential to our spiritual journey and development.
In practice
In a sermon about the importance of faith, quoting this can reinforce the idea that struggles are part of God's plan.
We are not asked to SEE," said Amy. "Why need we when we KNOW?" We know--not the answer to the inevitable Why, but the incontestable fact that it is for the best. "It is an irreparable loss, but is it faith at all if it is 'hard to trust' when things are entirely bewildering?
Prayer lays hold of God's plan and becomes the link between His will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit's prayer.
What sort of world might it have been if Eve had refused the servants offer and had said to him instead, βlet me not be like God. Let me be what I was made to be - let me be a woman'?
Worship is not an experience. Worship is an act, and this takes discipline. We are to worship ''in spirit and in truth.'' Never mind about the feelings. We are to worship in spite of them.
Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands.
If your goal is purity of heart, be prepared to be thought very odd.
We must have the faith that things will work out somehow, that God will make a way for us when there seems no way.
Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, And looks to God alone; Laughs at impossibilities, And cries it shall be done.
There is no evil to be faced that Christ does not face with us. There is no enemy that Christ has not already conquered. There is no cross to bear that Christ has not already borne for us, and does not now bear with us.
I am the wheat of God, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of God.
Our problems may stay, our circumstances may remain, but we know God is in control. We are focused on His adequacy, not our inadequacy.
Allah will never humiliate the one who takes his Lord as friend and patron.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.