A prayerful heart and an obedient heart will learn, very slowly and not without sorrow, to stake everything on God Himself.
Interpretation
Trusting in God requires dedication and may involve challenges along the way.
In this quote, Elisabeth Elliot emphasizes that a genuine relationship with God is built on prayer and obedience. While the journey of faith may be slow and filled with difficulties, it ultimately encourages individuals to fully rely on God for guidance and support, leading to a deeper spiritual understanding.
In practice
Using this quote in a sermon to illustrate the importance of faith in difficult times.
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.
Let us put our hands today again at (God's) disposition and pray that he takes our hands to guide us. Let his hand take ours so we won't sink, but will serve life which is stronger than death, and love which is stronger than hatred.
God actually delights in exalting our inability. He intentionally puts his people in situations where they come face to face with their need for him.
Even when things are getting worse instead of better - I believe God!
God does not require that we be successful only that we be faithful.
I've read the last page of the Bible. It's all going to turn out all right.
Faith in the biblical sense is substantive, based on the knowledge that the One in whom that faith is placed has proven that He is worthy of that trust. In its essence, faith is a confidence in the person of Jesus Christ and in His power, so that even when His power does not serve my end, my confidence in Him remains because of who He is.
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