Death to self is submitting all your desires to God. This abandonment of the self to God is the way to experience abundance in God. It means that, in God's hands, we are content for him to take charge of outcomes

Similarly, it is the vision of life in God's kingdom and its goodness that provides an adequate basis for the steadfast intention to obey Christ.

Happiness is not a goal. It's a by-product.

Why must the gate be narrow? Because you cannot pass beyond it burdened. To come in among these trees you must leave behind the six days' world, all of it, all of its plans and hopes. You must come without weapon or tool, alone, expecting nothing, remembering nothing, into the ease of sight, the brotherhood of eye and leaf.

Those who will not learn in plenty to keep their place must learn it by their need when they have had their way and the fields spurn their seed. We have failed Thy grace. Lord, I flinch and pray, send Thy necessity. We Who Prayed and Wept, p. 211.

Since I gave up to God all ownership in my own life, he has guided me in a thousand ways, and has opened my path in a way almost incredible to those who do not enjoy the blessing of a truly surrendered life.

If you simplify your life, quit chasing the wind, and be quiet before Him, He'll show up.

Your priority in life should be a relationship with Christ, not an agenda for him.

Then I started really studying what the Scriptures say, and God showed me that it wasn't my job to do the heavy lifting. No. That was something that only He could do. It was my job to seek Him, to trust Him, and to stand on His Word.

Developing a life in God's presence above all else is the only way to fulfill our God-given destinies. Keys to our callings are released when we spend time there.

If it is surely the means to the highest end we know, can any work be humble or disgusting? Will it not rather be elevating as a ladder, the means by which we are translated?

It is not enough to be busy... The question is: what are we busy about?