The tyrant of Syracuse once went to the slavephilosopher Epictetus and told him, "I'll pay the ransom for you and you will be liberated " Epictetus replied, "Why do you care about me? Free yourself." "But I am a king," said the amazed tyrant. "This I contest," was the answer of the philosopher. "He who masters his passions is a king even while in chains. He who is ruled by his passions is a slave even while sitting on a throne.

Fear is a self-imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be. You must move against it with the weapons of faith and love.

Willpower works for a few weeks, or maybe a month or two at best.

Our habits control our lives. We shape our habits; then our habits shape us.

The great German scholar Helmut Thielicke once said that a person who speaks to this hour's need will always be skirting the edge of heresy, but only the person who risks those heresies can gain the truth.

When I talk about the God who is with us, for us, and ahead of us, I'm talking about our facing that which most terrifies us about ourselves, embracing it and fearing it no longer, refusing to allow it to exist separate from the rest of our being, resting assured that we are loved and we belong and we are going to be just fine.

It's the voices in your head that speak doubt and insecurity and fear and anxiety. Like a tape that's jammed on repeat, these destructive messages will drain an extraordinary amount of your energies if you aren't clear and focused and grounded.

There are always two risks: the risk of trying something new, and the risk of not trying. You risk settling and continuing in the same way, wondering about other paths and possibilities, believing that this is as good as it gets while discontent gnaws away at your soul.

a person who speaks to this hour's need will always be skirting the edge of heresy, but only the person who risks those heresies can gain the truth.

Nerves are God's gift to you, reminding you that your life is not passing you by. Make friends with the butterflies.

The truth is, you want risk. Not too much that it overwhelms you, but some. You want some risk in your life. Risk is where the life is.

There are always two risks. There's the risk of not trying something new, and there's the risk of not trying it. . . . Either way, there's risk. And sometimes stepping out and trying something new is actually the less risky thing to do.