Despair is a high point of atheism, it takes away God and Christ both at once. Judas, in betraying our Saviour, was an occasion of his death as man, but in despairing he did what lay in him to take away his life as God.

In the ensuing years, in several different prisons, they broke four vertebrae in my back, and many other bones. They carved me in a dozen places. They burned and cut eighteen holes in my body.

It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners. It was understood that whoever was caught doing this received a severe beating. A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we accepted their [the communists' ] terms. It was a deal; we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching. They were happy beating us, so everyone was happy.

I have found truly jubilant Christians only in the Bible, in the Underground Church and in prison.

Persecution has always produced a better Christian—a witnessing Christian, a soul-winning Christian. Communist persecution has backfired and produced serious, dedicated Christians such as are rarely seen in free lands. These people cannot understand how anyone can be a Christian and not want to win every soul they meet.

If you really desire to be used by God, you must understand a powerful truth: The very experiences that you have resented or regretted most in life — the ones you've wanted to hide and forget — are the experiences God wants to use to help others. They are your ministry!

How we respond to what happens to us - especially the painful, excruciating things that we never wanted and we have no control over - is a creative act.

How we respond to what happens to us—especially the painful, excruciating things that we never wanted and we have no control over—is a creative

Find me one person who's doing something interesting in the world who hasn't felt the hot sting of a NO. Or a door slammed in the face. Or boos. Or a rejection letter. Or a tepid reception. Or bankruptcy. Or gotten fired.

Napoleon Hill had a beautiful spin on the moments when things don't work out the way you planned and unexpected hardship falls on you. Instead of coming from a negative place and looking at those moments as a "failure," he called them "temporary defeats.

A soft and sheltered Christianity, afraid to be lean and lone, unwilling to face the storms and brave the heights, will end up fat and foul in the cages of conformity.

If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost.