Jo Graham Quotes

God and God’s Word are inseparable.

I have never known a man who received Christ and ever regretted it.

The central theme of the universe is the purpose and destiny of every individual. Every person is important in God’s eyes.

In our day many people are broad but shallow. Agnosticism, anxiety, and emptiness have gripped much of our world.

Man is not growing better! Man is not climbing upward. Instead of progress in man himself there is degeneracy—degeneracy of body, mind, and spirit. Man is going downhill.

Success stories may be great motivational material for sales seminars, but we are not always successful.

Time and tide and the ravages of sin take their toll on the most noble achievements of man.

Our job in life is not to be successful, but to be faithful.

This age is interested in success, not suffering . . . Our Lord was ridiculed, insulted, persecuted, and eventually killed. In the face of opposition, He went about “doing good.

Many of the wicked are receiving their wages now. Many Christians who may not be succeeding according to the world’s standards now, will reap great rewards in heaven.

The Western world’s sole objective seems to be success, status, security, self-indulgence, pleasure, and comfort.

Success or failure cannot be measured by any human standard.

God can take anything that happens to us—even bad things—and use it to shape us and make us into a better, more Christlike person—if we will let Him.

Our personalities, our intelligence, and our capabilities are gifts from [God’s] own bountiful hand. If we divert their use for our own profit, we become guilty of selfishness.

Almost nothing is as complex as the human personality, and no simple formula will ever cover every situation or every relationship.

A true servant of God is someone who helps another succeed.

I am becoming aware of the truth that people change people as much as ideas change people.The power of personality is strong . . . often personality is greater than the idea.

The Bible says that God sees two classes of men. He sees the saved and the lost, those who are going to heaven and those who are going to hell.

Lying is one of the worst of all sins and can be committed by a thought, word, or deed. Anything that is intended to deceive another person is lying.

Tell me why the gardener trims and prunes his rosebushes, sometimes cutting away productive branches, and I will tell you why God’s people are afflicted. God’s hand never slips.

Someday all of us will give account of the way we have used the gifts God has given. The person to whom much has been given will find much required of him.

I have never met a person who didn’t have problems of some kind. This is why we need one another’s encouragement.

In our desire to achieve success quickly it is easy to get our values mixed up and call evil good and good evil.

Man boasts of his nobility, his ideals, and his progress. Man’s goal is imitation, not redemption.

Man persists in waywardness. If one institution fails [he says], try another—anything but God’s plan.

Some of the most miserable people I have ever met have been people who are very popular with the public, but down inside are empty and miserable.

Proclaiming “the whole will of God” should be the goal—and the joy—of every church and every preacher.

We spend all our time and energy pampering our bodies and minds, but if we ignore our souls, we will end up spiritually starved and malnourished.

Take care of your soul—your inner self—by feeding on the Word of God and letting His Spirit transform you from within.

Nothing can calm our souls more or better prepare us for life’s challenges than time spent alone with God.

You should no more allow sinful imaginations to accumulate in your mind and soul than you would let garbage collect in your living room.

Partial education throughout the world is far worse than none at all if we educate the mind but not the soul.

Unless the soul is fed and exercised daily, it becomes weak and shriveled. It remains discontented, confused, restless.

The Bible teaches that whether we are saved or lost, there is conscious and everlasting existence of the soul and personality.

May we all storm the gates of heaven for the souls of the anguished, that in their greatest time of need they will hear the gentle voice of God’s Spirit calling them to repentance.

Even in the darkest moment, before death snatches man’s last breath, God is willing to save a lost soul.

It is a time for soul-searching, a time to see if our anchor holds.

The soul actually demands as much attention as the body . . . the soul was made for God, and without God it is restless and in secret torment.

The searchlight of [God’s] Spirit will probe the inner depths of your soul and reveal things that you think you have already yielded, but you have not.

The Bible teaches whether we are saved or lost, there is an everlasting existence of the soul.

Our souls set us apart from every other living creature, and that makes us unique. It also makes us fully human.

Let [Christ] transform your life so that you will have a glow on your face, a spring in your step, and joy in your soul.

Our world is obsessed with success. But how does God define success? Success in God’s eyes is faithfulness to His calling.

Regardless of our cleverness, our achievements, and our gadgets, we are spiritual paupers without God.

Preach with authority. The authority for us is the Word of God. Preach with simplicity . . . Preach with urgency . . . heaven and hell are at stake. Preach for a decision.

Thousands of pastors, Sunday school teachers, and Christian workers are powerless because they do not make the Word the source of their preaching or teaching.

When I preach—no matter where it is in the world—I can always count on five areas of human need that afflict all peoples. Emptiness, loneliness, guilt, fear of death, deep-seated insecurity.

God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. The weaker I became, the more powerful became the preaching.

Preachers are not salesmen, for they have nothing to sell. They are bearers of Good News.

I’m not a great preacher, and I don’t claim to be a great preacher . . . I’m an ordinary preacher, just communicating the Gospel in the best way I know how.