Our prayers cannot force God to do anything, but He uses them as His own instruments to bring about His will.

Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once and He volunteered.

A god who is all love, all grace, all mercy, no sovereignty, no justice, no holiness, and no wrath is an idol.

To know that God knows everything about me and yet loves me is indeed my ultimate consolation.

When there’s something in the Word of God that I don’t like, the problem is not with the Word of God, it’s with me.

It is one thing to believe in God; it is quite another to believe God.

God is not going to negotiate His holiness... in order to accommodate us.

Sin is not simply making bad choices or mistakes. Sin is having the desire in our hearts to do the will of the enemy of God.

We have to determine our theology from the Word of God, not from what we feel.

We are secure, not because we hold tightly to Jesus, but because He holds tightly to us.

God does not rule by the consent of His subjects but by His sovereign authority. His reign extends over me whether I vote for Him or not.

For some reason, people think I am this terrible person and it really hurts me to hear that. I am just doing the best I know how to.

What is it that you love in others?--My hopes.

Have fun. Especially while you're still young, you gotta keep the spark up. Even when things get boring, just remember to have fun.

Love means tearing down the separateness and the boundaries between your heart feelings and another person.

History should not be written to make the present generation feel good but to remind us that human affairs are complicated.

People who know me now can't believe I used to be shy, but in some ways I still am.

When I was in the studio with Madonna, we would work 12-hour days. If you want to work with the best, then that's what you have to do.

The years since the Nobel Prize have been productive ones for me.

A writer's inspiration is not just to create. He must eat three times a day.

In a world of infinite choice if something is not made specifically for me I'm gone.