Edward McKendree Bounds Quotes

I have now concentrated all my prayers into one, and that one prayer is this, that I may die to self, and live wholly to Him.

He who desires to worship God must harbor no childish illusions about the matter but bravely renounce his liberty and humanity.

To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only Him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us. Once more, all that self-denial can say is, 'He leads the way, keep close to Him.'

Today Lord I am going to do my best with Your help and for Your glory. I realize that there are many different people in the world with a variety of opinions and expectations. I will concentrate on being a God-pleaser and not a self-pleaser or man-pleaser. The rest I leave in Your hands lord. Grant me favor with You and with men and continue transforming me into the image of Your dear Son. Thank You Lord.

A complete fast is a complete and literal denial of self. It is the truest prayer.

Humility - the discipline of putting others ahead of self, the choice to value others above self - is, at its core, a matter of faith.

It is not my business to think about myself. My business is to think about God. It is for God to think about me.

He is truly great that is great in charity. He is truly great that is little in himself, and maketh no account of any height of honor. And he is truly learned that doeth the will of God, and forsaketh his own will.

We have become so self-centered that we go to God only for something from Him, and not for God Himself.

It's only by forgetting yourself that you draw near to God.

I would have no desire other than to accomplish thy will. Teach me to pray; pray thyself in me.

Humble yourself"--it is a humbling experience to knock at God's door--you have to knock with the crucified thief. "To him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

The glory of God always comes at the sacrifice of self.

I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me. God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. ... When I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me without any hindrance. ... Self-pity is of the devil, and if I wallow in it I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world.

Prayer, humility, and charity toward all are essential in the Christian life: they are the way to holiness.

It’s not 'those who help themselves' whom God helps; it’s those who humble themselves.

The hardest part of being a Christian is surrendering and that is where the real struggle happens. Once we have overcome our own desire to be elevated, our own desire to be recognized, our own desire to be independent and all those things that we value very much because we are Americans and we are part of this American culture. Once we have overcome that struggle then God can use us as a part of His body to accomplish what the body of Christ was left here to accomplish.

Since I am I, I must make an act of self-surrender, however small or however easy, in living to God rather than to my self.

I have to learn that the aim in life is God's, not mine.

You will never be more than a common Christian until you give up your own interest and cease defending yourself.

O Lord, self-renunciation is not the work of one day, nor children's sport; yea, rather in this word is included all perfection.

There is nothing so high as renunciation of self.

The way to grow strong in Christ is to become weak in yourself.

A cross borne in simplicity, without the interference of self-love to augment it, is only half a cross. Suffering in this simplicity of love, we are not only happy in spile of the cross, but because of it; for love is pleased in suffering for the Well Beloved, and the cross which forms us into His image is a consoling bond of love.

Man offers himself to God. He stands before Him like the canvas before the painter or the marble before the sculptor. At the same time he asks for His grace, expresses his needs and those of his brothers in suffering. Such a type of prayer demands complete renovation. The modest, the ignorant, and the poor are more capable of this self-denial than the rich and the intellectual.