St. Vincent Quotes

Perfection consists in doing His will, in being that which He wants us to be.

God can do all sorts of things, God does not need me! But He commands me to be like His Son, and that is all.

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.

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

God's desire is that we excel.

Those of you who can read I must beg you to read the Bible, and whenever you can get time, study the Bible, and if you can get no other time, spare some of your time from sleep, and learn what the mind and will of God is.

Prayer is not about letting God know your will; it's about completely submitting to him. You die to yourself.

I have continued systematically to study the Book of Mormon and Bible to understand even more deeply what God expects of me and my family while on this earth.

My ultimate goal is to become a saint.

God expects but one thing of you, and that is that you should come out of yourself in so far as you are a created being made and let God be God in you.

I believe you have to keep the theological standard high; the Lord said, 'Be perfect,' and the leaders have to be striving for that standard with all there is in them.

The history of all the great characters of the Bible is summed up in this one sentence: They acquainted themselves with God, and acquiesced His will in all things.

I must consider myself as the man of the cross and love the one that God gives me without thinking any further.

No matter who we are, God does not adapt to please us; we always have to adapt to him.

It's far harder to love God and do his will than it is to be self absorbed and love my own will.

I want to be a good steward and make sure what's in my heart is what God wants, and then once it's done and released, at that point it's up to God and what he does on the back end.

If any man would come after me, let him deny himself." The disciple must say to himself the same words Peter said of Christ when he denied him: "I know not this man." Self-denial is never just a series of isolated acts of mortification or asceticism. It is not suicide, for there is an element of self-will even in that. 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.

Why pray for the Kingdom of God to come unless you have in your heart a desire and a willingness to aid in its establishment? Praying for His will to be done and then not trying to live it, gives you a negative answer at once. You would not grant something to a child who showed that attitude towards a request he is making of you. If we pray for the success of some cause or enterprise, manifestly we are in sympathy with it. It is the height of disloyalty to pray for God's will to be done, and then fail to conform our lives to that will.

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

It is not what we do that matters, but what a sovereign God chooses to do through us. God doesn't want our success; He wants us. He doesn't demand our achievements; He demands our obedience. The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of paradox, where through the ugly defeat of a cross, a holy God is utterly glorified. Victory comes through defeat; healing through brokenness; finding self through losing self.

Holiness does not consist in doing extraordinary things. It consists in accepting, with a smile, what Jesus sends us. It consists in accepting and following the will of God.

Holiness is not a series of do’s and don’ts but conformity to the character of God and obedience to the will of God.

Carrying the cross does mean following in Jesus' footsteps. And in His footsteps are rejection, brokenheartedness, persecution and death. There are not two Christs - an easy going one for easy going Christians, and a suffering one for exceptional believers. There is only one Christ. Are we willing to follow His lead?

The genealogy of blessing always traces back to God-ordained risk.

Obedience to God's will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight.