Jim Cymbala Quotes

#1. The main thing that God asks for is our attention.

Jim Cymbala

#2. By not forgiving, by not letting wrongs go, we aren't getting back at anyone. We are merely punishing ourselves by barricading our own hearts.

Jim Cymbala

#3. He (God) is not looking for smart people, because He is the smart one. All he wants are people simple enough to trust him.

Jim Cymbala

#4. God says to us, "Pray, because I have all kinds of things for you; and when you ask, you will receive. I have all this grace, and you live with scarcity. Come unto me, all you who labor. Why are you so rushed? Where are you running now? Everything you need, I have."

Jim Cymbala

#5. If we desire the "hand of God" (i.e., his power) to return to our churches, we should focus less on the personalities and abilities of people, and more on Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jim Cymbala

#6. The apostles had this instinct: When in trouble, pray. When intimidated, pray. When challenged, pray. When persecuted, pray!

Jim Cymbala

#7. The work of God can only be carried on by the power of God. The key is not $, organization, cleverness or education. No matter the society or culture, the city or town, God has never lacked the power to work through available people to glorify his name.

Jim Cymbala

#8. To be a Christian, you can't go with the flow. You have to go by the Word of God.

Jim Cymbala

#9. Jesus called fishermen, not graduates of rabbinical schools. The main requirement was to be natural and sincere.

Jim Cymbala

#10. The birth of the church was during a prayer meeting, not preaching, not singing, but prayer.

Jim Cymbala

#11. Whatever God approves of comes first. Whatever grieves him has to go.

Jim Cymbala

#12. Persistent calling upon the name of the Lord breaks through every stronghold of the devil, for nothing is impossible with God. For Christians in these troubled times there is simply no other way.

Jim Cymbala

#13. All the human talent, cleverness, and church-growth methods in the world can never compare with the invisible but very real blessing of God. The

Jim Cymbala

#14. Show me someone who cares about God's people, and I will show you someone who loves God. Show me someone who says they deeply love God but has little concern for his people, and I will show you someone spiritually delusional.

Jim Cymbala

#15. You can tell how popular a church is by who comes on Sunday morning. You can tell how popular the pastor or evangelist is by who comes on Sunday night. But you can tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to the prayer meeting.

Jim Cymbala

#16. We like to control the map of our life and know everything well in advance. But faith is content just knowing that God's promise cannot fail. This, in fact, is the excitement of walking with God.

Jim Cymbala

#17. The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made

Jim Cymbala

#18. In too many churches today, people don't see manifestations of God's power in answer to fervent praying. Instead, they hear arguments about theological issues that few people care about. On Christian radio and television we are often merely talking to ourselves.

Jim Cymbala

#19. The fact that we were created to enjoy God and to worship him forever is etched upon our souls

Jim Cymbala

#20. In fact, Carol and I have told each other more than once that if the spirit of brokenness and calling on God ever slacks off in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, we'll know we're in trouble, even if we have 10,000 in attendance.

Jim Cymbala

#21. I knew God wanted to do much more ... and he would, if we provided good soil in which he could work.

Jim Cymbala

#22. The old saying is true: If you have only the Word, you dry up. If you have only the Spirit, you blow up. But if you have both, you grow up.

Jim Cymbala

#23. How is it that Christians today will pay $20 to hear the latest Christian artist in concert, but Jesus can't draw a crowd?

Jim Cymbala

#24. What does it say about our churches today that God birthed the church in a prayer meeting, and prayer meetings today are almost extinct?

Jim Cymbala

#25. We need to realize that the promises that overflow our Bibles will overflow into our own lives only as we appropriate them through prayer.

Jim Cymbala

#26. The Creator of all things is looking throughout the whole earth for a certain kind of heart.

Jim Cymbala

#27. Trouble is one of God's great servants because it reminds us how much we continually need the Lord.

Jim Cymbala

#28. Isn't it evident we need more God and fewer gimmicks?

Jim Cymbala

#29. I discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness. He can't resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him. Our weakness, in fact, makes room for his power.

Jim Cymbala

#30. Every time we open the Bible, let's stop and pray, whether for fifteen seconds or fifteen minutes, asking the Spirit to teach us. When I read the Bible, I want God to talk to my soul.

Jim Cymbala

#31. The reason "other churches" don't grow: "Jim, the truth is, I couldn't have a real prayer meeting in my church. I'd be embarrassed at the smallness of the crowd ... "

Jim Cymbala

#32. People pay attention when they see that God actually changes persons and sets them free. When a new Christian stands up and tells how God has revolutionized his or her life, no one dozes off. When someone is healed or released from a life-controlling bondage, everyone takes notice.

Jim Cymbala

#33. Let's forget the novelties. If we prevail in prayer, God will do only what he can do. How he does things, when he does them, and in what manner are up to him. The name of Jesus, the power of his blood, and the prayer of faith have never lost their power over the centuries.

Jim Cymbala

#34. I despaired at the thought that my life might slip by without seeing God show himself mightily on our behalf.

Jim Cymbala

#35. When we sincerely turn to God, we will find that His church always moves forward, not backward

Jim Cymbala

#36. ...there has never been a revival of religion so long as the order of service has been strictly followed.

...we are to be led by the Holy Spirit.

Jim Cymbala

#37. Prayer begets Revival, which begets more prayer.

Jim Cymbala

#38. The key is not money; organization, cleverness, or education. Are you and I seeing the results Peter saw? Are we bringing thousands of men and women to Christ the way he did? If not, we need to get back to His power source ...

Jim Cymbala

#39. When we see only what we want to see in the Bible, it loses all power to transform us.

Jim Cymbala

#40. A basic sign of revival is that the wind is allowed to blow where it will.

Jim Cymbala

#41. when people know you love and care about them, you can speak difficult truth and they will receive it.

Jim Cymbala

#42. Oh, how we need to wake up to the fact that the Holy Spirit's blessing and power is the key to everything.

Jim Cymbala

#43. God is not aloof. He is not disconnected. He says continually through the centuries, I'll help you, I really will. When you don't know where to turn, then turn to me. When you're ready to throw up your hands - throw them up to me. Put your voice behind them too, and I'll come and help you.

Jim Cymbala

#44. God is not searching for talent or intelligence on earth, because he is the Almighty One! He already has everything he needs - except our hearts.

Jim Cymbala

#45. Faith never denies reality but leaves room for God to grant a new reality.

Jim Cymbala

#46. When we seek God for answers, we must persevere in prayer, letting it build up day after day until the force of it becomes a mighty tide pushing over all obstacles.

Jim Cymbala

#47. If we choose to turn left when God wants us to go right, we cannot expect God to support the plans we made on our own.

Jim Cymbala

#48. God nowhere asks anyone to have a large church. He only calls us to do his work, proclaiming his Word to people he loves under anointing power of the Holy Spirit to produce results that only he can bring about.

Jim Cymbala

#49. If you have been waiting for an answer to prayer for a long time, remember that long waits often occur right before the biggest mountains come down.

Jim Cymbala

#50. It may not seem obvious at first glance, but the way we make decisions in life tells a lot about the kind of faith we have in Jesus Christ.

Jim Cymbala

#51. The Bible does say, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." Preaching, music, the reading of the Word-these things are fine-but they must never override prayer as the defining mark of God's dwelling.

Jim Cymbala

#52. Let's stop blaming our unbelief on the pastor we once had, on our childhood, on circumstances, or on anything else. There is no excuse for us not to believe in the Lord.

Jim Cymbala

#53. A great door opened by God for work, but while I'm doing the work, all Hell breaks loose. Oh! The idea that when God opens a door and He's with you, you don't have to fight. Oh, what a joke. That is a joke. In fact, if you don't feel the devil fighting against you, that's a bad sign.

Jim Cymbala

#54. For all of us involved in preaching the gospel, performing music, publishing Christian materials, and all the rest, there is an uncomfortable message here: Jesus is not terribly impressed with religious commercialism

Jim Cymbala

#55. No matter what I preach or what we claim to believe in our heads, the future will depend upon our times of prayer.

Jim Cymbala

#56. The devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we begin to lift up our hearts to God.

Jim Cymbala

#57. I have since learned that the most mature believer is the one who is bent over, leaning most heavily on the Lord, and admitting his total inability to do anything without Christ. The greatest Christian is not the one who has achieved the most but rather the one who has received the most.

Jim Cymbala

#58. God is more powerful than anybody's past, no matter how wretched. He can make us forget - not by erasing the memory but by taking the sting and paralyzing effect out of it

Jim Cymbala

#59. Prayer cannot truly be taught by principles and seminars and symposiums. It has to be born out of a whole environment of felt need. If I say, "I ought to pray," I will soon run out of motivation and quit; the flesh is too strong. I have to be driven to pray.

Jim Cymbala

#60. Can you imagine someone handing Peter a microphone on Sunday morning and whispering, "Okay, now, you've got twenty minutes. We have to get the people out of here promptly because the chariot races start at one o'clock"?

Jim Cymbala

#61. When I am asked what my vision for the Brooklyn Tabernacle is, I always respond, "I don't have one. Last time I read my Bible, it said it was Christ's church, not mine.

Jim Cymbala

#62. O God, split the heavens and come down! Manifest yourself somehow. Do what only you can do.

Jim Cymbala

#63. Many times in life, God waits while a situation goes from bad to worse. He appears to let it slip over the edge, so that you and I say, "There's no way now for this ever to work out." But that is the point when the omnipotent God intervenes in our hopelessness and says, "Oh, really? Watch this ... !

Jim Cymbala

#64. The cross, as poignant as it is, is understandable from a human perspective: an innocent man was murdered by crooked politicians and religious leaders. But the empty tomb
what can you say? Only a supernatural God could accomplish that.

Jim Cymbala

#65. We pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10).

Jim Cymbala

#66. All over America, churchgoers chafe at a Sunday morning service that runs an hour and ten minutes, but have no problem with three-hour football games on television.

Jim Cymbala

#67. It's not about being a Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, or 5-Point Calvinist. God has only one family and, as Christians, we're in it!

Jim Cymbala

#68. When we talk to ourselves, we're not talking to anyone very smart, because our outlook is very limited. But if we talk to God, we're talking to someone who knows everything. He knows what he promised in the beginning, and he knows exactly how to fulfill those promises no matter the circumstances.

Jim Cymbala

#69. The more we pray, the more we sense our need to pray. And the more we sense a need to pray, the more we want to pray.

Jim Cymbala

#70. I have discovered an astonishing truth. God is attracted to weaknesses.

Jim Cymbala

#71. I despair at the thought that my life might slip by without God showing Himself mighty in my life.

Jim Cymbala

#72. Your future and mine are determined by this one thing: seeking after the Lord.

Jim Cymbala

#73. God will manifest himself in direct proportion to our passion for him.

Jim Cymbala

#74. Does anyone really think that America today is lacking preachers, books, Bible translations, and neat doctrinal statements? What we really lack is the passion to call upon the Lord until he opens the heavens and shows himself powerful.

Jim Cymbala

#75. People who have a seeking heart still make mistakes. But their reaction to rebuke and correction shows the condition of that heart. It determines what God is able to do with them in the future.

Jim Cymbala

#76. Anything, and I mean anything, becomes a blessing if it drives us to prayer.

Jim Cymbala

#77. The Scriptures are not so much the goal as they are an arrow that points us to the life-changing Christ

Jim Cymbala

#78. As we open up our church meetings to God's power, they will not always follow a predetermined schedule or order. Who can outline what God might have in mind?

Jim Cymbala