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By Pastor Chuck Swindoll

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Trust God

“Trust Him. Lean on Him. You’re worried about finances. That means you’re not trusting Him. Your worry is draining you of energy that you need to apply to your studies, to your work, to your occupation, to your home and family, if you have one here. It is the sin that easily entangles itself around us and it besets us—the easily besetting sin. Trust Him.”

Knowing Christ Intimately

“That I may know Christ so deeply and so intimately that I’m aware of the fact that I am impatient. And I don’t keep that from you or anyone. I acknowledge it. I face it. I have nothing to lose by telling you that that is a weakness in my life. I will, on occasion, unguarded moments, say to the Lord, this simple prayer. ‘Just hurry up. Come on, Lord. I’ve been asking You this for the last hour.’ As if an hour is an event. But He doesn’t run my life, like I want it run, so I adapt to Him. It’s called submission, or one of the disciplines of the godly life, surrender. It doesn’t come easily. If we are to become intimately acquainted with Him so that He really has the right to rule every part of our lives, then there’s going to be a place where it’s either my will or His will, and I have to learn to surrender, and so do you!”

Fight Against Envy

“I don’t know of any sin more subtle or more famous in ministry than envy. You’ll fight it constantly unless you’re really a cut above, and if you are, I admire you. To applaud the success of a classmate, to graduate and to know what kind of a classmate he or she was, and then to see that success wash over them when you really may have studied harder or maybe even made better grades, but success doesn’t come to you like it comes to her or to him, and you’re going to fight that. That ugly envy will emerge again and again and again until you finally look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘Knock it off!’ What an ugly way to respond to this brother or this sister who deserves every bit of the accolades that she’s receiving.”

For His Glory

“I don’t want to get away with anything that is inappropriate and diminishes the glory of Christ and His role in my life and His work in my life.”

Ministry May Just Cost You Your Life

“Ministry is tough. If it isn’t tough, it isn’t ministry. Jowett, the great preacher, said, ‘Ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing.’ It’s cost me my whole life. What a great investment, but it’s taken me from my family at times when I’d rather been there. It’s interrupted a plan that I had. It requires of me to listen when I’d rather talk. I’m better at talking than listening. I’m not a real good listener, so I’ve learned to listen better and on and on.”

Additional Resources

First, sign up for our Chuck’s Insights on Ministry email where we bring you his best thoughts on preaching, leadership, and ministry each week. By signing up, you’ll instantly receive a one-page checklist with 20 preaching insights from Chuck. See this page’s sidebar.

Second, check out our new Preach The Word articles and video series on YouTube where we’re teaching Chuck’s best insights on this important calling.

Third, listen to Chuck’s messages to those in ministry through our Seminary Chapels page. For decades, he offered students at Dallas Theological Seminary his best thoughts on church leadership and ministry. Now, we have put them at your finger tips. Also, you can find them through this YouTube playlist we created for you.

Fourth, if you don’t own a copy of Chuck’s book on preaching, Saying It Well, we highly recommend you add it to your library. It’s his preaching memoir that is also like a practical preaching manual. You won’t be able to put it down.

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