Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot

One does not surrender a life in an instant. That which is lifelong can only be surrendered in a lifetime. Nor is surrender to the will of God (per se) adequate to fullness of power in Christ. Maturity is the accomplishment of years, and I can only surrender to the will of God as I know what that will is.

The devil has made it his business to monopolize on three elements: noise, hurry, crowds. He will not allow quietness.

The man whose eye is single for the glory of Another can be trusted.

Is the distinction between living for Christ and dying for Him so great? Is not the second the logical conclusion of the first?

Failure means nothing now, only that it taught me life.

Must we always comment on life? Can it not simply be lived in the reality of Christ's terms of contact with the Father, with joy and peace, fear and love full to the fingertips in their turn, without incessant drawing of lessons and making of rules?

Let not him who accepts light in an instant despise him who gropes months in shadows.

He makes His ministers a flame of fire. Am I ignitable? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of ‘other things’.

Needs multiply as they are met. Woe to the man who would live a disentangled life. Be on guard, my soul, of complicating your environment so that you have neither time nor room for growth!

Cold prayers, like cold suitors, are seldom effective in their aims.

Eternity shall be at once a great eye-opener and a great mouth-shutter." -Jim Elliot

Are we so childish (I do not say childlike) as to think that a God who could scheme a Jesus-plan would lead poor pilgrims into situations they could not bear?

The spirit is liquid and easily flows and surges, sinking and boiling with the currents of circumstances. Bringing every thought into the obedience of Christ is no easy-chair job.

A little leavening of dissatisfied temper will spread through a group and change outlooks.

It takes a while for revelry to turn to reverence, and much repetition of truth to eventual turn young zeal into habitual channels for good.

A man's thoughts dye his soul, attributed to Marcus Aurelius

We fundamentalists are a pack of mood-loving showoffs. I'm sure the Minor Prophets would have found subject for correction.

Eve's daughters are as flowers and none can ever say they are through unfolding. And what man can predict the consummate end of such a life when its ultimate center is Sharon's Rose?

Guidance for Israel in their wanderings was unquestionable (Numbers 9). There could be no doubt if God wished them to move. Shall my Father be less definite with me? I cannot believe so. Often I doubt, for I cannot see, but surely the Spirit will lead as definitely as the pillar of cloud. I must be as willing to remain as to go, for the presence of God determines the whereabouts of His people.

[God] seems so much 'for us' these days. I have not lost one nameable thing by putting her and our whole affair in the simplest way possible into His hands. There has been no careful planning, no worrying over details in the matter. I have simply recognized love in me, declared it to her, and to Him, and as frankly as I could told Him I wanted His way in it. There has been no leading thus far to engagement, but the symptoms of a beautiful courtship prevail - not, perhaps, a routine one, or a 'normal' one, but a good one, nevertheless, and, withal, a deep sense that it is God-directed.

His enthusiasm and willingness to use what he learned made him get ahead in Spanish.