Dr. John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

 Notice, too, that it is "the prayer of faith" that shall save the sick, not the oil. Oil may be a fitting symbol of the blessed Holy Spirit who raised up Christ from the dead and who dwells in the body of the Christian and can heal the body. But oil does not heal. It is the prayer of faith that saves. If God gives faith, one may expect healing. If God does not give faith, as sometimes He certainly does not, then one need not so confidently expect healing.

It is not always God's will to heal, and so God does not always give faith. - John R. Rice [from the book "ALWAYS REJOICING"]

The best thing that God could ever do for sinful men is to give them a Saviour. Do you want a job or education or income or security or happy marriage or success or public office or fame? Beside the glad and precious boon of a Saviour for sinners, these are nothing! Paul rightly said, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners..." (1st Timothy 1:15). - from the book "ALWAYS REJOICING" by Evangelist John R. Rice

There is a moral wickedness in unbelief. It is not that men cannot believe-- but that they will not believe. Men who choose to come to Christ find that they can trust Him. Men who will not come do not believe, but it is the result of their own wicked choice. Men who love their sins do not come to Christ because they do not want their sin rebuked. - John R. Rice - from the book "ALWAYS REJOICING" by Evangelist John R. Rice

Not long ago I heard a preacher say, "God promises to supply our needs, but not our wants." How wrong he was! God promises to supply both our needs and our wants. In the passage we are now studying, Mark 11:24, Jesus plainly says that we should pray for "what things soever ye desire." We are to ask for anything we want! ...

But suppose one's desires are wrong? Suppose one wants that which he has no right to have? Is it wrong to pray about it? Well, if one knows his desires are wrong, he should confess them as a sin to God and get forgiveness and cleansing. But if a person has a right to work and plan to obtain things by any means, he has a right to pray for them. And if one is not sure whether his heart's desires will please God, it is still right to bring the request to the Lord with the earnest desire that either God will give you the heart's petition or change the desire. - John R. Rice - from the book "ALWAYS REJOICING"

Sometimes men rebuke us for asking, asking, asking from God. Modernist Harry Emerson Fosdick, in his book, The Meaning of Prayer, says God is not a Santa Claus, that prayer is not supposed to get things from God. But he is wrong in supposing that God cannot do more wonderful things than little children suppose Santa Claus can do. Men would discourage us from calling on our omnipotent Heavenly Father, but the Bible never does. Again and again the Bible encourages us to ask great things of God. - from the book "ALWAYS REJOICING" by Evangelist John R. Rice

The Word of God says, "all things are lawful, but all things do not edify." Paul says, "All things are lawful, but all things are not expedient." So we as Christians have a responsibility to other Christians as well as to the world. While our conscience may not be offended about a certain thing, yet it becomes a sin if this thing causes our brother to stumble. Paul tells us that we do things which injure our brother, it is sin. While we have liberty, we do not have license. - John Rice

The Bible never condemns music. The Bible never condemns literature as such. If literature is bad in its teaching and bad in its results on people, then of course the literature is bad. Likewise if songs have dirty words or false teaching in the words, then the songs are wrong. But since love, the proper and true love between a man and a woman is God's plan, then a good love song like "I Love You Truly" is not wrong. Hillbilly music is not necessarily wrong. Some of it is indeed very good in its influence on people. Some of it is pretty cheap music and poor poetry, and so has very little literary quality. - John R. Rice