110+ John Ortberg Quotes On Faith, Prayer And Doubt

John Ortberg is an American author and pastor. He is best known for his books on spirituality and Christian living. He is the senior pastor of Menlo Church in California and the author of numerous books, including The Life You've Always Wanted and When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box. Following is our collection on famous quotes by John Ortberg on leadership, life, faith.

Top 10 John Ortberg Quotes

1. Peace doesn't come from finding a lake with no storms. It comes from having Jesus in the boat.
2. Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love always takes time, and time is the one thing hurried people don't have.
3. Wise people build their lives around what is eternal and squeeze in what is temporary. Not the other way around.
4. The decision to grow always involves a choice between risk and comfort. This means that to be a follower of Jesus, you must renounce comfort as the ultimate value of your life.
5. Never try to have more faith - just get to know God better. And because God is faithful, the better you know Him, the more you'll trust Him.
6. When we live in the love of God, we begin to pay attention to people the way God pays attention to us.
7. Peace does not lie in getting God to give me other circumstances. Peace lies in finding God in these circumstances.
8. It's better to have the faith to embrace reality with all its pain than to cling to the false comfort of a painless fantasy.
9. Jesus ... associated with the outcasts; he spoke with them, touched them, ate with them, loved them.
10. Every day you and I walk through God's shop. Every day we brush up against objects of incalculable worth to Him. People. Every one of them carries a price tag, if only we could see it.

John Ortberg Short Quotes

• We'd like to be humble...but what if no one notices?
• Habits eat good intentions for breakfast.
• We are tempted to live under the illusion that somewhere out there are people who are normal.
• True repentance never leads to despair. Its leads home. It leads to grace.
• Every human being who has ever lived has suffered from a messiah complex-except one.
• The ministry of bearing with one another is learning to hear God speak through difficult people.
• Willpower is trying very hard not to do something you want to do very much.
• What matters is not the accomplishments you achieve; what matters is the person you become.
• One of the great illusions of our time is that hurrying will buy us more time.
• Skepticism can keep us from blessing, can keep us trapped in two minds.

John Ortberg Quotes About Life

Sheldon Vanauken wrote that the strongest argument for Christianity is Christians, when they are drawing life from God. The strongest argument against Christianity? Also Christians, when they become exclusive, self-righteous, and complacent. — John Ortberg

True joy, as it turns out, comes only to those who have devoted their lives to something greater than personal happiness. This is most visible in extraordinary lives, in saints and martyrs. But it is no less true for ordinary people like us. — John Ortberg

Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation. — John Ortberg

The goal of prayer is to live all of my life and speak all of my words in the joyful awareness of the presence of God. Prayer becomes real when we grasp the reality and goodness of God's constant presence with 'the real me.' Jesus lived his everyday life in conscious awareness of his Father. — John Ortberg

The greatest moment of your life is now. This moment is God's irreplaceable gift to you. — John Ortberg

The main measure of your devotion to God is not your devotional life. It is simply your life. — John Ortberg

The problem with spending your life climbing up the ladder is that you will go right past Jesus, for he's coming down. — John Ortberg

As long as we have unsolved problems, unfulfilled desires, and a mustard seed of faith, we have all we need for a vibrant prayer life. — John Ortberg

The good news as Jesus preached it is not just about the minimal entrance requirements for getting into heaven when you die. It is about the glorious redemption of human life-your life. — John Ortberg

Over time, grit is what separates fruitful lives from aimlessness. — John Ortberg

John Ortberg Quotes About Faith

The greatest bloodbaths in the history of the human race were recorded in the twentieth century in countries that sought to eliminate God, worship, and faith. — John Ortberg

God has entrusted us with his most precious treasure - people. He asks us to shepherd and mold them into strong disciples, with brave faith and good character. — John Ortberg

At the heart of Christian faith is the story of Jesus death and resurrection. — John Ortberg

Going in faith does not necessarily mean going with serenity or without doubts. Faith can be difficult. — John Ortberg

The character of the faith that allows us to be transformed by suffering and darkness is not doubt-free certainty; rather, it is tenacious obedience. — John Ortberg

For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. — John Ortberg

Having faith does not mean never having doubts or questions. It does mean remaining obedient. — John Ortberg

If we do not become changed from the inside-out - if we don't morph - we will be tempted to find external methods to satisfy our need to feel that we're different from those outside the faith. If we cannot be transformed, we will settle for being informed or conformed. — John Ortberg

John Ortberg Quotes About Love

I don't have a problem with delegation. I love to delegate. I am either lazy enough, or busy enough, or trusting enough, or congenial enough, that the notion leaving tasks in someone else's lap doesn't just sound wise to me, it sounds attractive. — John Ortberg

In a contagious world,we learn to keep our distance. If we get too close to those who are suffering, we might get infected by their pain. It may not be convenient or comfortable. But only when you get close enough to catch their hurt will they be close enough to catch your love. — John Ortberg

The test of love is that it gives even when there is no expectation of a return. — John Ortberg

If you can't do great things, Mother Teresa used to say, do little things with great love. If you can't do them with great love, do them with a little love. If you can't do them with a little love, do them anyway. Love grows when people serve. — John Ortberg

To love someone is to desire and work toward their becoming the best version of themselves. The one person in all the universe who can do this perfectly for you is God. — John Ortberg

True love is willing to warn, reprove, confront or admonish when necessary. — John Ortberg

God is so immense that if he were 'too visible,' people would give forced compliance without expressing their heart. So God made it possible, in enormous love, for us to live as if he were not there. — John Ortberg

If we are serious about loving God, we must begin with people, all people. And especially we must learn to love those that the world generally discards. — John Ortberg

At the deepest level, pride is the choice to exclude both God and other people from their rightful place in our hearts. Jesus said the essence of the spiritual life is to love God and to love people. Pride destroys our capacity to love. — John Ortberg

Grace is the offer of God's ceaseless presence and irrational love that cannot be stopped. — John Ortberg

John Ortberg Quotes About Prayer

Prayer allows us to wait without worry. — John Ortberg

Today, see each problem as an invitation to prayer. — John Ortberg

We tend to be preoccupied by our problems when we have a heightened sense of vulnerability and a diminished sense of power. Today, see each problem as an invitation to prayer. — John Ortberg

John Ortberg Quotes About Spiritual

In reality, each thought we have carries with it a little spiritual power, a tug toward or away from God. No thought is purely neutral. — John Ortberg

One reason why we fail to hear God speak is that we are not attentive. We suffer from what might be called 'spiritual mindlessness.' — John Ortberg

Genuine brokenness pleases God more than pretend spirituality. — John Ortberg

God is not interested in our spiritual life. He's interested in our life. — John Ortberg

Spiritual transformation is not a matter of trying harder, but of training wisely. — John Ortberg

The primary goal of spiritual life is human transformation. — John Ortberg

"Sometimes in churches somebody will discover a particular vein of spirituality and seek to recruit others into it, or assume a superior position because they have found certain techniques - but no one actually wants to become like them." — John Ortberg

John Ortberg Famous Quotes And Sayings

If ever there were a true "just as I am" church, if ever there were a community where everybody could bring all their baggage and brokenness with them without neat and tidy happy endings quite yet, if ever there was a group where everyone was loved and no one pretended - we could not make enough room inside the building. — John Ortberg

Everybody wears an unseen sign that reads: Inspire me. Remind me that my life matters; call me to be my best self; appeal to whatever in me is most noble and honorable. Don't let me go down the path of least resistance. Challenge me to make my life about something more than the acquisition of money or success — John Ortberg

Biblically, waiting is not just something we have to do until we get what we want. Waiting is part of the process of becoming what God wants us to be. — John Ortberg

One of the hardest things in the world is to stop being the prodigal son without turning into the elder brother. — John Ortberg

God is still in the business of coming down to earth: to this cubicle, this email, this room, this house, this job, this hospital room, this car, this bed, this vacation. Any place can become Bethel, the house of God. Cleveland, maybe. Or the chair you're sitting in as you read these words. — John Ortberg

There is a immense difference between training to do something and trying to do something....Sp iritual transformation is not a matter of trying harder, but of training wisely.... Following Jesus simply means learning from him how to arrange my life around activities that enable me to live in the fruit of the Spirit — John Ortberg

To become grateful, I must learn that I can handle disappointment and delayed gratification with grace and perseverance. This is why practices such as fasting and simplicity are such powerful tools for transformation. The experience of frustration and disappointment is irreplaceable in the development of a grateful heart. — John Ortberg

God sees with utter clarity who we are. He is undeceived as to our warts and wickedness. But when God looks at us that is not all He sees. He also sees who we are intended to be, who we will one day become. — John Ortberg

God is never a God of discouragement. When you have a discouraging spirit or train of thought in your mind, you can be sure it is not from God. He sometimes brings pain to his children-conviction over sin, or repentance over fallenness, or challenges that scare us, or visions of his holiness that overwhelm us. But God never brings discouragement. — John Ortberg

There is something you can't fix, can't heal, or can't escape, and all you can do it trust God. Finding ultimate refuge in God means you become so immersed in his presence, so convinced of his goodness, so devoted to his lordship that you find even the cave is a perfectly safe place to be because he is there with you. — John Ortberg

Prudence is not hesitation, procrastination, or moderation. It is not driving in the middle of the road. It is not the way of ambivalence, indecision, or safety. — John Ortberg

I need to learn. Joy is at the heart of God's plan for human beings. The reason for this is worth pondering awhile: Joy is at the heart of God himself. We will never understand the significance of joy in human life until we understand its importance to God. I suspect that most of us seriously underestimate God's capacity for joy. — John Ortberg

We must assess our thoughts and beliefs and reckon whether they are moving us closer to conformity to Christ or farther away from it. — John Ortberg

Ironically, often the thing that keeps me from experiencing joy is my preoccupation with self. The very selfishness that keeps me from pouring myself out for the joy of others also keeps me from noticing and delighting in the myriad small gifts God offers each day. This is why Walker Percy describes boredom as "the self stuffed with the self." — John Ortberg

People who are servants-humbly, honestly, and joyfully-keep getting revealed as the biggest winners. People who recognize and embrace their smallness keep getting bigger and bigger in God's eyes. It's the oddest scoring system. — John Ortberg

We must learn to cast off our anxieties because we have so many of them. The world destroys spiritual life by generating constant anxiety. Jesus said that the life of the gospel is choked out by the cares of this world. We know this to be true yet we are more chained and tethered to the world than ever before in the human race. — John Ortberg

Sloth is the failure to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done - like the kamikaze pilot who flew seventeen missions. — John Ortberg

The entire life of Jesus isn't the story of somebody climbing up a ladder; it's a picture of someone coming down-a series of demotions. The problem with spending our lives climbing up the ladder is that we will go right past Jesus, for He's coming down. — John Ortberg

How hard is it for God to get your attention? Do you regularly practice turning aside in your day? That is, taking a moment to listen to God- because God, through the Holy Spirit, really is speaking, because we know, every place is filled with the presence of God. There is not an inch of space, not a moment of time, that God does not inhabit. — John Ortberg

When I repent, here is where it starts. I try to name my sin as honestly and as specifically as possible. Here is what repenting is not. It is not excusing my sin, minimizing my sin, it's not rationalizing my sin ... Repentance is getting painfully honest with God. — John Ortberg

When I teach the formal curriculum, I have the chance to think about it ahead of time. I can rehearse it. I can illustrate it with self-deprecating humor and humble-sounding personal disclosure. I can try to make it comes out just right. — John Ortberg

God is a God of endless opportunities to do good; the God of the open door. — John Ortberg

It may be a very bad thing that I needed God to die for me, but it is a wonderful thing that God thinks I am worth dying for. — John Ortberg

The soul seeks God with its whole being. Because it is desperate to be whole, the soul is God-smitten and God-crazy and God-obsessed. My mind may be obsessed with idols; my will may be enslaved to habits; my body may be consumed with appetites. But my soul will never find rest until it rests in God. — John Ortberg

Over and over in the Bible, it is fear that threatens to keep people from trusting and obeying God. — John Ortberg

Both hope and pessimism are deeply contagious. And no one is more infectious than a leader. — John Ortberg

The human longings that are deep inside of us never go away. They exist across cultures; they exist throughout life. When people were first made, our deepest longing was to know and be known. And after the Fall, when we all got weird, it's still our deepest longing - but it's now also our deepest fear. — John Ortberg

Failure is not an event, but rather a judgment about an event. Failure is not something that happens to us or a label we attach to things. It is a way we think about outcomes. — John Ortberg

Significance is about who we are before it is about what we do. — John Ortberg

Greatness is never achieved through indecision. — John Ortberg

The most important task of your life is not what you do, but who you become. — John Ortberg

To become truly free, you must surrender. — John Ortberg

There are dozens of references to God in the Scriptures for every one to the figure of Satan. This reflects a sometimes forgotten theological truth that the devil is by no means God’s counterpart. He is a creature, not the Creator. — John Ortberg

It only makes sense to ask God for guidance in the context of a life committed to "seeking first the kingdom." — John Ortberg

Leadership is the art of disappointing people at a rate they can stand. — John Ortberg

I'm more concerned about who you're becoming than what you're doing. — John Ortberg

A bad sermon is like a car wreck - everyone slows down to see what happened. — John Ortberg

Make your life about something bigger than your life. — John Ortberg

Nobody lives up to the norms that God had in mind when he first created human beings. — John Ortberg

You can only love and be loved to the extent that you know and are known by somebody. — John Ortberg

The reason our souls hunger so is that the life we could be living so far exceeds our strangest dreams. — John Ortberg

You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. — John Ortberg

What repeatedly enters your mind and occupies your mind, eventually shapes your mind, and will ultimately express itself in what you do and who you become. — John Ortberg

The only cure from sin is by maintaining a vision of God. — John Ortberg

If you want to do the work of God, pay attention to people. Notice them. Especially the people nobody else notices. — John Ortberg

One of the great misconceptions about spiritual growth that develops in a lot of churches is that information alone is adequate to produce transformed human beings. So if we want to have a church of spiritually mature people, let's just keep cramming more and more information into them... Information alone is not adequate for the transformation of the human personality. — John Ortberg

Real question is not who was this man (Jesus), but who is this man? — John Ortberg

One of the most painful aspects of suffering is the loneliness of it. Others may offer support or empathy, but no one can walk the road to Moriah in our place. — John Ortberg

Acceptance is an act of the heart. To accept someone is to affirm to them that you think it's a very good thing they are alive. — John Ortberg

For the soul to be well, it needs to be with God. — John Ortberg

Failure does not shape you; the way you respond to failure shapes you. — John Ortberg

In the beginning, we're told, was the word. Every once in a while someone shows up on the planet who is word-obsessed and word-gifted; and the light and darkness get named again. In our day, that someone is Buechner. — John Ortberg

Death is the prerequisite to resurrection, the new life God intends. — John Ortberg

The church is in the hope business. — John Ortberg

The possibility of transformation is the essence of hope. — John Ortberg

God wishes to be seen, wishes to be sought, wishes to be expected, and wishes to be trusted. — John Ortberg

We who preach have one tool. We are people of the book. — John Ortberg

Who you become while you're waiting is as important as what you're waiting for. — John Ortberg

The Holy Spirit says: You are it. You are God's plan. In a thirsty world, people need to be refreshed. It is a broken world, and people need to be healed. Now get out there and do it! — John Ortberg

The most frequent promise in the Bible is ‘I will be with you.’ — John Ortberg

Art is built on the deepest themes of human meaning: good and evil, beauty and ugliness, life and death, love and hate. No other story has incarnated those themes more than the story of Jesus. — John Ortberg

Life Lessons by John Ortberg

1. John Ortberg teaches us to be mindful of our spiritual lives, to remember that God is always with us, and to focus on the present moment.
2. He encourages us to live with intention, to be aware of our own strengths and weaknesses, and to be open to the possibilities that life has to offer.
3. Ortberg also reminds us to be grateful for the blessings in our lives, to be generous with our time and resources, and to trust in the power of prayer.