Top 60 Jim Cymbala Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “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

2. “The birth of the church was during a prayer meeting, not preaching, not singing, but prayer.”

— Jim Cymbala

3. “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

4. “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

5. “I have discovered an astonishing truth. God is attracted to weaknesses.”

— Jim Cymbala

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

— Jim Cymbala

7. “I discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness. He cannot resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him.”

— Jim Cymbala

8. “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

9. “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

10. “The work of God can only be carried on by the power of God. The church is a spiritual organism fighting spiritual battles: only spiritual power can make it perform as God ordained.”

— Jim Cymbala

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

— Jim Cymbala

12. “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

13. “Prayer begets Revival, which begets more prayer.”

— Jim Cymbala

14. “Faith never denies reality but leaves room for God to grant a new reality.”

— Jim Cymbala

15. “To be a Christian, you can’t go with the flow. You have to go by the Word of God.”

— Jim Cymbala

16. “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

17. “The Bible does not say we should aim at numbers but rather urges us faithfully to proclaim God’s message in the boldness of the Holy Spirit. This will build God’s church God’s way.”

— Jim Cymbala

18. “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

19. “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

20. “I have seen God do more in people’s lives during ten minutes of real prayer than in ten of my sermons.”

— Jim Cymbala

21. “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

22. “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

23. “When we sincerely turn to God, we will find that His church always moves forward, not backward.”

— Jim Cymbala

24. “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

25. “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

26. “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

27. “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

28. “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

29. “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

30. “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

31. “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

32. “The fact that we were created to enjoy God and to worship him forever is etched upon our souls.”

— Jim Cymbala

33. “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

34. “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

35. “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

36. “Trouble is one of God’s great servants because it reminds us how much we continually need the Lord.”

— Jim Cymbala

37. “The hardest part of faith is often simply to wait. And the trouble is, if we don’t, then we start to fix the problem ourselves – and that makes it worse. We complicate the situation to the point where it takes God much longer to fix it than if we had quietly waited for his working in the first place.”

— Jim Cymbala

38. “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

39. “Your future and mine are determined by this one thing: seeking after the Lord.”

— Jim Cymbala

40. “Anything, and I mean anything, becomes a blessing if it drives us to prayer.”

— Jim Cymbala

41. “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

42. “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

43. “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

44. “Isn’t it evident we need more God and fewer gimmicks?”

— Jim Cymbala

45. “Jesus called fishermen, not graduates of rabbinical schools. The main requirement was to be natural and sincere.”

— Jim Cymbala

46. “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

47. “When we see only what we want to see in the Bible, it loses all power to transform us.”

— Jim Cymbala

48. “I despair at the thought that my life might slip by without God showing Himself mighty in my life.”

— Jim Cymbala

49. “Doesn’t the God who created the universe out of nothing and put all the stars in place, have the power to take care of your situation?”

— Jim Cymbala

50. “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