Dwight L. Moody
A prolific speaker and author, American evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody also maintained extensive correspondence with family and friends. The great body of his work has given us many quotes that are both inspiring and informative. Many of Moody’s letters can be found online in the D. L. Moody Digital Archives, providing greater insight and context into the life and times that surround these quotes.
D. L. Moody Quotes
“I hope you will grow up to love the Bible…I would like to say of you as Paul did of Timothy that from your youth you have known the scripture for it is able to make you wise.”
– D.L. Moody
“I am sure the happiest days of my life have been when I have tried to do the will of God as far as I know it to do…”
– D.L. Moody
“…the world has no charms for me when I look up, but the trouble with God’s children is they do not look up enough.”
– D.L. Moody
“Go to your closet in secret prayer and there you will find piece to your soul.”
– D.L. Moody
“I am convinced what this world wants is true men and women, not great men, but true and honest and upright persons that God can use…”
– D.L. Moody
“Tell the boys I pray for them daily and am so pleased to hear that they have so good prayer meetings…you can tell them I find time to pray for them and shall always be glad to hear from them and to hear that they are doing well.”
– D.L. Moody
“I am yours in the work.”
– D.L. Moody
“I am so thankful that I ever went into the field to do Chrisitan work. If I had a hundred lives I would surely consecrate them all to the service of my Lord and Master.”
– D.L. Moody
“My dear Lee, I wish you would have a talk with my cousin Miss Holton. She thinks a good deal of you and I think you can lead her to Christ.”
– D.L. Moody
“I have had the secret of a happy life and I found it was in making others happy. And my earnest prayer has been for ten years that my children should enjoy it with me…”
– D.L. Moody
“…the thought that you may be cut down unsaved troubles me. I do hope you will take the gift of God and live forever. That is the prayer of your father as he travels west…God bless you and save you my dear son and I shall be the happiest father on earth.”
– D.L. Moody
“When I was young I thought it was hard that I had lost my father, but now I believe I would not be where I am if I had not been thrown on to myself early in life…”
– D.L. Moody
“…will you ask them to pray for me. The State is a grand field to work in and I want power from on High to preach as never before. Also will you ask them to pray for Mexico. I am to go there in April and I want the Lord of the Harvest to get the ground ready of the seed of the Kingdom.”
– D.L. Moody
“What we must have is a higher type of Christianity in this country.”
– D.L. Moody
“I know of nothing that speaks louder for Christ and Christianity than to see a man or woman giving up what they call their rights for others, and ‘in honor preferring one another.”
– D.L. Moody
“I have never known the Spirit of God to work where the Lord’s people were divided.”
– D.L. Moody
“Too frequently when Christians get together they seek for points upon which they differ, and then go at it…The Christian denominations too often present a spectacle of a political party split into factions and unable to make an effective fight.”
– D.L. Moody
“Every place where God leads, there is your field.”
– D.L. Moody
“Don’t go away and talk so much about these meetings as about Christ; the world needs him.”
– D.L. Moody
“So if you turn one to Christ, that one may turn a hundred; they may turn a thousand, and so the stream, small at first, goes on broadening and deepening as it rolls toward eternity.”
– D.L. Moody
“…if we only lead one soul to Jesus Christ we may set a stream in motion that will flow on when we are dead and gone.”
– D.L. Moody
“…we don’t want that kind of a mountain top experience. When a man gets up so high that we cannot reach down and save poor sinners, there is something wrong.”
– D.L. Moody
“How many souls did you lead to Christ last year?”
– D.L. Moody
“Don’t think of your homes, your families, your work, or your churches now. Don’t pray for anything or anybody but yourself. Attend now to your own heart only.”
– D.L. Moody
“It is also hoped that those Christians whose hearts are united with us in desire for this new enduement of power, but who cannot be present, will send us a salutation and greeting by letter, that there may be a concert of prayer with them throughout the land during these days of waiting.”
– D.L. Moody
“All ministers and laymen, and those women who are helpers and laborers together with us in the Kingdom and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ–and, indeed, all Christians who are hungering for intimate fellowship with God and for power to do His work–are most cordially invited to assemble with us.”
– D.L. Moody
“Feeling deeply this great need, and believing that its reward is in reserve fro all who honestly seek it, a gathering is hereby called to meet in Northfield, Mass…the object of which is not so much to study the Bible (though the Scriptures will be searched daily for instruction and promises) as for solemn self-consecration, for pleading God’s promises, and waiting upon Him for a fresh anointment of power from on high.”
– D.L. Moody
“…the world has no charms for me when I look up, but the trouble with God’s children is they do not look up enough.”
– D.L. Moody
“Go to your closet in secret prayer and there you will find piece to your soul.”
– D.L. Moody
“The Spirit of God doesn’t work where there is division, and what we want today is the spirit of unity amongst God’s children, so that the Lord may work.”
– D.L. Moody
“When I pray, I talk to God, but when I read the Bible, God is talking to me…I believe we should know better how to pray if we knew our Bibles better.”
– D.L. Moody
“I should like to see a wave surging from Maine to California sweeping thousands into the Kingdom of God.”
– D.L. Moody
“So, if we only lead one soul to Christ, we may set a stream in motion that will flow on when we are dead and gone…”
– D.L. Moody
“Before we pray that God would fill us, I believe we ought to pray Him to empty us.”
– D.L. Moody
“Only when the rank and file are enlisted in active service for Christ, will His Kingdom advance as it ought.”
– D.L. Moody
“All the churches in the world can’t save a soul. It is not to have faith in this church or that church, this doctrine or that doctrine, this man or that man, but it is to have faith in the man Christ Jesus at the right hand of God. That is the only faith that will ever save a soul.”
– D.L. Moody
“A great many people place their faith in men, and they pin their faith to other people’s doctrines and creeds…They believe what the church believes, but they do not know what the church believes.”
– D.L. Moody
“Hundreds of people spend time in looking at their own hearts, but faith is an outward look. We are to have faith in God, and not in man.”
– D.L. Moody
“This tells us of the only place where we can find rest. There is no other place where a man can by any possibility find rest for his soul.”
– D.L. Moody
“Let us get back to the simple gospel–Christ died for our sins. We must know Christ at Calvary first, as our substitute, as our Redeemer; and the moment we accept Him as our Savior and our Redeemer, then it is that we become partakers of the gospel.”
– D.L. Moody
“We are poor ambassadors and messengers; but never mind the messenger, take hold of the message–that is what you want.”
– D.L. Moody
“Christ is able to teach us. See how he taught the disciples. He never wearied of their learning from Him. So He will teach us if we will only listen to Him.”
– D.L. Moody
“But Christ is more than our Light on the way; for He is our teacher. What a wonderful thing to have a teacher sent from heaven.”
– D.L. Moody
“Oh, little children, if you find Christ tell it to your fathers and mothers. Throw your arms around their necks and lead them to Jesus.”
– D.L. Moody
“How easy it is to reach people through love! Sunday-school teachers should win the affections of their scholars if they wish to lead them to Christ.”
– D.L. Moody
“Won to Christ by a smile! We must get the wrinkles out of our brows, and we must have smiling faces.”
– D.L. Moody
“Men look on the blood of Christ with scorn and contempt, but the time is coming when the blood of Christ will be worth more than all the kingdoms of the world.”
– D.L. Moody
“A little child gives a good illustration of faith. Let the wind blow her hat into the river, and she does not worry; she knows her mother will get her another. She lives by faith.”
– D.L. Moody
“I don’t care how black and vile your heart may be, only accept the invitation of Jesus Christ, and He will make you fit to sit down with the rest at that feast.”
– D.L. Moody
“When you come and say you are not fit, haven’t got good clothes, haven’t got righteousness enough to be a Christian, remember that Christ will furnish you with the uniform of heaven, and you will be set down at the marriage feast of the Lamb.”
– D.L. Moody
“It is the easiest thing in the world to become a Christian, and it is also the most difficult. Thank God that He has spoken to you, and praise Him for it, and whatever may come do not go in the opposite direction.”
– D.L. Moody
“Give yourself up to be led by it, and you will come out of darkness, out of bondage, out of sorrow, into perpetual light and joy.”
– D.L. Moody
“Give yourself up to be led by it, and you will come out of darkness, out of bondage, out of sorrow, into perpetual light and joy.”
– D.L. Moody
“Thank God that He has spoken to you, and praise Him for it, and whatever may come do not go in the opposite direction.”
– D.L. Moody
“Sometimes there comes a little breath from God that touches our souls. It may be so gentle and faint that you barely recognize it; but if you do, do not disregard it.”
– D.L. Moody
“There is no progress, and there cannot be until you have the motive power within, till the breath of life comes from God, which can alone give you power to work for others.”
– D.L. Moody
“When the Spirit of God comes into your heart and mine, it will be easy to love and serve God.”
– D.L. Moody
“Perhaps the very next step they take may take them into eternity; the next day they may die without God and without hope.”
– D.L. Moody
“You keep your affections set upon things on the earth instead of on things above, and the result is that the children do not believe there is anything in Christianity.”
– D.L. Moody
“The story of the cross followed him through life; and if we tell children these truths, they will never forget them.”
– D.L. Moody
“And so God gives us a little adversity here, a little prosperity there, and all works for our good.”
– D.L. Moody
“Do not be ashamed of Christ–of the Man that bought us with His own blood.”
– D.L. Moody
“Many Christians carry along lanterns and say, ‘I wouldn’t give up my religion for yours.’ They talk about religion. The religion that has no fire is like painted fire. They are artificial Christians. Do you belong to that class? You can tell. If you can’t, your friends can.”
– D.L. Moody
“Yet if I had ten thousand lives, Jesus Christ should have every one of them.”
– D.L. Moody
“Do not think that you will have no battles if you follow the Nazarene, because many battles are before you.”
– D.L. Moody
“So let us sit down and count the cost.”
– D.L. Moody
“If we are to be disciples of Jesus Christ, we must deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him.”
– D.L. Moody
“When He [Jesus Christ] enlists a man in His service, He shows him the dark side; He lets him know that he must live a life of self-denial.”
– D.L. Moody
“I want to say that peace has been declared between God and man. Be reconciled to God.”
– D.L. Moody
“God has put the offer of salvation in such a way that the whole world can lay hold of it. All men can believe.”
– D.L. Moody
– D.L. Moody
“…I would advise people, if they think the Bible is too old and worn out, when they build houses, not to put windows in them, but just to light them with electric light; that is something new and that is what they are anxious for.“
– D.L. Moody
“A great many people seem to think that the Bible is out of date, that it is an old book, that it has passed its day. They say it was very good for the dark ages, and that there is some very good history in it, but it was not intended for the present time; we are living in a very enlightened age and men can get on very well without it; we have overgrown it.“
– D.L. Moody
“Until conviction of sin brings us down on both knees, until we are completely humbled, until we have no hope in ourselves left, we cannot find the Savior.“
– D.L. Moody
“There is plenty of grace in the bank of heaven; we need not be afraid of its becoming exhausted.“
– D.L. Moody
“So we may say that if God were to give us grace enough for a lifetime, we should not known how to use it.“
– D.L. Moody
“Let us encourage ourselves in the Lord, and encourage each other; then we shall have good success.“
– D.L. Moody
“In the name of our great Commander let us march on to battle and to victory.“
– D.L. Moody
“Let us not give heed to gloomy and discouraging remarks.“
– D.L. Moody
“How many fathers and mothers, how many Children men and women, are sleeping now while their children wander over the terrible precipice right into the bottomless pit! Father, mother, where is your boy tonight?“
– D.L. Moody
“Death and judgment were a constant source of fear to me till I realized the fact that neither shall ever have any hold on a child of God.“
– D.L. Moody
“If I have a right to cut out a certain portion of the Bible, I don’t know why one of my friends has not a right to cut out another, and another friend to cut out another part, and so on.”
– D.L. Moody
“It is the same with the Sun of Righteousness. Peace and joy will go with you while you go with your face toward Him, but those who turn their backs on the Sun are in darkness all the time. Turn to the light of God, and the reflection will flash in your heart.”
– D.L. Moody
“Nothing can satisfy the longings of the soul but the Word of the living God.”
– D.L. Moody
“The true child of God can tell the difference (so to speak) between sawdust and bread. Many so-called Christians are living on the world’s sawdust, instead of being nourished by the Bread that cometh down from heaven.”
– D.L. Moody
“The men who have had power with God in prayer have always begun by confessing their sins.”
– D.L. Moody
“Only those who have the indwelling Christ in their hearts can walk through this world with bright and glad looks, because they know that, let come what may, their Father is leading them safely.”
– D.L. Moody
“I have always tried to build according to my faith. This time my friends think my faith has carried me away. They do not believe that I shall ever see this building full.”
– D.L. Moody
“Brethren, how many of you have so grown in grace that you can bear to have your faults told?”
– D.L. Moody
“Religion as an abstraction, as a doctrine, has little interest for the world, but what people can say from personal experience always has weight.”
– D.L. Moody
“Some men’s religion just repels me. They put on a whining voice and a sort of a religious tone, and talk so sanctimoniously on Sunday that you would think they were wonderful saints. But on Monday they are quite different. They put their religion away with their clothes, and you don’t see any more of it until the next Sunday.”
– D.L. Moody
“We want a Christianity that goes into our homes and everyday lives.”
– D.L. Moody
“I tell you the moment a man breaks away from this doctrine of blood, religion becomes a sham, because the whole teaching of this book is of one story, and this is, that Christ came into the world and died for our sins.”
– D.L. Moody
“Many men want a religion in which there is no cross, but they cannot enter heaven that way.”
– D.L. Moody
“… the great Emperor of heaven is here, and if you put down all your sins and multiply them by ten thousand, He will pay it and shelter you underneath the blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanseth us from all sin.”
– D.L. Moody
“The trouble nowadays is that it doesn’t mean anything to some people to be a Christian.”
– D.L. Moody
“There was a time when I used to think more of the love of Jesus Christ than of God the Father. I used to think of God as a stern judge on the throne, from whose wrath Jesus Christ had saved me. It seems to me now I could not have a falser idea of God than that.”
– D.L. Moody
“Don’t be kept out of the kingdom of God or out of active Christian work by the scorn and laughter and ridicule of your godless neighbors and companions.”
– D.L. Moody
“You cannot heal the brokenhearted without the Comforter…”
– D.L. Moody
“There is no class of people exempt from broken hearts. The rich and the poor suffer alike.”
– D.L. Moody
“There was a time when I used to visit the poor that I thought all the broken hearts were to be found among them, but within the last few years I have found there are as many broken hearts among the learned as the unlearned, the cultured as the uncultured, the rich as the poor.”
– D.L. Moody
“Read the Bible, my friends, as if you were seeking for something of value. It is a good deal better to take a single chapter, and spend a month on it, than to read the Bible at random for a month.”
– D.L. Moody
“…I heard two or three men stand up and say, ‘We had a new minister last Sunday—the same old minister, but he had got new power,’ and I firmly believe that is what we want today all over America—new ministers in the pulpit and new people in the pews. We want people quickened by the Spirit of God.”
– D.L. Moody
“The men who have studied the Bible for fifty years have never got down to the depths of it yet. There are truths there that the church of God has been searching out for the last nineteen hundred years, but no man has yet fathomed the depths of the ever-living stream.”
– D.L. Moody
“So there is a scarlet thread running through the Bible–the whole book points to Christ.”
– D.L. Moody
“Bear in mind there is no situation in life for which you cannot find some word or consolation in Scripture.”
– D.L. Moody
“If you will read your Bible in light of Calvary, you will find there is no other way of coming to heaven but by the blood.”
– D.L. Moody
“Every time the reverent heart reads the Bible, its words come fresh from the lips of God, always new.”
– D.L. Moody
“Cling to the whole Bible, not a part of it. A man is not going to do much with a broken sword.”
– D.L. Moody
“Only those who have the indwelling Christ in their hearts can walk through this world with bright and glad looks, because they know that, let come what may, their Father is leading them safely.”
– D.L. Moody
– D.L. Moody
“We sow to the Spirit when we crucify the flesh and all its lusts, when we yield ourselves to Him as we once yielded ourselves to the flesh.”
– D.L. Moody
“‘We sow to the Spirit when we use our abilities and means to advance Spiritual things; when we support and encourage those who are extending the influence of the Spirit.”
– D.L. Moody
“‘Sowing to the Spirit’ implies self-denial, resistance of evil, obedience to the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, living in the Spirit, guidance by the Spirit.”
– D.L. Moody
“If we witness according to the Spirit, we must witness of Jesus.”
– D.L. Moody
“The subject of witness-bearing in the power of the Holy Ghost is not sufficiently understood by the church.”
– D.L. Moody
“I venture to say there are very many, who, if you were to ask them, ‘Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?’ would reply, ‘I don’t know what you mean by that.”
– D.L. Moody
“What can botanists tell you of the lily of the valley? You must study this book for that. What can geologists tell you of the Rock of Ages, or mere astronomers about the Bright Morning Star? In those pages we find all knowledge unto salvation; here we read of the ruin of man by nature, redemption by the blood, and regeneration by the Holy Ghost. These three things run all through and through them.”
– D.L. Moody
“Now I am no prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but one thing I can predict; that every one of our new converts that goes to studying his Bible, and loves this book above every other book, is sure to hold out.”
– D.L. Moody
“When we know our Bible, then it is that God can use us.”
– D.L. Moody
“Thank God that He has spoken to you, and praise Him for it, and whatever may come do not go in the opposite direction. Give yourself up to be led by it, and you will come out of darkness, out of bondage, out of sorrow, into perpetual light and joy.”
– D.L. Moody
“May I not ask Christian people to begin now to pray for a special outpouring of the Spirit upon every meeting of the Conference?”
– D.L. Moody
“A holy life will produce the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns; they only shine.”
– D.L. Moody
“I am sure the happiest days of my life have been when I have tried to do the will of God as far as I know it to do…”
– D.L. Moody
“If I know my own heart to-day, I would rather die than live as I once did, a mere nominal Christian, and not used by God in building up his kingdom. It seems a poor empty life to live for the sake of self. Let us seek to be useful. Let us seek to be vessels meet for the Master’s use, that God, the Holy Spirit, may shine fully through us.”
– D.L. Moody, Secret Power
“Only those who have the indwelling Christ in their hearts can walk through this world with bright and glad looks, because they know that, let come what may, their Father is leading them safely.”
– D. L. Moody
“Only those who have the indwelling Christ in their hearts can walk through this world with bright and glad looks, because they know that, let come what may, their Father is leading them safely.”
– D. L. Moody
“Before we pray that God would fill us, I believe we ought to pray Him to empty us.”
– D.L. Moody, Secret Power
– D.L. Moody, To the Work! To the Work!: Exhortations to Christians
– D.L. Moody
– D.L. Moody, in correspondence with Henry F. Cutler regarding Moody’s work in Texas and Mexico
“So few grow, because so few study.”
– D. L. Moody, Pleasure and Profit in Bible Study
– D.L. Moody’s words to his children before his death as, quoted in The Life of D.L. Moody
“There is plenty of opportunity in this fallen world to perform works of mercy and religion.”
– D.L. Moody
“The central idea of the Northfield Conferences is Christian unity … but it is understood that along with the idea of Christian unity goes the Bible as it stands.”
– D.L. Moody quoted in The Life of D.L. Moody
“Too frequently when Christians get together they seek for points upon which they differ, and then go at it …The Christian denominations too often present a spectacle of a political party split into factions and unable to make an effective fight.”
– D. L. Moody quoted in The Life of D.L. Moody
“So, if we only lead one soul to Christ, we may set a stream in motion that will flow on when we are dead and gone …”
– D.L. Moody, The Overcoming Life
“I should like to see a wave surging from Maine to California sweeping thousands into the Kingdom of God.”
– D.L. Moody
“I have never known the Spirit of God to work where the Lord’s people were divided.”
– D. L. Moody, Secret Power
“Cling to the whole Bible, not a part of it. A man is not going to do much with a broken sword.”
– D.L. Moody
“Every time the reverent heart reads the Bible, its words come fresh from the lips of God, always new.”
– D.L. Moody
“If you will read your Bible in light of Calvary, you will find there is no other way of coming to heaven but by the blood.”
– D.L. Moody
“Reading the Bible and remembering the poor—a combination of faith and works—will always bring joy.”
– D.L. Moody
“Many people have the Bible in their heads, or in their pockets; but we need to get it down into our hearts.”
– D.L. Moody
– D.L. Moody
“Bear in mind there is no situation in life for which you cannot find some word or consolation in Scripture.”
– D.L. Moody
“So there is a scarlet thread running all through the Bible—the whole book points to Christ.”
– D.L. Moody
“When I was young I thought it was hard that I had lost my father, but now I believe I would not be where I am if I had not been thrown on to myself early in life …”
– D.L. Moody
– D.L. Moody
“… the thought that you may be cut down unsaved troubles me. I do hope you will take the gift of God and live forever. That is the prayer of your father as he travels west … God bless you and save you my dear son and I shall be the happiest father on earth.”
– D.L. Moody
“There are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.”
– D.L. Moody
“Faith makes all things possible … love makes all things easy.”
– D.L. Moody
“Sometimes you can take one hundred members into the Church, and they don’t add to its power. Now that is all wrong. If they were only anointed by the Spirit of God, there would be great power if one hundred saved ones were added to the Church.”
– D. L. Moody
“Parents would think it a great calamity to have their children born dumb; they would mourn over it, and weep; and well they might; but did you ever think of the many dumb children God has? The churches are full of them; they never speak for Christ. They can talk about politics, art, and science; they can speak well enough and fast enough about the fashions of the day, but they have no voice for the Son of God.”
– D. L. Moody
“Doctor Gordon of Boston used to say that as you passed along Washington street … you might see stores with the card in the window, ‘To rent, with or without power,’ and any one could rent the store, and by paying something extra could have power furnished from the engine in the rear. Doctor Gordon thought it would be a good thing to ask man and women when they joined the church if they wanted to be a member on the “with power” or the “without power” basis, and if the latter, to tell them there were no vacancies for that kind in the church, it already had too many members without power.”
– D.L. Moody
“The men who have studied the Bible for fifty years have never got down to the depths of it yet. There are truths there that the church of God has been searching out for the last nineteen hundred years, but no man has yet fathomed the depths of the ever-living stream.”
– D.L. Moody
““A great many think that we need new measures, new churches, new organs, new choirs, and all these new things. That is not what the Church of God needs today. It is the old power that the apostles had. If we have that in our churches, there will be new life.”
– D.L. Moody
– D.L. Moody
“The Spirit of God doesn’t work where there is division, and what we want today is the spirit of unity amongst God’s children, so that the Lord may work.”
– D.L. Moody
“Well, what we need as Christians is to be able to feed ourselves. How many there are who sit helpless and listless, with open mouths, hungry for spiritual things, and the minister has to try to feed them, while the Bible is a feast prepared, into which they never venture.”
– D.L. Moody
“So there is a scarlet thread running through the Bible—the whole book points to Christ.”
– D.L. Moody
“Read the Bible, my friends, as if you were seeking for something of value. It is a good deal better to take a single chapter, and spend a month on it, than to read the Bible at random for a month.”
– D.L. Moody
“There is no class of people exempt from broken hearts. The rich and the poor suffer alike. There was a time when I used to visit the poor that I thought all the broken hearts were to be found among them, but within the last few years I have found there are as many broken hearts among the learned as the unlearned, the cultured as the uncultured, the rich as the poor.”
– D.L. Moody
“You cannot heal the brokenhearted without the Comforter …”
– D.L. Moody
“A great many people are afraid of the will of God, and yet I believe that one of the sweetest lessons that we can learn in the school of Christ is the surrender of our wills to God, letting Him plan for us and rule our lives.”
– D.L. Moody
“I know of nothing that speaks louder for Christ and Christianity than to see a man or woman giving up what they call their rights for others, and ‘in honor preferring one another.’”
– D.L. Moody
“There was a time when I used to think more of the love of Jesus Christ than of God the Father. I used to think of God as a stern judge on the throne, from whose wrath Jesus Christ had saved me. It seems to me now I could not have a falser idea of God than that.”
– D. L. Moody
“When I came to Jesus Christ, I had a terrible battle to surrender my will, and to take God’s will. When I gave up business, I had another battle for three months; I fought against it. It was a terrible battle. But oh! how many times I have thanked God that I gave up my will and took God’s will.”
– D.L. Moody
“If we make a full surrender, God will give us something better than we have ever known before. We will get a new vision of Jesus Christ, and will thank God not only in this life but in the life to come.”
– D.L. Moody
“It doesn’t take long to build the walls of a city if you can only get the whole of the people at it. If the Christians of this country would only rise up, we could evangelize America in twelve months.”
– D.L. Moody
“Don’t be kept out of the kingdom of God or out of active Christian work by the scorn and laughter and ridicule of your godless neighbors and companions.”
– D.L. Moody
“The trouble nowadays is that it doesn’t mean anything to some people to be a Christian. What we must have is a higher type of Christianity in this country. We must have a Christianity that has in it the principle of self-denial. We must deny ourselves. If we want power, we must be separate.”
– D.L. Moody
“… the great Emperor of heaven is here, and if you put down all your sins and multiply them by ten thousand, He will pay it and shelter you underneath the blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanseth us from all sin.”
– D.L. Moody
“Many men want a religion in which there is no cross, but they cannot enter heaven that way.”
– D.L. Moody
“I tell you the moment a man breaks away from this doctrine of blood, religion becomes a sham, because the whole teaching of this book is of one story, and this is, that Christ came into the world and died for our sins.”
– D.L. Moody
“We want a Christianity that goes into our homes and everyday lives. Some men’s religion just repels me. They put on a whining voice and a sort of a religious tone, and talk so sanctimoniously on Sunday that you would think they were wonderful saints. But on Monday they are quite different. They put their religion away with their clothes, and you don’t see any more of it until the next Sunday.”
– D.L. Moody
“Religion as an abstraction, as a doctrine, has little interest for the world, but what people can say from personal experience always has weight.”
– D.L. Moody
“… if we only lead one soul to Jesus Christ we may set a stream in motion that will flow on when we are dead and gone.”
– D.L. Moody
“So if you turn one to Christ, that one may turn a hundred; they may turn a thousand, and so the stream, small at first, goes on broadening and deepening as it rolls toward eternity.”
– D.L. Moody
“There used to be a period when people came to meeting brining their candles with them. The first one, perhaps, wouldn’t make a great illumination, but when two or three got there, there would be more light. If the people of Boston should do that now, if each one should come here in this tabernacle, with a candle, don’t you think there would be a little light.”
– D.L. Moody
“A lighthouse does not have a drum beaten or a trumpet-blown in order to proclaim the proximity of a lighthouse: it is its own witness. And so if we have the true light in us it will show itself. It is not those who make the most noise who have the most piety.”
– D.L. Moody
“We are nothing, but Christ is everything, and what we want is to keep in communion with Him and let Christ dwell in us richly and shine forth through us.”
– D.L. Moody
“We see very few illuminated Christians now. If everyone of us was illuminated by the Spirit of God, how we could light up the churches! But to have a lantern without any light, that would be a nuisance.”
– D.L. Moody
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Dwight L. Moody had a way with words. Sincerity, earnestness, and relatability were hallmarks of Mr. Moody’s preaching and writing. While many of D.L. Moody’s most inspiring statements are available online, there are hidden treasures amidst the Moody Center’s D.L. Moody Digital Archives.
The quotes in Reading Mr. Moody’s Mail are all taken from Moody’s letters. Some are more mundane than others, but each serves as a window into the life of a man from Northfield who resolved to be overshadowed by God for the sake of the gospel.
Did you know?
D.L. Moody only had a 5th grade education
Dwight L. Moody was born in Northfield, Massachusetts to Edwin and Betsey Moody in 1837. His father passed away when Dwight was only four years old, leaving his mother to raise her nine children alone. She struggled to provide schooling for her children, leaving Dwight with only a fifth grade education. When he turned 17, D.L. Moody moved to Boston to work in his uncle’s shoe store. Converted at age 18 by his Sunday school teacher, Moody left for Chicago.
In 1856, he established what would eventually become the Moody Memorial Church in Chicago. He soon left his shoe-making business to focus on his work as an evangelist- and the rest is history. Despite his lack of education, D.L. Moody changed the lives of many people all over the U.S. He never got tired of sharing the Gospel, even preaching six sermons a day shortly before he passed away.