A. B. Simpson Quotes on Christ in Us, the Holy Spirit and Faith
Holy SpiritHolinessPrayerDevotional
A. B. Simpson preached in New York for nearly forty years, founded the Christian and Missionary Alliance, and wrote a stream of short books on the deeper Christian life. He wrote the way he preached: direct, warm, and full of one-line sentences you can carry through the day.
Many Simpson quotes online come without a source. Every quotation below is copied exactly from his books in TheWay Library, with the book and chapter or date it comes from, so you can read each one in its setting. For his life story, see who was A. B. Simpson. For a guide to all his books, see A. B. Simpson books.
On Christ in us
This was the center of Simpson's message. The Christian life isn't our effort to be good. It's Christ Himself living in us.
Dear friends, it is not what you become that is going to save you, but how you become united to Jesus.
The Christ Life, The Personal Christ
Not Christ giving us life, but being life to us.
The Christ Life, The Personal Christ
He has linked His future with us; and never again can Christ possess anything without us.
The Christ Life, In Christ
Jesus will be the holiness, if you will just open the door.
The Christ Life, Christ in Us: Causes and Effects
If we would abide in Christ we must stop trying to have God help us, and fall into God's way and let Him lead.
The Christ Life, Abiding
The greatest need of our souls and bodies is to know Jesus personally, to touch Him constantly, to abide in Him continually.
Days of Heaven Upon Earth, April 7
The real secret of perfect rest is to be jealously, habitually occupied with Jesus.
Days of Heaven Upon Earth, May 3
One touch of Christ is worth a lifetime of struggling.
Days of Heaven Upon Earth, February 18
On dying to self
Simpson said self has to go to the cross. It can't just be improved.
If God is going to make anything of you, let all your will go into His hands.
The Self Life and the Christ Life, Not I but Christ
The best of all our robes is Christ Himself; and we are to put on Christ.
The Self Life and the Christ Life, Resurrected, Not Raised
What we need is not so much self-denial as self-crucifixion and utter self-forgetfulness.
The Self Life and the Christ Life, Saul
The faintest reservation is really the very soul of disobedience.
The Self Life and the Christ Life, Saul
God cannot use any but a crucified man to preach about the crucified Saviour.
The Self Life and the Christ Life, Jonah
Add to your faith — do not add to yourself.
Days of Heaven Upon Earth, March 26
On the Holy Spirit
He wrote more on the Spirit than on almost any other subject, and he always tied the Spirit's work to Christ.
The coming of the Comforter is to make Jesus intensely real, more real indeed than the Comforter Himself.
When the Comforter Came, Orphaned Lives
His constant business is to exalt Christ and hide behind His person.
Walking in the Spirit, Cooperating with the Holy Ghost
To walk in the Spirit is to recognize the Spirit as present and abiding in us.
Walking in the Spirit, Walking in the Spirit
We must be filled with the Spirit first and then the overflow will take care of itself.
When the Comforter Came, The Wellspring and the River
Filled with the Spirit there is no room for self or sin, for fret or care.
Days of Heaven Upon Earth, March 4
Self must be dead, and Christ alone exalted, if we are to have much of the power of God.
Walking in the Spirit, The Spirit of Power
Before we can speak God's messages we must learn to listen.
Walking in the Spirit, The Spirit of Light
On prayer
For Simpson, prayer was simple trust brought to a God who cares about small things.
Oh, beloved, there is no little petition; there is no little heart ache; there is no little desire too small for Jesus to pray about or you to pray about.
Christ in the Tabernacle, The Incense
The Holy Spirit prepares our case, the Lord Jesus presents it, and the Judge is our Father.
Walking in the Spirit, The Spirit of Prayer
Prayer is not only an asking but also a receiving.
When the Comforter Came, How to Receive the Comforter
The time to pray, therefore, is just the time when God has promised, and when God is working Himself to fulfill the promise.
El-Shaddai, A Call to Prayer
Stop praying so much for yourself; begin to ask unselfish things, and see if God won't give you faith.
Days of Heaven Upon Earth, February 6
On faith
He urged people to take God at His word and stop waiting for feelings.
Faith is the law of spiritual gravitation which brings man back to God and swings his life into the orbit of trust, fellowship and obedience.
El-Shaddai, El-Shaddai, or the God Who Is Enough
God will do for us just as much as we will let Him work in us.
El-Shaddai, El-Shaddai, or the God Who Is Enough
It is all right, therefore, to tell people not to wait for feeling, but simply to take God at His Word.
When the Comforter Came, The Sealing of the Holy Ghost
The time to trust is when all else fails.
Days of Heaven Upon Earth, March 27
Faith adds its amen to God's yea, and then takes its hands off, and leaves God to finish His work.
Days of Heaven Upon Earth, April 11
Our difficulties are but God's challenges, and He makes them so hard, often, that we must go under or get above them.
Days of Heaven Upon Earth, January 30
While Abraham fully trusted God, God also felt that he could fully trust Abraham.
Divine Emblems in the Book of Genesis, Emblems from Abraham's Tent
On joy and trouble
Simpson believed joy was a weapon, and that hard times were often the place God gives it.
Do not lose your joy whatever else you lose.
Days of Heaven Upon Earth, April 13
Worry, fear, distrust, care, are all poison drops; joy is balm and healing; and if you will but rejoice, God will give power.
Days of Heaven Upon Earth, April 8
Sorrow is the dark background on which He paints this token of His love.
Divine Emblems in the Book of Genesis, Emblems from the Story of the Flood
On living for God
Last, a few lines on love, service and the kind of people God uses.
You and I can only shine with love when we are filled with love.
Christ in the Tabernacle, The Light
There is no more acceptable service you can render to God than to feed upon Christ and rejoice in Him.
Christ in the Tabernacle, The Shew Bread
God wants people that He can depend upon.
Days of Heaven Upon Earth, January 5
We must have power with God first, and then we have it with others.
Divine Emblems in the Book of Genesis, Emblems from Jacob's Pilgrimage
Where to read more Simpson
These lines come from all eight of his books in the library. If you want to read one book of his first, try Days of Heaven Upon Earth, a short reading for every day of the year. For his main message in one sitting, read The Christ Life. All his books are listed on the A. B. Simpson author page, and our reading guide explains which to read for what.