Rick Warren's Blog, page 541

Don���t Settle for Less Than God���s Best

When you go through the delays in life, don���t get discouraged. Don���t lose heart. Don���t give up!

Rest, and Trust God���s Timing

Proverbs 19:2b says, ���Impatience will get you into trouble��� (GNT). It���s frustrating when you���re in a hurry and God isn���t. God is never in a hurry! The Bible says a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day to God. One of the most useless things to try to do is to speed up God. When we try to take matters into our own hands and help God out, we get in trouble.

Don���t Fear in God���s Delays

Dreams are never fulfilled immediately. There���s always a waiting period. The Israelites were brought out of Egypt and then wandered around for 40 years before they went into the Promised Land, even though the trip shouldn���t have taken more than a few weeks.

Four Decisions That Determine Your Destiny

In Dr. Seuss��� poem ���The Zode in the Road,��� a young Zode comes to a fork in the road and spends quite some time trying to decide which direction to go. He thinks about the possibility that one place may be too hot and the other too cool or one too high and the other too low. After scratching his head in indecision, the Zode finally decides to play it safe and ���start out for both places at once!���

Six Steps for Biblical Decision-Making

God gave Moses the dream of leading the children of Israel out of 400 years of slavery, but Moses had to make the decision to confront Pharaoh. God gave Noah the dream of saving the world from the flood, but Noah had to make the decision to build the ark. God gave Abraham the dream of building a new nation, but Abraham had to make the decision to leave everything he had and go out into the unknown.

How to Be Unique and Effective

If you want to know God���s will for your life, you���ve got to look at what you���re good at. Why would God give you certain gifts, abilities, and talents and not expect you to use them? That would be a waste.

If You Want to Hear God, Get Still and Listen

Sometimes as adults we get spiritual wiggles. We cannot get still and be quiet.

But you have to be quiet in order to hear God speak. If you want to hear God���s vision, then you���re going to have to turn off the television. You can���t listen to God and the TV at the same time!

From Dream to Deliverance

If you want your faith to grow so you can claim God���s promise in Mark 9:23b ��� ���Everything is possible for the person who has faith��� (GNT) ��� then you must first understand that God takes you through six phases of faith.

Six Phases God Uses to Grow Your Faith

As a pastor, probably the question I���m asked more than any other is, ���Why is this happening to me? I don���t understand it.��� When you don���t understand God���s six phases of faith ��� the steps he uses to build your character ��� you will get discouraged. You may become resentful. You will certainly worry. You may become fearful about the future or get depressed. And most of all, you can���t cooperate with what God is doing when you don���t understand the process he���s taking you through. But when you understand the six phases of faith, then you can say, ���Oh, right now I���m in phase four��� ��� or phase six or phase two.

Who Will Be in Heaven Because of You?

When you become a follower of Christ, God fills you with his Holy Spirit. The proof of the Holy Spirit in you is not some emotional experience. The proof that you have God���s Spirit in you is if you are going. Are you telling anybody about the Good News?