Rick Warren's Blog, page 586

You Can Count on God

When everything���s changing around you, it���s important to remember that God is a consistent Father. He will never let you down. He can be counted on. He is reliable. He is worthy of trust.

God Is Aware, and He Cares

God is a caring, loving, compassionate father. He loves you more than you will ever understand. He loves you more than you can ever comprehend. God is love, and he made you to love you. He is loving toward you in everything that he does, and his compassion is his most outstanding quality. God is a caring father.

Get to Know God As Father

In the thousands of years covered in the Old Testament, God is called ���Father��� only seven times. People just didn���t think of God as Father. They thought of him as other kinds of things ��� Creator, Almighty One, etc. But they didn���t think of God as Father. Then Jesus came along and said this is how you���re to pray: Call him Father. Jesus uses the expression more than 150 times to refer to God.

You Are a Significant Part of the Body of Christ

One of the most common descriptions of the Church in the Bible is the ���Body of Christ.��� What Jesus Christ did when he was here in his physical body, he wants us to continue to do today. We are the Body of Christ on Earth.

Christianity: Adopted into the Family

There are only two ways to get into a family: You can either be born into it, or you can be adopted into it. God does both for you! It���s called being born again, and it���s called being adopted into the family of God. God does both.

To Bear Fruit, Get Connected

Right before Jesus went to the cross, he gave his last minute instructions to his followers: ���Live in me, and I will live in you. A branch cannot produce any fruit by itself. It has to stay attached to the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit unless you live in me��� (John 15:4 GW).

Positive Prayer Makes Strong Relationships

I want you to think of somebody who irritates you ��� maybe somebody you���ve got a strained relationship with or who just rubs you the wrong way. I have two questions for you: One, do you pray for that person? Or do you just complain and grumble and nag and nitpick? If you prayed more, you���d have a lot less to grumble, complain, nag, and nitpick about. It���s your decision.

Selective Memory: Focus on the Good Times

Developing an attitude of gratitude does not come naturally. We are not by nature grateful people. We are by nature discontented. We always want more or something different.

The More Grateful You Are, the Happier You Are

Study after study has linked gratitude to happiness. Psychologists and sociologists have proven that the more grateful you are, the happier you are.

We Obey God Out of Love, Not Fear

Jesus said in John 15:14, ���You are my friends if you do what I command��� (NLT, second edition).

You can���t say you love Jesus and then go live like the devil. You can���t say you���re a Christian and then keep on living a self-centered life. You can���t say you���re a follower of Jesus and then pick and choose the verses that you want to listen to and ignore the ones you don���t. Jesus says you���re his friend if you obey him and his commandments.