Rick Warren's Blog, page 596

Happiness Habit: Become More Like Jesus By Giving

Everything in your life is a gift of God, because God is generous.

God wants his children to become like him. He wants you to learn that you can give without loving but you cannot love without giving.

Happiness Habit: Giving Reveals Your Heart

Every time you give, you reveal what matters to you. Tell me how you spend your money and your time, and I���ll tell you what matters most to you. Your schedule might reveal that what matters most to you is your children. Your spending might reveal that what matters most to you is your hobby.

Happiness Habit: Be Generous

You earn a living by what you make, but you earn the respect and gratitude of others and a legacy and reputation by what you give.

Who are the people in your life you���re most grateful for? They���re the people who���ve invested time, money, energy, and patience in you. The people you���re most grateful for are the people who���ve given the most to you.

Happiness Habit: The Power of Grateful Prayers

In Philippians 4:6-7 we find one of the most difficult verses in the entire Bible to obey: ���Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace��� (NLT).

Happiness Habit: Sing Your Thanks to the Lord

Learning to thank God for what he has given us is an important part of our spiritual journey. So how do you make gratitude to God an important part of your life?

Happiness Habit: Say Thanks for Answered Prayer

If you want to hear God speak, then worship God.

In other words, thank him for being a part of your life and for being interested in the details of your life. Thank him for answering your prayers: ���O Lord, now I have heard your report, and I worship you in awe��� (Habakkuk 3:2a LB). God gives you a vision. God gives you a dream. You know what God wants you to do, so now you thank him for answering your prayer. That���s part of worshiping God.

Happiness Habit: Give Thanks in All Circumstances

In the U.S., we celebrate a day of thanksgiving once a year. But God wants us to be intentional about our thankfulness every day. He wants us to develop this spiritual habit, one that is reflected in the life of a radical believer. The truth is, the more deeply you understand God���s love, the more grateful you���re going to be.

Happiness Habit: Be Generous On Every Occasion

God makes you rich in every way so you can be generous on every occasion, which will result in thanksgiving to God.

God doesn���t bless you so you can be greedy; he blesses you so you can be generous. You give away, and God gives back to you so you can give more away and he can give more back to you and on and on and on. God doesn���t give you things so you can pile them up. When you let go of what���s in your hand, it���s now empty to receive greater blessings from God.

Happiness Habit: Find Things in Common

One skill that doesn���t seem to be taught in school anymore is how to work well with others. But it���s one of the most important skills to learn if you���re going to be a happy person.
If you don���t work well with other people, you���re going to be unhappy much of your life.

What do you need to learn in order to work with other people?

Happiness Habit: Be Trustworthy

The more people trust you, the happier you���re going to be. If people don���t trust you, you���re going to live a pretty miserable life.

If you want to be happy, you���ve got to become somebody that people trust.