Rick Warren's Blog, page 613

There���s an Inheritance Waiting for You

If you were the son or the daughter of Bill Gates, it would probably stand to reason that you were going to receive a large inheritance.

Life Doesn���t End With Death

As believers, we have hope because we are going to live forever. Death is not the end. There is more to the story! One day your heart will stop beating, and that will be the end of your body. But it���s not going to be the end of you.

Let God Tell You What to Give

You can give by reason or by revelation. If you���re going to become a person of faith, you have to learn to give by revelation. When you give by reason, you say, ���This is what I can reasonably give.��� It doesn���t require any faith to give by reason.

Faith Is Thanking God in Advance

Faith is not believing God can do something. Faith is not hoping he will do something. Faith is thanking God in advance.

Jesus said, ���When you pray and you ask for something, believe that you have received it and you will be given what you asked for��� (Mark 11:24 TEV).

Tell It Like It Could Be

There is enormous power in your words. If you���re going to become a woman or man of faith, you have to change the way you talk. You have to announce it in order to experience it.

Develop the Habits That Produce Godliness

Sometimes I don���t feel like being nice to my wife and kids. I don���t feel like doing the unselfish thing. I want to just lie on the couch and watch TV. I don���t want to do one more thing today. I don���t want to handle another problem. But just because I don���t feel like it doesn���t mean I shouldn���t do it.

How to Obey in Faith

Faith is obedience when you don���t understand it. In just the New Testament alone, there are 1,050 commands, and they���re all there for your benefit. God says things like, ���Love your enemies��� and ���Forgive the people who hurt you.��� That���s not easy! There are a lot of commands in the Bible that seem difficult, unreasonable, unrealistic, unachievable, and even impossible. But when God says things like, ���You should save sex for marriage,��� he���s not being mean. He says it because he knows best and what will make you happy more than you do.

You Have to Believe It Before You Can See It

Faith is visualizing the future. It���s believing it before you see it. Hebrews 11:1 says, ���Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see��� (NLT, second edition).

Sow Generously to Reap Generously

When it comes to your giving, there are two principles you need to remember, and they���re based on 2 Corinthians 9:6-8: ���Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work��� (NIV).

Prove God Through Your Giving

The Bible says there���s only one way you can prove God: through giving, specifically through tithing.

Malachi 3:9-10 says, ������You are under a curse ��� your whole nation ��� because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,��� says the LORD Almighty, ���and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it������ (NIV).