Rick Warren's Blog, page 632

The Holy Spirit Brings God’s Truth to Mind

God speaks through ideas from the Holy Spirit. He gives you thoughts. He gives you suggestions. He puts impressions or notions in your mind. When the devil talks to you, that is temptation. But when God talks to you in your mind, we call that inspiration.

God Gives Advice Through Other People

God speaks to you through friends and family, particularly if they are believers. Proverbs 12:26 says, “The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray” (NLT).

We all have blind spots. You have things in your life that you’re never going to see that need to be corrected, so God puts people around you to tell you the truth. Everybody needs somebody in their life who loves them enough to tell them the truth

God Reveals Truth Through Biblical Teachers

The Bible tells us in Ephesians 4:11-12, “Christ chose some of us to be apostles, prophets, missionaries, pastors, and teachers, so that his people would learn to serve and his body would grow strong” (CEV).

How do you know when somebody’s talking if that person has this gift from God to be a teacher?

One Barrier to Hearing God Speak is Resistance

If you want to hear God speak, you must first cultivate an open mind.

What does that mean? It means you’ve got to be receptive. You’ve got to be willing. You’ve got to be open. You’ve got to be eager. You’ve got to be ready.

Hurry is a Barrier to Hearing God

To cultivate an open mind so that you can hear from God, you’ve got to allocate time to listen. That means you’ve got to slow down. You’ve got to be quiet. You’ve got to put it in your schedule so you have time to hear God speak.

Prayer: Decide in Advance to Obey God’s Word

God speaks to the person who decides in advance to do whatever God says to do.

God doesn’t speak to the person who says, “God, tell me what you want me to say, and I’ll decide if it’s a good idea or not.” God does not speak to the person who says, “God, tell me what you think is the good thing, and I’ll compare it with my other options and choose the one I think is best.” No. God’s not going to waste his time on that. You have to say in advance, “God, I’m willing to cooperate with whatever you want me to do. I’m signing a blank check; you fill it in.”

Weed Out Distractions So You Can Hear God

God wants to speak to you. But first, you must eliminate the distractions so that you can hear from him.

You can’t hear God when your mind is crowded with worries, your plans, and your activities. You can’t hear God when your mind is filled with TV, the Internet, and your cell phone. For many of us, there is too much noise going on for us to hear from God.

Invest in Eternity Through Your Giving

God wants us to use some money to take the Good News around the world. We invest in eternity every time we use money to bring others to Jesus.

When you save to go on a mission trip, that’s an investment in God’s Global Fund. When you help others go on a mission trip, that’s an investment in God’s Global Fund.

Be Generous Like God Is Generous with You

God wants you to use some of your money to help people in need. God didn’t put us on this earth to live for ourselves. He blesses us so that we can bless others.

This is all part of God making us more like himself. God is generous. Everything we have in life is because of God’s generosity. We wouldn’t have anything — we wouldn’t even be alive — if it weren’t for God’s generosity. And God wants us to be generous like he is

How Can You Store Up Treasure in Heaven?

You are going to enjoy forever what you invest in Heaven, and you invest in Heaven every time you use money for good.

Yesterday we talked about investing in eternity by using your money to grow your character, encourage fellowship in the Body of Christ, and serve others in need. There are two more funds that you should invest in so that you can yield eternal dividends in Heaven.