Rick Warren's Blog, page 642

The Light in the Dark Times

Did Jesus suffer? Was he sometimes lonely? Was he tempted to be discouraged? Was he misunderstood, maligned, and criticized unjustly?

Of course! None of us are exempt from suffering, loneliness, discouragement, or unjust criticism, because God is developing within us the character of Christ, and, in order to do this, he must take us through all of the circumstances in life through which he took Christ.

Shield of Faith: Protection Money Can’t Buy

As a follower of Jesus, you have fiery darts coming at you all the time. So what kind of fiery darts are coming your way? Satan implants the following thoughts into your mind:

Peace: The Worry Beater

Conflict makes you an easy target for Satan’s attacks. It doesn’t matter if your conflict is with God, other people, or even yourself; it will open the door for Satan to tear you apart.

You’ll become a pushover for his plans. It’ll open up every area of your life to Satan’s attacks.

Satan Fears the Pursuit of Purity

We don’t have to do anything wrong for Satan to attack us. It’s what he does. It’s who he is. The Bible calls him “the accuser of our brothers and sisters" (Revelation 12:10 NLT). And he wants nothing more than to attack those who love Jesus.

Live with Integrity

Integrity matters. The Bible says we’re in a war “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world.” And we can’t battle those spiritual forces that threaten to derail our lives if we’re not living with integrity.

Essentially, we’re committed to taking the truth of God’s Word and applying it to all areas of our lives, such as our moral, financial, relational, and sexual lives.

Satan Is Real

You have an enemy — and it’s not who you think it is. It isn’t the person you’re competing against at work. It isn’t the difficult neighbor. It isn’t your ex-spouse. It isn’t the group in your community who are taking unbiblical positions against you.

Your enemy isn’t flesh and blood at all.

The Battle You Were Born to Win

“The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4b NIV)

You were born into a battle. You didn’t ask for it. But before you were born and long after you die, a cosmic battle is taking place all throughout the universe. You can’t escape the battle between God and Satan, good and evil — even if you don’t know it exists.

Yet it’s important to know God and Satan are not equal enemies. God is far superior in all ways. One day God will completely wipe Satan out. But until then, he allows us to have a choice of whose side we’re on.

People are often pawns in this cosmic battle. Satan can’t hurt God. What do you do when you can't hurt someone? You hurt his children. So Satan goes after you.

The bad news is, you were born for a battle. But there’s good news. You were born to win the battle. The Bible says, “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4b NIV).

Satan isn’t afraid of you. He is afraid of who is in you — God.

With the Holy Spirit in you, you don’t have to be afraid of Satan. You’re on the winning side of this war. Now live like it.

Talk It Over

How will knowing the truth that you’re in a spiritual battle change the way you live? How will knowing the truth that you’re destined to win spiritual battles change the way you face your fears?

Change Something, Change You

You can’t change everything. But you can change you.

When your life feels like it's falling apart, knowing what you can change — and what you can’t change — can make all the difference.

Ready, Set — Wait

When life seems to be falling apart, your most “spiritual” decision may be a surprise: Get alone with God, and wait.

The Bible tells us this in Lamentations 3:28, “When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions: Wait for hope to appear. Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face. The ‘worst’ is never the worst” (Lamentations 3:28 MSG).

Tell It to the Lord

We all go through a time when our lives seem to be falling apart. We lose our job. A relationship falls apart. Someone dies. Our health takes a turn for the worse.

In those times, we’re tempted to think God has abandoned us.