Rick Warren's Blog, page 655

Budgeting: Know Where You Stand Financially

“Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts.” (Proverbs 24:3 LB)

One of the most important steps to financial freedom is making a list of all that you own, all that you owe, and all that you earn. This is called keeping good records! It’s the principle of accounting.

Put God First in Your Finances Through Tithing

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33 NIV)

One of the best known and most successful business leaders of Southern California once told me, “Rick, you need to tell people the best time to start tithing is when they’re in debt. That’s when they need the most help.”

How Do You Strengthen Your Friends’ Faith?

“I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13 NASB)

A divorce or any other major crisis in your life will shake your faith. But it is your faith and your trust in Christ that’s going to get you through it. David, after suffering great loss, including the loss of a child, wrote in Psalm 27:13, “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (NASB). He would have given up if he hadn’t believed in the goodness of God.

For God’s Miracle, Open the Eyes of Your Heart

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.” (Ephesians 1:18 NIV)

How quickly we forget!

God does something good in our lives — he answers a prayer, he bails us out, he helps us with a miracle — then the next time a problem comes along, we act as if God’s miracle never happened. We have short-term memory. And when we can’t remember past blessings, we start fearing the future. We stop thinking God will do it again, because we forgot he did it the first time.

When we have short-term memory, we start worrying unnecessarily about tomorrow.

Learning to have spiritual vision is absolutely essential to your success, your stress level, your stability, and your strength. The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision ... the people perish” (AMP).

Without clear vision, you lose hope. When you don’t have a vision for your family, you lose hope. When you don’t have a vision for your career, you lose hope. When you don’t have a vision for your health, you lose hope.

When you can’t see your way clearly, it means you’ve lost your vision, which means you’re going to lose your hope.

The key to making it through the struggle in your life, no matter how long it lasts, is hope. And you don’t just pull it out of the sky; you get it from God’s vision.

Ephesians 1:18 says, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” (NIV). He’s talking about seeing with spiritual eyes and having spiritual vision.

You get hope from seeing your life from God’s eternal perspective.

If you’re looking for God to do a miracle in your life, ask him to open the eyes of your heart and give you his vision for your life.

Talk It Over

Make a list of the ways God has provided for you over the last year. What is the vision God has given you for your family, career, and ministry? How do you anticipate God moving in your life in the future? How does it give you hope?

Jesus Comes to You in Your Storm

“About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water.” (Mark 6:48b NLT)

In Mark 6, Jesus went off by himself to pray and sent the disciples ahead of him to Bethsaida. It wasn’t a long trip by boat, but they were blown off course by a storm, and when Jesus saw them struggling against the wind in the middle of the lake, he came to their aid.

Your Friends Need You To Share Their Pain

“Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down.” (Romans 12:15 MSG)

The interesting thing about pain and joy is that whenever you share a joy, it gets doubled. But it’s the opposite with pain. When you share a pain, it’s halved. When your friends are going through a crisis, they need you to help carry the load and lessen the pain.

Real Friends Show Up in a Crisis

“A friend should treat a troubled person kindly, even if he abandons the fear of the Almighty.” (Job 6:14 GW)

Real friends show up when you’re in a crisis. Real friends walk into your life when everybody else walks out. It is in a crisis that you learn pretty quickly the difference between acquaintances and friends. You have a lot of acquaintances. Who is the friend that is going to show up in the crisis in your life?

Five Things To Do in the Middle of the Storm

“But when [Peter] saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. ‘Save me, Lord!’ he shouted.” (Matthew 14:30 NIV)

When you’re going through a storm, God is not distant or uninvolved. He is “I Am,” and he is working in your life for your good. But he also has some things he wants you to do. Here are five things God wants you to do if you feel you’re sinking in a storm.

You Don’t Need a Plan, You Need ‘I Am’

“When they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” (Mark 6:49-50 NIV)

You only learn what Jesus is really like in the storms of life. You see that he’s not a mere man. He’s not just a nice teacher. He’s not an ethical leader. He is God, the Creator of the universe.

Jesus Is Praying for You

“Who then is the one who condemns us? No one. Christ Jesus who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” (Romans 8:34 NIV)

God knows everything that’s going to happen. He is omniscient. He knows the past, the present, and the future all at once. He already knows what’s going to happen in your life this afternoon. He knows what’s going to happen in your life next week, next month, next year, and the rest of your days. This also means he can pray about it before it happens to you.