Rick Warren's Blog, page 672

Dream Big

"Now glory be to God, by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of - infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes." Ephesians 3:20 (LB)

Faith is choosing and believing God's dream for your life. Nothing starts happening in your life until you start dreaming. God gave you the ability to dream, to create, to imagine. Dreaming is an act of faith. Everything you see on this planet started as a dream.

So, how do you get God's dream for your life? You do three things:

First, you dare to ask for it. Ephesians 3:20 says, "Now glory be to God, by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of - infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes." (LB).

If you want God's blessing on your life this year, you must dare to ask for it. You must say, "God, what's your dream for my life? What do you want me to do?" Then you ask yourself, "What would I attempt for God if I knew I couldn't fail?" Let that expand your vision.

Second, you believe God's promises. The Bible says in Jeremiah 32:27, "I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?" (NLT)

Never let an impossible situation intimidate you. Let it motivate you to pray more, believe more, trust more, experience more, learn more, and grow more. Faith always works in the realm of the impossible.

Hudson Taylor said there are three stages to God's will in your life: impossible, possible, and done.

Third, you dream big. "Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession." Psalm 2:8 (NIV).

The size of your God should determine the size of your goal. You haven't really believed God until you've attempted something that can't be done in the power of the flesh. If you want to know how big your dream should be, ask yourself two questions: How much time do you have to give to it? If it's a dream you can give the rest of your life to, then you can really dream big.

Second, what are you shaped to do? What are your spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences - the five things that make you you. What do you love to do? What are you gifted to do?

Dream great dreams for God. It's the first step in your walk of faith.

Talk It Over

Have you been waiting on God to make your dream happen? What have you asked of him concerning your dream?

What is the seemingly impossible thing you would attempt if you knew you wouldn't fail?

How do your dreams reflect the amount of faith you have in God?

How Do You Forgive?

"God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us, and he has given us the work of making peace between himself and others. What we mean is that God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world. And he has given us the work of sharing his message about peace. We were sent to speak for Christ, and God is begging you to listen to our message. We speak for Christ and sincerely ask you to make peace with God." 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (CEV)

Nearly 60 years ago, five American missionaries headed to the rainforest of the eastern Amazon in Equator to make a second visit to the Huaorani tribe, which anthropologists said was the most vicious, violent society on the face of the earth. They had a culture of killing, and studies showed 60 percent of the tribe died by homicide.

As soon as the missionaries got out of the plane, they were speared to death by members of the tribe. The brutal murders made news around the world and the cover of Life magazine, Time, and Newsweek. Many newspapers reported the deaths of these men, who included Nate Saint and Jim Elliot.

A couple years later, Elisabeth and Valerie Elliot, wife and daughter of Jim, and Rachel Saint, sister of Nate, moved into the Huaorani village to show love and forgiveness and minister to the people who had killed their family. Eventually, Mincaye, the leader of the tribe, and the five men who participated in the missionary murders all became Christians.

The kind of forgiveness that Elisabeth Elliot and Rachel Saint modeled doesn't make sense until you have been forgiven by God. Once you've experienced it, how do you forgive? You do the four things that these women did:

Relinquish your right to get even. Romans 12:19 says, "Don't try to get even. Let God take revenge" (CEV). Leave it up to God. He'll take care of it, and he'll do a much better job than you ever could.

Respond to evil with good. How can you tell when you've completely forgiven someone? You can actually pray for God to bless the person who hurt you. The Bible says. "Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you" (Luke 6:27b-28 NIV).

Repeat these steps as long as necessary. Peter asked Jesus in Matthew 18:21, "How many times should I forgive someone who does something wrong to me? Is seven times enough?" Jesus replied, "Not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!" (CEV) Sometimes forgiveness has to be continual.

Rescue others with the Good News of God's forgiveness. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, "God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us, and he has given us the work of making peace between himself and others. What we mean is that God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world. And he has given us the work of sharing his message about peace. We were sent to speak for Christ, and God is begging you to listen to our message. We speak for Christ and sincerely ask you to make peace with God."

Talk It Over

Why do you think it's so difficult to let go of our need to get even or "have the last word"?

What can you do to model forgiveness in your life?

Who in your life needs to hear God's message of peace and salvation?

Forgive Because You're Forgiven

"Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others." Colossians 3:13 (NLT)

The Bible says there are three reasons you have to let go of your past and the people who've hurt you, and the reasons have nothing to do with whether that person deserves it or not.

You have to forgive those who've hurt you because God has forgiven you. Colossians 3:13 says, "Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others." (NLT). If you want to be a forgiving person, you need to first accept the forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ. The Bible said that God came to Earth in human form in Jesus in order to forgive everything that's ever been done wrong. He paid for it so we don't have to. That's Good News.



You have to forgive those who've hurt you because resentment controls you. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:9, "Only fools get angry quickly and hold a grudge" (CEV).

Resentment makes you miserable, and it keeps you stuck in the past. And when you're stuck in the past, you are controlled by the past. Every time you resent something, it controls you. Some of you are allowing people who hurt you five, 10, or even 20 years ago to hurt you to this day. That's stupid. Don't let it happen. They can't hurt you any more. Your past is past. You've got to let it go.

You have to forgive those who've hurt you because you're going to need more forgiveness in the future. Jesus said in Matthew 6, "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (NIV). Forgiveness is a two way street. You cannot receive what you are unwilling to give.

Someone once told John Wesley, "I could never forgive that person!" Wesley replied, "Then I hope you never sin." You don't want to burn the bridge that you've got to walk across to get into Heaven.

Talk It Over

In what situation do you need to offer forgiveness so that you can move on from your past?

What is a sin that you believe you could never forgive?

How do you think God feels about that sin?

You Don't Have to Forget

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 (NIV)

You've heard this phrase over and over: "Forgive and forget." There's only one problem with it: You can't do it. It's impossible! You really can't forget a hurt in your life. In fact, you can't even try to forget it. Because when you're trying to forget, you are actually focusing on the very thing you want to forget.

Forgetting is not what God wants you to do. Instead, he wants you to trust him and see how he can bring good out of it. That's more important than forgetting, because then you can thank God for the good that he brought out of it. You can't thank God for things you forget.

Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (NIV).

It doesn't say that all things are good, because all things are not good. Cancer is not good. Disease is not good. Death is not good. Divorce is not good. War is not good. Rape and abuse are not good. There are a lot of things in life that are evil. Not everything that happens in this world is God's will.

But God says he will work good out of the bad things in life if you will trust him. When you come to him and say, "God, I give you all the pieces of my life," he will return peace for your pieces. He gives you peace in your heart that comes from knowing that even if you don't understand the hurt in your life, you can still forgive, knowing that God will use that pain for good.

You don't have to forget the wrong thing that someone did to you. You can't do it even if you tried! But God says you don't have to forget it. You just have to forgive and then see how he will bring good out of it.

Talk It Over

Who have you not forgiven because you haven't wanted to forget or let go of what he or she did to you?

What do you need to do today to forgive that person and move on?

How have you seen God work good in your life from difficult situations?

Requirements of Restored Relationship

Forgiveness is not resuming a relationship without change. In fact, forgiveness and resuming a relationship are two different things. One of them is what you do as the offended person. Resuming the relationship is what the other person does in order to get back into your good graces. Saying "I'm sorry" is not enough. In fact, the Bible teaches three things that are essential to resume a relationship that's been broken. These are all what the offender has to do.

Restoring a relationship requires repentance. In other words, you're truly saddened about what you did. That's not just saying, "I'm sorry." It means saying, "I was wrong. Please forgive me." You can be sorry that the weather was bad or something like that, but repentance is admitting wrong and being truly sorry.



Restoring a relationship requires restitution. Sometimes you have to do some kind of physical or material restitution. Even when you're forgiven, it doesn't mean you're off the hook. You still have to pay a debt to society or to someone for what was damaged or destroyed by your actions.



Restoring a relationship requires rebuilding trust. That, friends, takes a long, long time. When somebody hurts you, you have to forgive him or her immediately. But you don't have to trust that person immediately. Forgiveness is built on grace and is unconditional. Trust has to be rebuilt over a period of time.

Most people in our culture don't get the difference between forgiveness and rebuilding trust in a relationship. Whenever a political or religious leader gets caught in a scandal, there will always be people who say, "We're all imperfect. We're all human. We need to just forgive him and keep on going."

No! You must forgive him immediately, but you don't have to trust him. The Bible says trust is built with time. Credibility is what a leader leads with. All leaders must have trust; it's the currency they live in. If you lose trust, you have lost your right to lead at that moment. You may have the title, but you're not the leader until you rebuild trust. And that isn't going to happen instantly.

Talk It Over

What does it take for someone to regain your trust? What are you willing to do to regain someone's trust?

Give some examples from your life when you were sorry and when you were truly repentant.

In these three factors for restoring a relationship, what is the responsibility of the person who was offended?

What Forgiveness Really Is

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:34 (NIV)

Forgiveness may be the most misused, misapplied, and misunderstood quality in our culture. We think we know what forgiveness is all about, but we really don't. Before reading further, take a minute to do this little quiz by deciding if each statement is true or false.

A person should not be forgiven until he asks for it.

Forgiving includes minimizing the offense and the pain caused.

Forgiveness includes restoring trust and reuniting a relationship.

You haven't really forgiven until you've forgotten the offense.

When you see somebody hurt, it is your duty to forgive the offender.

When you read the Bible and see what God has to say about forgiveness, you discover that all five of those statements are false. How did you do?

We're going to spend the next few days looking at what forgiveness really is, because most people don't understand forgiveness.

First, real forgiveness is unconditional. There's no attachment to it. You don't earn it. You don't deserve it. You don't bargain for it. Forgiveness is not based on a promise to never do it again. You offer it to somebody whether they ask for it or not.

When Jesus stretched out his hands on the cross and said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing," nobody had asked for it (Luke 23:34 NIV). Nobody had said, "Please forgive me, Jesus, for what they're doing to you." He just offered it. He took the initiative.

Second, forgiveness isn't minimizing the seriousness of the offense. When somebody asks for your forgiveness and you say, "It's no big deal. It really didn't hurt," that actually cheapens forgiveness. If it wasn't a big deal, you don't need forgiveness and you don't need to offer it.

Forgiveness is only for the big stuff. You don't use it for slights that are just minor issues. If something really requires forgiveness, then you should not minimize it when somebody asks you for forgiveness. You shouldn't say it wasn't a big deal. It was a big deal! If it wasn't a big deal, just say, "You don't need to ask forgiveness." But if it is a big deal, then you need to admit it.

There are a lot of big deals in life. Have you noticed that? But there is a difference in being wounded and being wronged. Being wounded requires patience and acceptance, not forgiveness, because the person did it unintentionally. Being wronged requires forgiveness.

Talk It Over

What are the wounds that you've been waiting for someone to apologize for but that you just need to accept?

Why is it so hard to offer forgiveness to someone who has not asked for it? How can you move past this?

How does your attitude on forgiveness change when you consider how Christ forgave you?

You Need a Plan

"Sensible people always think before they act, but stupid people advertise their ignorance." Proverbs 13:16 (GN)

If you want to achieve the goals you've made for yourself in 2014, you'll need a plan to get from where you are to where you want to go. You'll need a plan to overcome the expected problems you'll face on that journey. Without a plan all your goals will go up in smoke this year.

Genesis 24 tells the story of Eliazar's ingenious plan to find a wife for his master's son, Isaac. Eliazar had two major obstacles to fulfilling this goal. Where would he find a wife for Isaac in his master's homeland? And how was he going to find a high character woman without observing her long term? Eliazar devised a predetermined plan to solve both of these problems.�

First, Eliazar went to a place where women gathered in those days - a well. He had much higher odds of finding a wife at that well than any other place he could have gone.

And, Eliazar knew exactly how to get the type of wife he wanted for Isaac. He wanted to find a compassionate woman, so he looked for someone who would offer to draw up to 15 gallons of water for each of his 10 camels. That's a lot of water!

Eliazar didn't fly by the seat of his pants to accomplish his goal. Instead he prayerfully established a plan, and, ultimately, he was successful. In doing so he proved what the Bible says in Proverbs 13:16: "Sensible people always think before they act, but stupid people advertise their ignorance" (GN).

Good planning - whether that plan is for your family, your work, your ministry, or a different area of your life - has three parts to it:

Steps: You need to establish how you are going to get from where you are now to where you want to go. Write down those steps.

Deadlines: Put a date with every one of those steps. A goal is a statement of faith as you say that you believe God wants you to accomplish your goal by a particular date.

Schedule: Write those dates into your calendar. Don't just hide it in a filing cabinet or up on a shelf. Show me what's on your calendar, and I'll tell you what's important to you.

Studies show that only 5 percent of Americans have written down goals for their lives.

Those same studies show that the same 5 percent are the highest wage earners in the U.S. Successful people set their direction and go for it.� Unsuccessful people drift.� Life just happens to them. They don't have any goals. They don't know where they're going in life.� At the end of 2014, it's just another year down the drain.

Don't let that happen. Develop a plan to reach your goals in 2014.

Talk It Over

Looking at some of the goals you've set for yourself in 2014, what are some step-by-step plans you can write down that can lead to these goals?

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What part or parts of the planning process do you struggle with the most: writing down your steps, planning a schedule, or keeping deadlines? Why do you think this is so?

Leaning on the Promises of God

"For the�Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son." Genesis 24:7 (NLT)

Many people start the calendar year off with a goal. They resolve to lose weight, to spend more time with their kids, to read more, to achieve something specific at work, or some other noble (or not so noble) goal.

But not every goal is a godly goal. Godly goals are attached to God's promises in his Word. His promises give us the courage and faith to move forward when it's much more natural to be scared or worried.

In Genesis 24, Abraham gave his servant, Eliazar, a very tough goal: find a wife for his son, Isaac. At first Eliazar let fear get the best of him. He asked Abraham, "What do I do if I find a wife for Isaac, but she won't come with me?"

Abraham then reminded his servant of God's promise: "For the�Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son" Genesis 24:7 (NLT).

After Abraham reminded Eliazar of the Lord's promise, his fear vanished. The same thing happens with us. It's scary to put everything you have into a big goal. No one wants to fail.

But the Bible urges us not to look to our own strength to reach our goals. In fact, if we can accomplish our goals in our own strength, we're not pursuing godly goals in the first place.

What does God's Word say about your goals for this year? You'll never know unless you get to know what the Bible teaches. It's like having an insurance policy, but you don't know what that policy covers. You'd worry about many things needlessly.

In the Bible God promises to help us as we get healthy, become better parents, eliminate our debt, and more. But unless we know those promises and claim those promises, we'll worry needlessly about achieving those goals.

The truth is, you don't have to have big faith to accomplish huge goals either. You just need a little faith - in a big God! Your God is the God of the universe. He can do anything.

Are you ready to trust God for the unbelievable?

Talk It Over

How do broken promises from people in our past impact our ability to trust God?

What promise from God's Word do you need to lean on for your 2014 goals?

How does leaning on the promises of God give you the needed confidence to pursue your goals?

The Power of a Focused Life

"Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty." Proverbs 21:5 (NLT)

If you want God to use you in great ways in 2014, you'll need focus. The more focused you are in 2014, the more effective you'll be - and the more God will use you.

There's awesome power in a focused life. Diffused light doesn't have much of an effect on what it touches. But when you focus light - like the sun's light through a magnifying glass - you can light a piece of paper or grass on fire. If you can focus it even more, it becomes a laser. A laser can cut through steel and destroy cancer.

The same is true with your life. If your 2014 is directionless, you'll just drift through without impacting much. But if you focus your year on a few key goals, then you can make a powerful impact on the world for God.

The Bible says. "Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty" Proverbs 21:5 NLT).

One of the great examples of focus in the Bible is the story in Genesis 24. Abraham was getting old, and his son still hadn't married. God had promised Abraham that through his own family he would create a great nation through Abraham, which God did. But Abraham's son, Isaac, still didn't have any kids. He wasn't even married yet. So Abraham gave his servant, Eliazar, a goal of finding a wife for his son. Abraham told his servant, "Don't get a wife from the Canaanite girls who live around here. Go back to my country, to the land of my relatives, and there get a wife for my son Isaac."

Like all good goals, Eliazar's was clear. He knew he needed to find Isaac a wife, and he knew exactly what kind of wife to look for. He needed to find a wife from Abraham's homeland. You'll never reach a vague goal because you'll never know if you've completed it. Eliazar didn't have that problem.

For example, if your goal for 2014 is to be a better parent, that's vague. Even if you make the goal to spend more time with your children this year, you'll never really know if you've completed the goal.

But if you commit to spending an hour every Tuesday evening with your children, that's specific. You'll know whether or not you've completed it. Those kinds of goals can change your life.

So what specific goal will you set for yourself in 2014?

Talk It Over

How do specific goals empower you to complete them?

What specific goals do you want to set for yourself in 2014?

With whom can you share your goals in 2014 for encouragement and accountability?

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Five Winning Choices

"Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17 (LB)

We learned yesterday that, ultimately, your identity is based on your choices. Here are five winning choices you can make that will help determine your destiny:

You can choose to get healthier. Instead of bemoaning the fact that you don't have an Olympic body, find ways to increase your energy, lower your stress, get more sleep, and have more power. Psalm 119:73 says, "Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands" (NIV). Improving the controllable factors in your life helps you reduce the impact of the uncontrollable factors.



You can choose to deepen relationships. The fear of rejection prevents connection, and the only way to get rid of fear is to do the thing you fear the most. Learn communication skills, replace bad relationships, and reach out risk connecting with someone. "Let love be your highest goal!" (1 Corinthians 14:1a NLT)



You can choose to trust God, no matter what happens. "I will praise the LORD at all times. I will constantly speak his praises" (Psalm 34:1 LB). When you get to the point in your life where you can say, "I praise the Lord, no matter what happens," that is a confidence that you won't find anywhere in Hollywood, on Capitol Hill, or on Wall Street. That is a confidence built on a relationship with God!



You can choose what you think about. Throughout the 20th century, scientists believed the adult brain could not be changed. When the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner proved that you can rewire your brain, science finally caught up to the Bible: "Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." (Romans 12:2 NLT). Your self is created by your memories, and your memories are created by your mental habits. Feed your brain with truth - God's Word.



You can choose Jesus as your Savior. I'm not just talking about Jesus saving you from your sins. I'm talking about letting Jesus be your Savior every day. Letting Jesus save you gives you the power to follow through on the choices you make. "Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17 (LB).

You get to choose how much God blesses your life; he is just waiting on you to use your wild card. It is never too late to change. When you make these five winning choices, God gives you a winning hand.

Pray this prayer today: "Dear God, there are some things you've dealt me and life has dealt me and others have dealt me that I don't like. But I thank you for the wild card. Thank you that you made me in your image and that I can make choices. Today, in your power and your strength, I choose to get healthier. I choose to do the things that will give me more energy and a healthier mind, body, and emotions. Lord, I choose to build healthy relationships. I'm scared to death, but I'm going to risk building new, healthy connections. I want love to be my highest goal; I want my life to be built on love.

"God, I choose to trust you, regardless of the circumstances. I will praise you, no matter what happens! I will trust that every detail of my life is being worked out for good. Lord, I choose what I will think about - no more junk. Help me to fill my life with positive memories and the Word of truth. Most of all, Jesus, I choose you as my Savior. I need your salvation, but I also need you to save me from myself. I need you to help me rewire my body, my heart, my mind, and my relationships so that the rest of my life is the best of my life. In Jesus' name. Amen."