Wednesday, 25 June 2014 "God Always Provides. It’s Your Job To Ask" by Rick Warren
“Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?” (Romans 8:32 NLT)
When I was a kid, any time I needed something, I’d go talk to my dad. Sometimes what I needed was expensive, but I remember that not once as a kid did I worry about where my father was going to get the money for whatever I needed. That wasn’t my job! It was my dad’s job to figure out where the money was going to come from. It was my job as a kid to simply ask.
It’s not your job to figure out how God’s going to provide. It’s your job to ask.
The Bible says in James 4:2, “You do not have because you do not ask God” (NIV).
Here’s the second key to stress management: Worry less, and ask more. Instead of worrying, pray about everything.
Romans 8:32 says, “Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?” (NLT)
If God solved your biggest problem, everything else is small by comparison. If God loved you enough to send Jesus to die for your sins, don’t you think he loves you enough to help you with your finances? Don’t you think he loves you enough to help you with your health? With your relationships? With career decisions? With closing a deal? With your deadline?
There’s no area of your life that God is not interested in. He already knows what you need, but he still wants you to ask him for it. Instead of worrying, pray about everything.
Talk It Over:
•What keeps you from asking God for the things that you need?
Why do you think God wants you to ask him for what you need when he already knows all your needs?
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Thursday, 26 June 2014 "Path to Miracle: Goes Through Uncomfortable Territory" by Rick Warren
“Then the LORD spoke his word to Elijah, ‘Go to Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I have commanded a widow there to take care of you.’ So Elijah went to Zarephath.” (1 Kings 17:8-10a NCV)
When you’re scared to death and vulnerable, you don’t know where you’re going, you don’t know how long it’s going to take, and you don’t know what’s going to happen when you get there, what do you do?
You remember that the path to a miracle is always through uncomfortable territory.
The Bible gives an illustration in 1 Kings 17:8-10: “Then the LORD spoke his word to Elijah, ‘Go to Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I have commanded a widow there to take care of you.’ So Elijah went to Zarephath” (NCV).
God told Elijah to walk more than 100 miles during a drought through dangerous territory, where everyone knew who he was, and everyone knew King Ahab had a price on Elijah’s head. When Elijah finally made it to Zarephath, he met a poor widow who was going to feed him, but how could she help defend or protect him from a pagan town full of people who wouldn’t hesitate to kill him?
Miracles don’t happen when things are comfortable. Miracles happen when things are uncomfortable. Elijah didn’t say, “God, there are three things wrong with this plan. One, you’re sending me in the wrong direction. Two, you’re sending me to the wrong location. And three, you’re sending me to the wrong protection.”
Elijah just obeyed.
The path to a miracle is always through uncomfortable territory.
For instance —
•When Moses led the Israelites out of slavery to the Promised Land, they had to go through the Red Sea first.
•Before David could slay Goliath, he had to walk onto the battlefield.
•God told Jehoshaphat to put the choir before the army, and he’d win the victory. How much faith do you think that took?
Miracles never happen in your comfort zone, when everything’s great and convenient. You don’t need a miracle when everything is settled in your life. You only need a miracle when you’re on the edge, when you’re scared to death, when you’re insecure, when you can get hit at any angle.
Are you at a place right now in your life where things are a little uncomfortable — financially, emotionally, relationally, or physically? You’re a little nervous, a little on the edge, a little insecure. Congratulations. You’re on the path to a miracle!
Just like Elijah, God wants you to obey, so you can see his miracle at the end of the road.
Talk It Over:
•What is God asking you to do that makes you uncomfortable?
•What do you want God to do in your life? How have you expressed your anticipation of his miracle in your life?
Who are the people who can encourage you on the uncomfortable road you may be walking right now?
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Friday, 27 June 2014 "Miracles Always Come from Unexpected Sources" by Rick Warren“‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the LORD. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.’” (Isaiah 55:8 NLT)
Most of us have some need in our lives that we want met. And many of us try to figure how to get them fulfilled. You may be looking around saying, “Maybe God could do it that way” or “Maybe I could help God along with this” or “Maybe I could give a suggestion here.”
You’re trying to manipulate God, and it doesn’t work!
The source of a miracle will not be where you think it’s going to come from. It’s always unexpected.
God told Abraham that he was going to have a son, and that son was going to be the father of a great nation. Abraham was nearly 100 years old and had a little trouble believing God’s promise. So he took matters into his own hands and had sex with a woman who wasn’t his wife, and they had a son named Ishmael. Bu God said, “No! That’s not the one I promised. That’s the one you came up with using your plan, but that’s not my plan. My plan is I’m going to use your wife Sarah and do a miracle long after she’s capable of having children.”
The way you want to meet the need in your life is not the way God wants to meet the need in your life. Your way is second best. God’s way is always best.
If you could understand God, you’d be God. But you’re not! Let me give you a little stress reliever. Repeat this 10 times: “God is God, and I’m not.” Isaiah 55:8 says, “’My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the LORD. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine’” (NLT).
The path to a miracle is always through uncomfortable territory. The source of a miracle always comes in an unexpected way.
So what do you do when you’re on this road? You don’t fret. You don’t fear. You don’t try to figure it out.
You just have faith. You trust God, and say, “I don’t know how God is going to do it, but he will do it.” If God tells you to do it, even if it doesn’t make sense, you do it. Even if going in that direction, or to that location, or to talk to that person doesn’t make sense, you simply obey God and do what he tells you to do. And then, you get ready for a miracle.
Talk It Over:
•What are you looking at as the source of your expected miracle? Or, is there a person you’re looking to?
•How do you think God wants you to show your faith in him to provide your miracle?
What is God telling you to do that doesn’t make sense but that you know you should obey?
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