Month: August 2024

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“Glory be to God, who 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 (TLB)

Through faith, God-given dreams become reality. Nothing happens until dreams and faith start working together!

The Bible is full of people who had God-given dreams. Abraham dreamed of being the father of a great nation. Moses dreamed of setting God’s people free. Joseph dreamed of saving a nation and his own family. Throughout Scripture, all kinds of people were inspiring dreamers, including Daniel, Esther, and Paul.

Ephesians 3:20 says, “Glory be to God, who 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” (TLB).

Now, if there were ever a “blank check” verse in the Bible, that’s it. God is able to do far more than you would dare to ask. What are you afraid to ask God for? He can do so much more than you can even dream of.

I don’t know about you, but I’m a pretty big dreamer. However, dreams are nothing compared to what God has planned for my life. It’s as if God says, “Rick, think of the greatest thing you could ever dream of, the greatest thing you think I could do in your life. Guess what? I can top that.”

If you were to cry when you arrived in heaven, those tears would simply be for all the things you could have done if you had just believed God a little bit more. To me that would be hell—being shown everything I could have accomplished and become as a husband, father, and pastor if I had just believed God a little bit more.

But there aren’t any tears in heaven, and God gives you everything you need right now to accomplish what he has planned for you. So dream big about your relationships, marriage, family, and career. Your faith can turn those dreams into reality.

God is able to do far more than you would dare to ask or even dream of.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

Have faith in God! If you have faith in God and don’t doubt, you can tell this mountain to get up and jump into the sea, and it will. Everything you ask for in prayer will be yours, if you only have faith.”  Mark 11:22-24 (CEV)

Faith opens the door to miracles. If you study the Bible and history, you’ll find that every time God moves on earth and does a miracle, it’s because somebody believes.

Jesus said in Mark 11:22-24, “Have faith in God! If you have faith in God and don’t doubt, you can tell this mountain to get up and jump into the sea, and it will. Everything you ask for in prayer will be yours, if you only have faith” (CEV).

Faith can move mountains!

God has set up the universe in a hierarchy of laws. The law of faith is actually higher than the laws of nature. That’s where miracles come in. When someone has faith, the law of faith goes into practice and can actually do more than the laws of nature. The law of faith makes miracles happen.

Does God still perform miracles today? Of course he does. Every time you stretch your faith, God does miracles—every single time.

You might think that, of all the places Jesus went, the people in his hometown would be most open to him and his power. But Matthew 13:58 says, “[Jesus] did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith” (NIV). Jesus may have wanted to do the most amazing things there. But because they were offended, not moved to faith, they didn’t get to see the miracle.

What mountain in your life needs to be moved? What’s the thing that seems like it can never change? Maybe God wants your faith to supersede the laws of nature to move that mountain.

God is in the mountain-moving business. He has moved them in the past. He is moving them today all around the world. Do not doubt or underestimate what he wants to do in your life too.

You might say, “I don’t see many miracles in my life.” Are you looking with eyes of fear, or are you looking with eyes of faith?

Let this be the year when you see faith open the door to miracles.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“Lord, take notice of the threats they have made, and allow us, your servants, to speak your message with all boldness.”  Acts 4:29 (GNT)

We all have fears. Too often, though, we let them rule over our lives; we let them stop us from taking a stand for what we know God wants us to do.

Like Daniel standing in the lion’s den, we face people and situations that threaten to destroy us and our witness for Christ. But we have a choice: Will we succumb to our fears, or will we stand up for God in spite of those fears?

If you want to overcome the fears that are dragging you down, you need to clearly understand the benefits of choosing to stand up for what God wants.

Most importantly, you need to see that doing what God wants you to do is a clear victory over the fear in your life.

Because fear grows. Every time you give in to a fear, it becomes more intense.

Fear grows every time you refuse to do what God wants you to do. Eventually, you’ll feel cornered.

So what do you do?

Follow the lead of early Christians. We’re certainly not the first generation of Christians to face fear. Early believers faced all kinds of persecution. The book of Acts shows us a bit about how they stood up to fear. As Peter and John proclaimed Jesus boldly in Acts 4, they came up against fierce opposition.

So they prayed, “Lord, take notice of the threats they have made, and allow us, your servants, to speak your message with all boldness” (Acts 4:29 GNT).

The answer to your fear isn’t to give in to it. It’s to move forward boldly in spite of it. You stand up to the fear. Fear doesn’t respond to logic, so your only chance to get rid of a fear is to trust God and face the fear.

Never, ever forget this: God won’t part the water in front of you until you take your first step (see how God did this for Elijah and Elisha in 2 Kings 2:8). You take a step of faith, and then God shows you the path. That won’t happen if you stand wrapped up in your fear.

Take a step in faith today, and watch fear crumble in the process as God guides your steps.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.” Matthew 6:15 (GNT)

If you are unwilling to forgive someone and you don’t want God to forgive them either, that reveals bitterness and resentment in your life.

If you want someone else to be punished but you expect forgiveness for the bad things you’ve done, you’ll just make yourself miserable. You’re not hurting them; you’re only hurting yourself.

Jesus said, “If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done” (Matthew 6:15 GNT).

Forgiveness involves your past, present, and future:

• God has forgiven you multiple times in the past.
• Lack of forgiveness will make you miserable today.
• You will need God’s forgiveness in the future.

Consider Jonah. After he warned the people of Nineveh about God’s judgment, they repented, so God forgave them and didn’t punish them. This disappointed Jonah and made him bitter.

But remember how Jonah originally turned away from God? He wanted God’s forgiveness for his own sin of disobeying. Yet he didn’t want God to forgive the Ninevites.

So Jonah prayed, “I knew that you are a loving and merciful God, always patient, always kind, and always ready to change your mind and not punish. Now then, LORD, let me die. I am better off dead than alive” (Jonah 4:2-3 GNT).

Jonah’s resentment was only hurting himself. The Ninevites were enjoying the grace of God while Jonah was wallowing in self-pity.

It’s critical that you forgive anyone from your past who has hurt you—and that you forgive anyone who wrongs you today. Why? Because God has forgiven you for your past sins, and he has promised to forgive you in the future.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 NIV).

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“The Lord . . . is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”  2 Peter 3:9 (NLT)

God only uses imperfect, broken people. If God only used perfect people, nothing would get done because perfect people don’t exist!

If you’re willing to be used by God, he will use you. No matter what you’ve done in the past, your mission hasn’t changed.

Jonah was an ordinary guy who didn’t want to do what God told him to do. Yet God gave him another chance, and he eventually did what he’d been called to do. But even as he obeyed God, Jonah carried out his assignment with a bad attitude. Yet God still used him.

God gave Jonah a seven-word sermon: “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!” (Jonah 3:4 GNT). That simple message led to one of the largest spiritual revivals in history. A huge city humbly turned to God. It’s really a bigger miracle than getting Jonah out of the belly of a big fish.

God used this imperfect, reluctant prophet to lead an incredible revival.

God was patient with Jonah and never gave up on him. God won’t give up on you either.

The Bible says, “The Lord . . . is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” (2 Peter 3:9 NLT).

If you wake up tomorrow morning, it means God is giving you one more day—another opportunity—to fulfill your mission.

Expect God to use you. And he will.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“Jonah obeyed the LORD and went to Nineveh. The city was so big that it took three days just to walk through it. After walking for a day, Jonah warned the people, ‘Forty days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed!’”  Jonah 3:3-4 (CEV)

When God sent Jonah to Nineveh, his mission was to warn the people about the severe consequences for their disobedience. God wanted them to know that his judgment was near, but that they still had a chance to repent and obey him.

God wanted to give the people of Nineveh a second chance.

But he had to give Jonah a second chance, too, because the prophet ended up fleeing from God’s mission and sitting in a big fish. Once God rescued him, the Bible says, “Jonah obeyed the Lord and went to Nineveh. The city was so big that it took three days just to walk through it. After walking for a day, Jonah warned the people, ‘Forty days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed!’” (Jonah 3:3-4 CEV).

A warning is cautionary advice about a danger, trap, or problem. And God sometimes brings people into our lives to warn us because we’re not listening to God’s warning.

More than 100 verses in the New Testament tell us to warn others. It’s part of our responsibility as followers of Jesus.

In Acts 20:31, Paul writes: “Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears” (NIV).

Notice that Paul says he warned the Ephesians “with tears.” Why did he cry as he warned them? Because he loved them!

God gives all believers the ministry of warning others. When you warn someone, it shows that you love God and love that person. For instance, if you knew a bridge was out and you saw someone driving toward it at 50 miles per hour, the loving thing to do would be to warn them.

If you love the people in your life, you will warn them of the consequences of their unwise actions or decisions—because a godly warning is an act of love.