Author: lamkhanh

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold.” 1 Peter 1:7 (NLT)

God has promised to “meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19 NIV). But with every promise there is a condition. God wants you to learn to trust him more so that he can meet your needs and bless your life.

You learn to trust God more by having your faith stretched by trials. The more your faith is stretched, the more God is able to bless your life.

Yesterday, I mentioned two common trials that God uses to develop your faith so you can trust him more—the Pressure Test and People Test. Here are two more:

3. The Persistence Test

The Persistence Test answers the question: “Will you keep your commitments?” Life is about making commitments. The problem we have today is that most people are half committed to two dozen things instead of being totally committed to the one or two things in life that really matter for now and eternity. That’s a waste!

While weak people give excuses, wise people find the time and way to do what they say they will do. Do you want to be a weak person or a wise person? The Persistence Test shows what kind of character you’re developing. 

4. The Priorities Test

This is the most important test, and it asks, “Who will be first in your life?”

How do you know if God is really the first priority in your life? Ask yourself three questions: What do you think about the most? Where does your money go first? How do you spend your time? Your answers will reveal the priorities in your life.

God has eternal rewards in store for you if you pass the Priorities Test. The Bible promises, “God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12 NLT). A crown of life is a symbol of all that God wants to do in your life—all the blessings he wants to bestow on you, all the needs he wants to meet, and all the rewards he wants to give you in heaven. What a deal!

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold.”  1 Peter 1:7 (NLT)

The Bible repeatedly says that God has promised to meet your needs: “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19 NIV).

But the Bible also tells us that with every promise there is a condition. One of the conditions for God’s promise to meet your needs is that you have to trust him. The more you trust God, the more God is able to meet your needs.

So how can you learn to trust God more? You don’t get faith by sitting in a Bible study group or just talking about it. Faith is like a muscle; it develops by being used. The more you use your faith, the more it gets stretched. And the more it gets stretched, the more God is able to bless your life.

Sometimes God creates circumstances—trials—to stretch our faith: “These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold” (1 Peter 1:7 NLT).

There are four trials—or tests—that God often uses to test our faith. Chances are, you’re in one of these tests right now. When you go through one of these trials, you can know that it is an opportunity for you to develop your faith so you can trust God more. I’ll talk about the first two kinds of tests today and the next two tomorrow.

1. The Pressure Test

The pressure test asks, “How will you handle stress?” Will you depend on yourself, or will you depend on God? Psalm 50:15 says, “Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” (NIV). When you’re in trouble, do you turn to God or to other things?

2. The People Test

God often uses people to test and stretch and develop your faith. This test asks, “How will you handle disappointment?” Life is often disappointing. Careers and marriages don’t turn out the way we planned them. But the most disappointing thing in life is people. People disappoint us when we expect them to meet a need that only God himself can meet. In other words, the people in your life aren’t actually your problem. The problem is your response to those people. People also aren’t the answer to your problem. The answer is God. When you expect other people to be your savior, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.

Jeremiah 17:7 says, “Blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence” (NLT). What happens if you trust in the Lord? Look at God’s promise in Isaiah 49:23: “Those who hope in me will not be disappointed” (NIV).

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”  Philippians 4:11-13 (NLT)

Worrying about what cannot be changed won’t give you peace. Becoming resentful or bitter about what cannot be changed will not give you peace. Feeling guilty about things that cannot be changed will not give you peace.

Only one thing brings peace about the things that cannot be changed—accepting those things.

When Paul wrote the book of Philippians, he was in prison in Rome, awaiting execution. He wrote, “I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:11-13 NLT).

Paul probably wanted to change his circumstances, and he could have lashed out at God and questioned what was happening to him. Instead, he trusted God for the things that he could not change and chose to give God the glory.

I can tell you one thing that keeps us tense and nervous and stressed out in difficult circumstances: our demand for an explanation. When something goes wrong, we say, “Why is this happening, God? Why did you allow this?”

Here are three things you need to understand:

First, God doesn’t owe you an explanation for anything. God is good, just, and fair, and he understands things that you don’t. You need to just say, “Okay.”

Second, even if he did explain why things happen the way they do, you probably still wouldn’t understand. You cannot comprehend the ways of God.

Third, explanations never bring peace anyway; explanations never satisfy.

What does comfort you is the presence of God in your life—not God’s explanations but his care and concern and comfort.

Stop looking for something that you really don’t need, and stop trying to change things that are out of your control. Then you will have peace.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”  John 14:27 (NLT)

God has promised to give you peace of mind. In fact, one of God’s names is Jehovah Shalom, which means, “I am the God of peace.”

Finding peace is one of our deepest needs. God has promised peace of mind, so if you don’t have it, you should ask why. Here are three things that may be robbing you of peace:

You lose your peace when circumstances are uncontrollable. Much of life is beyond our control. We sit in gridlocked traffic and miss an important event. A couple keeps trying desperately—but unsuccessfully—to have a baby. Someone loses their job unexpectedly and wonders how they will provide for their family. When these things—big or small—happen, we get frustrated and lose our peace of mind.

You lose your peace when people are unchangeable. The quickest way to lose your cool is to try to change somebody else. Most people are just not going to change in the ways you want them to. But even when we know it won’t work, we still try to do it! And it keeps us from being peaceful.

You lose your peace when problems are unexplainable. We know life isn’t fair. Things don’t always turn out right. And when we don’t know why, we get anxious, nervous, and stressed.

Accepting God’s peace doesn’t mean your life will be problem-free. It means that even when your world seems to be falling apart, you will be able to think clearly and sleep peacefully.

How do you get God’s peace in your life? God’s peace is not something you work for or beg for. It’s a gift you receive by faith. Jesus promised, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27 NLT).

Turn to God in prayer. Tell him what’s on your mind. Focus on his goodness. And his peace that passes understanding will fill your heart and mind.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“Let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the LORD.”  Lamentations 3:40 (NLT)

Joy is an easy thing to lose, but it’s also an easy thing to get back.

Have you lost your joy? First, you need to admit to yourself that you’ve lost it. And then you need to analyze the cause. Look at your life and ask yourself, “How did I lose my joy? What has robbed me of my joy?”

The Bible says over and over again that we should examine our lives. Lamentations 3:40 says, “Let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the LORD” (NLT).

There are hundreds of killjoys, but the two most common I see in people’s lives are an unbalanced schedule and unused talent. You have to have a balance between rest and work, between input and output. And you have to use your unique, God-given talents, or you’re going to get frustrated.

That doesn’t mean that you have to find work that requires all of your talents. You can take whatever percent of your talent that’s not being used in your job and use it for ministry. (But if you’re in a job that uses less than 25 percent of your talent, start looking for another job that lets your gifts shine!)

There’s one thing that will rob your joy faster than anything else. Do you know what it is? It’s when you know the right thing to do and you don’t do it. The Bible says in James 4:17, “It is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it” (NLT).

If this is why you’ve lost your joy, you need to correct what’s wrong in your life.

Let me ask you: What do you know you need to be doing that you’re not? What has God told you to do that you haven’t started doing yet?

The secret to continual, abundant, and overflowing joy is obedience. It’s doing what God tells you to do. Every time you do what God tells you to do, your life’s going to be filled with joy.

You’re also going to be filled with joy when you think about what’s good in your life. David said in Psalm 126:3, “The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy” (NIV). The more you focus on what God has done for you, the more joy you’re going to have in your life. Why? Because focusing on your gifts from God produces gratitude. And the attitude of gratitude is the healthiest human emotion.

If you want to get your joy back, first admit it’s gone, and then analyze the cause. Then correct what’s wrong, and get an attitude of gratitude.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

Put your heart right, Job. Reach out to God . . . Then face the world again, firm and courageous. Then all your troubles will fade from your memory, like floods that are past and remembered no more.” Job 11:13, 15-16 (GNT)

You’ve heard the saying, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” That’s true—but it’s only part of the story. You can learn a lot by looking at your past—but you can’t heal the most pervasive, costly wounds in your life by focusing only on your past. To defeat those giants, you’ll have to look ahead.

Too often we try to find healing by looking in our rearview mirrors. When we do that, we’re more likely to crash than heal.

In Job 11, Job’s friend tells him how to get rid of painful memories and move on with his lives. He says, “Put your heart right, Job. Reach out to God . . . Then face the world again, firm and courageous. Then all your troubles will fade from your memory, like floods that are past and remembered no more” (Job 11:13, 15-16 GNT).

First, put your heart right. You do what’s right—no matter what the other person does. It’s always right to forgive those who’ve hurt you.

Second, reach out to God. Invite Jesus into every room in the house of your heart. Often, we’ve invited him into the front room (by accepting Jesus as our Savior)—but not the bedroom, kitchen, or garage.

Third, face the world again. Don’t hide in a shell or withdraw so you don’t get hurt again. Move forward. Learn to live again.

Your past is not your future. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, who you’ve done it with, or how long you’ve done it. Throughout Scripture, God forgives murderers, adulterers, and slackers, and he uses them to do his work in the world.

You, too, have a great future ahead of you. Put your heart right, reach out to God, and face the world again.

And then let God do something incredible through you.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“The Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”  Romans 14:17 (NLT)

What’s the easiest thing for you to lose? Your glasses? Your keys? Your mind?

All of those things are easy to lose, but the easiest thing of all to lose is your joy. You can lose it with one phone call or email, a letter or conversation. You even can watch a commercial and lose your joy by becoming discontent with your own circumstances or possessions. Joy is so easy to lose.

It not only feels bad when you lose your joy—but when God’s children aren’t filled with joy, it also makes God look bad. Cranky Christians are bad witnesses. They look like they’ve been baptized in vinegar because they’re never really smiling. And that makes God look bad.

God wants his children to be witnesses with their countenances. As Proverbs 15:13 says, “A joyful heart makes a cheerful face” (GW).

The Bible tells us that the Christian life can be summed up in three words: goodness, peace, and joy. Romans 14:17 says, “The Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (NLT).

Though joy is key to the Christian life, the reality is that you can lose your joy so quickly and in so many ways. There are thousands of killjoys that will rob you of your joy, even to the point that somebody like Jeremiah, a prophet of God, could say this in Lamentations 5:15: “There is no joy left in our hearts” (GW).

I don’t know if that’s where you are today. Maybe you feel like you’ve lost your spark and you’re not as close to God as you used to be. Maybe you’re just going through the motions of life. If that’s how you feel, you need to know that—just like it’s easy to lose your joy—it’s also quite easy to get your joy back.

So how do you get your joy back? The first step is to admit that you’ve lost it.

If you’re not sure if you’ve lost your joy, do this simple exercise. Look at your past and ask yourself a couple of questions: Has there ever been a time in your life when you felt closer to God than you do right now? Has there ever been a time in your life when you were more joyful in the Lord than you are right now?

If the answer is yes, then you’ve lost your joy. And now is the time to get it back.

Do what David did in Psalm 51:12. He knew he’d lost his joy, and he knew God was the only one who could give it back to him. So he prayed, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (NIV).

God restored David’s joy, and he’s ready to do the same for you. All you have to do is ask. It’s the first step in reclaiming your joy.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”  Romans 12:2 (NLT)

People really don’t forget anything. Stored somewhere in your mind, you’ll find the date of your anniversary, the score of the Super Bowl when you were 10, and the day your child lost his first tooth.

You may not recall those events, but the memories are there.

The good news is, your brain stores everything. The bad news is, your brain stores everything. Your brain can’t distinguish between what’s imaginary and what’s real, truth or lies.

You have stored all kinds of garbage in your brain. And often it’s that garbage that you’re basing your decisions upon.

When you were a child, adults said things to you that you believed without question because they were adults and authority figures. For example:

• You’re not very coordinated.
• You’ll never be good at math.
• You’ll always struggle with your weight.
• Nobody really likes you.
• You’re shy.
• You don’t really have much to offer.
• You’ll never be as good as your brother.
• I’m embarrassed by you.

They were lies then, and they’re lies now. But you’ve believed them!

You need to change the tape that’s playing in your mind. Instead of playing tapes full of lies, you need to play the truth of God’s Word. You need to hide the truth of God’s Word in your heart.

Romans 12:2 says, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (NLT). How do you change how you think? You play a tape of truth. How do you do that?

Ask God to heal your memories. Tell God, “I need you to heal these memories of rejection, sin, resentment, guilt, and abuse. They hurt. Please heal me.”

Fill your mind with God’s Word. The more truth you put in your mind, the more lies you push out. It’s a replacement strategy. Instead of spending all your time watching television and listening to music, fill your mind with God’s Word.

For years psychologists have said that your self-esteem comes from what you think the most important person in your life thinks about you.

Make Jesus the most important person in your life, and it’ll change everything. God’s Word says you’re lovable (John 3:16), capable (2 Peter 1:3), valuable (Luke 12:6), forgivable (Psalm 103:12), and usable (Ephesians 4:12).

Let that tape become the soundtrack of your life, and you will never be the same.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.” Peter 2:23 (NLT)

If you’ve been hurt by someone, whether it’s physical or emotional, you’ve got a decision to make. You can use your energy to get well or to get even.

But you can’t do both.

Jesus understood pain and abuse. When he was crucified, he was wounded in every way possible—in his feet, his hands, and his head. Roman soldiers whipped him with 40 lashes. They crushed a crown of thorns onto his skull. And then they nailed him to a cross.

Of course, Jesus’ deepest wounds weren’t physical but emotional. He was betrayed, rejected, and humiliated.

Yet 1 Peter 2:23 says, “He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly” (NLT). Jesus could have sent a million angels to fight for him while he was on the cross, but he didn’t.

He left the issue to his Father in heaven. He said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing” (Luke 23:34 GW). He refused to let pain make him bitter.

To get through the pain and abuse of this life, you must release those who’ve abused you. When you have resentment in your heart, you can’t get well. For your own sake, you need to let go of your right to get even.

Getting even won’t make you feel better. Even if you were able to get even, it wouldn’t take your pain away.

Does the person who hurt you deserve your forgiveness? No. But you don’t deserve God’s forgiveness either. You offer forgiveness for your sake, not the other person’s.

You can also be assured that God has seen everything that has happened to you. The Bible says in Romans 12:19, “Never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God’s anger do it. For the scripture says, ‘I will take revenge, I will pay back, says the Lord’” (GNT).

God saw what happened when you were hurt. And he wept, just as he was doing when his Son was crucified. It’s God’s responsibility to get even—not yours; the person who hurt you won’t get away with it.

But when you forgive, you will be set free—you’ll stop suffering unnecessarily for someone else’s mistakes.

The Bible says in Hebrews 12:15, “A bitter spirit . . . is not only bad in itself but can also poison the lives of many others” (PHILLIPS). Resentment is a poison pill you don’t need to swallow. You can choose to be as happy as you want to be.

So what’s your choice?

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” James 5:16 (NIV)

We all respond to hidden wounds in different ways. Some people act out. Other people get angry all the time. Others self-medicate with drugs or alcohol. Still others try to escape the pain by moving from relationship to relationship.

Yet the worst possible response to hidden wounds in your life is to just clam up. It’s like taking a soda bottle and shaking it up. One day, you’ll just pop!

You’ll never get over your hidden wounds until you face your feelings straight on by talking to God about them.

Bottling up your hidden wounds will wear you out. The Bible says, “When I kept things to myself, I felt weak deep inside me. I moaned all day long” (Psalm 32:3 NCV).

If you use up your emotional energy on the past, you’ll have little left for today. When you spend so much time on regret and resentment—thinking about how you’ll get even with people who have hurt you—you run out of energy for what matters in the here and now.

God has an answer for your pain: confession. You’ve got to admit your pain. Everything else is just a fruitless attempt to forget what ails you. You need to admit your pain to:

• God
• Yourself
• One other person you trust

Many people want to move past their pain by admitting it to God and themselves and skipping the third part of the equation. Good luck! It’ll never work.

Admitting your pain to others is absolutely essential. You won’t get well on your own. James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (NIV).

You don’t need to confess to a pastor, a priest, or a therapist to obey James 5:16 (though you can). You just need a friend.

Open up about your hidden pain to that person. Tell them what hurts. As you confess to that person, to God, and to yourself, you just might find that long-lost energy you’ve been dreaming about.

Because revealing is the beginning of healing.