Category: Tĩnh nguyện

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy will be the fullest possible joy.”  John 16:24 (NCV)

Are you in financial need and waiting for God to help?

God has promised to meet your financial needs. He’s just waiting for you to ask for his help!

One of the reasons we see so few miracles in our lives is because we just don’t ask for them. Instead of living a life based on Christ, we live a life based on credit. When we find ourselves in need of something, instead of stopping and asking God for it, before we even think about asking God for it, we just use that credit card. We trust credit instead of Christ.

If you want to see God work in your life, pray for it before you pay for it.

Do you pray about major purchases before you make them? Or do you just take care of it with your credit card? Every time you use that credit card before praying about it, you’re short-circuiting a possible miracle in your life. Before you charge a purchase, why don’t you ask God about it first?

God is not going to give you everything you pray for, but there are some things he does want to give you just to do a miracle in your life. Many people have never had a financial answer to prayer because they’ve never prayed specifically.

“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy will be the fullest possible joy” (John 16:24 NCV). Do you know why God wants you to learn to ask for things in prayer? So he can give them, and so you’ll be full of joy. God is a loving Father. He’s not some miser sitting in the sky, waiting to make your life miserable.

God wants to bless your life! You just have to ask.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always endures.”

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NCV)

The world is already so negative—the last thing kids need when they come home is more negativity. Colossians 3:21 says, “Do not nag your children. If you are too hard to please, they may want to stop trying” (NCV).

Are you an unpleasable parent? If your kids get C’s, do you want B’s—only to want straight A’s when they get B’s? Do you really want them to give up like the Bible says they might? Unpleasable parents produce insecure children.

So how do you raise confident kids? The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:7, “Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always endures” (NCV). If you want to raise confident kids, you’ve got to build them up more than you tear them down. You’ve got to give more cheers than jeers.

Many parents think, “If I balance it out and give an equal amount of positive to the negative, it will be okay.” No, it doesn’t work that way. You need to give about 10 praises for every negative. Why? Because the negative is what you remember. If you were to get 10 compliments and one criticism, which one would you go home and remember? If I get 10 cards that say, “Your sermon really helped me” and one that says, “You’re off the wall!” which one do you think I dwell on the most?

You’ve got to overemphasize the positive in order to overcome the negative.

All children need somebody in their corner, somebody who’s their cheerleader and believes in them and says, “I know you can do it. I believe in you. I think you’re terrific. You’re the best. Go for it! I’m behind you. I know you can make it.” Kids need the confidence that only a parent or caregiver can give.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot . . . If you cannot be trusted with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own?”

Luke 16:10, 12 (NCV)

Kids need experiences that stretch them, reveal their talents, and develop their lives for ministry. They need challenges where they develop responsibility. One of the most important life skills all of us have to learn is responsibility.

How do you teach responsibility to your children? There’s only one way: Give them the opportunity. Trust them with responsibility. Will they make mistakes? Absolutely. You did, too, when you were growing up. Will they sometimes be irresponsible? Yes. But if you hold on to responsibility, you’re actually hurting your children. The goal of parenting from the moment your kids are born is to move them from parental control in the early years to self-control in the middle years to God’s control throughout their lives.

That means you want to give up control! When we take responsibility for people, we take it away from people. If you treat your children as babies and don’t let them grow up, you’ll have to diaper them for the rest of your life. And you’re giving the world another codependent person.

Many parents have told me, “If I had it all to do over again, I’d do less for my children and teach them to do more for themselves.” The only way we grow is by being given challenges that stretch us, develop us, and build responsibility in our lives.

The Bible says, “Whoever can be trusted with a little can also be trusted with a lot . . . If you cannot be trusted with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own?” (Luke 16:10, 12 NCV).

Kids respond to responsibility. Having talked to so many parents over the years and seen this in my own family, I believe it’s far better to err on the side of giving too much responsibility than not trusting your kids enough. They’re going to make mistakes either way! Your goal is to produce a person who walks—not just with self-control—but, more importantly, under God’s control.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“People ought to enjoy every day of their lives, no matter how long they live.”

Ecclesiastes 11:8 (NCV)

Kids need celebration!

That’s just a fancy word for fun. Families ought to have fun! The home should be a place to play. This is a major fault in many homes where the parents are basically good and are watching out for their kids, but they don’t have enough fun. They’re too busy. They come home with a “to-do” list after work. All that stuff has to be done, and they just don’t have time for fun.

Do you endure your kids, or do you enjoy them? Kids need celebration.

“People ought to enjoy every day of their lives, no matter how long they live” (Ecclesiastes 11:8 NCV).

When my kids were growing up, we had what we liked to call “Daddy’s Magical Mystery Tours.” Periodically, I shook up the whole schedule and said, “Forget the routine; we’re going to go have fun.” I would even wake up the kids in the middle of the night and put them in the car and go do something outrageous—on a school night! So what if they miss one day of school? They’re going to remember that event. They’ll remember when I got them up early in the morning and let them eat French toast that I colored green.

The Bible says, “Children are a gift from the LORD” and that “a cheerful heart is good medicine” (Psalm 127:3, Proverbs 17:22 NLT). Have fun with your kids! Enjoy them!

No single day out of routine is going to make or break their lives. But a single special event that is crazy and fun will make a memory your kids will never forget.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“Let us love one another, for love comes from God.”  1 John 4:7 (NIV)

If you want to know how to be a good parent and build a strong family, you don’t have to search online or go to a bookstore. Look no further than the greatest book ever written on parenting: God’s Word, the Bible.

The Bible says in 1 John 4:7, “Let us love one another, for love comes from God” (NIV).

More than anything else, kids need unwavering and unconditional love. There needs to be a place where they’re accepted just as they are, without question, including all of their faults.

What is compassion? Compassion is a combination of love and understanding. Compassion is where you know everything about someone and you still like that person.

Love is not natural. You have to learn to love. And you learn to love by practicing. What better place to practice than with the people you’re forced to live with all your life? If you can learn to love your family, you can love anybody. Why? Because it’s easy to love people at a distance, but when you’re with them all the time, you don’t always get along. When you practice love in the family, you’re learning to truly love.

This is a common thing: we love our kids, but we don’t express it in a way they can understand. Children understand love in three ways: affection, affirmation, and attention.

1. Affection. Children need lots of hugs and kisses, pats on the back, holding of hands, cuddles and more. They need to feel your love.

2. Affirmation. You need to tell your kids every day—and more than once a day—how much you love them. Affirm them and build them up with love.

3. Attention. One of the greatest gifts you can give others is listening to them. When you look at children on their level, you’re saying, “You matter to me. You’re important to me. I want to hear what you have to say.” In doing this, you show compassion.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.” Psalm 62:8 (NLT)

The Bible says when you go through a season of loss, the first thing to do is release your grief.

Tragedy always produces strong emotions—anger, fear, depression, worry, and sometimes guilt. These feelings can scare us, and we often don’t know what to do with them. When we’ve experienced a major loss, these enormous feelings bubble up within us. If we don’t deal with them now, it will take us far longer to recover.

Some people never directly deal with grief in life. They stuff it. They push it down. They pretend it’s not there. They play like it doesn’t exist. And that’s why they’re still struggling with emotional stress from losses that occurred 20 or 30 years earlier.

There’s a myth that says God wants you to walk around with a smile on your face all the time saying, “Praise the Lord!” The Bible doesn’t say that anywhere.

In fact, Jesus taught the exact opposite. In Matthew 5:4, he says, “God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (NLT). It’s okay to grieve. When a Christian loved one passes away, we know they will go on to heaven, so we need not grieve like the world. Our grief can be different. We grieve because we’re going to miss them, but we can also be at peace because we know they are with God.

But we also grieve many other things: a failed marriage, a lost job, or a broken dream.

So what should you do with your feelings? Don’t repress them or stuff them deep inside you. Release them—Give them to God. Cry out, “God, I’m hurt! I’m grieving! This is a tough one to take.

If you want a good example of this, read through the book of Psalms, where David often spills his guts and says things like, “God, I’m in a tough time right now. I am really hurting.” You cry out to God, just like David did.

Psalm 62:8 says, “Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge” (NLT). If you are going through a loss right now, please understand that if you don’t release your grief, it will eventually come out. Feelings that are pushed down fester, and eventually they explode and that can cause even more pain and regret.

Release your grief first so God can heal your heart.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength so that I might preach the Good News in its entirety for all the Gentiles to hear. And he rescued me from certain death.”

2Timothy 4:17 (NLT)

When you’re lonely, where is God? He’s where he has always been—right beside you. He is with you even if you don’t feel it.

The Bible says over and over that if you have a relationship with Christ, God is with you all the time. He says, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NIV). He’s always with you. You’re never fully alone.

Years ago, my wife Kay and I flew to Hong Kong to teach a seminar for some missionaries. About halfway through the 17-hour flight, we went through the most horrendous storm. We were pitching and jolting. The plane was tilting, and everybody was getting antsy. They were obviously disturbed by the circumstances.

Someone from the crew asked over the speaker, “Is there a minister on the plane?” I raised my hand. They approached me and said, “Everyone’s pretty upset because of the turbulence. Can you do something spiritual?” So, I took an offering!

No, not really. But the people on that flight needed to hear that God is with us. For believers, it’s a promise that we can cling to in times of fear and loneliness. Not only is it a comfort, but it also gives us the opportunity to get to know God better.

Loneliness is a time to become better acquainted with God. In your season of loneliness, you need to recognize God’s presence.

Years ago, Amy Grant sang a song with the lyrics, “I love a lonely day; it chases me to you.” Prayer is a powerful antidote to loneliness. God has a 24-hour drop-in service. You can talk to him anytime, anywhere, anyplace. He understands how you’re feeling when you say, “God, I’m lonely. I hurt! My heart is splitting. I am miserable. I feel empty. Help me, God.” You can talk to him anytime.

David, the king of ancient Israel, says in the Psalms, “Where can I flee from your presence?” Nowhere. You will never be in a place where God isn’t. If you’ve trusted Christ, he’s with you in your heart. Choose to refocus on that when you feel lonely.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“The first time I was brought before the judge, no one came with me. Everyone abandoned me. May it not be counted against them.” 2 Timothy 4:16 (NLT)

Paul, one of the greatest followers of Jesus ever, was on trial in Rome, and not one person stepped forward to defend him. Not one!

Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:16, “The first time I was brought before the judge, no one came with me. Everyone abandoned me. May it not be counted against them” (NLT).

He was absolutely by himself. Nobody stepped forward to say, “This is a good guy. He’s alright.”

Yet Paul didn’t say, “That’s so rude—after all I’ve done for them all these years!” Instead, he said, “May it not be counted against them.” In other words, he was not going to let himself become bitter. Because bitterness always makes loneliness worse.

This is just one of the ways Paul teaches us how to live when we’re going through a season of loneliness. When you feel lonely, it’s best to minimize your hurt. You need to play it down and pray it up. Don’t rehearse the hurt over and over in your mind. If you do, it will just get bigger and bigger until it’s out of control.

So, refuse to become resentful, because bitterness will eat you up.

Bitterness and loneliness go together because they become a cycle. You become lonely. Then you start feeling bad about it and have a pity party. Then you become bitter. Your bitterness makes you even lonelier, which makes you more bitter. Soon, you’re a hardhearted, depressed person that nobody can get close to.

Nobody wants to be around a bitter person. Nobody wants to be around a cynic. Nobody wants to be around a person who is constantly angry.

Bitterness will only perpetuate your loneliness. That’s why, when you go through a season of loneliness, you should minimize the hurt. Don’t build a wall around your life.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“When you come, be sure to bring the coat I left with Carpus at Troas. Also bring my books, and especially my papers.” 2 Timothy 4:13 (NLT)

What should you do when you go through a season of loneliness? The answer is illustrated in the life of Paul in 2 Timothy 4, when he was in prison and awaiting his execution.

When you go through a season of loneliness, you want to make the most of your time.

That means making the best of a bad situation. Resist the temptation to do nothing. Take some action—any kind of action. Try to think of creative ways to take advantage of the seasons in which you are alone.

Paul wrote to Timothy from prison and told him, “When you come, be sure to bring the coat I left with Carpus at Troas. Also bring my books, and especially my papers” (2 Timothy 4:13 NLT).

In a season of loneliness, Paul wanted to be productive. Even though he was lonely, he didn’t throw a pity party. He didn’t complain or give up. Paul is one of the greatest Christians who ever lived; he’d won countless people to Christ, and yet he was completely alone in his final days. He made the best of the situation by deciding to utilize his time. This verse records him saying two things:

1. “Bring my coat.” The Roman prisons were damp, dark, and cold. Paul did what he could to take care of himself. When we are lonely and depressed, we don’t always take very good care of ourselves—physically or emotionally. We don’t exercise. We don’t rest well. We don’t eat right. Just because you’re lonely doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care of yourself.

2. “Bring my books.” Paul was a people person. He didn’t like to be alone; it wasn’t the way God wired him. Being in solitary confinement in a Roman prison was the opposite of where he wanted to be. Yet he did the best he could. He wrote letters that today are included in the New Testament. Maybe the only way God could slow him down was to put him in solitary confinement. Over 2,000 years later, we’re still benefiting from how Paul used his time when he was lonely.

By Rick Warren – Source: nhulieuthanhkinh.com

“God has made everything beautiful for its own time.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NLT)

Life is full of contrasts. We go through mountains, and we go through valleys. We go through successes, and we go through failures. We have wins, and we have losses.

There are four seasons in the year. But in your life, there may be dozens of different seasons. And every season of your life includes both good and bad times.

In Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, King Solomon reflects on the many different experiences in life: “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace” (NLT).

You may think that the only time you’re in God’s will is when you’re at church or having a quiet time. You can be in God’s will as you’re cleaning out a closet. You can be in God’s will as you’re mowing your lawn. You can be in God’s will when you move to a new location or stay right where you are. There’s a time and season for everything.

Life is a combination of contrasting seasons. All sunshine and no rain make a desert. If you’re following God’s will, seeking to live your life according to the way God wants you to live, then you’ll eventually see that these experiences can have purpose and value in your life.

The country music singer Ray Stevens sang a song called “Everything Is Beautiful” that included the lyric, “Everything is beautiful in its own way.” That’s not exactly true. Everything is not beautiful. Cancer is not beautiful. Child abuse is not beautiful. War is not beautiful.

The Bible says it differently in Ecclesiastes 3:11: “God has made everything beautiful for its own time” (NIV). That’s very different from saying, “Everything is beautiful in its own way.” Because the Bible is saying that God can take even the bad things and, in the proper season, turn them around and use them for good.

You may be going through a season right now that is not beautiful. Your finances look ugly. Your health looks ugly. Your marriage or a friendship looks ugly. Your future looks ugly.

But God can make something good out of it as you trust him with the ugly pieces.