Interview with Rick Warren

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell,
life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God
wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body--
but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of
years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God
wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.
We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't
going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just
coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than
your comfort.
God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your
life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life.
The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the
toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark
time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that
anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like
two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good
and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad
that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something
good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,"which
is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid
of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of
thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for
her.
It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her
character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a
testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For
instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million
copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.
It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with
before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or
for you to live a life of ease.
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety
and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide
what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our
lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the
church.
Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan
to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor , care for the sick, and
educate the next generation.
Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I
started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able
to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or
am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if
I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You
better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more
interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.

Time with God - Part 2

Before the days of chainsaws and modern technology, men would cut down trees with either an axe or a manual saw. The work of cutting down trees was manual and very physical. Hence lumberjacks were usually extremely well built with strong bodies, strengthened by the physical nature of their work.

Do you think lumberjacks go to gym, to work out after a day’s work? No, because they don’t need to – they get so strong and keep so fit because they are doing gym all day.

Last week I wrote about how vital it is to take some time out of every day to spend with God, reading the word, praying etc.
But the 30 minutes or hour you spend with God in the morning or evening is not enough. If we want to be strong and continue growing in faith and hope and love, we need to be like lumberjacks. We need to be working out throughout our day, being in constant communion with God.
This is something much easier said than done – it is common to hear people say, “I go through the entire day not thinking about God once, but I just don’t know how to bring Him into my day.”

I wish there was a standard formula, but I don’t believe there is. However, here are some ideas of things we can do to keep us close to God and ensure that He is involved in the ‘whole of life’:

• Share your thoughts with God – God wants to know us, and He wants us to share our lives with Him, no matter how insignificant we may think our thoughts are. We all think throughout our day and these are great opportunities to share with God. For example: If you are thinking about how happy you are, tell God how happy you are and thank Him for that; if you are worried, share that with Him and ask for His protection.

• Pray – prayer does not need to always be in a quiet place with your hands together and eyes closed. Pray while driving to work, while walking to the shops, while remembering a friend – say a quick 10 second prayer whenever you have something to pray about.

• Fellowship with other Christians – hang out with other Christians. “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” Proverbs 27:16

• Love your neighbour – Our mission on earth is to spread the gospel, but also the love of God. Be sure to notice situations where someone needs help, and then act – situations like this help us grow in love and help us to better understand the love with which Jesus loves us.

• Tell people about Jesus – The power of the Holy Spirit is released through us when we tell people about Jesus in His power. Personally this is one area that I find most intimate with God when it happens.

Be blessed, make music, live with passion
NS