“God is not a cruel slave driver or a bully who uses brute force to coerce us into submission. He doesn’t try to break our will, but woos us to himself so that we might offer ourselves freely to him. God is a lover and a liberator, and surrendering to him brings freedom, not bondage. When we completely surrender ourselves to Jesus, we discover that he is not a tyrant, but a savior; not a boss, but a brother; not a dictator, but a friend.”
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Rick Warren
“Most important, you must learn to love lost people the way God does.”
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Rick Warren
“Every problem is a character-building opportunity, and the more difficult it is, the greater the potential for building spiritual muscle and moral fiber.”
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Rick Warren
“Resentment always hurts you more than it does the person you resent.”
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Rick Warren
“Right now, God is inviting you to live for his glory by fulfilling the purposes he made you for. It’s really the only way to live. Everything else is just existing.”
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Rick Warren
“Our habits control our lives. We shape our habits; then our habits shape us.”
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Rick Warren
“Henri Nouwen said, “In order to be of service to others we have to die to them; that is, we have to give up measuring our meaning and value with the yardstick of others…. thus we become free to be compassionate.” When you base your worth and identity on your relationship to Christ, you are freed from the expectations of others, and that allows you to really serve them best.”
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Rick Warren
“How would it make you feel if God showed you what you could have accomplished in life if you had just believed him a little bit more?”
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Rick Warren
“God was thinking of you long before you ever thought about him.”
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Rick Warren
“The books that have helped me most are the ones I reacted to, not just read”
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Rick Warren
“Every time you try to block a thought out of your mind, you drive it deeper into your memory. By resisting it, you actually reinforce it.”
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Rick Warren
“There are three barriers that block our total surrender to God: fear, pride, and confusion. We don’t realize how much God loves us, we want to control our own lives, and we misunderstand the meaning of surrender.”
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Rick Warren
“Fellowship is a place of grace, where mistakes aren't rubbed in but rubbed out.”
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Rick Warren
“This self-absorbed perspective treats God as a genie who simply exists to serve you in your selfish pursuit of personal fulfillment. But God is not your servant, and if you fall for the idea that life is supposed to be easy, either you will become severely disillusioned or you will live in denial of reality. Never forget that life is not about you! You exist for God’s purposes, not vice versa. Why would God provide heaven on earth when he’s planned the real thing for you in eternity? God gives us our time on earth to build and strengthen our character for heaven.
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Rick Warren
