The Length Of God's Love


By Rick Warren
“I know that your love will last for all time, that your faithfulness is as permanent as the sky” (Psalm 89:2 TEV).
There’s a limit to human love. It wears out. It dries up.
That’s why you have to have God’s love in all your relationships if they are going to last. God’s love never wears out. God’s love is patient, persistent, and persevering.
Isn’t it good news to know that God never gives up on you? No matter what you do, his love never gives up. It’s wide enough to include everybody, and it’s long enough to last forever.
God will never love you any more than he does right now. But he also will never love you any less than he does right now.
He loves you on your good days. He loves you on your bad days. His love is not conditioned by your response. God is love, and his love is given freely. It cannot be earned, and it is not deserved.
Accept his love and worship him, knowing that his love is long enough to last for all time: “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully” (Ephesians 3:18-19a NLT, second edition).

Following Leads to Honor

If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor. (John 12:26)


The highest service is imitation. If I would be Christ's servant I must be His follower. To do as Jesus did is the surest way of bringing honor to His name. Let me mind this every day.


If I imitate Jesus I shall have His company: if I am like Him I shall be with Him. In due time He will take me up to dwell with Him above, if, meanwhile, I have striven to follow Him here below. After His suffering our Lord came to His throne, and even so, after we have suffered a while with Him here below, we also shall arrive in glory. The issue of our Lord's life shall be the issue of ours: if we are with Him in His humiliation we shall be with Him in His glory. Come, my soul, pluck up courage and put down thy feet in the blood-marked footprints which thy Lord has left thee.


Let me not fail to note that the Father will honor those who follow His Son. If He sees me true to Jesus, He will put marks of favor and honor upon me for His Son's sake. No honor can be like this. Princes and emperors bestow the mere shadows of honor; the substance of glory comes from the Father. Wherefore, my soul, cling thou to thy Lord Jesus more closely than ever.

The Width Of God's Love

By Rick Warren

“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God” (Ephesians 3:18-19 NLT, second edition).

The width of God’s love extends across the entire world and includes everyone he has created: “The Lordis righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does” (Psalm 145:17 NIV).

God never made a person that he didn’t love. He made you and he loves you — and God doesn’t make junk! He loves you unconditionally. He loves you very, very much.

Everybody matters to God. In fact, we see in the life of Jesus that he even loves the unlovely and those who may feel unlovable. Do you want to know the secret of self-esteem? Here it is: If you want confidence, then understand how much you matter to God. If God loves you, who cares what anybody else thinks?
Because God loves you, there’s no need to prove your self-worth. We don’t have to wear certain kinds of clothes to make us feel like we’re OK or drive a certain kind of car to prop up our faltering egos. We don’t need status symbols anymore.
God loves you!

The Lord Our Companion

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)


Sweet are these words in describing a deathbed assurance. How many have repeated them in their last hours with intense delight!


But the verse is equally applicable to agonies of spirit in the midst of life. Some of us, like Paul, die daily through a tendency to gloom of soul. Bunyan puts the Valley of the Shadow of Death far earlier in the pilgrimage than the river which rolls at the foot of the celestial hills. We have some of us traversed the dark and dreadful defile of "the shadow of death" several times, and we can bear witness that the Lord alone enabled us to bear up amid its wild thought, its mysterious horrors, its terrible depressions. The Lord has sustained us and kept us above all real fear of evil, even when our spirit has been overwhelmed. We have been pressed and oppressed, but yet we have lived, for we have felt the presence of the Great Shepherd and have been confident that His crook would prevent the foe from giving us any deadly wound.


Should the present time be one darkened by the raven wings of a great sorrow, let us glorify God by a peaceful trust in Him.

God Wants To Give You Freedom


By Rick Warren
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36 NIV).
The world defines freedom as a life without any restraint: “I can do anything I want to do and say anything I want to say without anybody telling me what to do.” Everybody else may get burned by you, but you get to do it your own way. The world says you can have your freedom, but only by being totally selfish.
Yet, the Bible says the only way to true freedom is through Jesus: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36 NIV).
Real freedom is freedom from fear, where you’re truly free from guilt, worry, bitterness, and death. You’re free to quit pretending because you’re free to be yourself.
How do you get rid of those kinds of fears? By letting God love you! The apostle John teaches that “there is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18a).
When you realize how much God loves you, you’ll begin to live in true freedom. In fact, you worship God when you recognize that “God is love.” It is an act of worship to agree that he is a loving, caring, generous God and that we can “rely on the love God has for us” (1 John 4:16a).

How To Show Love To A Demanding Or Selfish Person


By Rick Warren
“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance” (>1 Corinthians 13:7 NLT, second edition).
Love can be absolutely exhausting. Don’t let anyone fool you. The kind of love that really makes a difference in this world will zap everything out of you.
Sometimes you just don’t feel like you have any more love to give. Maybe you’re in a people-intensive job, such as teacher, salesman, or waitress, and you come home and think, “I just can’t face another need, another problem, or another heartache.” So you just shut down.
Or you need to show love to a particular person who is demanding, selfish, and never returns your love. And you just think to yourself, “I’m done. No more.”
While that’s perfectly natural and perfectly human, it’s not the standard of love God calls us to in the Bible. The Bible says, “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance” (1 Corinthians 13:7 NLT, second edition). Love never gives up.
How can you have that kind of persistent love for another person? You get refueled.
When my kids were young, I remember taking the family to a nearby air show. It was so impressive to see how they would hook up a tanker to a jet in flight to refuel. I’ll never forget that.
But, can you imagine someone flying a jet saying, “I don’t need to refuel!” The jet would crash and burn. In a long distance flight, a jet has to refuel.
To give the kind of persistent love that God wants you to give, you have to refuel your love tank. Look around at society, and you’ll see it’s littered with debris from relationships that have crashed and burned because people didn’t refuel their love.
How do you refuel your love tank? You start by letting God love you. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19 NIV). When you’re worn out, tired, and can’t imagine showing love to anyone else, remember that God loved you so much that he sent his Son to die for you.
Now that’s real fuel. That’s what keeps you going when you want to quit.

Christian Liberality

Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. (Psalm 41:1)


To think about the poor and let them lie on our hearts is a Christian man's duty; for Jesus put them with us and near us when He said, "The poor ye have always with you."


Many give their money to the poor in a hurry, without thought; and many more give nothing at all. This precious promise belongs to those who "consider" the poor, look into their case, devise plans for their benefit, and considerately carry them out. We can do more by care than by cash, and most with two together. To those who consider the poor, the Lord promises His own consideration in times of distress. He will bring us out of trouble if we help others when they are in trouble. We shall receive very singular providential help if the Lord sees that we try to provide for others. We shall have a time of trouble, however generous we may be; but if we are charitable, we may put in a claim for peculiar deliverance, and the Lord will not deny His own word and bond. Miserly curmudgeons may help themselves, but considerate and generous believers the Lord will help. As you have done unto others, so will the Lord do unto you. Empty your pockets.

Godly Stability

And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brazen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 15:20)


Stability in the fear and faith of God will make a man like a wall of brass, which no one can batter down or break. Only the Lord can make such; but we need such men in the church, and in the world, but specially in the pulpit.


Against uncompromising men of truth this age of shams will fight tooth and nail. Nothing seems to offend Satan and his seed like decision. They attack holy firmness even as the Assyrians besieged fenced cities. The joy is that they cannot prevail against those whom God has made strong in His strength. Carried about with every wind of doctrine, others only need to be blown upon and away they go; but those who love the doctrines of grace, because they possess the grace of the doctrines, stand like rocks in the midst of raging seas.


Whence this stability? "I am with thee, saith the Lord": that is the true answer. Jehovah will save and deliver faithful souls from all the assaults of the adversary. Hosts are against us, but the Lord of hosts is with us. We dare not budge an inch; for the Lord Himself holds us in our place, and there we will abide forever.

How Big Are God's Hands?

By Rick Warren

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish …. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29 NIV).

When I was growing up, one of the things that impressed me about my dad was his big hands. I have big hands now, but my dad had huge hands! When he would do carpentry, the hammer just looked so small in his hands.

My heavenly Father has really big hands. He’s got the whole world in his hands!
How big are God’s hands?

God’s hands are big enough to bless you.Jesus often touched people in order to bless them. He would lay his hands on people and bless them. He does the same for you. Isaiah 62:3 says, “The Lordwill hold you in his hand for all to see — a splendid crown in the hand of God” (NLT, second edition).

God’s hands are scarred to never forget you. In Heaven, the only scars will be on Jesus. Do you think God can forget you? He has a constant reminder in his nail-scarred hands. The Bible says, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion for the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:15-16a NIV).

God’s hands are strong enough to keep you eternally secure. John 10:28-29 says, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish …. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (NIV).

Once you put your life in God’s hands, nobody can snatch you out. You may wonder, “Can’t you just jump out?” How big do you think God’s hands are? You’re never going to get to the edge of his hands. Every aspect of your life is in his hands.

When my kids were little, I used to stand at the edge of the pool in the water and say, “Trust me. Jump to me.” They were always afraid. Is he strong enough to catch me? Are his hands slippery? What happens if he doesn’t catch me? But finally they would get up enough faith to jump into my arms, and of course I would catch them. Then they’d want to do it a hundred more times!

Your Father is waiting for you to jump today. He’s saying, “Trust me. I can be trusted. I’m working behind the scenes. And I can handle anything you give me.” Don’t you want God’s hand to be on your life? Don’t you want your life to be in God’s hands? You can trust him with your life and your future.

Why Should In Trust God With My Plan?

By Rick Warren

“I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return” (2 Timothy 1:12 NLT, second edition).

When you’ve got something that is very precious to you, whether it’s rare, expensive, or an heirloom, and you don’t want it to be stolen, broken, or burned up, you take it to the bank and entrust it to the protection of a safety deposit box.
Even more than a locked box in your bank, whatever you entrust to God, he’s going to take care of. You can count on it. He has a track record. Other people may not have a consistent track record of taking care of things for you. But whatever you entrust to God, he will take care of.

So, what do you need to entrust to God today? I’ll tell you what it is — it’s whatever you’re worrying about. Whatever you’re worrying about, you need to entrust it to the safety deposit box of God’s love.
Worry is practical atheism, because it’s acting like you don’t have a Father in Heaven who loves you and who can be trusted, like you’re a spiritual orphan. Worry is unbelief; it’s saying you don’t believe the 6,000 promises God made in the Bible.

The most difficult time for you to put stuff in God’s safety deposit box is when you’re in pain. When you are suffering, you don’t want to trust even God. You want to pull it back and hold it to yourself.
Paul knew this, but he also knew that when you’re in pain, that’s when you need to trust God the most. He said, “I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return” (2 Timothy 1:12 NLT, second edition).
I talk to people sometimes who say, “I’m afraid to give my life to Jesus Christ because I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep the commitment.”

Let me just be honest with you: You can’t keep your commitment. You will mess up! Fortunately your salvation isn’t based on your keeping the commitment. It’s based on Christ keeping his promise and taking care of what you’ve committed to him.

A Quiet Heart

In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. (Isaiah 30:15)


It is always weakness to be fretting and worrying, questioning and mis-trusting. What can we do if we wear ourselves to skin and bone? Can we gain anything by fearing and fuming? Do we not unfit ourselves for action and unhinge our minds for wise decision? We are sinking by our struggles when we might float by faith.


Oh, for grace to be quiet! Why run from house to house to repeat the weary story which makes us more and more heart-sick as we tell it? Why even stay at home to cry out in agony because of wretched forebodings which may never be fulfilled? It would be well to keep a quiet tongue, but it would be far better if we had a quiet heart. Oh, to be still and know that Jehovah is God!


Oh, for grace to be confident in God! The Holy One of Israel must defend and deliver His own. He cannot run back from His solemn declarations. We may make sure that every word of His will stand though the mountains should depart. He deserves to be confided in; and if we would display confidence and consequent quietness, we might be as happy as the spirits before the throne.


Come, my soul, return unto thy rest, and lean thy head upon the bosom of the Lord Jesus.

Who Can You Trust?

By Rick Warren

“For the word of the Lordholds true, and we can trust everything he does” (Psalm 33:4 NLT, second edition).
One of the great questions of life is, “Who are you going to trust?” The way you answer that question will determine whether you’re happy or miserable, whether you succeed or fail, whether you make something of your life or you waste your life.
Who always has your best interest in mind? Who will help you make decisions important to your life? Should you trust popular opinion? That may not be a good idea since it constantly changes. Should you trust celebrities who set the latest trends? Trends change, and fads fade. Should you make critical life decisions based on what you read on social media? Just because it’s online doesn’t mean it’s truly trustworthy or reliable.
What about trusting yourself? The truth is, our emotions can lie to us. The Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 KJV). When we live by our emotions, we can be easily manipulated by other people and by our changing moods.
If you’re going to entrust your life and your future to someone or something, you’d better choose someone who has your best interest at heart, knows everything, is perfect, and will never lie to you. That kind of limits your options — to God.
No one is ever going to always tell you the truth. They’re going to shade it. They’re going to filter it. They’re going to make it sound nice. They won’t tell you what you need to hear. But what you need to hear is the truth, because it is the truth that sets you free. Lies about yourself, others, the world, and how life really is only keep you in bondage.
To be set free, you must have the truth. As I’ve said many times, the truth will set you free, but first it makes you miserable. We don’t like the truth. We don’t want to hear that most of the problems in our lives were brought on by poor decisions. We don’t want to hear that it’s our own stubbornness and ego and insecurity that cause the stress in our lives, but it’s true.
Psalm 33:4 says, “For the word of the Lordholds true, and we can trust everything he does” (NLT, second edition).
God said it, and that settles it — whether or not you believe it. God isn’t waiting on your opinion to figure out what’s right and what’s wrong. If God says it, it’s true.
You can trust God.

Enemies at Peace

When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. (Proverbs 16:7)


I must see that my ways please the Lord. Even then I shall have enemies; and, perhaps, all the more certainly because I endeavor to do that which is right. But what a promise this is! The Lord will make the wrath of man to praise Him and abate it so that it shall not distress me.


He can constrain an enemy to desist from harming me, even though he has a mind to do so. This He did with Laban, who pursued Jacob but did not dare to touch him. Or He can subdue the wrath of the enemy and make him friendly, as He did with Esau, who met Jacob in a brotherly manner, though Jacob had dreaded that he would smite him and his family with the sword. The Lord can also convert a furious adversary into a brother in Christ and a fellow worker, as He did with Saul of Tarsus. Oh, that He would do this in every case where a persecuting spirit appears!


Happy is the man whose enemies are made to be to him what the lions were to Daniel in the den, quiet and companionable! When I meet death, who is called the last enemy, I pray that I may be at peace. Only let my great care be to please the Lord in all things. Oh, for faith and holiness; for these are a pleasure unto the Most High!

How To Satisfy Your Spiritual Thirst

By Rick Warren

“Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life” (John 4:13-14 NLT, second edition).
If you feel unsatisfied with your life and you want to live a fulfilled, meaningful life, you need to stop looking for satisfaction somewhere besides Jesus.

We’re always looking around, trying to find something to make our lives happy and significant. We think, “If I could just wear this kind of clothes, then I’ll be cool. If I could just have plastic surgery and get this fixed, then life would be grand. If I could just get this job, I’ll be satisfied.”
The Bible says in Jeremiah 2:13, “My people have done two evils: They have turned away from me, the spring of living water. And they have dug their own wells, which are broken wells that cannot hold water” (NCV).

Not only have we rejected God and not looked to him to meet all our needs and satisfy our lives. We’re also trying to meet our needs on our own. These wells we’ve dug called a career or good looks or a golf game aren’t going to hold water.
In John 4:13-14, Jesus says, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life” (NLT, second edition).
Sin is addictive. It only makes you thirstier! If you don’t believe that, ask anybody who’s looked at pornography — once is not enough. If you are addicted to prescription medication, one pill is not enough. If you have a problem with anger, you’re not going to get angry just once. Sin creates greater thirst for satisfaction.
But Jesus offers living water that will permanently satisfy your thirst.

If you feel unsatisfied with your life, that’s called spiritual thirst. And the only one who can quench that thirst is the one who said, “I thirst.” Jesus thirsted on the cross so you don’t have to thirst. He paid for what you don’t have to pay for. He became thirsty so you never have to be thirsty again.

A Wonderful Guarantee

I will strengthen thee. (Isaiah 41:10)


When called to serve or to suffer, we take stock of our strength, and we find it to be less than we thought and less than we need. But let not our heart sink within us while we have such a word as this to fall back upon, for it guarantees us all that we can possibly need. God has strength omnipotent; that strength He can communicate to us; and His promise is that He will do so. He will be the food of our souls and the health of our hearts; and thus He will give us strength. There is no telling how much power God can put into a man. When divine strength comes, human weakness is no more a hindrance.


Do we not remember seasons of labor and trial in which we received such special strength that we wondered at ourselves? In the midst of danger we were calm, under bereavement we were resigned, in slander we were self-contained, and in sickness we were patient. The fact is that God gives unexpected strength when unusual trials come upon us, We rise out of our feeble selves. Cowards play the man, foolish ones have wisdom given them, and the silent receive in the selfsame hour what they shall speak. My own weakness makes me shrink, but God's promise makes me brave. Lord, strengthen me "according to thy word."

Victory in Reverses

Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. (Micah 7:8)


This may express the feelings of a man or woman downtrodden and oppressed. Our enemy may put out our light for a season. There is sure hope for us in the Lord; and if we are trusting in Him and holding fast our integrity, our season of downcasting and darkness will soon be over. The insults of the foe are only for a moment. The Lord will soon turn their laughter into lamentation and our sighing into singing.


What if the great enemy of souls should for a while triumph over us, as he has triumphed over better men than we are; yet let us take heart, for we shall overcome him before long. We shall rise from our fall, for our God has not fallen, and He will lift us up. We shall not abide in darkness, although for the moment we sit in it; for our Lord is the fountain of light, and He will soon bring us a joyful day. Let us not despair or even doubt. One turn of the wheel, and the lowest will be at the top. Woe unto those who laugh now, for they shall mourn and weep when their boasting is turned into everlasting contempt. But blessed are all holy mourners, for they shall be divinely comforted.

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