God Understands You Can’t Change Overnight
By Rick Warren
“Put on your new nature, created to be like God — truly righteous and holy”(Ephesians 4:24 NLT).
When God helps you grow spiritually, he doesn’t just snap his fingers so that it happens instantly. He does it incrementally. When God wants to make a mushroom, he takes six hours, but when he wants to make an oak tree, he takes 60 years.
Do you want to be a mushroom or an oak tree?
The Holy Spirit will make changes in your life far beyond anything you thought possible, but it’s not going to happen overnight. When Saddleback Church did our “Decade of Destiny,” my prayer was that, through the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God and with support from our small groups, our church would become more mature, more Christlike, and further along in our purpose 10 years from that point. My prayer is the same for you: that in the next decade, you would grow in spiritual maturity and Christlikeness and purpose.
I want you to be stronger emotionally, physically, spiritually, psychologically, and financially, but you’ve got to be intentional about it. The Bible says, “Put on your new nature, created to be like God — truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians 4:24 NLT).
This is how we become more like Jesus. We throw off the old things and the old ways that keep us from getting to know Christ and becoming like him, and we put on our new selves with the help of the Holy Spirit. We let God do his work in us — no matter how long it takes.
“As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him”(2 Corinthians 3:18 TLB).
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Financial Fitness Study Kit
Let God lead you into financial freedom!
I want to help you enjoy what God has given you right now by helping you build important financial principles into your life.
God gives us important advice about how to give, save, invest, and spend. And these are the principles Pastor Rick Warren shares in his Financial Fitness study kit.
We want to send you the Financial Fitness DVD Study and workbook to thank you for your gift today to help reach more people with the hope of Jesus Christ.
In this 5-session video study Pastor Rick will help you…
• Understand and apply God’s advice about your money.
• Do more with your money than you ever thought possible.
• Feel greater peace through financial freedom.
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
You can listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.