Rick Warren (Born: January 28, 1954), a Christian Pastor and author. He founded the Saddleback Church, located in Lake Forest, California and it is one of the largest churches in the US.
Many of his books are best sellers. Quotes from Rick Warren’ book, What On Earth Am I Here For.
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Rick Warren Quotes
The Bible often compares life to a walk, because life is a journey; we’re not sitting still.
God designed this life to sever our ties to self-centeredness so that he can teach us to be other-centered – putting the needs of others over our own.
Jesus came to Earth to give us the gift of himself. Too many of us celebrate his birthday without accepting this free gift of salvation. It goes unwrapped year after year after year. That’s not smart.
You were created to add to life on earth, not just take from it. God wants you to give something back.
Any time I go out and buy a nice card and write a note of encouragement, I’ve just invested in God’s Mutual Fund. When another believer is discouraged and needs somebody to talk to and I buy him or her lunch, I’ve just invested in God’s Mutual Fund.
God is far more interested in why you serve others than he is interested in how well you serve them. He’s always looking at your heart.
God wants you to develop skills and educate yourself so that you can become the kind of person he has shaped you to be.
As long as you do things for God, you are a Hall of Famer in heaven’s list.
Because every day of your life was written on God’s calendar before you were born, everything that happens to you has spiritual significance.
People are always more encouraged when we share how God’s grace helped us in weakness than when we brag about our strengths.
If you want God to bless you and use you greatly; you must be willing to walk with a limp the rest of your life, because God uses weak people.
If you are facing trouble right now, don’t ask, “Why me?” Instead ask, “What do you want me to learn?” Then trust God and keep on doing what’s right.
Whenever you feel unimportant, unloved, or insecure, remember to who you belong.
God uses the opposite situation of each fruit to allow us a choice. You can’t claim to be good if you have never been tempted to be bad.
Nothing else you do will ever matter as much as helping people establish an eternal relationship with God.
When pressure builds up, don’t panic. Pray! Prayer is a tremendous stress reliever. It can be your safety valve.
As long as you pretend to be self-sufficient, you short-circuit God’s power in your life. You need to admit your inadequacy and say, “God, I can’t handle this!”
Your past, present, and future are taken care of as you put your trust in Jesus.
God wants our giving to be a deeply meaningful expression of worship in dimensions – past, present, and future.
Imagine how much you could bless others if you simply cleaned your closets and passed along your abundance – giving the things you don’t use to people who will.
The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.
Forgiveness must be immediate, whether or not a person asks for it. Trust must be rebuilt over time. Trust requires a track record. If someone hurts you repeatedly, you are commanded by God to forgive them instantly, but you are not expected to trust them immediately, and you are not expected to continue allowing them to hurt you.
To begin loving people today, we must close the door on the past. And that cannot happen without forgiveness! Forgive those who have hurt you – for your sake, not because they deserve it.
The secret of endurance is to remember that your pain is temporary but your reward will be eternal.
In God’s eyes, the greatest heroes of faith are not those who achieve prosperity, success, and power in this life, but those who treat life as a temporary assignment and serve faithfully, expecting their promised reward in eternity.
When you feel abandoned by God yet continue to trust him in spite of your feelings, you worship him in the deepest way.
Patience is a form of faith. It says, “I trust God. I believe that God is bigger than this problem.”
He created the church to meet your five deepest needs: a purpose to live for, people to live with, principles to live by, a profession to live out, and power to live on. There is no other place on earth where you can find all five of these benefits in one place.
There are many pitfalls in the marathon of life. But regardless of what you go through, you can count on God’s sustaining grace.
The church is a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints.
Christianity is not a religion or philosophy, but a relationship and a lifestyle. The core of that lifestyle is thinking of others as Jesus did, instead of ourselves.
We are all called to fulfill God’s five purposed for our lives: to worship, to fellowship, to grow like Christ, to serve, and to be on mission with God in the world.
Christians can be positive even in a negative situation because we know God has a purpose for allowing that problem.
We are not saved by good works; we are saved for good works. The Christian lifestyle is to be a lifestyle of goodness.
Only in hindsight do we understand how God intended a problem for good.
Salvation is not a religion. It’s not rules or regulations or rituals. Salvation is a relationship. That relationship doesn’t begin when you get to Heaven; it begins here on Earth.
The Bible offers three metaphors that teach us God’s view of life: Life is a test, life is a trust, and life is a temporary assignment.
Without implementation, all of our Bible studies are worthless.
Start today by practicing constant conversation with God and continual mediation on his Word. Prayer lets you speak to God; mediation lets God speak to you.
Unconditional love will turn a loser into a winner. You have no idea how many times your heavenly Father has wanted to reach out and grasp you in his arms when you felt like you blew it!
Any time you get serious about using your life the way God wants you to use it, there are going to be people who oppose it.
The only reason you can love God or anybody else is because God first loved you. And he showed that love by sending Jesus Christ to Earth to die for you.
Christianity is not a religion or a philosophy, but a relationship and a lifestyle.
Life is not fair, but one day God’s going to settle the score. He’s going to right the wrongs. So, who can get better justice — you or God?
The fact is, you can say you love God and sing that you trust God and put him first, but your checkbook is where you can show just how much God’s grace means to you.
I would rather walk with God and not have my questions answered, than have all my questions answered and not walk with God.
Receiving, reading, researching, remembering, and reflecting on the Word of God are all useless if we fail to put what we learn into practice.
Ever feel like God is a million miles away? The truth is, he’s not. Whatever struggle you’re going through, you can rest assured you’re not alone. You have God in your corner.
If you are serious about changing your life, you are going to have to get into the Bible. You need to read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it, and apply it.
Your spiritual family is even more important than your physical family because it will last forever. Our families on Earth are wonderful gifts from God, but they are temporary and fragile, often broken by divorce, distance, old age, and, inevitably, by death.
Get honest with God, and your focus will shift from just seeing your problems – no matter how overwhelming they seem – to the grace of God.
Biblical convictions are essential for spiritual growth and maturity. What is ironic today is that people often have strong convictions about weak issues (football, fashion, etc.) while having weak convictions about major issues (what is right and what is wrong).
Servants think of ministry as an opportunity, not an obligation. They enjoy helping people, meeting needs, and doing ministry.
God wants to produce the character of Christ in our lives because he knows that the more we become like him, the more fulfilled we will be.
The deepest level of worship is praising God in spite of pain, thanking God during a trial, trusting him when tempted, surrendering while suffering, and loving him when he seems distant.
Knowing you’re a child of the creator of the universe changes everything.
Your spiritual family is even more important than our physical family because it will last forever.
You don’t bring glory or pleasure to God by hiding your abilities or by trying to be someone else. You only bring him enjoyment by being you.
One of the ways we reflect God’s love and bring him glory is to accept each other just as he accepts us. This means we accept others’ quirks and look past their faults in order to see a person created in the image of God.
You’ve got a lot to look forward to in Heaven. Compared to what’s in store for you in Heaven, your current pain and problems are petty.
Jesus specialized in menial tasks that everyone else tried to avoid: washing feet, helping children, fixing breakfast, and serving lepers. Nothing was beneath him, because he came to serve.
Christians ought to have a reputation for being the most dependable people at work. They are always aware of who their true boss is.
Love leaves a legacy. How you treated other people, not your wealth or accomplishments, is the most enduring impact you can leave on earth.
Many people spend their lives trying to create a lasting legacy on earth. They want to be remembered when they’re gone. Yet, what ultimately matters most will not be what others say about your life but what God says.
