Vacation!!!!!!!!

Dear my blogger friends and readers, thank for coming, reading my blog and encouraged me for more than a year. Unfortunately I have to take a break from blogging.. I don't want to say good bye but see you again in the future... That doesn't mean I'm not going to visit my friend's blog.. I'll go around and visit around your houses, even I didn't leave any foot print, you know I was at your blog. See you again in the future!!!!!

Lashiothu.

ဘေလာဂ့္ဂါ သူငယ္ခ်င္း ေမာင္နွမ မ်ားရွင္... လြန္ခဲ့ေသာ တနွစ္ေက်ာ္ ကာလ ပတ္လံုး၊ လာေရာက္လာပတ္၊ ဖတ္ရႈ အားေပးခဲ့တဲ့ အတြက္ ေက်းဇူးတင္ပါတယ္... မထင္မွတ္တဲ့ ကံၾကမၼာရဲ႕ ေစစားမႈ႕ေအာက္မွာ က်မ ဘေလာဂ့္ကို မေရးျဖစ္ေတာ့ဘဲ နားေနအံုးမွာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္.... ဘေလာဂ့္ဂါ သူငယ္ခ်င္းမ်ားဆီမွာေတာ့ လာေရာက္ လည္ပတ္အံုးမွာပါ... ကြန္မင့္၊ မွတ္ခ်က္ေလး ေတြ ခ်န္မထားခဲ့ေပမဲ့ က်မအလည္ လာျမဲ လာမွာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္လို႕... တခ်ိန္ခ်ိန္မွာ ျပန္လည္ ဆံုေတြ႕ ၾကရေအာင္လို႕ေနာ္...

ခင္မင္ရင္းနွီး စြာျဖင့္... လားရႈိးသူ

Renew your faith at Christmas

But the angel said to them, "... I bring you good news of greatjoy that will be for all the people." Luke 2:10 (NIV)

Knowing that Christmastime is God's chosen time teaches us that Christmas is the time for us to renew our faith.

We need not fear God because of the Good News of Christ's arrival; it is a Good News meant to "bring great joy to all people." (Luke 2:10 NLT)

What is the Good News?

• You matter to God: God knows everything about you -- the good, the bad, and the ugly -- and He still loves you. He cares about you. He loves you more than you could ever know. God is for you, not against you.
• You are not an accident: Regardless of the circumstances of your birth, you were not the result of an accident. God has a plan and a purpose for your life. The only way you will find meaning and satisfaction is to discover God's purpose for your life and then to get right into the center of his will.

God sent Jesus so you could know what He's like. If God wanted to communicate to birds, He would have become a bird. If God had wanted to communicate to cows, He would have become a cow. If He wanted to communicate to dogs, He would have become a dog. But God wanted to relate to you and to me, so He became like us -- a human being.

The thing is this -- I don't have the foggiest idea of what it means to relate to something like 'The Force' -- some impersonal power in the sky. But when I see Jesus in human form, I can say, "That's what God's like. I can understand that."

This is why Christmas is not about a religion. You may be Catholic; you may be Jewish; you may be Presbyterian, or Buddhist, or Baptist, or Lutheran; I don't care what your religious background is, Jesus didn't come to give you religion. He came to give you a relationship.

Christmas is God saying, "I want to relate to you. I want you to know Me as much as I know you." That's joyful news. It's good news!

Rick Warren

Release your fears at Christmas

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid." Luke 2:10 (NIV)

Christmas is not just a season, but it is a time specifically chosen by God for Jesus to come to earth: "But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son." (Galatians 4:4 TEV)

Knowing that Christmastime is God's chosen time teaches us that Christmas is the time for us to release our fears.

What are the things you're worried about? The economy? Your health? Your bills? Your kids? Are you worried about the future? The fact is there are lots of reasons to be afraid in today's world, but God's message at Christmastime is "Don't be afraid!" (Luke 2:10 NIV) Release your anxieties; let go of your fears.

It's interesting to note that there are 365 verses in the Bible that say, "Fear not." God provided us with one 'fear not' message for every day of the year! Do you think God is saying, "Get the message. Don't be afraid!"

Why does he want us to get the message? Because a lot of people are afraid of God! But God says we do not need to be afraid of him. He is for us; not against us.

And with the birth of Jesus, God shows he is with us.

This Christmas release your fears to the God who says we no longer need to be afraid.

Rick Warren

The four laws of God's blessing

"I will bless you ... and you will be a blessing." Genesis 12:2 (NIV)

During this Christmas season, we should keep in mind the four laws of God's blessing -

1. Our blessings should flow to others
The Bible teaches us that we are blessed not just so that we can feel good, not just so we can be happy and comfortable, but so that we will bless others. God told Abraham in Genesis 12, "I will bless you and you will be a blessing to others." This is the first law of blessing: it must flow outwardly.

2. When we bless others, God takes care of our needs
God promises that if we will concentrate on blessing others, he'll take care of our needs. There's almost nothing that God won't do for the person who really wants to help other people. In fact, God guarantees this blessing. In Luke 18, Jesus says, "I guarantee this. Anyone who gives up anything for the kingdom of God will certainly receive many times more in this life and will receive eternal life in the next world to come."

When you care about helping other people, God assumes responsibility for your problems. And that's a real blessing, for he's much better at handling your difficulties than you are.

3. Our blessings to others will come back on us
The more you bless other people, the more you help others, the more God blesses your life. Luke 6:38 tells us, "Give your life away and you'll find your life given back. But not merely given back. Given back with bonus and blessing." You cannot out give God. The more you try to bless other people in the world around you, the more God says, "I'm going to pour blessings out on you. We'll play a little game here. Let's see who will win. Let's see who can give the most. The more you bless others the more I'm going to bless you in return."

4. The more we're blessed by God, the more He expects us to help others.
Jesus said it this way in Luke 12 "Much is required from those to whom much is given. For their responsibility is greater." Based on the blessings of your life, what would you say God expects from you?

Rick Warren

Be thankful even in tough times

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Philippians 4:4 (NLT)

When the Apostle Paul says, "Always be full of joy in the Lord," he doesn't say only be joyful in good times. Even when times are tough, The Bible teaches we can be joyful if we follow this simple strategy -

Don't worry about anything.
Worrying doesn't change anything. It's stewing without doing. There are no such things as born-worriers. Worry is a learned response. You learned it from your parents. You learned it from your peers. You learned it from experience. That's good news. The fact that worry is learned means it can also be unlearned.

How do you unlearn it? Jesus says (Matthew 6:34), "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own." He's saying don't open your umbrella until it starts raining. Don't worry about tomorrow. Live one day at a time.

Pray about everything.
Instead of worrying, use your time for praying. If you prayed as much as you worried, you'd have a whole lot less to worry about. Is God interested in car payments? Yes. He's interested in every detail of your life. That means you can take any problem you face to God.

Thank God in all things.
Whenever you pray, you should always pray with thanksgiving. The healthiest human emotion is not love but gratitude. It actually increases your immunities. It makes you more resistant to stress and less susceptible to illness. People who are grateful are happy. But people who are ungrateful are miserable because nothing makes them happy. They're never satisfied. It's never good enough. So if you cultivate the attitude of gratitude, of being thankful in everything, it reduces stress in your life.

Think about the right things.
If you want to reduce the level of stress in your life, you must change the way you think because the way you think determines how you feel. And the way you feel determines how you act, which is why the Bible teaches that, if you want to change your life, you need to change what you're thinking about.

This involves a deliberate conscious choice where you change the channels. You choose to think about the right things. Because the root cause of stress is the way we choose to think, we need to focus on the positive and on God's word.

What is the result of not worrying, praying about everything, giving thanks, and focusing on the right things? Paul says we will then "experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7 NLT)

What a guarantee! He is guaranteeing peace of mind. Have you noticed that is what everybody seems to be looking for?

Rick Warren

Restore Broken Relationships in this Christmas

If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you ... agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. (Philip. 2:1-2, Msg)

God sent Jesus into the world so that our relationship with God could be restored. Christmas is about restoring relationships and many of us have relationships that need mending.

God wants us to value relationships and make every effort to maintain them instead of discarding them whenever there is a rift, a hurt or a conflict.

In fact, the Bible tells us that God has given us the ministry of restoring relationships. For this reason a significant amount of the New Testament is devoted to teaching us how to get along with one another.

The Apostle Paul taught that our ability to get along with others is a mark of spiritual maturity. Since Christ wants his family to be known for our love for each other, broken fellowship is a disgraceful testimony to unbelievers. This is why Paul was so embarrassed that the members of the church in Corinth were splitting into warring factions and even taking each other to court.

He wrote, "Shame on you! Surely there is at least one wise person in your fellowship who can settle a dispute between fellow Christians." (1 Cor. 6:5, TEV) He was shocked that no one in the church was mature enough to resolve the conflict peaceably. In the same letter, he said, "I'll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other." (1 Cor. 1:10, Msg)

If you want God's blessing on your life and you want to be known as a child of God, you must learn to be a peacemaker. Jesus said, "God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God." (Matt. 5:9, NLT)

Notice Jesus didn't say, "Blessed are the peace lovers," because everyone loves peace. Neither did he say, "Blessed are the peaceable," who are never disturbed by anything. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who work for peace" - those who actively seek to resolve conflict.

This Christmas is a good time to actively work toward restoring broken relationships.

Rick Warren

Love Is a Habit

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them." Luke 6:32 (NIV)

If you only love on and off like a light switch, you do not love others like God wants you to love. Jesus said, "If you only love those who love you what credit is that to you?" (Luke 6:32 NIV).

His point is this: anybody can love those who love them. Becoming a master lover means you learn to love the unlovable. It's when you love people who don't love you, when you love people who irritate you, when you love people who stab you in the back or gossip about you.

This may seem like an impossible task and it is - that's why we need God's love in us, so we can then love others: "We know and rely on the love God has for us" (1 John 4:16 NIV).

When you realize how much God loves you - with an extravagant, irresistible, unconditional love - then his love will change your entire focus on life. If we don't receive God's love for us, we'll have a hard time loving other people. I'm talking about loving the unlovely, loving the difficult, loving the irritable, loving people who are different or demanding.

You can't do that until you have God's love coming through you. You need to know God's love so it can overflow out of your life into others.

Love must become your lifestyle, the habit of your life. But it starts with a decision. Are you ready?

Your life is worth far more than you think, and by learning to love others with the love God gives you, you will have an influence far greater than you could ever imagine. If you will commit to this, you will experience love as God means it to be, filled with hope, energy, and joy.

My prayer for you is "that your love will grow more and more; that you will have knowledge and understanding with your love ..." (Philippians 1:9 NCV).

Rick Warren

The Bible says Love is a Skill

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7 (NLT)

Love is a skill that can be learned. In other words, it's something you can get good at and that means you get better at love by practicing love. There is no time better than the Christmas season to practice loving others.

You may think you're a good lover, but God wants you to become a great lover, a skilled lover, a master lover. Yet, most people never learn how to love. You can become an expert at relationships.

Wouldn't you like to become known as a person of extraordinary love? When people speak of you they might say: "He doesn't care who you are or what you look like." "She doesn't care where you've been or what you've done or where you're from."

The only way you get skilled at something is to practice. You do it over and over. The first time you do it, it feels awkward, but the more you do it, the better you become.

The same is true with love (1 John 4:7). Let's practice loving each other. As the Bible says, "Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all" (1 Timothy 4:15 HCSB).

Rick Warren

Love is an Action

Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. 1 John 3:18 (NLT)

The baby Jesus shows us that love is something you do. You show love by what you do, not just by what you feel.

Do you really love someone? Let's see how you act toward that person.

Love is more than attraction and more than arousal. It's also more than sentimentality, like so many of today's songs suggest. By this standard, is love dead when the emotion is gone? No, not at all. Because love is an action; love is a behavior.

Over and over again, in the Bible, God commands us to love each other. And you can't command an emotion. If I told you "Be sad!" right now, you couldn't be sad on cue. Just like an actor, you can fake it, but you're not wired for your emotions to change on command. Have you ever told a little kid, "Be happy!" I'm trying, daddy!

If love were just an emotion, then God couldn't command it. But love is something you do. It can produce emotion, but love is an action.

The Bible says, "Let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions" (1 John 3:18 NLT). We can talk a good act: "I love people." But do we really love them? Do you really love them? Our love is revealed in how we act toward them.

Rick Warren

Love Is a Choice

... That you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Deuteronomy 30:20 (NIV)

The birth of Jesus reflects the truth that love is a choice and a commitment. You choose to love or you choose not to love.

Today we've bought into this myth that love is uncontrollable, that it's something that just happens to us; it's not something we control. In fact, even the language we use implies the uncontrollability of love. We say, "I fell in love," as if love is some kind of a ditch. It's like I'm walking along one day and bam! - I fell in love. I couldn't help myself.

But I have to tell you the truth - that's not love. Love doesn't just happen to you. Love is a choice and it represents a commitment.

There's no doubt about it, attraction is uncontrollable and arousal is uncontrollable. But attraction and arousal are not love. They can lead to love, but they are not love. Love is a choice.

You must choose to love God; he won't force you to love him (Deuteronomy 30:20). You can thumb your nose at God and go a totally different way. You can destroy your life if you choose to do that. God still won't force you to love him. Because he knows love can't be forced.

And this same principle is true about your relationships: you can choose to love others, but God won't force you to love anyone.

Rick Warren

We Love Because God Loves Us

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 (NIV)

This Christmas season is a good time to remember that the reason God wants us to love is because he is love, and he created us to be like him - to love. The only reason we're able to love is because God loves us: "Love comes from God ... because God is love" (1 John 4:7-8 NIV).

We were created in God's image to do two things on earth: Learn to love God and learn to love other people; life is all about love.

But love all started with God. He loved us first and that gives us the ability to love others (1 John 4:19). The only reason you can love God or love anybody else is because God first loved you. And he showed that love by sending Jesus Christ to earth to die for you. He showed that love by creating you. He showed that love by everything you have in life; it's all a gift of God's love.

In order to love others and to become great lovers, we first need to understand and feel how much God loves us. We don't want to just talk about love, read about love, or discuss about love; our need is to experience the love of God.

We need to reach a day when we finally, fully understand how God loves us completely and unconditionally. We need to become secure in the truth that we cannot make God stop loving us.

Once we're secure inside God's unconditional love, we'll start cutting people a lot of slack. We won't be as angry as we've been. We'll be more patient. We'll be more forgiving. We'll be more merciful. We'll give others grace.

But you cannot give to others what you have not received yourself, and so my hope is that, as you learn how much God loves you, you'll also let him heal your heart so that his love can flow freely through you. It's impossible to love others until you really feel loved yourself.

Rick Warren

Share your Jesus-deposit this Christmas

"You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers. " I Thessalonians 1:6-7 (NIV)

Think of it this way: the Great Commission is so vast, and your role is so critical, that God needs you to be in thousands of places at once. Now, you know that's humanly impossible and, as for the supernatural, God's not likely to defy his laws of nature to drop you into several different places at one time.

But God's strategy is so simple we might call it common sense.

He puts a Jesus-deposit in you, and then guides you with his supernatural strength to just the right places at just the right time to meet just the right people so you can teach them how to become living, breathing examples of Jesus.

God places Jesus-life in you, and then you tell and teach others so they can receive Jesus-life from God also. And then, they tell and teach others, who tell and teach others, who tell and teach others. In this sense, you're now simultaneously all over the globe because "Christ in you" is now "Christ in others."

This is how the early church grew. The first Jesus-ones received the deposit of the Holy Spirit and then became models to all the believers-their faith in God becoming known everywhere (1 Thessalonians 1:6-8). These were ordinary people, passing on the message of Jesus-life to the people around them and then to the people beyond their own provinces.

Jon Walker

Yoked Companions of Compassion

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)

Most translations of Matthew 11:28-30 refer to the easy "yoke" of Jesus-"Take my yoke upon you..." But Eugene Peterson's paraphrase above captures the spirit of Jesus' teaching.

Jesus is looking for companions of compassion. Compassionate friends who will love others in the same way Jesus loves us. Jesus wants us to journey with him, get to know him, not run off to do things for him while we ignore him.

"Aren't you tired and burned out on all that religious stuff, anyway?" Jesus, in a sense, asks. "Look, come walk with me, and I'll help you get back your life, your real purpose. And even though it'll require some hard-very hard-work, you'll be energized by it because you'll be living a life of abundance. You'll be doing exactly what our Father created you to do, and more importantly, you'll be exactly who I want you to be."

There's still a chance Jesus may ask you to be a yoked-up plow-horse in service to God, but Jesus is more likely asking you to join his school of Christ as a student taking on the teacher's yoke.

This Christmas you can become a companion of compassion with Christ.

Jesus says, "Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:29-30 NLT).


Jon Walker

Generosity Builds Community

"Your generosity ... not only provides for the needs of God's people, but also produces prayers of thanksgiving to God." (2 Corinthians 9:12)

When we're generous with each other, we thank God for each other and we're drawn closer to each other.

One of my friends learned the connection between generosity and community when one of his neighbors came by to borrow a ladder. A few weeks later, my friend discovered his neighbor already had a ladder, but the neighbor borrowed one as a way of building a relationship.

My friend said, "When my neighbor borrowed my stuff, it made me feel like I was needed, and I liked that feeling. Now I do the same thing with other neighbors. For instance, my neighbor, Roger, has a Shop Vac, and I borrow it every Friday to clean my car. Roger even leaves it out for me on Fridays. I told Roger the other day that I could buy my own Shop Vac, but I liked the interaction with him. He told me not to buy one because he liked the interaction, too."

The Bible says, "Your heart will be wherever your treasure is." (Matthew 6:21) Wherever I put my time, my money, my effort, my energy, wherever I invest myself - that's what's going to attract me.

For some of you, your heart may be in your home. That's where you're putting your time, your money, and your energy - fixing it up. Or your heart may be in your work. That's where you're putting your time, your money and your energy. Or it may be in a hobby. That's where you're putting your time, your money and your energy. Wherever your treasure is, your heart's going to be there.

So, when I'm generous with you or with the poor or with anybody, that's where my heart tends to go. And every time I give to God, it draws my heart closer to God, and every time I give to you, it draws my heart closer to you. Giving or generosity creates community.

The first Christians were famous for their generosity. "The community of believers... shared everything in common." (Acts 4: 32) They were a family; they shared it all: 'What's mine is yours, and you can share it with me.' It was voluntary. Christianity says, "What's mine is yours and you can share it with me."

When you're a parent, and you have little kids in your home, you enjoy watching them share with each other? When you see that your kids are unselfish, you're very happy with that.

And God is the same way.

When God looks down on us and He sees us being generous with each other He says, "That's My boy! That's My girl! They're doing what I want them to do." Because God is generous, and He wants us to become like Him.

Rick Warren

Friday December 04 2009 12:00 AM Molded into Godly Character

Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:24 (NIV)

Your character is essentially the sum of your habits; it is how you habitually act. The Bible says, "Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24 NIV).

God uses his Word, people, and circumstances to mold us. All three are indispensable for character development. God's Word provides the truth we need to grow, God's people provide the support we need to grow, and circumstances provide the environment to practice Christlikeness.

If you study and apply God's Word, connect regularly with other believers, and learn to trust God in difficult circumstances, I guarantee you will become more like Jesus.

Many people assume all that is needed for spiritual growth is Bible study and prayer. But some issues in life will never be changed by Bible study or prayer alone. God uses people. He usually prefers to work through people rather than perform miracles, so that we will depend on each other for fellowship. He wants us to grow together.

In many religions, the people considered to be the most spiritually mature and holy are those who isolate themselves from others in mountaintop monasteries, uninfected by contact with other people.

But this is a gross misunderstanding. Spiritual maturity is not a solitary, individual pursuit!

You cannot grow to Christlikeness in isolation. You must be around other people and interact with them. You need to be a part of a church and community.

Why? Because true spiritual maturity is all about learning to love like Jesus, and you can't practice being like Jesus without being in relationship with other people.

Remember that during this Christmas season, when your family or friends challenge your ability to respond like Jesus!!

Remember, it's all about love - loving God and loving others.

Rick Warren

Thursday December 03 2009 12:00 AM Be a people-builder this Christmas

In response to all he has done for us, let us outdo each other in being helpful and kind to each other and in doing good. Hebrews 10:24 (TLB)

There's a price tag for being a people-builder: It requires unselfishness.

But why should we do it? "In response to all he has done for us, let us outdo each other in being helpful and kind to each other and in doing good." (Hebrews 10:24, TLB)

At some point, the Romans confuse the word "cristos" with "crestos." Cristos means Christ; Crestos, in Latin, means kindness. In a roundabout way, that confusion can teach us something: Christians should be the kindest of all people.

I want to give you an objective -- and that is to be a people-builder not just for this holiday season, but for the rest of your life. Begin by writing down the name of one person you want to help build up, then stop and pray.

Ask God to show you that person's strengths. We always build on our strengths, not on our weaknesses. Write down whatever strengths you've seen in him or her in the past.

Then tell that person, "I've been thinking about you because I really care about you. I wanted to share with you- from my viewpoint- the strengths I see in your life because those strengths determine what God wants us to do in our lives."

Imagine the impact you could have if you would commit yourself to being a people-builder; if you determined to bring out the best in everyone you know; to help people grow and to become what God made them to be.

Rick Warren

Thursday November 19 2009 1:07 AM Servants Serve with What They Have

If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done. Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NLT)

*** *** *** ***

Real servants do their best with what they have. Servants don't make excuses, procrastinate, or wait for better circumstances. Servants never say, "One of these days" or "When the time is right." They just do what needs to be done.

The Bible says, "If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done" (Ecclesiastes 11:4 NLT).

God expects you to do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are. Less-than-perfect service is always better than the best intention.

One reason many people never serve is that they fear they are not good enough to serve. They have believed the lie that serving God is only for superstars. Some churches have fostered this myth by making "excellence" an idol, which makes people of average talent hesitant to get involved.

You may have heard it said, "If it can't be done with excellence, don't do it." Well, Jesus never said that! The truth is, almost everything we do is done poorly when we first start doing it — that's how we learn.

At Saddleback Church, we practice the "good enough" principle: It doesn't have to be perfect for God to use and bless it. We would rather involve thousands of regular folks in ministry than have a perfect church run by a few elites.

Rick Warren

Wednesday November 18 2009 12:00 AM Real Servants Pay Attention

Real servants pay attention to needs. Servants are always on the lookout for ways to help others. When they see a need, they seize the moment to meet it, just as the Bible commands us: "Whenever we have the opportunity, we have to do what is good for everyone, especially for the family of believers" (Galatians 6:10 GWT).

When God puts someone in need right in front of you, he is giving you the opportunity to grow in servant hood. Notice that God says the needs of your church family are to be given preference, not put at the bottom of your "things to do" list.

We miss many occasions for serving because we lack sensitivity and spontaneity. Great opportunities to serve never last long. They pass quickly, sometimes never to return again. You may only get one chance to serve that person, so take advantage of the moment.

"Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now" (Proverbs 3:28 TEV).

John Wesley was an incredible servant of God. His motto was:

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can."

That is greatness. You can begin by looking for small tasks that no one else wants to do. Do these little things as if they were great things, because God is watching.

Wednesday November 18 2009 12:00 AM

Posted by Rick Warren

Rick Warren

Servants Make Themselves Available

No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. 2 Timothy 2:4 (NASB)

Real servants make themselves available to serve. Servants don't fill up their time with other pursuits that could limit their availability. They want to be ready to jump into service when called on.

Much like a soldier, a servant must always be standing by for duty: "No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier" (2 Timothy 2:4 NASB).

If you only serve when it's convenient for you, you're not a real servant. Real servants do what's needed, even when it's inconvenient.

Are you available to God anytime? Can he mess up your plans without you becoming resentful? As a servant, you don't get to pick and choose when or where you will serve.

Being a servant means giving up the right to control your schedule and allowing God to interrupt it whenever he needs to.

If you will remind yourself at the start of every day that you are God's servant, interruptions wont frustrate you as much, because your agenda will be whatever God wants to bring into your life. Servants see interruptions as divine appointments for ministry and are happy for the opportunity to practice serving.

Tuesday November 17 2009 12:00 AM

Posted by Rick Warren

Rick Warren

We Serve God by Serving Others

Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Mark 10:43 (MSG) The world defines greatness in terms of power, possessions, prestige, and position. If you can demand service from others, you've arrived. In our self-serving culture with its me-first mentality, acting like a servant is not a popular concept. Jesus, however, measured greatness in terms of service, not status. God determines your greatness by how many people you serve,not how many people serve you. This is so contrary to the world's idea of greatness that we have a hard time understanding it, much less practicing it.The disciples argued about who deserved the most prominent position, and 2,000 years later, Christian leaders still jockey for position and prominence in churches, denominations, and para church ministries. Thousands of books have been written on leadership, but few on servant hood. Everyone wants to lead; no one wants to be a servant. We would rather be generals than privates. Even Christians want to be "servant-leaders," not just plain servants.But to be like Jesus is to be a servant. That's what he called himself. While knowing your shape is important for serving God, having the heart of a servant is even more important. Remember,God shaped you for service, not for self-centerers. Without a servant's heart, you will be tempted to misuse your shape for personal gain. You will also be tempted to use it as an excuse to exempt yourself from meeting some needs. God often tests our hearts by asking us to serve in ways we're not shaped. If you see a man fall into a ditch, God expects you to help him out, not say, "I don't have the gift of mercy or service." While you may not be gifted a particular task, you may be called to do it if no one who is gifted at it is around.Your primary ministry should be in the area of your shape, but your secondary service is wherever you're needed at the moment. Your shape reveals your ministry, but your servant's heart will reveal your maturity. No special talent or gift is required to stay after a meeting to pick up trash or stack chairs. Anyone can be a servant. All it requires is character. It is possible to serve in church for a lifetime without ever being a servant. You must have a servant's heart. How can you know if you have the heart of a servant? Jesus said, "You can tell what they are by what they do" (Matthew 7:16 CEV). Monday November 16 2009 12:00 AM Posted by Rick Warren

Rick Warren