Teach me to love
Teach me to love, this is my prayer—
May the compassion of Thy heart I share;
Ready a cup of water to give,
May I unselfishly for others live.
I dont wanna be a selfish person.
Teach me to love, this is my prayer—
May the compassion of Thy heart I share;
Ready a cup of water to give,
May I unselfishly for others live.
I dont wanna be a selfish person.
The Resume of Jesus Christ
Testimony - Rick Warren
Subject: Testimony
Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2006 01:22:54 +0000
This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren,
"Purpose Driven Life author and pastor of Saddleback Church in
California.
People ask me what is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell,
life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God
wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop,
and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live
60
to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in
eternity.
This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice
on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and
for
God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just
coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The
reason
for this is that God is more interested in your character than your
comfort.
God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making
your
life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not
the goal
of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the
toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life
was hills
and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the
mountaintop,
back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being
hills
and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad
track,
and at all times you have something good and something bad in your
life. No
matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad
that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your
life,
there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on
your
purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your
problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my
issues, my
pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your
focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of
thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for
her. It has
been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character,
given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony,
drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For
instance, this
past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it
made me
instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had
never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or
notoriety
for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask
God
what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He
gave me
two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians
9
and Psalm 72.
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our
lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway
through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we
set up
foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant
churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and
educate the next
generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24
years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was
liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions?
Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness?
Materialism? Or am
I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in
the
morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get
anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better.
God didn't
put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in
what I
am than what I do. That's why we're?called human beings, not human
doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.
Get along with each other, and forgive each other. If someone does wrong
to you, forgive that person because the Lord forgave you.
What is VIOLENT PRAISE?
I am getting several questions about Violent Praise! Violence means
vehement, forcible, or destructive action, often involving
infringement, outrage, or assault. Matthew 11:12-13 says, "And from
the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers
violence, and the violent take it by force."
In the phrase, "the kingdom of heaven suffers violence," a share
in the heavenly kingdom is sought for with the most ardent zeal and
the most intense exertion. The NIV reads, "The kingdom of heaven has
been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it." There is
a sound and _expression that will help you attain God's best and wrest
all of what God has for you from the enemy's hands.
Praise comes from a Latin word meaning "value" or "price." To give
praise to God is to proclaim His merit or worth in every situation
that we find ourselves encountering. You can shout "Glory!" You
can release blessing! Your heart can express thanksgiving!
This is the year of Samehk Hei which embodies the _expression of
"hallelujah" or "Praise the Lord." In other words, this is a year
that we must bring praise and the acknowledgement of God into every
circumstance of our life. If we do this, God will enthrone Himself in
the midst of our circumstances, and He will take on any strategy the
enemy is using to bind, block and captivate us. This is a time to
remove the enemy's upper hand from controlling our inheritance.
Praise includes offering of sacrifices (Lev. 7:13), physical movement
(2 Sam. 6:14), silence and meditation (Ps. 77:11-12), testimony (Ps.
66:16), prayer (Phil. 4:6), and a holy life (1 Pet. 1:3-9). Each one
of these expressions can become violent when you are determined to
advance in God's Kingdom plan.
Praise is linked to music, both instrumental (Ps. 150:3-5) and
vocal. Praise includes spontaneous outbursts of thanksgiving for some
redemptive act of God (Ex. 15; Judg. 5; 1 Sam. 2; Luke 1:46-55,
67-79). Praise also includes formal psalms and hymns adapted for
corporate worship (2 Chron. 29:30) and church (Col. 3:16). Praise
should be a heart _expression and not an outward show (Matt. 15:8).
This is not a season for the Body of Christ to be passive.
Here are some great examples where the Israelites expressed violent
praise:
* The Israelites expressed violent praise at Jericho.
* Gideon expressed violent praise over the Midianites.
* Paul and Silas expressed violent praise that shook them out of
prison.
Don't worry about what to say - just let your heart respond to God for
He IS Worthy! Psalm 81:10 says, "I am the LORD your God, who brought
you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill
it."
The restoration of David's Tabernacle is advancing in the earth
realm
in this generation. You should read Amos 9 as well as Acts 15, and
then the book of Revelation. One expresses prophetically, another
expresses historically, and the latter reveals to us the present
_expression of the war in the heavens.
When you read more closely, you see how we, as God's army in the
earth, will co-labor with the Host of Heaven to express a Holy God's
overcoming power throughout the nations of the earth. This will unlock
a global harvest. Your violent praise is preparing a storehouse for
Kingdom harvest.
As you Praise "violently", you are releasing the Roar of the Lord that
has been held captive in God's people. Let me explain the "Roar of
the Lord." God's sound permeates from heaven and orders much of what
goes on in the earthly realm. When He is ready to bring restoration to
Earth, He releases His sound. Judah goes first! Judah roars! The
roar of God is within us. Judah means praise Yahweh.
Do not resist the major shift that is recreating the way we
worship and acknowledge God corporately. Yahweh signifies the God of
covenant. This is a time when God values our worship. Also, this is a
time when we begin to value the covenant that He has allowed us to
enter into with Him. What a price He paid to give us access to the
throne room. Our worship will take on great covenant significance at
this time. Our worship will release great blessings into the earthly
realm. The redeemed of the Lord will say "SO".
This is a time when the burning bush, "I AM," type of worship is
coming into the midst of God's people. This is going to release a
deliverance call across Earth. When the ROAR of the Lord goes forth a
prophetic mantle falls (Amos 3). Let the Roar of the Lord loose that
is deep within you. This will enable you to hear clearly for your
future. There will be an anointing to open your "ears." You will
sense the Lord break hidden grief that has kept your joy capped.
Shout "Glory!" Release blessings! Express thanksgiving!
Declare Victory Seven Times!
Declare victory completely in your thought processes. Allow the Lord
to draw out old desires. He will remove some and activate others.
Your thought-life can be revolutionized during this time. Stick close
to the Lord and develop a prayer shield around you.
This is a month for a new level of discernment to be released.
Stay in the Word and pray in the spirit. The Lord will uncover some
key issues related to the blood of Jesus, the glory, and physical
healing. Celebrate and you will break through the "blood barrier" of
old thought processes.
Death strategies and assignments will break. No longer do you
have to be hung between two opinions. Break double-mindedness. Bring
your faults, failures and everything about you into the Throne Room.
This will be a time to push forward quickly through intersections.
Memorize Psalms 127 and 121. He will make Himself available in
night-seasons through dreams and visions. He will be very near those
who seek Him while He is near. Expect abundant grace and mercy to be
poured out and watch transformation occur.
In seeing what has happened in England over the last month, we must
remember that the United States has a very strong covenant with God.
This antagonizes the anti-Christ forces in the earth realm. The enemy
is plotting and planning to bring terror and destruction that will
cause God's people to retreat.
He would love to terrorize us to keep us out of subways,
airplanes, malls and so on. I do not see that smaller cities in our
nation are more exempt than the larger cities in our nation. But God!
He has a violent praising people that are more violent than the
enemy. Every where you walk from this day forward release an
atmosphere of praise that will defeat the enemy!