Rick Warren Quotes

Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.

When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you'll never get back.Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time

The ultimate test of faith is not how loudly you praise God in happy times but how deeply you trust him in dark times.

You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense.

God changes caterpillars into butterflies, sand into pearls and coal into diamonds using time and pressure. He's working on you, too.

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.

A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right and evil doesn't become good, just because it's accepted by a majority.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD Difficult moments, SEEK GOD Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD Painful moments, TRUST GOD Every moment, THANK GOD

God is much more concerned about your character than your career, because you will take your character into eternity, but not your career.

Unkind people need your kindness the most. They advertise their pain.

Faithful servants never retire. You can retire from your career, but you will never retire from serving God.

It’s not about you. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.

Emphasize reconciliation, not resolution. It is unrealistic to expect everyone to agree about everything. Reconciliation focuses on the relationship, while resolution focuses on the problem. When we focus on reconciliation, the problem loses significance and often becomes irrelevant.

Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope.

A person without conviction is a weak, jellyfish type of individual who mindlessly follows the crowd.

People may refuse our love or reject our message, but they are defenseless against our prayers.

We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it.

Since God intends to make you like Jesus, he will take you through the same experiences Jesus went through. That includes loneliness, temptation, stress, criticism, rejection, and many other problems.

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.

The problem is that tolerant has changed its meaning. It used to mean 'I may disagree with you completely, but I will treat you with respect. Today, tolerant means - 'you must approve of everything I do.' There's a difference between tolerance and approval. Jesus accepted everyone no matter who they were. He doesn't approve of everything I do, or you do, or anybody else does either. You can be accepting without being approving.

The first step to becoming what God made you to be is to stop worrying about what others want you to be.

When God wants to make a mushroom, he does it overnight, but when He wants to make a giant oak, He takes a hundred years. Great souls are grown through struggles and storms and seasons of suffering. Be patient with the process.

To make the best use of your life, you must never forget two truths: First, compared with eternity, life is extremely brief. Second, earth is only a temporary residence. You won't be here long, so don't get too attached.

Our time on earth and our energy, intelligence, opportunities, relationships, and resources are all gifts from God that he has entrusted to our care and management. We are stewards of whatever God gives us. This concept of stewardship begins with the recognition that God is the owner of everything and everyone on earth. ... We never actually own anything during our brief stay on earth. God just loans the earth to us while we're here. It was God's property before you arrived, and God will loan it to someone else after you die.

Let me tell you how worthwhile you are. You are infinitely valuable to God. First, God created you. Second, Jesus died for you. Third, he puts his Spirit within you. Fourth, he wants you to be with him forever in eternity. That's how valuable you are to God. You are infinitely valuable to God.

The only way you can serve God is by serving other people.

Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test... You will be tested by major changes, delayed promises, impossible problems, unanswered prayers, undeserved criticism, and even senseless tragedies.

Wearing a mask wears you out. Faking it is fatiguing. The most exhausting activity is pretending to be what you know you aren't.

Never let an impossible situation intimidate you. Let it motivate you - to pray more, trust more, expect more.

The most desired gift of love is not diamonds or roses or chocolate. It's focused attention.

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.

God teaches us to love by putting some unlovely people around us.

Remember how far you've come, not just how far you have to go. You are not where you want to be, but neither are you where you used to be.

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.

God sometimes removes a person from your life for your protection. Don't run after them.

The secret of endurance is to remember that your pain is temporary but your reward will be eternal.

Doing the easy thing makes you popular. Doing the hard thing makes you a leader.

There is nothing you can do that will make God stop loving you. You could try, but you simply can't do it - because his love for you is based upon his character and not on anything you do or say or feel.

There are illegitimate parents, but I don't believe there are any illegitimate children.

If you prayed as much as you worry, you'd have nothing to worry about.

Without the grace of Jesus: a hopeless end. With the grace of Jesus: an endless hope.

If not to God, you will surrender to the opinions or expectations of others, to money, to resentment, to fear, or to your own pride, lusts, or ego. You were designed to worship God and if you fail to worship Him, you will create other things (idols) to give your life to. You are free to choose, what you surrender to but you are not free from the consequence of that choice.

The most essential quality for leadership is not perfection but credibility. People must be able to trust you.

I serve a higher power, Jesus Christ. I make no apologies in saying that.

Our hope is not in the man we put in the White House but in the Man we put on the Cross.

The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel determines the way you act.

You weren't put on earth to be remembered. You were put here to prepare for eternity.

You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose. Focusing on yourself will never reveal your real purpose. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny.

Life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not using him for your own purpose.

Satan tries to limit your praying because he knows your praying will limit him.