Daily Inspiration

God Is Not Surprised by Your Faults

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by Rick Warren

“I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out — plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” (Jeremiah 29:11 MSG)

Have you been acting as if God is totally unaware of your faults?

The truth is, God know your faults and failures, but he still loves you unconditionally.

In fact, God knows your feelings and frustrations, and he sees your hurt more than anyone else can. God knows your future, so he can tell what you need to know. God knows your fears, and he wants you to hand your worries over to him. God knows your faithfulness, because he sees every good thing you do.

The fact that God knows everything means nothing I face will hinder his ability to help me; nothing that is to come will catch him by surprise; nothing I fear will be too big for God’s strength; and nothing I do in his name is ever done in vain.

God says, “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out — plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” (Jeremiah 29:11, MSG)

Practice the Principle of Replacement

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by Rick Warren

“Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.” (Proverbs 4:23 GN)

Long before psychology came around, God said your thoughts determine your feelings and your feelings determine your actions. If you want to change your life, you have to control the way you think.

Our minds are really an amazing creation. It would take a computer the size of a small city just to carry out the basic functions of your brain. Your brain contains more than 100 billion nerve cells. Each individual cell is connected with 10,000 other neurons.

You’re also constantly talking to yourself. Research indicates that most people speak at a rate of 150 to 200 words per minute, but the mind can process about 500 to 600 words a minute. That’s why you can listen to me and plan today’s dinner at the same time.

The problem is that a lot of us are like Job, who says, “Everything I say seems to condemn me” (Job 9:20b GN). He’s saying, in effect, “Everything I say puts me down.” If you are a typical human being, you are your own worst critic.

We’re always putting ourselves down. We walk into a room smiling, but inside we’re thinking, “I’m fat. I’m dumb. I’m ugly. And I’m always late!”

But when you say those things, you’re really pointing to the Creator who made you. When you say, “God, I’m worthless. I’m no good. I can’t do anything,” you’re saying, “God, you blew it with me.” That’s why God says it’s wrong to put yourself down.

How do you eliminate negative self-talk so you can become a more confident person?

The Bible teaches the principle of replacement. “Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right … Think about all you can thank God for and be glad about” (Philippians 4:8 TLB).

In other words, don’t think about all those weaknesses in your life. Focus on who God wants you to be and what God wants to do in your life. I don’t know a better antidote to low self-esteem (or to facing your hurts, habits, and hang-ups) than to read God’s Word every day — study it, memorize it, meditate on it, and apply it in your life.

The best thing you can do to raise your confidence level is to start believing what God says about you. When I find a verse in the Bible that speaks to me, I write it down on a card, memorize it, and then affirm it by saying it back to God: “Father, thank you that I am valuable, significant, forgivable, and capable.” Let God renew your mind, because “your life is shaped by your thoughts” (Proverbs 4:23 GN).

Move Forward with God’s Forgiveness

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by Rick Warren

“Look straight ahead with honest confidence; don’t hang your head in shame.” (Proverbs 4:25 TEV)

You don’t need to walk around carrying a load of guilt. The Apostle Paul says, “Yes, all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious ideal; yet now God declares us ‘not guilty’ of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ, who in his kindness freely takes away our sins” (Romans 3:23-24 TLB).

God wants to forgive you. Imagine a giant blackboard with all of your sins written across it and God comes along with a giant eraser and erases it all. It’s like an Etch A Sketch: You turn it upside down and shake it, then turn it back up, and the slate is clean. That’s good news, isn’t it?

But we need to accept God’s forgiveness. We may know about God’s forgiveness intellectually, but we need to believe it, deep down inside, accepting in faith that it is true — because it is!

One thing that often blocks us from accepting forgiveness from God is that we are unable to forgive ourselves. You need to forgive yourself for your past failures and sins, for the habits and hang-ups that led you to sin. Forgive yourself!

God wants you to forgive yourself. He teaches us to “look straight ahead with honest confidence; don’t hang your head in shame” (Proverbs 4:25 TEV).

Have you ever committed a sin and asked God to forgive you, and, even though you know he’s forgiven you, you still feel lousy? What do you do in that situation? Do you go back and ask him to forgive you again? Confess it again, over and over?

No. You only have to confess a sin one time, and it’s forgiven. But you may have to forgive yourself a hundred times and say it over and over until it sinks in: “God’s forgiven me. It’s over.”

Our problem is that we want to keep reminding God of things he’s already forgotten. It’s forgiven and forgotten. You’ve already dealt with it. Someone once asked Eleanor Roosevelt, “How did you accomplish so much with your life?” She replied, “I never waste time with regrets.”

Don’t waste time with your regrets. Accept God’s forgiveness, and forgive yourself.

Move Forward with Confidence

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by Rick Warren

“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God.” (1 John 3:21 NIV)

You’ve probably noticed that your confidence ebbs and flows. It varies greatly from day to day: One day you’re up, and one day you’re down. What causes that?

In part, it’s about what is going on inside of you. The Bible teaches, “If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God” (1 John 3:21 NIV). When we face life’s hurts, habits, and hang-ups, it’s important that we walk out of self-condemnation and into the faithful confidence that God forgives us.

What causes self-condemnation?

Unresolved guilt: King David wrote, “There was a time when I wouldn’t admit what a sinner I was. But my dishonesty made me miserable and filled my days with frustration” (Psalm 32:3 LB).

This reminds me of a sign I saw the other day: “A clean engine produces more power.” That’s true in humans, too. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the man who wrote “Sherlock Holmes,” once pulled a prank on 12 prominent Englishmen. He sent them an anonymous note that said, “All is found out. Flee at once.” Within 24 hours, eight of those men had left the country! Guilt destroys your confidence.

Unrealistic expectations: This is also known as perfectionism — the feeling that I must be flawless, that I must please everybody, that I always have to do more, that I’m not allowed to relax.

If you’re a perfectionist, your favorite phrase is, “I should … I must … I ought … I have to …” You’re always doing more.

If you’re an average person, you have three things on your daily “to do” list. You get one of them done, you leave one of them unfinished, and the third one you just forget about. You go home and put your feet up at night and feel good about yourself.

If you’re a perfectionist, you have 29 things on your daily “to do” list. You finish 28 of them, then you go home and feel like a failure! The Bible says, “Even perfection has its limits, but [God’s] commands have no limit” (Psalm 119:96 NLT).

Both guilt and perfectionism cause a lack of confidence in our lives.

Strength Is for Service

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by Jon Walker
“We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.” (Romans 15:1 NIV)

We’ve been talking about the courage to face our faults. When we face our own faults, others will be more open to admitting their faults to us.

By facing our own faults, we’re able to interact with others. When we see others straying from the faith, instead of judging them, we can look past their “faulty” appearance and try to understand the reason for their drift from the faith.

We can address the needs and concerns God reveals to us, instead of condemning them in their weakness and leaving them trapped in their sin. Both Paul and James teach that those strong in courage are to take their courage to the weak. Those living in the Spirit are to pursue and restore those who’ve slipped back into living the old, worldly ways (Romans 14-15; Galatians 6; James 5).

We prepare ourselves to “lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, ‘How can I help?’” (Romans 15:1-2 MSG).

We encourage people to accept their individuality (be themselves) and yet reject individualism (living for themselves). Christ accepted us, and that encouraged us toward spiritual maturity; now we can reflect the heart of Jesus by offering acceptance to others.