God's Plan To Grow Our Faith: Rick Warren's Guide

In his sermon, How God Grows Our Faith, Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church shares the lessons he has learned in his 40 years of service. Warren emphasizes the importance of strong and vigorous faith, quoting Colossians 2:7, and highlights two primary ways in which God grows our faith: through his Word and through challenging circumstances. Warren encourages his congregation to immerse themselves in the Bible and take comfort in the idea that God will always answer their prayers to increase their faith.

Knowing God's word

God's word is readily available to you in many forms. You can read it in the Bible, listen to it on tape or MP3, or even watch it on YouTube. You can also talk about the Bible with others, such as in a small group or church setting. By engaging with God's word in these various ways, you are nourishing your soul and growing your faith.

In addition to knowing God's word, it is also important to put it into practice. This means applying the teachings of the Bible to your life and allowing it to transform your thoughts, words, and actions. As you do this, your faith will not only grow but also become strong and vigorous.

God's word is meant to be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path (Psalm 119:105). It is there to guide you and help you grow closer to God. As you spend time in God's word, your faith will be strengthened, and you will be equipped to face the challenges and circumstances that life brings your way.

So, if you want to grow your faith, make it a priority to know God's word. Read the Bible, listen to it, study it, and talk about it. Let it feed your soul and guide your life. In doing so, you will experience the growth of a strong and vigorous faith that will carry you through both the good and difficult times.

Circumstances that test you

In his sermon, "How God Grows Our Faith", Pastor Rick Warren identifies two ways in which God grows our faith: through his Word, and through circumstances that test us. In this response, we will focus on the latter.

While reading the Bible is important, it is often the circumstances that happen to us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, that God uses to grow our faith and build our character. Faith, Warren says, is like a muscle. Just as muscles need resistance, testing, and weight to grow, faith needs to be tested, stretched, and pushed. That is why God allows circumstances that test and stretch our faith.

Warren identifies four tests that God uses to strengthen our faith:

• Dreams: God gives us dreams that are so big that we know we cannot achieve them on our own. This requires us to depend on God and strengthens our faith. Warren gives the example of how he and his wife, Kay, dreamed of being missionaries in Asia, but God had other plans. Instead, they ended up starting Saddleback Church, which has since impacted the lives of thousands.
• Delays: No dream is instantly fulfilled. Delays are part of the process of achieving our dreams, and they are opportunities for us to trust in God's timing. Warren encourages us to set bigger goals and give our lives to achieving them, rather than playing it safe and settling for small dreams.
• Finances: One of the main ways God tests our trust and faith is through our finances. We should not be afraid to ask God for help, even with our financial needs.
• Waiting: When we ask God for something, He often does not give immediate answers. This is a test of our faith, and it teaches us to trust in God's timing.

Dreams

God's Dream for Your Life

Rick Warren believes that God has a dream for your life. In his book, *Created to Dream: The 6 Phases God Uses to Grow Your Faith*, Warren explains that God puts an exciting dream in your heart. This dream is a statement of faith and the first step towards developing your spiritual maturity and changing your life.

Warren states that faith and dreaming are connected. Great faith inspires great dreams, and great dreams require great faith. The Bible is full of stories of people whose God-given dreams became reality, but only after going through a journey of faith.

God's Plans for You

Warren cites the Bible verse, Jeremiah 29:11: "I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." This is one of two Bible promises that *Created to Dream* is based on. The other is Ephesians 3:20: "God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!"

Six Phases of Faith

Warren identifies six phases of faith that God uses to develop your spiritual maturity and bring you closer to your goal:

• Dream: God puts an exciting dream in your heart.
• Decision: You make the decision to go after the dream.
• Delays: God allows delays to get you ready for the dream.
• Difficulties: You face problems that grow your character.
• Dead Ends: Your situation becomes impossible.
• Deliverance: God fulfills the dream, sometimes in unexpected ways.

God's Timing

Warren emphasizes that God's timing is always perfect. He may allow delays and difficulties as part of the process of growing your faith and character. These obstacles are not meant to discourage you but to strengthen your faith and trust in God.

Pursuing Your Dreams

Warren encourages readers not to let fear or a lack of peace keep them from pursuing their dreams. Instead, take that step of faith and watch God work. Remember, God is in control, and He will provide.

Delays

In a sermon delivered on the 40th birthday of the Saddleback Church, Rick Warren discussed how God grows our faith through dreams and delays.

Warren asserts that God gives us dreams to help others, and that these dreams are so big that we cannot achieve them without God's help. He illustrates this with the story of how he and his wife, Kay, founded the Saddleback Church. At the time, they had no money, no members, and no building. However, they stepped out in faith, and God provided for them.

Warren also emphasizes that delays are a crucial part of the process of growing our faith. He cites the Bible verse Habakkuk 2:3, which says that God's plans will not happen right away but will come to pass steadily and slowly. We should not despair during delays, as they are part of God's process of building our faith and strengthening our faith muscle. Warren reflects on his own experience, noting that it took 40 years for his dreams to be fulfilled, and encourages his listeners to set bigger, long-term goals for their lives.

Warren provides an example of a delay in the life of the Saddleback Church. When he and his wife were planning to be missionaries in Asia, God shut that door and led them instead to become a missionary-sending church. This delay was part of God's plan to use them to impact thousands of lives and send out hundreds of missionaries worldwide.

In conclusion, Warren challenges his listeners to give their lives to Christ and connect with a church family. He emphasizes that the most important thing is not the duration of our lives but the donation of our lives to God's purposes.

God's timing

In a sermon on the 40th birthday of Saddleback Church, Pastor Rick Warren spoke about one of the most important principles he has learned in the last four decades: how God grows our faith.

Warren identifies two ways in which God grows our faith: through his Word, and through our circumstances.

God's Word

Warren encourages his congregation to read the Bible, listen to the Bible, study the Bible, memorize the Bible, and talk about the Bible. He quotes Romans 10:17: "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God". Warren believes that the more time we spend with God's word, the more our souls will be fed.

Our Circumstances

Warren also believes that God grows our faith through circumstances that test us. He compares faith to a muscle, which needs to be stretched, tested, and put under weight in order to grow. God allows these circumstances to build our faith muscle.

Warren acknowledges that God's timing can sometimes seem late, but he believes that God's timing is always perfect. He encourages his congregation to remember that God is in control, and that God acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

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