Skip to main content

“What makes ambition good or bad?”

A thought by Rick Warren from his book, God's Answers to Life's Difficult Questions (Living with Purpose) (p. 72). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

We’ve been looking the past couple of days at ambition.  This is a good follow up question, isn’t it?

Here is Rick’s answer.  He says, “One thing: the motive behind it.”

He goes on, “… God never honors an unworthy request. Consider this: God dares you to ask for big requests. What do you ask God for when you pray? God encourages you to ask for things: ‘You do not have, because you do not ask God’ (James 4:2). The Lord said to Jeremiah, ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know’ (Jer. 33:3). Paul says that God ‘is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us’ (Eph. 3:20). This means that you cannot out-ask God. You cannot out-dream God. If you could stretch your imagination to the greatest limits of what you think could possibly happen, God can go beyond even that.’

Rick continues, “He can go beyond your imagination. God says, ‘Trust me. Ask things. Find a great ambition, then get a growing faith, then bring them to me in genuine prayer.’

“What do you want God to do in your life? Heal a bad marriage situation? Ask him. Help you with a problem at work? Ask him. Help you fill a bigger niche in your church? Ask him. God is not some big policeman up in the sky waiting for you to make one wrong move so he can pounce on you; he wants to bless your life.”

He wants to bless our lives in this day, in this month, and in this new year.  Will you reach out to him and let him bless you?  Will you?

Yes, yes!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Lie 2: The more you worry about it, the better your odds of avoiding it."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book,   Winning the War on Worry    (p. 5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here is another lie that the Enemy uses with us. And Louie says, "This is a tricky lie. Yes, we often have cause for concern and preparation. But the Enemy wants you to believe that if you worry or fret over a certain outcome long enough, you can keep something bad from happening." But this is so important to realize. He says, "The reality is worrying has never once prevented something negative from happening. Planning might. Prayer has. But worry never will." He continues, "The Enemy tells you that by worrying about a situation (or every situation) you can make your tomorrow better. Really, worry just robs you of today. Jesus implored us: 'I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body mor...
Post a Comment
Read more

“Hurry and love are incompatible.”

A thought by John Mark Comer from his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (p. 23). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Wow, pretty strong thought isn’t it? John says, “All my worst moments as a father, a husband, and a pastor, even as a human being, are when I’m in a hurry—late for an appointment, behind on my unrealistic to-do list, trying to cram too much into my day. I ooze anger, tension, a critical nagging—the antitheses of love. If you don’t believe me, next time you’re trying to get your type B wife and three young, easily distracted children out of the house and you’re running late (a subject on which I have a wealth of experience), just pay attention to how you relate to them. Does it look and feel like love? Or is it far more in the vein of agitation, anger, a biting comment, a rough glare? Hurry and love are oil and water: they simply do not mix.” He goes on, “Hence, in the apostle P...
Post a Comment
Read more

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)   Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle?   Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...
Post a Comment
Read more