Trust God for the Help You Need

Current Teaching Series When You're Hoping for a Miracle

Trust God for the Help You Need By Rick Warren — Feb 23, 2018 “Then the man said, ‘Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me’” (Genesis 32:26 NLT). Obviously, when God and Jacob entered their wrestling match, God could have overpowered Jacob and ended things instantly. Why did God let the struggle go on? Here’s the lesson: When God allows a crisis into your life, he doesn’t solve it immediately. He lets it go on for a while because he wants to see if you’re really serious about seeking him. If God answered every prayer immediately, you’d begin to think God was a big vending machine: Put in a prayer, pull out whatever you need. I can’t tell you how many people say, “Rick, I am praying for a financial miracle in my life. I am so in debt and I’m praying for a financial miracle.” I sometimes want to say, “Did you get in debt supernaturally?” The truth is often no. Some people have poor financial habits that keep them stuck in debt. Your debt may be the result of foolish decisions. You may have spent more money than you were making. Or maybe you didn’t save for the lean times that inevitably come in life. Or maybe you didn’t use your money wisely. Why should God just bail you out? If God just instantly bailed you out of a financial crisis rooted in your poor choices, then tomorrow you’d go out and overspend again. You wouldn’t learn discipline, or money management, or wisdom, or persistence. God is not just going to bail you out of the debt you got yourself into; he will help you get out of debt, but he wants to build your character in the process. If you’re in a crisis right now, hang in there! Don’t give up. Don’t run from it. Don’t try to escape. Most problems you have in your life didn’t get there overnight. You may have worked years getting yourself into this mess. You may have some ingrained patterns, bad responses, and wrong habits that have built up over the years. So God isn’t going to remove those all at once. It’s kind of like peeling an onion; he takes it off one layer at a time. But here’s the hope. God is with you and he is for you. When you ask God for help, and trust him to provide, you will experience the peace of his wisdom and blessing.  PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>    Talk It Over How has God shaped your character by not immediately bailing you out of a crisis? What is one important truth God has taught you through a recent crisis in your life? ​What pattern, habit, or way of responding is God working on in your life right now?

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Series Summary Session 1: When You're Running Out of Everything Session 2: When You Can't See Your Way Clearly Session 3: When You've Come Up Empty Session 4: When You Feel You're Sinking Session 5: When a Marriage Has Ended Session 6: When You're Drowning in Debt Session 7: When a Friend is Dying PLAY TODAY'S BROADCAST

Pastor Rick Warren

Enjoy today's Devotional? Listen instantly to the full radio message at Daily Hope Radio. Did someone forward this devotional to you? Subscribe to Pastor Rick Warren's Daily Devotional. This devotional is based on the current Daily Hope radio series at pastorrick.com. Rick Warren has helped people live with hope and on purpose for more than 40 years. He’s the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern California and author of several books, including The Purpose Driven Church and The Purpose Driven Life, which has been translated into 137 languages and sold more than 50 million copies in all formats. He created the PEACE Plan (plant churches of reconciliation, equip servant leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, educate the next generation), which is used by churches in 196 countries. His radio teaching and daily devotional, Daily Hope, is offered around the world. This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission. You can unsubscribe at any time by changing your e-mail preferences. Update your preferences  |  Unsubscribe