Don’t Settle for Less Than God’s Best

[Don’t Settle for Less Than God’s Best]( Current Teaching Series [Created to Dream]( [Listen to Today's Broadcast]( [Don’t Settle for Less Than God’s Best]( By Rick Warren — 04/16/2023 [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [Email](mailto:?subject=I'd%20like%20to%20share%20a%20Daily%20Devotional%20from%20Pastor%20Rick%20with%20you&body= “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 (NIV) When you go through delays in life, don’t get discouraged. Don’t lose heart. Don’t give up! The Israelites did, and it delayed their entrance into the Promised Land. Numbers 14:2-4 says, “All the Israelites grumbled against Moses . . . ‘If only we had died in Egypt! . . . We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt” (NIV). They gave up on their dream. They had been rescued after 400 years of slavery but then wanted to go back because they were being delayed. Like the Israelites, some people would rather live in slavery than face the fear of freedom. They are not willing to push through and work on the problem until they get it right. They want to give up. They settle for mediocrity in life. Don’t settle for less than God’s best for your life! If that means going through a tunnel of conflict, take the tunnel. In the middle of the tunnel, it will be dark, and you will want to run back to the light. But you’ve got to keep going until you come out on the other side into the light. Instead of getting discouraged, be persistent and pray. Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (NIV). This is the law of the harvest: There is always a delay between sowing and reaping. You plant in one season, and you reap in another. God wants to see if you’re going to keep cultivating, planting, and sowing. If he sees consistency in your life, then the harvest will come. But it won’t come immediately, because if it did, there would be no chance for your character to grow or for your faith to stretch. Luke 18:1 tells us that we “must always pray and never lose heart” (PHILLIPS). You have two options in life: Pray continually, or lose heart. You will always be doing one or the other. If you pray continually, you will not be discouraged. If you don’t pray continually, you will lose heart. You will get discouraged by the problems you’re facing—whether they’re at work or at school or in your family. To stay encouraged, you’ve got to keep on praying! What do you pray during the delay phases of life? Pray, “Help me hold on and not give up.” God will hear you, and he will help. You are not alone, so you don’t have to get discouraged, even when you are delayed. [PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>]( Talk It Over - What lesson have you learned during a time of delay in your life? How can you apply that lesson to the pursuit of your dream? - What does it mean to pray continually or “always pray”? How is it possible to do that? - How has God shown you in the past that he is faithful? Remind yourself of those experiences when you start to doubt his faithfulness in your delay. The post [Don’t Settle for Less Than God’s Best]( appeared first on [Pastor Rick's Daily Hope](. [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [Email](mailto:?subject=I'd%20like%20to%20share%20a%20Daily%20Devotional%20from%20Pastor%20Rick%20with%20you&body= [Get Created to Dream when you give a gift to support Daily Hope!]( God has a dream for your life—and it’s far greater than anything you could ever dream up on your own. Discover God’s dream for your life and how to overcome the many barriers you’ll encounter as you pursue it with Pastor Rick’s brand-new book, Created to Dream: The 6 Phases God Uses to Grow Your Faith. This life-changing book reveals the process God uses to fulfill the custom-made dream he has for you and the faith-building phases he’ll lead you through as he does—just as he did for so many people in the Bible. [LEARN MORE]( [Complete Audio Series (Purchase)]( Includes 6 full-length messages from Pastor Rick's series Created to Dream. [LEARN MORE]( [Series Summary]( Message 1: How God Builds Your Faith Message 2: God's Dream for Your Life Message 3: How to Make Wise Decisions Message 4: Delayed by Design Message 5: How to Deal With Difficulty Message 6: From Dead End to Deliverance [PLAY TODAY'S BROADCAST]( Pastor Rick Warren [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Linkedin]( Enjoy today's devotional? 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