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DEVOTIONS
FOR November 2-7, 2009
Topic:
Getting Connected - Stewardship
A good steward: One who seeks first to honor God with their time,
gifts, abilities,
prayers, presence, service and resources.
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Spend time with the devotions this week. Read the Scriptures and then
think how you can apply them to your life.
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MONDAY
November 2
Look
up and read
1 Samuel
12:24
and
Luke 4:8
Who are we serving? What are we serving for? Why serve? These may be a
few of many questions that we ask ourselves when it comes to service. I
think if we are completely honest with ourselves we’d probably admit that
we’d serve ourselves first instead of God. The thing I think we miss is so
much has already been done for us by God and we’ve taken it granted. Not
only has He made it possible for us to have eternal life He provides for us
each and everyday. His grace abounds! So why not serve Him in all we do?
When we serve we are doing it for God as an outward expression of our faith
and obedience in Him. We experience the blessings when we are faithful in
our service and serving God only. Pray today and ask God to help you have a
heart that seeks to serve Him. Come to worship and praise His name on
Sunday mornings and nights and throughout the week. |
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TUESDAY
November 3
Look
up and read
Proverbs
22:9
and
Proverbs
29:7
Have you ever
forgotten your lunch for school and unexpectedly someone gave you theirs? I
have experienced someone doing that for me and I know that God calls us
to feed the poor. My wife brought a meal to a man that was struggling
to put food on his table. She did it not expecting anything in return. He
called her in tears and said he couldn’t understand why she would do that
for him and she responded, “Because we care for you and God loves you.” If
we looked in our refrigerators and in our pantries and cabinets I’m certain
that we would find that we have an abundance of food that we could easily
donate to our food pantry or local mission that helps feed families and
people in need. Spend some time in prayer today and ask God to help you
find ways to feed the poor. Bring your canned goods to youth group each
week. |
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WEDNESDAY
November 4
Look
up and read
Nehemiah
10:37
and
Galatians
5:13
So how’s our week
been? What’s on our hearts concerning service? What opportunities have we
had to serve? Are we passionate for God? How would things be different if
all Christians faithfully put God first, instead of spending all time, money
and energy first on other things? WE have a responsibility in the church as
well as the world around us. He has called us to the Church body as
members to give God the first of our labors (resources). A majority of the
opportunities that our church ministries have are directly from the giving
and tithing from the body. In Nehemiah 10:37 it talks about how the people
were asked to give from their first fruits (the best) to God. The people
here committed to it and the ministry was blessed. Galatians 5:13
challenges us to give and serve for God’s purpose not our own. Meditate
over these verses and ask God to help you give from your prayers,
presence, service and resources (maybe money you earn from babysitting
or the allowance you get) and to have a heart for His purpose in
the church.
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THURSDAY
November 5
Look
up and read
James 1:27
and
Psalm
10:17-18
In the past year
and a half since having our daughter in our home God has revealed to us, yet
again, that his love is limitless and unconditional. We knew that the Lord
was leading us to adopt and bring a child into our home. She has been a
blessing and wonderful gift since. What’s so awesome is that our boys will
know about adoption and God’s calling to follow His example of encouraging,
listening and defending the fatherless and the oppressed. In so many other
ways God wants us all to support and look after orphans as well as widows
in need. We are to do this so that they will know of His love and care
for them. God listens to their cries and He’s giving us the opportunity
to help the afflicted. Meditate over the verses today and ask God to open
up your heart to helping out the orphans and meeting the needs of widows.
Share the love of Christ to the afflicted today with your resources. Help
support the less fortunate by saving the money you would normally spend
shopping for yourself or going out to eat. |
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FRIDAY
November 6
Look
up and read
Matthew
22:37-40
How often do we
interact with our neighbors? Do you have any friends from school and others
you walk by in the halls that live in your neighborhood? Do you take the
time to get to know the ones you walk past? I think if we were completely
real with ourselves I think we would admit that we are too much to ourselves
and the things we feel are more important. We have so much going on in our
lives that we don’t even take the time to interact with the people that we
“breeze by” in the halls. The verses here in Matthew 33 Jesus is responding
to a Pharisee, an expert in the law, by saying that we are to “love the
Lord with all our heart, soul and mind and secondly that we are to love our
neighbor as ourselves”. How are we doing with this? Is God our first
love? Are we expressing love to those we come in contact with like we would
want others to show us? Pray today that God would be your first love and
open your heart to showing his love to your “neighbors”. Be bold today and
get to know someone you would usually pass in the halls or at youth group
and say nothing to.
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SATURDAY
November 7
Look
up and read
Romans
12:6-8
When you get a present
for your birthday, Christmas or a surprise what do you do? You open it
right? Hopefully you say thank you to whomever gave you the gift and you
use the gift. God has given us all different gifts and the question we need
to answer is what are we doing with it? If you read the verses in Romans 12
you will see that there are different gifts that are given according to
God’s grace. It also says that we are to use our gift in proportion to
our faith. What’s that mean? If we don’t have faith we won’t be using
our gift for God. He’s given it to us and just as quickly as He’s given it
to us it can be taken away if we’re not using it for His purpose.
But if we have faith that is growing, we will be using that gift more and
more for God’s glory. Spend some time in prayer today first thanking
God for the gifts and talents He’s given you. Then ask Him to help you use
your gifts in proportion to your faith that it would be used more and more
as you seek to know Him more. Use your gifts and talents for Him today. |
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See you at Sunday
School, Worship and Youth Fellowship this Sunday!
Bible references provided by
www.biblegateway.com
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