| |
DEVOTIONS
FOR November 3-8, 2008
Topic: The
Power of One
Prayer, Presence, Gifts and Service
|
|
|
|
Spend time with the devotions this week. Read the Scriptures and then
think how you can apply them to your life.
|
|
MONDAY
November 3
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 the 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 for granted. Not only
has He made it possible for us to have eternal life He provides for us each
and every day. His grace abounds! So why not serve Him only? 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.
|
|
TUESDAY
November 4
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.
|
|
WEDNESDAY
November 5
Look
up and read
James 1:27
and
Psalm
10:17-18
In the past 10 months
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.
|
|
THURSDAY
November 6
Look
up and read
Matthew
33:37-40
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? If we were completely real with
ourselves, I think we would admit that we are too much to ourselves and the
things that 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.
|
|
FRIDAY
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 just as fast 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.
|
|
SATURDAY
November 8
Look
up and read
Galatians
5:13
So how’s our week
been? Has God put anything on our heart’s concerning service? Have we had
any opportunities to feed the poor or meet the needs of orphans and widows?
Have we loved God with all your heart, soul and mind and loved our neighbor
as ourselves? Have we used our gifts and talents for Him? Can you imagine
if all Christians were committed to faithfully putting God first, instead of
spending all our time and energy first on other things? The world would be
completely different. God has given those that believe and have
faith in Him freedom, but we are not to use that freedom
for ourselves as the world does. We are to use it for God’s purpose
and to serve one another as it says here in Galatians 5:13. Meditate over
this verse and ask God to help you live your life serving in that freedom
He’s given you and not to indulge in sinful desires.
|
|
See you at Sunday
School, Worship and Youth Fellowship this Sunday!
Bible references provided by
www.biblegateway.com
|
|
