Weekly Devotion - " Will You Follow? " - 3/23/15

Will You Follow?

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?”

“I will go,” she said. (Genesis 24:58)

On an ordinary walk to the spring to retrieve water, Rebekah became an answer to prayer. She came with a water jug, and left with a gold nose ring, bracelets, and houseguests.

The story unfolded over the evening meal with Rebekah’s family and Abraham’s servant. Clearly this was from the Lord. He was sending Rebekah to Isaac to be his wife.

The next morning Abraham’s servant was ready to go. Rebekah’s mother and brother wanted ten days or so to adjust to the sending. They decided to ask Rebekah about it.

“Will you go with this man?” they asked.

Without hesitation, procrastination, or delay she said, “I will go.” (Genesis 24)

What a difference a day makes! One day she’s fetching water for the family, the next day she’s leaving to start a new life! How did she adjust so quickly? When asked if she would go that very morning, isn’t the accepted spiritual response, “I need time to pray and think about it”?

The thing is, prayer had already taken place. God said, “Go!” So she did just that. She did what girls and GEMS counselors have been singing this year! “Where You go, I’ll go. Where You stay, I’ll stay. When You move, I’ll move. I will follow.” (“I Will Follow” by Chris Tomlin)

Think about it. If we really mean what we sing, the pressure is off! God leads, we follow. Period.

Instead of manipulating timeframes for a sending, or hashing and rehashing best and worse case scenarios if we go or if we stay, we listen to our Father. And when we know where He is sending, we follow.

Messengers God can use keep things simple. They listen and then obey.

Send Me: Has He placed someone on your heart to bring the message to today? Don’t hesitate, procrastinate, or delay. Bring the message!

Before you go charging into someone with the Gospel, ask God, “What would you have me know about this person?” “What would you have me say or do here?” And follow what He says. — Regi Campbell

Weekly Devotion - "Walk Across the Room" - 3/16/15

Walk Across the Room

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager 

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps (1 Peter 2:21).

Inspired by Bill Hybels’ book, Just Walk Across the Room, Miss Megan regularly asks our GEMS Club, “How many steps does it take to walk across the room?”

The girls shout, “Ten!”

It only takes ten steps to be a friend, to offer a helping hand, and give a word of encouragement. Whether at school, church, a grocery store, or an athletic event, it only takes ten steps and one smile, to share Jesus’ love.

Messengers God can use follow in Jesus’ steps. Notice the distinct pattern and gait to His walk.

He stepped toward the hated, outcasts, and condemned.

• He stepped toward Zacchaeus, looked up in the tree, and invited Himself to dinner.
• He stepped toward the Samaritan woman at the well, sat down, and poured living water for the entire town.
• He stepped toward the woman the religious leaders were ready to stone, kneeled, and offered her forgiveness and a new life.

His steps stopped for the blind and lame, and turned around for the woman subject to bleeding. Never were His steps rushed or hurried. Always He kept in step with the Spirit, and walked to the beat of His Father’s heart.

There are those who wear pedometers to count steps. This is good and healthy. Greater still are the steps of His messengers. They don’t count steps; they make steps count. Like Jesus, they step toward people and bring the message with their words and example.

Send Me: Think intentionally about your steps today. Each time you enter a room, stop and look around. Instead of going to the place that feels comfortable and safe, move toward the one who looks like they need a friend.

It was when we were helplessly in the throes of sin that Christ extracted Himself from the ultimate Circle of Comfort—Heaven itself—to step across time and space to rescue us. We take walks across rooms because He took the ultimate walk across the room—Bill Hybels

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Weekly Devotional - "Thank & Tell" - 3/2/2015

Thank & Tell

by Lenae, GEMS Training Manger

Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing (Exodus 15:20, ESV).

Even the ones among us with two left feet would’ve joined the song and dance on the other side of the shore. What started in panic and sheer terror, ended with rescue and relief! Sandwiched between the Red Sea and the enemy, God made a way. He saved them from the Egyptians and gave them a new life. Their slave-masters were dead and they were alive and set free!

Sound familiar? It should. It’s our story, too. Jesus made a way for our rescue. He saved us from death and won victory over the enemy! Sin is no longer our slave-master. We are alive and set free! In Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Like the Israelites who passed from death to life, do we do what saved people do? Do we break into song and dance? Do we thank God and tell His story? That’s what Moses, Miriam, and the Israelites did.

They looked back and thanked God for delivering them from their former life and death itself. They stood in the present and testified who He is—my strength, my salvation, and my God! And they looked ahead to what He will do. In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling (Exodus 15:13).

Past. Present. Future. He saved, saves, and will save. He loved, loves, and will always love. He made a way, is the way, and will make a way. To think on even a sliver of our salvation should move our feet to dance and bring the message.

Send Me: Think on your story: past, present, and future. Got something that sets your spirit into song and dance? Now thank and tell!

Weekly Devotion - "Passion for the Impossible" - 2/23/15

Passion for the Impossible

by Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (Luke 18:26-27).
 
Lilias Totter, trained in evangelism in the 1870s by Dwight L. Moody, gave her life to bringing the message. She began by serving poor girls in the inner city of London. She created programs and ran places that provided food, a place to sleep, rescue, Bible study, and prayer.
 
Then when she was almost thirty and bedbound while recovering from surgery, she prayed. And each time she did the Father pressed the words “North Africa” into her soul. While this was never part of her life plan, she obeyed. With two friends, they booked a boat to Algeria and set their faces toward a calling that was weighted with the impossible.
 
None of the women could pass the medical exam for the mission society, knew anyone in Algeria, or could understand a sentence of Arabic! Impossible! Yet they went. Fully devoted and dependent on their Sender, they entered Algeria with a threefold prayer. They asked the God for whom all things are possible for open doors (physical places), open hearts (a shift from apathy and hostility to welcome), and open heavens (that He would bring the harvest home).
 
For 38 years Lilias lived among and loved the Muslims of Algeria. In her last years, frail from a failing heart and restricted to bed, she prayed without ceasing. The map of Algeria and Tunisia that hung over her bed was inscribed with her own handwriting, “Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfill it.”
 
God is still looking for messengers He can use who have a passion for the impossible. Let’s not measure His sending by what seems feasible, realistic, or doable. Instead when we hear His assignment pressed into our hearts, let’s set our faces toward His calling and go. For this is not about what we can or cannot do. It’s about the movement of God who can open doors, hearts, and heaven to bring the lost home.   
 
Send Me: Have you previously dismissed an “impossible” calling from God? Return to it in prayer, and if He presses in and sends, go!
 
Let us dare to test God’s resources . . . Let us ask Him to kindle in us and keep aflame that passion for the impossible that shall make us delight in it with Him, till the day when we shall see it transformed into a fact. — Lilias Trotter
 
Using the Bible lessons from SHINE brightly? The second lesson in each issue introduces girls to missionaries. Encourage girls (and yourself!) to learn about ordinary missionaries who trusted an extraordinary God wherever they were sent.

Weekly Devotion - "Be Ready to Be Ready!" - 2/16/15

Be ready to be ready!

written by Lenea, GEMS Training Manager 

Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so (Esther 2:10).

Head in the sink, her hairdresser shared the ugly pieces of her life and then told her not to judge. My Jesus loving friend was shampooed and speechless. She then sputtered her best response and was still hashing it out in her head when we met that night.

Our Bible study group was small, but united. We have sputtered, too. Instead of being prepared to give an answer and ready to give reason for our hope, we have made awkward situations more awkward still. Sigh.

There is something to being ready before we need to be ready. Queen Esther got that. After Mordecai persuaded Esther to save their people, she didn’t rush to the king and unveil Haman’s evil plot. She got ready so she would be ready to make her request.
 

• First Esther and the Jews fasted for three days.
• Then Esther approached the king. She invited Haman and the king to a banquet. (Note: She didn’t sputter or spew!)
• At the conclusion of the first banquet, she invited them to a second. (Notice: She didn’t blunder or blurt!)
• During the second banquet, when the heart of the king was readied, she was ready with her request.

Peter tells us to do the same. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15).

Messengers God can use prepare so they are prepared. They get ready so they are ready. Now may be a good time to do just that.

Send Me: What are the faith questions that tie your tongue? What are the circumstances when things get uncomfortable? Ready yourself in prayer and His Word. Talk it out with other believers. Be ready so you’re ready!

Blurting out you are a Christian may not be the best way to win people for Jesus. Esther teaches us to be wise how we share. — Phil Moore

Weekly Devotional - "What People Hear Us Say Is . . . " 2/9/2015

written by Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

What People Hear Us Say Is . . .

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3).

Just because we can hear, doesn’t mean we really listen. And even when we do listen, it doesn’t mean we really hear what is being said. Being an active listener takes work. And one of the many tips toward engaged listening is to provide feedback.

• What I’m hearing you say is . . .
• It sounds like you are saying . . .
• What do you mean when you say?

Paul told the church in Corinth that they were living letters. They were physical, living, and breathing messages that declared Christ and were being read by everyone. Our lives bring the message!

The thing is, just because people can see our lives, doesn’t mean they really understand. And even when they do see, it doesn’t mean they get what is being said. For those actively watching and listening to the message of our lives, think about potential feedback. Are they asking aloud or to themselves:

• When I see you worry about everything, what I hear you say about God is . . .
• When I see your negative attitude or unforgiving spirit, what it sounds like you are saying about God is . . .
• When you have a problem with your church, what do you mean to say about God?

When people hear what we never meant to say, we must admit again that we can’t do this thing on our own. To be a letter from Christ, it must be written by the Spirit of the living God. Messengers God can use fully depend on the power of God for how they live the message and how people understand it.

Send Me: Ask a friend, co-worker, or neighbor, “What do you hear about God from the way I live?”

You are a letter from God to the world. People around you read the Gospel According To You every day. What does it say? — Phil Moore