Weekly Devotion "SHOW LOVE TO GOD BY HELPING HIS PEOPLE" - Dec 13, 2010

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

SHOW LOVE TO GOD BY HELPING HIS PEOPLE

God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.

Hebrews 6:10

Our season of being foster parents was both rich and rocky. I recall a six-month period when I was physically and emotionally drained. The day-to-day responsibilities of working part-time and caring for five children nearly did me in. Only by God’s grace and the work of His servants did I make it through.

One evening a dear woman from our church 20-years my senior, came over with armloads of food – enough meals to last through the end of the week. She had done foster care when she was my age and she remembered the extra work it entailed. As she stood in my kitchen and encouraged me, I wept. I didn’t know how to thank her.

She said something to the effect that it wasn’t a big deal. It’s just a small thing. What felt seemingly small and insignificant to her had enormous implications to my heart and health. Her work showed love to God by helping His people (Hebrews 6:10).

God delights in using small things: Moses’ rod (Exodus 4:2), David’s sling (1 Samuel 17:40), the small room on the roof that the Shunammite woman and her husband built for Elisha (2 Kings 4:10), a cup of cold water (Matthew 10:42), two very small copper coins that the widow added to the temple treasury (Mark 12:42), the five small barley loaves and two small fish that a boy gave to Jesus to feed five thousand (John 6:9), and the basket that Paul was lowered in through an opening in the wall (Acts 9:23-25). All of them were small, yet significant, because they were used to show love to God by helping His people (Hebrews 6:10).

The Lord chose Zerubbabel to supervise the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem (Ezra 3:2, 8).  The temple was completed in 516 B.C. according to the command of the God of Israel (Ezra 6:14-15). Yet older Jews were downcast and dismayed. Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing (Haggai 2:3)? Compared to the glory and grandeur of Solomon’s temple, the new temple was small and seemed to lack power and status.

Their reaction must’ve caused Zerubbabel to wonder if bigger is better. Does size trump significance? The Lord spoke truth to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me: The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel (Zechariah 4:8-10).

Warren Wiersbe writes, “To the eyes of men, the temple was but a small thing, but to the eyes of God, it was a source of great joy. Do your work to please God and let Him be the final judge.”

PASSION Step: Choose to value your service not by its size, but by its significance in the eyes of God. Show love to God by helping His people.

Faithful to my Lord’s commands,

I still would choose the better part;

Serve with careful Martha’s hands

And loving Mary’s heart.

Charles Wesley

Weekly Devotion ; "SERVE OTHERS" - Dec 6, 2010

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

SERVE OTHERS

Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one of you for whatever good you do.

Ephesians 6:7-8a, TNIV

As children my sister and I were infamous for needing to go to the bathroom when it was time to clear the table and do dishes. If we loitered long enough, it gave our mom time to make a significant dent on the clean up. She grew wise to our scheming and either stayed put until we returned or had us wait to use the restroom until we were finished cleaning up. It was amazing, when forced to wait, neither one of us had an accident and typically forgot that we needed a bathroom in the first place. Have you ever gone great lengths to avoid work you don’t enjoy?

In Acts 6 some of the growing pains of the new church come to light. The Grecian Jews were complaining against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:2-4).

Serve tables. Do we wholeheartedly serve when the task at hand is miserable and messy? There is no such thing as unimportant work when we serve the Lord! Seven men were chosen to wait tables and organize the food distribution program. They were called to the work because they were full of the Spirit and wisdom and they were set apart for the work when the apostles prayed and laid their hands on them (Acts 6:6). Their willingness to do what some may have deemed insignificant was instrumental in helping the word of God spread (Acts 6:7).

Serve like Jesus. Do we wholeheartedly serve or wholeheartedly look for ways to be served? Jesus said, “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27). Kingdom service looks backwards to a world that seeks prestige and honor. We must serve like Christ who did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28).

Serve the Lord. Do we wholeheartedly serve as if Jesus were our supervisor? Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men (Colossians 3:23). True servants serve with all their hearts – no matter what the task and no matter who may or may not be watching.

PASSION Step: What seemingly insignificant tasks need your attention at home, work, your church or community today? Identify one and work at it with all your heart.

There are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord; but few of us are willing to do the little things.

D.L. Moody

Weekly Devoation - "MEMORIZE THE WORD" - Nov 22, 2010

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

MEMORIZE THE WORD

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Psalm 119:11

Two questions:

1. Do you believe that memorizing Scripture is important?
2. Do you regularly memorize Scripture?

For more years than I’d like to admit, my answers to those questions conflicted with one another. Yes! Scripture memorization is important! But, do I do it? Well . . . I know the theme verses we’ve studied at GEMS over the years, and Psalm 23, but faithfully memorizing large chunks of God’s Word? Not so much. Rick Warren said, “You only believe the part of the Bible that you actually do.”

A missionary visited our congregation and invited us to join brothers and sisters from North America to Central Asia to be part of The Psalms Project. It’s a seven-year commitment to memorize the Psalms. Year one includes putting 21 Psalms to memory. I signed up, knowing I needed accountability in a spiritual discipline I had sorely neglected. It’s been hard work with rich rewards. My lone regret is that I didn’t do this sooner.

Why should we memorize Scripture? There are many reasons. Here are three:

1. To know God. In the field of education, professionals tell us that we retain 10% of what we hear, 25% of what we read, 50% of what we study, and 80% of what we memorize. Let’s translate that to knowledge of God. Ten percent of what we know about God will come through what we hear (sermons, seminars, and schooling), 25% through what we read in the Word, 50% through studying the Word, and 80% by memorizing the Word! Do you want to know God more? Then memorize His Word!
2. To triumph over sin. How can a young man [this applies to young women at heart, too!] keep his [her] way pure? By living according to your word. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you (Psalm 119:9, 11). When we memorize Scripture the Holy Spirit has quick and immediate access to the Word that gives clear direction to His commands and equips us to stand firm in Christ.
3. To imitate Christ. As Christ’s disciples our deepest desire must be to follow Him and to incorporate His actions and words into our lives. To imitate Him, we must abide and remain in Him and His words must abide and remain in us (John 15:7).

PASSION Step: Choose a passage of Scripture that you will memorize before January 1, 2011. Begin memorizing today.

Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose Bible memorization, because it is a fundamental way of filling our minds with what it needs. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. That’s where you need it! How does it get in your mouth? Memorization.

Dallas Willard

Weekly Devotion - "GO TO THE WORD" - Nov. 22, 2010

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

GO TO THE WORD

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

Psalm 119:105

Within his book, Spiritual Rhythm – Being with Jesus Every Season of Your Soul, author and pastor Mark Buchanan writes, “I have reached a point of holy impatience about this: when someone comes to me and tells me their marriage is crumbling, or their anxiety is skyrocketing, or their addiction is spiraling, or (fill in the blank), I first say,  ‘Tell me what God is saying to you in His Word.” His direct question either elicits blank stares or a bunch of excuses for not reading their Bibles.

Amos writes, “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD,“ when I will send a famine through the land – not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. Men [women] will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it” (Amos 8:11-12). My Bible study notes read, “Because of their apathy, God said He would take away even the opportunity to hear His word.” Because of our apathy, we neglect our opportunity to even read the Word!

Are you discouraged? Go to the Word. For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope  (Romans 15:4).

Do you feel isolated or weak? Go to the Word. David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him . . . But David found strength in the LORD his God (1 Samuel 30:6).

Sometimes our questions are found in the Word, and His answers are clear. Should I steal? No (Deuteronomy 5:19)! Should I seek revenge? No (Leviticus 19:18)!

Sometimes our questions aren’t found in the Word, but make no mistake His answers are there! A dear friend of mine was praying through a significant decision: Should she purchase a home? She needed to let the realtor know by Monday. On Saturday as she was doing her normal daily Bible reading (she’s going through the Bible chronologically) she said to the Lord, “God, if there is anything you can encourage me with right now, I’m all ears.” She then proceeded to read Ezra chapter three as allotted on her schedule. The passage is about rebuilding the temple and the phrase “the house of the LORD” was repeated often. It talked about resistance (which she was feeling) and then came around to God making everything work out according to His plan. On Sunday, she read Haggai and put a little note in the margin by chapter 2, verse 7,  “’I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty.” She bought the house and His glory is on display!

PASSION Step: Need to make a decision today? Go to the Word. Ask God, “What do You have to say about this issue?”

The study of God’s Word, for the purpose of discovering God’s will, is the secret discipline that has formed the greatest characters.

James Waddel Alexander

Weekly Devotion - "STUDY AND OBEY" - Nov. 15, 2010

from Lenae, GEMS Training Coordinator

STUDY AND OBEY

For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.

Ezra 7:10

After 70 years in exile, the captives from Judah returned to their homeland where they rebuilt the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia (Extra 6:14). It was a time of building and prosperity under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah (Ezra 6:14). The people of Israel – the priests, the Levities and rest of the exiles – celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy (Ezra 6:16).

Fifty-seven years later when Ezra returned to the land with a second group of exiles (Ezra 7:8), he discovered a solid temple, but a shambled people. They knew God’s Word, but failed to obey it. They compromised and conformed to the world by intermarrying neighboring peoples with their detestable practices (Ezra 9:1). The leaders and officials who should’ve been teaching them the Word of God led the way in this unfaithfulness (Ezra 9:2).   

Ezra was a priest, a scribe, and a great leader who knew the Word and obeyed it. Through his humble and obedient leadership, he helped lead the people back to God. He has much to teach as we seek to be humble leaders that feed the fire among a people that have conformed to the pattern of this world (Romans 12:2).

Know the Word. Ezra was well versed in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given (Ezra 7:6). He devoted himself to the study . . . of the Law of the LORD (Ezra 7:10).  He not only had the law of God in his hand (Ezra 7:14) it was in his heart. When he heard of their intermarriage, his knowledge of Scripture made him immediately conscious of sin (Romans 3:20, Ezra 9:6). Are we well versed in the Word? When we waste time at work, gossip, judge the person sitting at the end of the pew, and miss opportunities to do good to all people, are we immediately conscious of our sin?

Obey the Word. Ezra devoted himself to the observance of the Law of the LORD (Ezra 7:10). He didn’t just know it; he obeyed it and through his example led others to do the same. When he heard of their intermarriage and compromise with the culture around them, he prayed, fasted, confessed, and wept. He threw himself down before the house of God and a large crowd of Israelites followed suit. They wept bitterly, confessed their unfaithfulness to God, and renewed a covenant with Him. All of it was done according to the Law (Ezra 10:1-4). Do we obey the Word in such a way that others desire to repent and return to God? As His disciple makers do we practice what we preach, and teach others to obey Jesus’ commands (Matthew 28:20)?

PASSION Step: Study and obey. Like Ezra, your leadership and example is needed in today’s compromised world.

Revival comes when God’s people heed God’s Word and do what God tells them to do.

Warren W. Wiersbe