Weekly Devotional - "Life Together" - 2/2

Life Together 

by: Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well (1 Thessalonians 2:8).

Because I love you so much  . . .

• I never call, text, email, or send cards.
• I always say we should get together, but never do.
• I busy myself with responsibilities instead of relationships.
• I fail to pray for you.
• I do not bring you the message.

 That list pricks, but it doesn’t bleed love.

What Paul said about love is this. Because we loved you so much . . .

• We were delighted to share the Gospel with you!
• We were delighted to share our lives as well!

Messengers God can use do life together. They speak the good news and live it within the context of community. In the ordinariness of life, they share life.

Paul continues. Just like a nursing mother cares for her children, we should be gentle and care for one another. Just like a father deals with his own children, we should encourage, comfort, and live lives worthy of God, who calls us into His kingdom and glory (1 Thessalonians 2:7, 11-12).

The best way for people to really hear the message of God’s love is to slow down and do life together in community. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or expensive, but it is costly.

The cost? You have to give up your life.

The One who left the glories of heaven to give up His life and do life together with us, says, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:12-13).

Send Me: How can you intentionally bring the message today by sharing your life?

To be a community of light from which the light of Christ will emanate we need to be intentional in our relationships—to love the unlovely, forgive the unforgivable, embrace the repulsive, include the awkward, accept the weird. It is in contexts such as these that sinners are transformed into disciples who obey everything King Jesus has commanded. –Tim Chester and Steve Timmis

Weekly Devotional - Our Boast! - 1/26/15

Our Boast!

written by: Lenae, GEMS training manager 

This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

Over Saturday morning pancakes at a local diner with our preschool grandsons, Landon started bragging about his dad. “Papa, my dad is stronger than you.” Mike didn’t disagree, especially with his crutches propped against the wall!

“He can lift you,” boasted Landon. “He can lift a car. He can lift this whole building!” While Landon elaborated on his dad’s strength, this children’s song popped in my head: My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do—for YOU! (Ruth Harms Calkin)

Later that night Mike wondered how different our witness to the world would be if we were all as proud of our Heavenly Father as Landon is of his dad. What if we couldn’t stop sharing, “There’s nothing my God cannot do—for YOU!”

Our Heavenly Father cannot be exaggerated! He is powerful, mighty, good, and strong. He is our Provider, Healer, Redeemer, Savior, Friend, and King. He is the great I AM! This is our boast and message!

Send Me: What specific boast will you make today about our Heavenly Father?

Weekly Devotional - "Examine the Message" - 1/19/2015

Greetings Ladies -
Here is the weekly devotional from Lenae - our GEMS training manager -

Enjoy your week and be a blessing as you Bring The Message!

Examine the Message

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Acts 17:11

“God doesn’t give us more than we can handle,” she said. It’s a message I’ve heard again and again. It’s a hope the hurting hold onto and extends to others. Thing is, you can’t find that in His Word. It’s not true. I don’t know about you, but there have been seasons in my life where I was given much more than I can bear. And I’m not alone.

Super-apostle Paul would agree. He wrote, “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9). The road he walked in Asia felt like a death sentence. He was given stuff far beyond his ability to handle!

And there was more. Near the end of the same letter Paul said he received a tormenting thorn in the flesh. Three times he pleaded with the Lord to take it away. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me (2 Corinthians 12:9).

This is truth! This is the message we must cling to in our valleys and share with those who are up to their eyeballs in difficulties. You will never receive more than God can handle. His power, love, and grace are sufficient for each burden, and perfect for each weakness.

When the Berean Jews received the message from Paul, they examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true (Acts 17:11). When we hear and bring the message, let’s take great care to do the same.

Send Me: As you receive and share messages today, examine them. Is it true to Scripture or has His Word been misquoted or distorted?
 

Run to God in your weakness and bone-tiredness and despair. 

Rely wholly on Him. 

Throw aside any foolish confidence you have in yourself. 

Drink deeply of His overwhelming, overflowing grace. 

Stephen Altrogge

PS The misquotation of God giving us more than we can handle is from 1 Corinthians 10:13. What He promises is that He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear.

Join us!

Save the Date!

Coming next summer......

Local Workshops

Plans are underway for our annual local workshops and we are excited to see you there!  We want you to be equipped and inspired as you shepherd your girls throughout the year - helping them understand their beauty in light of God's glory.

We hope you will join us for one of our local training events:

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Christian Health Care Center Heritage Manor Auditorium

700 Mountain Avenue, Wyckoff NJ 07481

8:30am - 2:30pm

Cost: $35

-Or-

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Fellowship Bible Church of Philadelphia

13021 Worthington Road

Philadelphia, PA 19116

8:30am - 2:30pm

Cost: $35

Click for more details and a registration form.

Please contact us if you have any questions!

grace and peace,

Lisa & Amy

Messengers Who Make a Mess of Things - weekly devo

From Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

 

Messengers Who Make a Mess of Things 

Jonah prayed, “But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the LORD.’”

Jonah 2:9

If bringing the message were based on our perfection, Jonah would not have been given a second chance to go to Nineveh. God would have let Jonah keep running, and sought a new messenger (who would also eventually mess up) for Nineveh.

God showed us there was more at stake then the city. He loved the people in Nineveh who needed the message, and He loved His messenger Jonah! He cared for the lost and the one from His fold who was prone to wander. It was out of God’s gracious compassion that He sent Jonah to Nineveh, and that He pursued Jonah when he took off in the wrong direction.

When we are messengers who make a mess of things we can beat ourselves up, try to erase it from our memory, or like Jonah, go below deck and take a nap.  Ironically, the captain woke Jonah up and said, “Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish” (Jonah 1:6). “Maybe” God will take notice? He’s the One who sent the storm in the first place! He is always on watch for those who need Him! 

This storm was in God’s hands. So is salvation. Even in Jonah’s disobedience, God worked out His salvation in the hearts of the sailors and in time, Nineveh. Jonah had made a mess of things, but God still worked a miracle.

After the sailors threw Jonah overboard, the sea grew still and the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him (Jonah 1:16). It’s one thing to fear God in the storm; it’s quite another when the waters are calm. It’s evidence that true conversion took place!

Like Jonah, God has entrusted us with a message to bring, and like Jonah we are capable of messing up. Whether someone is receptive to the message or not, remember that salvation does not come from us nor does it depend on us. Salvation comes from the LORD! We plant gospel seeds, but only God can make them grow (1 Corinthians 3:6).

Send Me: Forgiveness is also from the Lord. When we make a mess of things, ask God for forgiveness, and ask Him to do what only He can do. Salvation comes from Him!

Many Christians fail to share their faith because they are trying to do it perfectly, and since they cannot do it perfectly, they remain silent. What really convinces others of the truth of the Christian message is not our perfection or our rational arguments, but our willingness to love them where they are and to introduce them to our community of faith.

C. John Miller