The Requirements of Servanthood..... Dr. Charles Stanley

 The Requirements of Servanthood

Dr. Charles Stanley

Luke 19:1-9 

When Jesus left His home in heaven, He didn't come to earth to be a superstar. He came to serve. As His disciples, we've been left here on earth to follow His example and serve a lost and hurting world. The story of Zacchaeus shows us some Christlike qualities that we need to develop in order to serve as the Lord did.

Awareness: Although surrounded by a crowd, Jesus stopped and took notice of one particular man perched in a tree. Zacchaeus was hated and rejected because he was a tax collector. Although he was rich, there was something missing in his life, and Christ recognized his need. There are people all around us "hanging in trees"--needy, empty, and searching for hope. But too often, we're preoccupied with our activities and don't even notice them.

Availability: Jesus was heading to Jerusalem to carry out the most important act in human history: our redemption. Yet He stopped to have a meal with a spiritually needy man. What could be so important that it keeps you too busy to give others what they need most--your time?

Acceptance: Although Zacchaeus was a notorious sinner, Jesus didn't say, "Clean up your act, and then I'll come to your house." We're called, not to fix people but to share the transforming gospel of Christ.

How are you doing at serving those around you? Maybe it's time to slow down and open your spiritual eyes to see all the needy people. God places opportunities all around us, but if we're not attentive, we'll miss them. Sometimes you just have to look up to see who’s in the tree.

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit..... Craig Denison

 The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Craig Denison

Weekly Overview:

As believers, we’ve been given the Holy Spirit as a Helper, Teacher, Friend, and seal for the promised inheritance of eternal life with God. His presence, guidance, and wisdom in our lives are our greatest gifts while here on earth. Through him we have access to direct connection with our heavenly Father. Through him we receive spiritual gifts to empower us. And through him we are able to bear the incredible fruit of abundant life. Open your heart and mind to all that the Holy Spirit would give you, show you, and lead you to this week.

Scripture:“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.” 1 Corinthians 12:1

Devotional:

Paul’s heart for the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 12:1 is God’s heart for you and me today. Scripture says, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.” Within the church today are defenders of multiple positions on spiritual gifts, each as staunch as the other. But God’s desire for you and me is that we would be informed directly from him about the incredible gifts of this loving Holy Spirit who dwells within us. God longs for us to receive all he has to give. He longs to teach us about the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives that we might live with greater purpose and affections for him and others. Let’s surrender our hearts and minds to God on spiritual gifts. And let’s seek out every last bit of what God has planned for us today.

The first aspect of spiritual gifts to note is that they are indeed a gift. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 says,

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to each of us. He “apportions” them according to his perfect wisdom. Spiritual gifts are never birthed by man and never given for selfish purposes. The Spirit gives us gifts because he loves us and others. All that he does is in perfect love and is for “the common good.” Whether you’ve been given the gift of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues, or interpretation of tongues, your purpose in the gift is to be the same as the Holy Spirit’s: love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (emphasis added).Spiritual gifts are all about love. Operating in a gift of the Spirit is always to be done in love. Paul is clear that gifts are annoying (1 Corinthians 13:1) and worthless (1 Corinthians 13:2-3) if they are not filled with love.

1 Peter 4:10-11 says, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Spend time in prayer discovering what gift the Holy Spirit has given you and how he would intend you to use it for the benefit of the “common good.” Choose to align your understanding and belief on spiritual gifts with the word of God alone. And live today operating in love with the amazing gifts God has given you, whatever they may be.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on God’s word about spiritual gifts. Align your understanding with his word alone.

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

2. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the gift he has given you. Ask him to show you if he’s given you multiple gifts! Reflect on your life and the ways God has used you in the past. If you know someone who you believe has a close relationship with the Spirit, ask them what gift they believe God has given you!

3. Ask the Holy Spirit to use you today for the glory of Jesus. Decide to be a believer who lives empowered and purposed with the gift God has given you. Ask the Spirit to show you ways he would use you. Stay in tune and ready to be used by the God of love today. 

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:10-11

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” Romans 12:6-8

2 Timothy 1:6-7 says, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” Keep the fire of the Holy Spirit kindled within you today by intimate relationship with him. Talk with him. Ask for his help. Stay close to him and allow him to burn passionately within you to see the lost saved, loved, and freed. 

Extended Reading: 1 Corinthians 12-14

Shattered Beyond Repair..... LYSA TERKEURST

 Shattered Beyond Repair

LYSA TERKEURST

“Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” Isaiah 64:8 (NIV)

Are there any broken places in your heart and life right now?

I know how hard that can be.

And there’s this wonderful Christian story I could tell you. It’s the one about how we can pick up the broken pieces, glue them back together and then let God’s light shine through our cracks. That’s a beautiful story.

But what about those times when things aren’t just broken … but shattered beyond repair? Shattered to the point of dust. At least when things are broken, there’s some hope you can glue the pieces back together.

What if there aren’t even pieces to pick up in front of you?

You can’t glue dust.

It’s hard to hold dust. What was once something so very precious is now reduced to nothing but weightless powder even the slightest wind could carry away. We feel desperately hopeless. Dust begs us to believe the promises of God no longer apply to us. That the reach of God falls just short of where we are. And that the hope of God has been snuffed out by the consuming darkness all around us.

My own life has certainly held seasons of dust. And if we could sit together over coffee, I imagine you would have some kind of shattered dust story to share with me, too. We are alike in that way. We’re united with our tears, even if our circumstances are different.

We’re also united in our desire for God to fix it all. Edit this story so it has a different ending. Repair this heartbreaking reality.

But what if fixing, editing and repairing isn’t at all what God has in mind for us in this shattering?

What if, this time, God desires to make something completely brand-new? Right now. On this side of eternity. No matter how impossible our circumstances may seem.

You see, dust is the exact ingredient God loves to use.

We think the shattering in our lives could not possibly be for any good. But what if shattering is the only way to get dust back to its basic form so something new can be made? We can see dust as a result of an unfair breaking. Or, we can see dust as a crucial ingredient.

Think about a plain piece of ice. If ice stays in a cube, it’s always just a square of ice. But if the ice melts, it can be poured into a beautiful form to reshape it when it’s frozen again. Dust is much the same; it’s the basic ingredient with such great potential for new life.

Of all the things God could have used to make man, He chose dust: “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7, NIV).

Jesus used the dust of the ground to restore a man’s sight. Jesus said, “‘While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes” (John 9:5-6, NIV). And after the man washed in the pool of Siloam, he went home seeing.

And, when mixed with water, dust becomes clay. Clay, when placed in the potter’s hands, can be formed into anything the potter dreams!

“Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand” (Isaiah 64:8).

“He said, ‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the LORD. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel’” (Jeremiah 18:6, NIV).

Oh, how I love and need the hope God has tucked into these verses.

Dust doesn’t have to signify the end. Dust is often what must be present for the new to begin.

I don’t know what hard realities have left you feeling shattered, friend. But I do know this: We can trust our God. We can trust Him with our dust.

Our greatest disappointments and disillusionments — things that shake us and break us and make us wonder about everything — don’t have to mean all hope is lost. We can place our lives fully in the hands of the Potter. We can dare to believe He is making something glorious out of dust, out of us.

Father, I confess I don’t like this — I don’t like dust. But I’m reminding my soul that dust is one of Your favorite ingredients to use when making something new. And I’m choosing to believe You are working right now to do this very thing in my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Four Valuable Lessons Learned through Asking (Matthew 21:22)..... By Lynette Kittle

 Four Valuable Lessons Learned through Asking (Matthew 21:22)

By Lynette Kittle

Today’s Bible Verse: “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” - Matthew 21:22

When hired as a Senior Publicist for a large publishing house, I had to hit the floor running and learn fast how to ask for pretty much everything.

Publicity is all about being bold enough to ask everyone you can to spotlight your clients and their resources. It’s continually seeking out and asking for opportunities.

A big stretch for me was learning how to push past my own insecurities and fears in asking. Although starting out feeling awkward and uncomfortable in my requests, it became easier the more I did it, and eventually became like second nature.

Below are four valuable lessons learned through asking.

1. Asking Doesn’t Have to Hurt

What’s the worst thing about asking? Someone might say no. That’s it.

Learning to not take “no’s" personally frees us to ask without fear, which is good training in learning how to boldly approach with confidence in asking God for everything (Hebrews 4:16).

If unsure what we’re asking is God’s will, we don’t have to fear because if we are not asking for the right things, we’ll learn because God will let us know.

“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3).

2. Asking Opens Doors

Jesus is our example of stepping out to knock and ask for doors to be opened.

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

We’re also encouraged to knock and ask. My publicity pitching taught me if I wanted to see doors open, it’s all about knocking and asking.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

3. Asking Leads to Answers

James 4:2, explains how we often don’t have things just because we aren’t asking.

To my surprise in asking, there were people who responded in ways I didn’t see coming. Some I thought would say yes, didn’t. Others I didn’t think would even respond said yes, even exceeding my expectations at times.

Because I depended on God’s leading in asking and not leaning on my own limited understanding, amazing things happened. Like Proverbs 3:5 urges, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

Opportunities I hadn’t even imagined came to be because I asked. “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imaging, according to His power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).

4. Asking Glorifies God

As a senior publicist, I relied heavily on God to help me in the where, when, who, and how to ask for opportunities. And when the successes came, God received the glory.

Likewise when seeing our prayers answered, our goal should be to give Him the credit for moving on our behalf. As Jesus told us in John 14:13, our successes are all about bringing glory to God. “And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

Creating Rainbows..... by Katherine Britton

 Creating Rainbows

by Katherine Britton

"I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth." - Genesis 9:8

On Friday night, I saw one of the most beautiful sights I will ever see. No, I wasn't hiking in the mountains or watching the sunset. I was in a very ordinary setting actually - just driving home through downtown Richmond in rush hour traffic. The weather had developed schizophrenia and my windshield wipers were flashing at full speed even though the sun was shining. People were huddled under trees as they waited for their bus, and businessmen in suits were dashing toward their parking garages. The traffic report was not in my favor, and I resigned myself to a long drive home. That's when I saw it.

One end of a rainbow touched the end of my street, seeming completely out of place with the city skyline and blaring horns. But the rainbow was there all the same; in fact, it grew brighter, until the colors were as distinct as they are in a child's coloring book. Then a second rainbow appeared over this first one, and as I got closer I could see both ends of the rainbows. I kept snapping pictures on my cell phone, even though I knew that no camera in the world could really capture those colors. That dreary late afternoon commute changed into something that was, well, magical - or, as Noah would have said, miraculous. That very ordinary day was transformed by the visible reminder of God's promise to Noah.

The commentator Matthew Henry read the Genesis passage and wrote these words: "The rainbow is the reflection of the beams of the sun, which intimates that all the glory and significancy of the seals of the covenant are derived from Christ the Sun of righteousness… As God looks upon the bow, that he may remember the covenant, so should we, that we also may be ever mindful of the covenant, with faith and thankfulness."

God displayed a visible reminder of His everyday grace on Friday for anyone who looked up, reminding me of the promise He made to extend a common grace to all living things. How often do I take that promise for granted? The truth is, I nearly yelled at a driver on that same drive home after I saw the rainbows, letting a momentary panic get in the way of meditating on an eternal promise. My perspective so often slips into the ordinary, when God's daily grace is all around me. My prayer this week is that I will not lose focus, but instead, remember the rainbow. Everything else pales in comparison with the brilliance of His glory.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Rainbows appear where the circumstances are just right - where there's rain and sun. Am I letting rainy day blues crowd out the sun, like I did in responding to the driver who cut me off? Or am I letting the sun break through the ordinary clouds and circumstances? The glory of the Lord shines most brilliantly not when everything is right with the world, but when I live my daily life in remembrance of what He has done for me.

A Prayer to Remember God Makes Everything Beautiful..... By: Victoria Riollano

 A Prayer to Remember God Makes Everything Beautiful

By: Victoria Riollano

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Everything is beautiful in its time.

I can remember a time when a verse like this would cause much frustration. I would read this verse in a time of despair and think, “Lord, how could you make this beautiful?” How could a moment of loss, tragedy, or abandonment ever be seen in a positive light? This was especially true a few years ago.

In 2017, it felt like everything was falling apart. My father-in-law had passed away, my church friends had all become foes, and my husband was battling with chronic illness. During all this, I was pregnant. Although that was a joyous occasion, birthing something new amidst a sea of pain was not an enjoyable experience. Yet, I could not help but remind myself, “One day, the Lord will make this beautiful.” One day, the Lord would show His glory through it all.

I believe this feeling was also shared by the lame man in John 5. Though this man remains nameless, the Bible says he’d been in a paralyzed condition for 38 years. In the passage in John 5:1-5, we see a man who was desperate to be healed to avail. It is believed that the very place he laid at the Sheep Gate pool would be where angels would come at certain times, stir up the waters, and bring healing. All that was required was to be the first in the water. So, for many years the man was strategically placed to be set free from his condition. Unfortunately, time and time again, he was overlooked, step over, and never able to be the first in the pool. In just reading the words found in John, we can feel the agony and frustration he must have felt. I am certain, he would wrestle with the phrase, “He makes everything beautiful.” Sometimes disappointment can make us doubt God’s great plan!

I am so happy that the story doesn’t end here.

When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

he sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. John 5:6-9

In an instant, with a single sentence, Jesus changed the trajectory of his life. He went from one who was in desperate need to one who was fully healed! His life has become a testimony for the many who had ignored him and tossed him aside for their own gain. God truly made it all beautiful in His time. He was a living, breathing, walking, testimony of God’s goodness!

Today, I want to encourage you to with the words we find in Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He makes all things beautiful.” You may feel disappointed or discouraged now. You may not understand why things have unfolded the way they have in your life.

Yet, here’s what we know to be true, we serve a God who loves His children. He sees all and He knows all. He is all-powerful and He has not forgotten you.

In 2017, I experienced this as the Lord brought complete healing to my husband, rectified our ministry woes, and allowed us to birth a beautiful baby girl named Heavenly Joy. And for the man we find in John 5, we see that his thirty-eight years of pain have turned into a testimony that over 2,000 years later we can still rejoice about. God truly does turn things around. Let us not grow weary in the wait.

Father,

I thank you for your limitless wisdom. I thank you for writing my story. Although I may not always understand why things are happening, you do. You go before me and keep me even my darkest hours. I thank you for using my moments of sadness as a starting point for a miracle to take place. Help me to embrace your process for me. Thank you, Lord, that you make all broken things new and beautiful.

In Jesus Name. Amen.