Week 5 Martha & Mops
Week 4 Under a Fig Tree
Week 3 Come Follow Me
Scripture
“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” Matthew 4:18-22
Think about it! Someone stops you as you are washing your car and says follow me, and you do. Believe me, there will be a few missing person alerts issued for you. Even in that culture, that following meant changing your world. Would you? Could you? Have you?
Devotion
We grew up in the country. The woods was our second home, and the farm was big. That was long before cell phones and my mother had no clue where we were, until she called for us. We could hear her voice. If we didn’t come when called, she would ring the bell. That was the calling on steroids. That meant come to the house now. We dropped everything and ran. Jesus called the disciples by simply using his words: he didn’t need a bell. He told the men to come follow me. But it wasn’t like a voice saying, come follow me, that they had never heard before. They knew who Jesus was, they were aware of who he might be, and when he called, they went. Then men went to follow Jesus. They didn’t totally abandon their life work, and they didn’t leave their families. In a few chapters, we will see Jesus going to Peter’s house to heal Peter’s mother-in-law. What Jesus did call the men to was to change their focus. Once a fisherman, always a fisherman. Jesus simply used what they knew well, to catch a different kind of fish. Jesus said he would help them fish for people. I haven’t caught too many people while fishing, but I have been snared by a lure that whoever was casting didn’t understand the right time to push the button.
Jesus would spend the next three years helping the fishermen change bait, change nets, and change what they caught. Their work ethic, their tenacity, their long nights, short days, mending nets, waiting for the fish to come, and throwing nets on the other side of the boat, all simple fishing tactics, but as you read the rest of the Bible, Peter used who he was, what he had been trained to be, to be effective in the kingdom Jesus called him to.
You don’t need to change everything about yourself when you hear Jesus calling, just change where your focus is placed. Use what God has gifted you with, your training, your experience, your passion, and your time to make a difference in people’s lives. How do I know it’s God calling? The same way we knew it was our mother. We were accustomed to her voice. Our entire childhood was spent hearing her speak, read to us, love us and scold us. We know Jesus voice when we read and listen to his Word. Spending time in his Word, teaches us how to listen when he calls.
What impresses me is the immediacy of them accepting Jesus calling. As kids, would get punished if we didn’t come when called. Jesus isn’t going that far, but if we answer his call when he calls us, we understand better the calling. It’s kind of like calling someone to tell them something important and then getting off track and totally forgetting the reason for the call. Jesus is calling. Somedays it’s a holler, sometimes he rings the bell and other times it’s all three of your names emphasized. Be listening!
Prayer
Lord, I want to remove the earplugs that keep me from listening to you. But Lord, I want to do more than just listen when you call, I want to hear. Sometimes the voices in our head sound like you. Remind me to know your word so when you call, I hear your voice because I have been in your word. Teach me to read your words to hear you not just to pronounce the words. Lord give me the wisdom to know when you are calling me and when it’s another voice in my world needing attention. Give me wisdom to hear your “come”. Give me patience to listen for your voice. Give me the ability to say no to things that aren’t calling me to follow you.
Live it
When the phone rings, or vibrates, look at the number or the name and pause to focus on how you respond. Is it excitement, is it dread, or is it anticipation? Does the name or number bring anxiety or peace? Notice a pattern in your communication as to the way you respond to people’s needs as they call you for whatever the situation presents itself.
Open your Bible to the following verses. Do you respond with excitement, dread, or anticipation? Does what Jesus is asking you to do bring anxiety or peace? Are you as excited to follow as the phone call to come for pizza and soda as you are to “give to the poor?” Are you answering Jesus right away, make him call again or are you waiting until he rings the bell and uses all three names?
Matthew 19:21 “Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
1 Peter 2:21 “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”
Colossians 3:12 “Put on the, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.”
Thinking back on the devotion, what one thing stood out for me that I will remember?
What one thing sparked change within me?
What is something that God brought into my heart, that I will have to think about before I make a change?
Discussion Questions
- Has God called you to something you keep pushing to the back of your heart?
- When God calls you, if your first response excitement, or dread?
- Following isn’t just being behind the leader. How do you follow to encourage your leaders and help those you are walking with, to walk with more determination?
Week 2 God Created
Week 2 God Created
Scripture
“God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.” Genesis 1:5
“God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Sea” Genesis 1:10
“So, God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.” Genesis 1:21
“And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind”. Genesis 1:25
“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” Genesis 1:31
“Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature Genesis” 2:7
Read and focus on how intentionally God created from light to man. As you read each verse slowly, imagine in your mind light, darkness, oceans, whales, seals, eagles, bluebirds, mice, cattle, horses, salamanders, and puppies. Then look in the mirror at the living creature God created in you.
Devotion
I grew up with a father who loved animals. Not many other kids, okay no other kids, had monkeys, and black bear cubs in their house not to mention the mountain lions, bobcats, and buffalo outside. He loved animals. My father also loved nature. We tromped the woods, slept in tents, wandered anywhere there was a trail and portaged across islands to get to another lake to canoe. I grew up with a love for what God created.
God gives us three realms of creation. The beauty of nature, the intrigue of animals and the beauty of the souls of people. Think about what surrounds you every day. Nature! Nature includes some of the most beautiful photographs. I stood beside Victoria Falls many years ago in Africa, a wonder of the world, as it’s gushing water, spilt into the canyon below and marveled at its beauty and power. We marvel in the evening taking pictures of sunsets, rainbows, and cloud formations. Nature brings us extreme beauty and phenomenal moments of watching without words. God’s creation often cannot be described; simply marveled at.
Yet, even with the beauty of nature, I was moved to tears when I watched my grandchild enter this world. The incredible beauty of God’s creation in a soul named Wade, sent me to my knees. As incredible as nature and as wonderful as animals, God created us, with a soul. He breathed his breath into us. That didn’t happen with nature or animals: only with man. What does it mean to be living with the breath of God in your lungs? How does that change the way you look at your problems? God breathed his life into mankind. As cute as armadillos are, and as amusing as panda’s can be, they don’t have the breath of God. You have within you, the living breath of God. You are created with purpose, spoken into existence in the beginning of the story of the world, and the breath of God continues to live on. The difference is when we choose to simply breathe different air or refuse to exhale. If the breath of God is within us, when we exhale, we breath out God. That means we are God molecules, affecting everyone our breath reaches. There is beauty in the nature we see and the animals that sit on our lap and purr, but we have the breath of God. Think about that life changing bit of air!
Stop and think about it. You have the breath of God. Now think about the most beautiful sunset. You have something it can never dream of having. The breath of God within you. As wonderful as we think of our pets, God did not breath into the animals his breath of life. How does that change the way you look in the mirror at yourself. Stop and take a few minutes to process, think about and discuss who God created you to be and how that changes everything.
Prayer
Lord, you created, you spoke into being some beautiful things. Your imagination and creativity sometimes leaves us breathless and speechless. Yet Lord, you sought to create the image of yourself, you chose to create souls that could think, love and respond. Lord, never let me look at your nature without seeing you. Lord, help me to treat the animals I encounter, as your creation not simply a nuisance, or go overboard and think too much of a pet that I sacrifice my relationship with others and with you. Mostly Lord, when I see others, when I see the souls walking in life with me, created in your image, with your breath of life in them, let me see you. Let me see the mighty creator at work. Let me be gentle, kind, considerate, soft spoken when I speak and let me contemplate my thoughts before I share them with the images of you that you allow me to love and to meet on any given day.
Live it
Find yourself a beautiful spot and take a break. Enjoy creation. Watch God at work with a sunset or a sunrise. Enjoy flowers, and trees and the sounds of God in his creation. Then write down the beauty you feel. We can feel beauty when we stop and look for it, then let it invade our hearts. Thank God specifically for the moments of wonder he gives you when he slow down and look for Him.
| Beauty | How God speaks through beauty |
| Example: Birds | God provides for their needs/ what do I have to fear or worry |
Thinking back on the devotion, one thing stood out for me that I will remember.
What one thing sparked change within me?
What is something that God brought into my heart, that I will have to think about before I make a change?
Discussion Questions
- Do I truly enjoy God’s creation? What can I intentionally do to focus on God’s wonder?
- You have within you the breath of God. How does that change the way you get out of bed, and everything you do until you get back in at night?
- Often we get so caught up in how others act toward us, with us, and how it affects us, we forget they also have the breath of God within them. How can we change our attitudes and see others with the same incredible awe struck breath of God, as God wants us to see ourselves.
- What might need to change in my behavior, so I act more like a living walking breath of God rather than an opinionated, ornery, inconvenienced human throwing a fit when things don’t go my way?
- Do I ever worship the creation, more than the creator?
Week 1 In the Beginning
Week 1 In the Beginning
Video includes the Scripture, Reading of the Devotion, Prayer and Application. Below are the Scripts of the Scripture, Prayer, Application and Discussion Questions.
Scripture
Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Think about that verse again. Read the other versions of the same verse.“First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. “(Message)“In the beginning God (Elohim) created (by forming from nothing) the heavens and the earth.”The Genesis verse tells us that God created. The Isaiah verse reminds us why.Isaiah 43:6b–7: “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Prayer
Lord, you spoke. You spoke and life happened. You spoke and created a world that is balanced down to the tiniest atom. Lord, your work, your spoken word has power. Remind me as I look at creation and what all hinges on your spoken word, that your spoken word includes my life. Remind me Lord, when I think I am doing something awesome, that my beginning started with your creation. I was in the beginning, with you, in your heart and in your plan. Let me not get so caught up in being my own being that I forget where my beginning began. Let me go back to creation, to the beginning to focus my heart, balance my soul and give me purpose.
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Think about that verse again. Read the other versions of the same verse.“First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. “(Message)“In the beginning God (Elohim) created (by forming from nothing) the heavens and the earth.”The Genesis verse tells us that God created. The Isaiah verse reminds us why.Isaiah 43:6b–7: “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” Think about the things you have made, created, or invented. Remind yourself of how proud you were when it was completed. Sometimes we create for fun, but it really makes us feel good when we step back and glory in what we have made. God is no different. You were created for God to step back and go, “ahhahh. Beautiful.”
Live it
Look at all the things you have started and have not finished. It’s easy to start something. It’s a challenge to finish it. Be intentional this week, about starting things that have a meaning. Start with the intention of finishing well: not just getting it done. Be purposeful, be persistent and be passionate. Write down every day what you began. Then write down how you finished it. Go back to your intentions when you began and see how you could have handled it differently.
Be intentional about the beginnings of the day spending time with the creator who created, who began the world. Be aware of how much better your actions are when you begin with intentionality and not just start something. Look at the world around you and see the purpose God put into everything.
What one thing that I read will I remember?
What one thing sparked change within me?
What is something that God brought into my heart, that I will have to think about before I change?
Discussion Questions
- How does the Who, What, When, Where and How do I need to channel in my things I do each week?
- How does purpose play in what I decide to give my attention to?
- Be purposeful, be persistent and be passionate. How might that look for me this week?
- Do I spend as much time with the creator as I do my projects that I start and don’t finish? How can I change the percentages to better reflect the creator’s impact on my life?
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