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Christmas, Devotions

Celebrate the Gift of Jesus

Day 2: CELEBRATE the Gift of Jesus

The Birth of Jesus is one of the most symbolic and prolific (abundant) messages that is preached today. Symbolic in meaning that every year we celebrate Christmas, which symbolizes Jesus’s birth. And prolific in meaning for a whole month every pastor preaches to the church congregation, “BEHOLD, THE SAVIOR IS BORN!” You have probably heard the message about Jesus’s birth so much that you know more about Jesus’s birth than your own.

So the question I pose to you is how do you celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ? Do you just acknowledge that Christmas is the day of Jesus’s birth? Or do you celebrate and praise God saying something like “Praise be to God the Father, who has sent his to be our savior.” The problem with hearing the same message so much is that if we forget to always celebrate it than we lose the joy we first had when we first heard it. Think of it like this, remember when you got that “one gift” that you begged for Christmas. Remember when you first opened it and how much joy you had. Okay, let’s now fast forward to next Christmas. Are you still jumping up and down about that gift? Did you still experience joy when you play with it? Most likely you are looking forward to another gift. You completely forgot about it.

Checkout one of the ways God announced the Gift he was bringing here: Luke 2:9-14

When Jesus was born, “an angel of the Lord appeared to [the shepherds living out in the field nearby] and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of [Bethlehem] a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord…Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host (a whole bunch of other angels) appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.’” (Luke 2: 9-14)

The angel said it was “good news of great joy.” So where is your joy upon hearing the news that Jesus Christ has been born? Guys, this was such good news that other angels joined the angel and they began praising God. Our praise and worship should never end when we hear this news. The angel didn’t say this is “good news of great joy [but your joy will fade overtime].” No, the message of Jesus’s birth is and always will be “good news of great joy.” If it is no longer good news of “great joy” than you stopped celebrating it. Your celebration has been replaced with just acknowledgement of it.

Here is a tell-tell sign that your celebration has become acknowledgment: What excites you the most about Christmas? Is it the gifts? The family? The board games? The basketball games? The food? All of those can be exciting and should be, but what should get you out of bed on Christmas morning should not be what gifts you got from Santa, but the gift that God gave us, which is his son Jesus Christ.

Today’s Challenge:

My challenge for you guys is to take five minutes out of your day and thank God for Jesus. Your praise can be about his birth or his resurrection. Guys, our joy for God’s good news of his son was never supposed to fade. We let it happen when we forget to praise him and celebrate his son Jesus Christ.

Go to DAY 3: See the Gift of Jesus here.

Christmas, Devotions

Believing the Gift of Jesus

Day 1: Believing the Gift of Jesus

The Story of Jesus starts with a woman named Mary. Mary was a virgin and was pledged to be married to man named Joseph. It seems Mary had a typical life, but that soon would all change.

Check out the story here: Luke 1:26-38

One day and angel named Gabriel appeared to Mary. “Greetings!” he said, “you are highly favored! The Lord is with you!” Mary was frightened at first, but the angel spoke “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High (referring to God).” Not surprisingly, Mary answered “How will this be since I am a virgin?” Gabriel (the angel) responded “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High (God) will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God (that’s Jesus)…For nothing is impossible with God.” And Mary boldly responded “I am the Lord’s servant…May it be to me as you have said.” (Luke 1: 26-38)

WOW! What an introduction! Jesus was finally going to make his appearance on Earth and a young woman named Mary was going to give birth to him. Can you think of what was going through Mary’s head? An angel just appeared, told you that you will give birth to the Son of God and God was going to bring him into the world through a miracle that no one has ever heard of before, a virgin birth. Your mind should have exploded by now. What a miraculous God we have!

From this scripture, here is one of the points I want you guys to takeaway. Do you think Mary understood how God was going to impregnate her without a man? Did Mary even ask God on how he was even going to do it? Lets look at Mary’s response. “May it be to me as you have said.” May didn’t seek to understand how God was going to impregnate her. She just believed what God said he was going to do. Guys, we serve a God who is to be believed, not always understood. If we could always understand how things would happen then we wouldn’t have miracles.

This is the application for you guys, when it comes to God’s word or his promises our first response should be to believe what he says. If he says you are loved then you better believe you are loved. If he says that no harm will come to you, then there is no doubt that no harm will come to you. Every time you try to understand God before you believe him, you minimize who he really is. I have heard people say that they don’t understand the Bible, well great, the Bible wasn’t meant to be understood first, it was meant to be believed first.

Today’s Challenge:

What do you need to believe right now that God is speaking to you through his Word (the Bible)?  What are you trying to understand without believing first?

Go to DAY 2: Celebrate the Gift of Jesus here.

Christmas, Devotions

The Gift of Jesus (Intro)

THE GIFT OF JESUS

Have you ever thought about what it means to be a Christian? Why we believe what we believe. Have you ever wondered what makes us different from everyone else in the world? Is it what we do on Sunday’s, or is it the way we treat people or is it what we believe?

As Christians are first step in the journey in discovering our purpose starts with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, as you may know, was no ordinary man, but he was God himself. He was 100% God, 100% Man. And he came to Earth as a gift with a purpose, and that purpose was to reconcile us back to the Father through the shedding of his blood.

So how can we “unwrap” this incredible gift and see Jesus in bigger way during this season? We talk about him every Christmas and Easter. A man who has two holidays on our calendar must have been a big deal. This is what this 5 day devotion is for. Because in discovering who Jesus was and his purpose, we will find who we are and what our purpose is.

Click here to begin to find out!

Devotions, Proverbs 16, Proverbs 19, Psalm 20, Psalm 94

Plans

What are your plans for this school year?  Is your vision short sighted or does it contain wisdom to see further down the road beyond what a normal high school guy walks right now?  Are your plans all about you or do they have a greater goal that transcends beyond your life?
READ:
“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”
“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.”
“May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.”
“The LORD knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile.”
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.”
Take Aways:
  1. God wants us to commit our plans to Him.
  2. He is the decisive factor if they succeed or fall short.
  3. We should seek and pray that our heart and plans line up with God’s purposes.
PRAY: Jesus I need your help.  What do you want for my life today…this week…this year? Lord would you order my steps?  I don’t want to make plans that are not preparing me or leading me to Your purposes for my life. So I ask that you would change my heart and my plans to match and reflect Your heart and plans for me.  I trust and believe you will do this.  Amen.
Devotions, John 5

Good Guys and Jerks

“Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” John 5:23
Have you met him?  You know, the guy that everyone seems to love.  He is winsome, intelligent, articulate and just plain fun to be around.  Most people would say, “Man, he is just a really good guy.”
Then there is the “other” guy.  The guy is a jerk.  He treats everyone like dirt and because of it, his life is out of control.  Substance abuse, trouble with the law, and fights are just a normal part of his life.
So my question is: Which of these guys needs God more in their life?
Yes, as you probably guessed already, this is a trick question.  They both need God.
From a human perspective, if we line up these two guys and judge their behavior, there is no doubt that most would say that the jerk needs God and greater change in his life. However, God does not just look at the behavior…the outward life, He looks at the heart…the inward life (1 Samuel 16:7).
The greatest sin in our life is not based off one certain behavior. The greater sin is how we fail to acknowledge or honor God. This is how even the “good guy” can miss it.  John Piper says it like this:
“The true measure of the greatness of sin is not the way it ruins human life, but the way it dishonors God.”
Think about it. Don’t we as guys hate it most when other people show us disrespect?  That is why we would prefer to fight guys face to face rather than have people turn their backs on us or ignore us.
So the questions for us are:
  • Does my life honor God?
  • Have I been ignoring God?  Have I turned my back on Him?

Okay, so what do we do?

Talk to God now.  Tell Him how you are sorry for ignoring Him without really meaning to. Tell Him your sorry for turning your back on Him when you knew better. Find comfort that through the ages many guys ignored or flat out disrespected Him or people, but because they humbled themselves and turned back to God, He restored them and even used them in great ways. If this is you, He is not mad at you. He is happy to forgive you and glad to have you back home.  God welcomes all…good guys and jerks.
Articles, Ephesians 2, Philippians 2

Don’t Fail the Growth Test

So have you ever bombed a test?

Well your not alone.  I did it just the other day.
Now the test I’m talking about isn’t a school test…God knows I have struggled a lot with those in the past.  No, the test I am referring to is the kind that helps us grow in character and our calling.
The other night, a few of my friends and I were in the kitchen talking. One of my friends saw that he had not shut the door fully behind him as we came in earlier. He, with a rather direct tone said, “Todd shut that door will ya?” Now I know that seems like a simple request, and honestly as I write this I feel like even more of a dork, but guess what I did?  Instead of fully shutting the door, I closed it only half way to where it was not fully latched.  Needless to say, he noticed as he stared me down with a look that urged obedience while at the same time wondered why I did the job only half way in the first place.
So what was I thinking?  And why did I behave like a jerk you ask?  Well, in only one second, I thought three things:  1) “I don’t like his direct tone toward me”  2) “I prefer the door partly unlatched anyway so that when you come in from the garage it is easier to just push open than turn the handle too.”  3) “I will just close it half way like I like it.”
Do you see why I know I failed my test? To state the obvious, it was about ME and what “I wanted.”  It was a test to help me overcome my own pride and selfishness.  You see that same morning in my devotion time I read the verses in Philippians chapter 2 where it talks about imitating Jesus’ humility, valuing others above yourself and not looking to your own interests but the interests of others.  God trained me up with this scripture and got me ready for the test, but I bombed it.

Retakes for Growth

The good news is that God allows you to retake the test if you want too. The bad news though is that if we don’t want to retake the test, you and I will remain where we are….in the same grade.  It doesn’t mean he doesn’t love us, it just means He can’t advance us.
You see God doesn’t want us to just know something; He wants us to become something. And by allowing challenges to come our way, He desires that those circumstances help define and build our character. And when our character grows guess what happens?  Our life grows.
When our life grows it means we have moved to another level in our journey to become all that we were created to be.
Ephesians 2:10 states that we are God’s handiwork:
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
We were created “to do”.  So that means it has to be more than just knowing some scripture. It is there for us to know so that we become it.
Plants just like people have stages of growth, we can’t skip any stages. We can’t fool ourselves to think that God’s spiritual growth design can be bypassed. We must be mature at each stage of growth before we can move onto the next.
What area in your life have you sensed you have failed to pass the test? Will you allow God to show you what you need to do to move forward to your next growth level?
Devotions, Mark 2

Jesus is hanging out with “those people” again!

Have you ever felt like an outcast or maybe left out by a group of guys or girls you thought were your friends?  If so, do you remember how you felt?
 
Most likely you didn’t feel a bunch of hugs and kisses.  Neither did a guy named Levi. He knew most people didn’t like him.  So when he met Jesus, he was blown away by what Jesus asked him.  Take a look!
 
 
THINK:
  • What do you think Levi was thinking when Jesus asked him to “follow me and be my disciple”?   (Why me?…amazed…but thankful…sensing love?)
  • Who are you most like in this interaction? (Crowd, Levi, other disciples, religious person, other sinners). Why?

A Life Changing Invitation

Did you notice the reaction Levi had?  He did not just say “thanks Jesus for choosing me”.  Instead he threw a dinner party and invited a bunch of people over to celebrate.   
GUT CHECK!…. Are you that excited about Jesus wanting to be in a relationship with you?
I think if we are honest, all of us can loose sight of the incredible reality that the God of the universe wants to be with us.  He is that crazy about you and me!  As amazing as this is, we must understand something though:

When Jesus calls you it is not just so you can break free of the disease of sin in your life and enjoy the love of God in your life.  It is ALSO an invitation into the Rescue Mission.  

 
Jesus wants us to join Him on mission in a purpose driven way that is empowered by His Spirit.
Are you living like that?
 
ACTION: Who might you reach out to today with the spirit of Jesus’ love that others may wonder about you: “why is he talking/hanging around him?”
PRAY:  Jesus forgive me for not celebrating your love for me like I should.  I’m amazed that you continually choose me and want to be with me.  I want my life to look like yours.  Help me.  Empower me by your Spirit so that I can join you in the Great Rescue Mission to help others know Your love.
Devotions, Mark 1

Breaking Free of What Controls You

What is controlling your life?

If you are like me you may think at first, “Nothing!  I’m good.  No worries here.”

Certainly we can look at other people around us and see all the countless ways THEY are controlled by certain habits or people… but not US…right?
I am sure though that if we ask a trusted friend or take a “more than skin deep” examination ourself, we will quickly uncover some areas that have some negative influence over us.  It maybe that area of our life that we would be embarrassed to admit we still struggle to overcome.
Are you controlled by a:
  • Relationship with the opposite sex?
  • Outburst of anger or selfishness?
  • Habit that you know is wrong or not healthy?
  • Friendship or peer group that is steering you down a wrong life path?

If so, the questions is “Do you want to break free from it?”

Just like the man who was controlled by an impure spirit, by faith in the power of Jesus, we can get free from those impure spirits controlling our lives.
If you want to get free, then…
  • Cry out to Jesus (v.23 “the man cried out”). Believe Jesus has the power to overcome what is holding you.
  • Submit to God (James 4:7)  “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
  • Resist the attack– How?
My prayer is that you do this everyday…with bold belief!  Jesus will change you and what controls you.  One last encouragement though:  DON’T FIGHT ALONE!   God made us relational beings for a reason.  Let those who are stronger and who are seeking the same things as you encourage and fight with you.  Let someone you trust know so they can pray for you.
PRAY:  Jesus I need your help right now with ______________.  I’m tired of the control it has had in my life.  I submit and humble myself before you that I can’t take it anymore but I know You can.   I speak against __________ that has been tormenting me.  In Jesus name it is gone from my life.  God by your power I will run from any temptation that is trying to pull me down and I will resist my own fleshly desires that are not honoring to You.   Grant me the faith to know, love, obey and pursue You, Jesus as my greatest treasure!   
Devotions, Mark 1

What is Controlling Your Life?

READ: Mark 1: 21-28

Can you imagine what would you have been thinking and feeling if you saw this scene just go down? When you think about it, this encounter could have been taken directly out of the latest paranormal movie today.   Honestly if I was there when this happened, I would be out the door in five seconds.

So this got me thinking…  Why is this recorded in the bible?  Could this or does this really happen today?  How does knowing this happened help me with anything in my life today?
 

Jesus Has Authority

God the Father wanted everyone to know that Jesus is ultimately in control. He spoke boldly with authority (v.22) and told a spirit “be quiet…come out of him!”  Now that is bold.  The Bible is huge on talking about Jesus’ boldness and authority.  Check this out..
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. – Colossians 1: 15-17
 

We Have Authority 

Jesus offers us His authority as believers. Luke tells about it:
“When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases,” Luke 9:1
So if you and I have been given that same kind of authority and power through our faith in Jesus, then you maybe wondering, “Then why don’t I sense that or see that in my own life?”.  What could be the disconnect?

Could it be that something is controlling your life and your not even aware of it?

It may not be something demonic, but could it be something you have allowed to creep in slowly that now has control over you?  Ask yourself:

  • Did I used to have a desire for the God that has slowly declined?
  • What do I now think about most of the time?  Is it all about me and what I want most of the time?
  • Is there something “impure” or that doesn’t honor God or others that you know you shouldn’t be doing, but you keep doing it anyway?
Is there something that has authority in your life above God?  Be honest about it then.  That’s the first step.

I will outline in the next devotion some ways God gives us to break free from those things in our life.  Until then, tell God about it and if your willing to post what has been controlling you, share it below or at least send me a message and I would love to encourage you as you begin to break free from it.

PRAY:  Jesus thank you that you have power and authority over everything that may come against us in life.  May I not continue to hid or be bound up inside with what is really going on in my life.  Help me to be bold enough to share what’s going on in my life with You God and with others I trust who will help me break free and fight.

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit,
but test the spirits to see whether they are from God…
God who is in you is greater
than the [evil] one who is in the world.”

~ 1 John 4:1-4
Devotions, Mark 1

Does Jesus really care about me or my friends?

Jesus’ personality and spirit captivated people. This was so evident because many not only came to Jesus themself, but some took it further and brought those they love and care about to Him. (v.30,32). One of the awesome things about Him is it doesn’t even matter what you look like or how unpopular you are. Jesus proved He is willing to cleanup any insecurities we see in our body or our heart (v.40).  All we need to do is come to Him with a heart of faith.

THINK:

➡️ Do you really believe in Jesus enough to bring people to Him?

➡️ Do you believe in Jesus enough to come to Him yourself?

PRAY: Jesus I know you are willing to touch my heart and make me clean and new. I ask you now and receive your words that I am healed. You have made me new, and are continuing to make me newer too. Use me as well to bring others to You.