DEVOTIONS

By Mike Pruitt

Life is difficult sometimes.  Jesus is clear, we will experience difficult times (John 16:33, James 1:2-4).  He also states He will never let us go through more than we can bear (1 Cor 10:13) and that He will never leave us or abandon us (Dt 31:8).   

I very clearly remember a time in my life that I could not feel anything other than the hurt and pain I was going through. This was a lonely and dark time.  During this time, I was full of self condemnation, feelings of failure, unworthiness, and unforgiveness.  Sadly, through the lens I was viewing life, I could not see or imagine much of a future other than the pain I was walking through.  

One Sunday morning, we had a guest speaker from one of our other church campus'.  She described Samuel mourning over Saul's disobedience to God and the news Saul would no longer be king (1 Samuel 15). It is estimated Samuel could have mourned for 10 years!  In 1 Samuel 16:1, God asks Samuel, "“How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”  In other words... Mourning time is over... I have work for you to do!  The speaker that Sunday morning said, "Someone here has been mourning something for a very long time.  God wants you to know your mourning time is over.  He has work for you to do."

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I am thankful the Holy Spirit woke me up that day.  I received that message and it changed my life.  Since that time, I have been knocking on doors looking for the work God has for me (Mt 7:7-8).  He led me to missions... something He put in my heart at a very young age.

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What about the difficult situation I was going through?  It is still there!  It is no longer the only thing I see and experience each day.  I have laid it at the feet of Jesus.  He is going to take care of it as He only can.  Thank God I no longer see life through the lens of that situation.  Praise Jesus I now see life through the lens of God's love that has and will overcome everything. 

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What situations do you need to lay at the feet of Jesus?  What "lens" do you view life?  Is there something you have been mourning that Jesus wants to bear for you?  What work does He have for you to do?  

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Jeremiah 29:11-13

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

BECOMING A DISCIPLE

By Kari Pruitt

Early in Jesus’s ministry, he asked people to follow him.  He called them disciples.

Matthew 4:18-22 ‘As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Peter and Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake.  They were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.  And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and father and followed him.’ Notice that the men didn’t hesitate to follow Jesus.  They didn’t ask why, or when would they return, they immediately followed him.  They were committed. 

Why did Jesus need disciples?  Jesus selected the twelve apostles for several purposes: 

They were to be his companions — they would learn by being with him. He sent them out to do what he had been doing — preaching the gospel of the Kingdom. He gave them authority and power to serve, cast out demons, and heal (Matthew 10:1).  Discipleship is more about who you are becoming and less about what you are doing.  When Jesus chose disciples, He wasn't looking for perfect models; He was looking for real people. Just like you and I.  He chose people who could be changed by His love, and then He sent them out to communicate that His acceptance was available to anyone – even to those whose lives were marked by failure.  I’m thankful for that love, acceptance and grace.  I fail every day.  But I know that He gives me grace and His mercies are new each morning.  

Paul and Peter, two of Jesus’s disciples share their excitement for following Jesus-

The apostle Paul had an impressive resume, and much to be proud of, yet he writes, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:7-8).

Peter expresses the same excitement. He writes to the Christian believers of their experience of Christ: “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 Pet. 1:8)

To know Christ is to know a satisfaction, a delight, a deep contentment that this world knows nothing of. It is a present reality with the promise of an eternal reward.

I have also found excitement and joy in sharing my relationship with Jesus to others.  He has changed my life dramatically.  Never in a million years would I have expected to be sharing the gospel with people in my community or traveling to Honduras and Kenya sharing the gospel of Jesus!  What a gift!!

Matthew 28:18 states Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

And that gift can be yours—you, too, can be my disciple, Jesus says. 

Romans 10:9-12 states ‘If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”

GIVE HIM YOUR BOOK

By Kristy Calloway

God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to His eyes.  ~Psalm 18:24 (MSG)

Bring the book of your heart to Jesus.

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That ragged, worn book with scribble on the dog-eared pages. Stained and torn.

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Open it to Him.

He will not turn away in disgust or disappointment. He will lovingly reach out his hands, take the book between them, & bring it to His chest.

The scars he bears for you will draw your attention, and as you beg for Him not to look inside… He opens it.

You want to look away, but your eyes are drawn to His face. What you see is not anger or astonishment, but what you see is love.

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As he slowly turns each ugly page of the battered book of your heart, the love in His eyes only grows until you fear you can hardly stand to look at Him any longer. He finally turns the last page, and as you catch your breath, he hands it back to you.

As your eyes fall to the unfamiliar sensation of the book in your hands, the book you knew so well, you realize it is not the same book you handed Him.

You anxiously open it and all of the ugliness and pain that was written is GONE!

The book is now an epic love story and, as you continue to read, you realize that God has rewritten the text of your life in the light of His extravagant love for you…

And everything has changed!

You see the threads of His presence when you felt as if you were walking alone. At your lowest, He was there, drawing you with His love. When you felt ordinary and unseen, He was looking at you with a love that is unimaginable.

God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to His eyes.

GOD CHOOSES THE UNQUALIFIED

by Mike Pruitt

Many people do not step into the calling God has for them because they feel unqualified, unworthy, and unprepared.  Does this describe you?  It certainly used to describe me.  As I have mentioned, I felt a calling from God during college.  I was studying finance and definitely not a bible scholar.  I did not and could not see how God could use me without the tools and training I thought I needed.

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Did you know Moses felt the same way?  I encourage you to read Exodus Chapters 3 & 4.  After God tells Moses His plan for him to go to the Pharaoh and free the Israelite slaves from Egypt and lead them to the promised land, Moses replies, "Who am I that I should go to the Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? (Ex 3:11).  Moses then asks God, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say the Lord did not appear to you." (Ex 4:1).  Moses then says, "Pardon your servant Lord, I have never been an eloquent, neither in the past or since you have spoken to your servant.  I am slow of speech and tongue." (Ex 4:10).  In other words, Moses was saying, "I am not a good speaker".  Finally Moses tells God, "Pardon your servant Lord.  Please send someone else." (Ex 4:13) Through every question/ concern Moses had, God responds with telling him that He will be with him... it is His power that will do the work through Moses... and that He will provide Moses with all he needs.  It is the same with us.

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I also think about David... he was discounted so many times as not being enough... not being worthy.  When Samuel followed God's request to go to Jesse's house (David's father) to find the next King, David was Jesse's last thought as David was the youngest and was tending sheep.  David had a calling on his life.  When David saw the Giant Goliath taunting God's people, he was infuriated.  David responds, "who is this uncircumsized Philistine that he should defy the armies of the Living God?"  Word got to King Saul of what David had said and he called for him.  When Saul saw David,  he said, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth."  David convinces King Saul to allow him to fight the giant.  Saul tries to fit David with armor, a helmet, and a sword but they were too heavy and did not fit David since he was still a youth.  He took the helmet and armor off, took his staff, 5 smoothed stones, and his slingshot and approached the Philistine that the Israelite Amy had been running away from in fear for 40 days.  David told the Giant, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel." (1 Samuel 17:45&46).  As the giant came closer to attack David, David took a stone and slung it with his slingshot hitting Goliath in the forehead.  Goliath fell to the ground.  He triumphed over the Philistine with a single stone and a slingshot.  It does not matter what our circumstance looks like, how young we are, how old we are, or our abilities... God can and will use you for His purposes.  With God all things are possible!  (Mt 19:26)

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I also think about the Apostle Paul.  He is credited with writing over 1/2 of the New Testament.  He is also thought to the the most important/ most influential person in Christianity behind Jesus.  It certainly did not start out this way.  Until Paul's incredible conversion, he was a persecutor of Christians.  Christians were scared of him as many had been beaten under Paul's supervision.  Through Paul's life, it is clear... nothing in your past matters... mistakes you have made... bad decisions made...  Once you turn to Christ, accept Him into your heart, you are a new creation.  The old has gone and the new has come.

Are there areas you feel unworthy, unqualified, too young, too old?  Phil 2:13 reads, "For it is God who works in your to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose."  Are past decisions holding you back from fully submitting to Christ?  2 Cor 5:17 reads, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."  God has a plan for your life.  Fully submit your heart to Him, trusting Him, and He will take care of the rest. 

RUNNING FROM JESUS

by Kristy Calloway

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  ~Romans 8:35a (ESV)

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When I used to read this passage, I thought about all the ways the world would try to separate us from Jesus. You know, kind of like a sappy romantic comedy where it is me and Jesus against the world? We are so in love that none of that matters and we just stare longingly at each other while everything bounces off.

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But that is not it at all, is it?

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Jesus and my love story looks much more like Hosea and Gomer’s (see Hosea in the Old Testament). 

He sacrifices everything for me.

Marries me when no one else would even consider it.

Marries me when there is no way I could ever love Him enough.

Gives me children – makes me fruitful when my life has been one of waste and pain and barrenness.

And how do I repay Him? I run.

I run right back into my life of waste. I am drawn to it. I feel like it is my destiny. How can I change what has been set in motion for all my life? 

How can I change what I CHOSE?

It is comfortable for me – the sword, the famine, the nakedness that serves to protect what I really need.

I chose those things over the love of my husband, Jesus.

Part of me hopes he just leaves me where I am. It is too hard to be loved by Him. It is too hard to accept His love after all I have done… 

All I have been.

I don’t deserve it. But what does He do?

He searches far and wide for me. No matter how far I run. No matter how small I make myself. His love finds me and He calls to me. He comes and he buys me back from my chosen life.

At great cost, He buys my wasted life and brings me back to Himself. It hurts to feel His love for me.

He doesn’t want anything from me. There is nothing I can give Him. The ways I have learned to survive are useless with Him.

He reaches out His hand to me and, as He holds my gaze, He quietly says, “Trust Me.”

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Can I do it? Will it work this time?

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One thing. One thing I know. He will never stop pursuing me. 

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If I choose to run again, He will find me.

If I try to offer up all the things that helped me survive in the past, He will simply hold up His hand in a gesture for me to stop. He will take my hand in His and pull me into Him.

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Into His love that I cannot understand.

Into His love that is so pure and so all-encompassing that it hurts…

But it is where I long to be!

Can I trust Him? Yes. YES!

He is more beautiful and trustworthy than anyone or anything I have ever encountered.

I am my beloved’s and He is mine.