Devos for Dec. 28th (Jenny's post)

Scripture:Revelation ch. 5, 7:9-17

Observation/Application 
Here we have a glimpse of the redeemed in heaven. I was struck by the description of them. It says that as they are standing around the throne of God, they are wearing white robes that have been washed in the blood of the lamb. For one thing, their white robes indicate purity. There will be no sin in heaven. Before entering the gate, every stain will be washed away in the blood of the Lamb, and the saved will be made perfectly whole. While on earth, we never can get clear of our burden of sin, in our present life. The holiest saint can never have a perfectly white robe on this earth.
But here we have a glimpse of a day coming, in which all who reach heaven will be entirely free, and free forever, from every stain of sin! The garments of the redeemed will be white, without a single spot! Our hearts shall be thoroughly cleansed. We will leave behind us all corruption, and will never again have a sinful thought or feeling or desire--but seeing Christ as He is--we shall be like Him forever!
The white robes indicate not only purity--but glory! Here on earth, our bodies are dull, and their beauty is marred by sin; but the spiritual body will be glorious, like Christ's.
The palm branches in the hands of the redeemed, probably indicate joy and rejoicing. Heaven will be a place of great happiness and of blessed triumph. There will be no tears there, and no defeat, no failure. Those who have been always sick here--will be well there; and those who have failed here in all their earthly life--will be among the victors there. What an amazing thing to think about!
The next thing I noticed was what the job of the redeemed will be in heaven. Their job will be praise. Their praise will be for salvation. They will never forget in their blessedness, that they owe it all to God's mercy, and Christ's atoning sacrifice on their behalf. They will always remember what they were by nature, and how they were redeemed and lifted up to glory--at a great cost.
The last thing that God showed me in these verses is that the redeemed had to endure a lot in their lives but they were not ruined by what they went through. The redeemed in these verses are said to be the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They are not those who have lived in palaces, and have never known pain or trial. Heaven's people are those who have had much suffering on the earth. Some of them had to pass through martyr fires; some suffered poverty and sickness; some were wronged and oppressed; some had trial and mocking and imprisonment. I was reminded that the way to heaven is not always an easy way. Here we see how the saints passed through all this tribulation and are not ruined by it. It does not leave them crushed and broken. They stand beyond it all--glorious! It is the washing in the blood of the Lamb that removes all the scars and marks of pain and sorrow!

Prayer
Lord, thank you for endurance, allow me to endure all things that I might be able to be strong in the sight of pain and suffering for your sake. The trials that I go through are not to break me but to build me, create in me a strength to endure. I'm so excited at the idea of heaven and being made whole in your Son; what an awesome prize to be given, eternal life spent with you. Take my weakness and struggles and be strong in them just as your word says. Allow for my life to minister to others who walk a similar path as me. I love you Lord and in Jesus name I pray, amen.

Devos for Dec. 21st

Scripture
Today's reading is John 10:1-21 and 11:17-44
Observation/Application
As I was reading in chapter 11, I was struck with the emotions of Jesus. I think so often, we forget that Jesus was not only fully God, but he was fully man. When Jesus saw that Mary and Martha were so broken over their brother's death, it says that Jesus was "deeply moved in his spirit." He felt their pain. He saw their sadness and he too was broken. I stopped at John 11:35, the shortest verse in the Bible, and read it a few times. It simply says, "Jesus wept." That was so powerful for me. God knows my pain. He understands what I'm feeling. When I hurt, He hurts too.

Ok, so going back a little in chapter 11, verse 21 and verse 32, Mary and Martha both said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." How many of us can relate to feeling this way? How many times have we told God similar things? Many times through my life I have questioned God and said to him, "Why weren't you there?" "Why didn't you do anything to stop this awful thing?" I went back to the beginning of this chapter to get the full picture of this story. When Jesus first heard news that Lazarus was sick, he said "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." (v.4)  It says that after Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed in the town where he was for 2 more days. Maybe this is why Mary and Martha were so upset that Jesus wasn't there sooner to save their brother. Its not that Jesus thought that going to his friend's bedside was unimportant. I often have felt as though maybe bad things have happened in my life, to myself or those I am close to, because God simply didn't care that much. This isn't the case though. Jesus knew that through this, God would be glorified. I can look at my own life and see that God has taken things that were bad, and he used those times to show his goodness. He has taken pain in my life and has redeemed it. He has used different things, different experiences that I've gone through, and has allowed me to be a part of him using it to show his goodness and redeeming power to others. 

Upon Martha telling Jesus that had he been there sooner, her brother would still be alive, Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha responded by saying that she knew he would rise again in the resurrection on the last day but Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life." (V.5) Jesus didn't say that he gives resurrection and life, he said that he IS the resurrection and the life. We don't have to wait for the promises of God to be fulfilled. He is everything right now. In our brokenness, He IS our comforter. We don't have to wait for him to bring peace, He IS peace.

What are some ways in which God has redeemed painful experiences in your life “for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it?”  Are there any hopeless situations in your life through which Jesus may be glorified?

Prayer
Lord, use my life's woes and troubles to be a light for others in their hard times. Be glorified in my life and alow me to see that you are my everything, my peace, comfort, healing and salvation. YOU ARE. Help me to see that you answer my prayers in your timing not mine. Just as Mary and Martha would have wanted their brother to have never died to begin with, but you answered that prayer in your timing. Lord draw me closer to you, so that I can see you clearer. I love you father. In Jesus name, amen.

Devos for December 16th (I'm focused on things above)

Scripture

1Peter chapter 1 and 4

Observations/Applications

1:4 refers to the priceless inheritance we have in heaven “so be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead”. So this brings up a question; are we excited about heaven? Are we looking forward to our inheritance in Christ? When thinking about eternal life there are so many things to be excited about; new bodies (2 Corinthians 5:4) that won’t break down or grow weak, bodies that don’t get sick. These bodies are eternal ones, which mean they are in it for the long haul. Another reason to be excited about heaven is that we won’t find ourselves falling into sin any more. We all fall short of the glory of God, but in heaven we will be made perfect. We get discouraged at our continual sin, when we miss the mark and do the things we don’t want to do, satan puts thoughts in our minds of feeling inferior; no more falling short in heaven. That’s not even the best part… finally being with our heavenly father. No gap or separation from God, in going to heaven, we get to have the relationship with God that we desire so much now. No more longing because we would have arrived. I am truly excited about the things to come and Peter was clear that everything we suffer through on earth is merely to build us strong in our faith, keeping in mind the prize of eternal life.

There are so many good thoughts in today’s devotions, but I can’t seem to get away from the joy of heavenJ  Because it isn’t something seen today I believe we have a tendency to forget that it is at hand and that our commission is to share the hope and joy of Christ. The goal on Gods end is that nobody would perish but all to come into the knowledge of Him, so that they might be fully reconciled with Him in heaven. Heaven needs to be in our minds more than every so often because it’s our home; we are described as aliens or foreigners on this earth because life here is merely a vapor or a breath. It’s over in a blink of an eye compared to eternity… in HEAVEN! It’s the end result and to be something while on earth we should be striving for. Even in Jesus teaching us to pray he says pray heaven to earth.

Prayer

Lord, allow my thoughts to be on things above. Help me to call heaven down to earth as we should be like in heaven, no sickness, cold homes, or starving people. I ask for it to be on earth as it is in heaven. Heavenly father, thank you for your son Jesus, who died making it possible for us to be reconciled to you; for it is only by him we can be saved. Continue to work in me a heart for your people, that my time would become your time and my thoughts yours as well. I love you lord. Make this all be so in Jesus name I pray, amen.

Additional notes – Christmas Party this Saturday morning! For details check the youth page out at rhapsodychurch.com

Also, we are giving out food boxes to families on Sunday morning at Rhapsody church. We are gathering at the YMCA at 10am for normal service, then afterward, we are taking the food boxes to families around the city who are in need. I’m pumped to see the cool ministry opportunities. Don’t miss it!

Blessings,

Pastor Ben

Devos for Dec. 14th its a good one

Well, I hope this blog has been an encouragement to you; we simply want to promote daily reading of the word and seeking God. Chad Veach, a  Pastor in Puyallup WA. recently said, the goal in youth ministry is to teach Jesus and to have them read their word daily. That is the idea; to know Jesus and make him known to everyone else. To accomplish that, we must be in our word.

Scripture

Hebrews chapter 13, Jude

Take Away Verses – Heb. 13:1,2 Heb. 13:5 Heb. 13:8

Observations/Application

Hebrews 13:1-2 “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Have you ever had one of those days where you just want to punch someone… just because? It’s those days you just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and nobody better cross you! I think everyone has had a day like that, however, this passage is a call to live above that. This one really is how Christ lived his life. Loving absolute strangers, people who he culturally shouldn’t have even talked to no less love and bless. If we show love to everyone; just live a life of love, (like Jesus did) then we might unknowingly be entertaining angels. What a cool thought! Unless it was your unlove day where you were mean to everyone. Everything we do while trying to be a good Christian and add to the kingdom will be wasted if it isn’t done with love, it will be a whole bunch of noise.

Jude verse 3 says to contend for the faith that was given to us by God. There is a lot in this little verse; one idea is that we need to contend for our faith. We live in a society that tells us to lose your faith, and be open to other possibilities. I had a class in high school that was called “tolerance in America”, it was a class that tried telling us to be okay with the idea that diversity in beliefs is a good thing. Well excuse me if I know that there is ONE TRUTH in life worth living and dying for. This is what contending for your faith is; it’s living for your God and living it loud. Contend for a life like Jesus lived; walk in the supernatural, pray without ceasing, stand for the truth and not bow to the voices who say you shouldn’t be something great! The second thing in this verse is that God gave us our faith and the bible says he will give you more if you ask. We have possibly all felt like we can’t hear God, or that we are far from him and want to give it up. Well it’s a sigh of relief when I read this verse because it says God gives us the faith. I know I can’t whip up enough on my own; sometimes we just gotta lean back on Him and say “Lord, I need some help today”. God gives us the faith and we have to contend against this world and Satan to keep it and to grow it.

Prayer

Lord, you are so good, I ask for a faith to sustain my spiritual growth along with those around me in my sphere of influence. We are to love people as you did, which is a tall order yet one I want a heart for, so that your kingdom can grow like you intended.  Lord you have given so much to us yet you say we can still lift our prayers to you and you answer them. I love you Lord, and continue to grow a bigger faith in your people. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Other notes

Don’t forget, youth church at 7pm this Wednesday, also a Christmas party this Saturday, bring a friend.

Blessings,

Pastor Ben

Devos for Dec. 9th

Hey everyone it’s blog day! I hope the new blog has been beneficial to you in your devotions. Remember, the blog isn’t a replacement to devos but an aid. It’s to encourage you in your reading of the bible, also to give example of what God’s saying in His word.

Scripture

Today we read Titus chapter 1, 2, and 3:1-11

Take Away Verse – Titus 1:15,16 (pure hearts) 1:10,11 (useless talkers) 2:7 (actions matching words) 2:14 (freedom in Christ)

Observation/Application

There was an abundance of things God was saying through today’s devos! Some encouraging, others challenging, and yet others found me hungry for more.

In 1:15,16 Paul is addressing people’s hearts, he correlates the heart with the mind and says if a man’s mind is corrupt it’s because his heart is too. This week I was reminded of a song we used to sing when I was a young buck in youth church, it was Give us clean Hands. In this song it say’s, “Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts, let us not lift our souls to another”.  We find that our actions are corrupt because we can’t seem to put aside the desires of this world. It’s not the mind that is corrupt in this alone but it’s truly a heart matter. The reason we can’t put aside the desires of the world are because our hearts aren’t pure! We haven’t truly set it in on course for God and God alone. Paul follows up verse 15 by saying “such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live.” We can say anything we want, but it comes down to the “walk the walk don’t just talk the talk”. I know plenty of people who “believe” in God but Paul is saying they are truly denying him with their life.

In 2:7 Paul tells Titus to let everything that he does to reflect his teaching, in other words, don’t be a hypocrite! We need to be bold in our faith and not let the voices of this world tell me to be quiet. We should be confident in speaking what I know, and what I know is the very truth that the world needs.

2:14 say’s that Jesus gave his life to cover every kind of sin. There isn’t anything we can do to out run that covering. It’s an umbrella that covers us. If we accept him we are covered. Every KIND of SIN! What a good God we have. I fall short in all kinds of ways, but none bigger than what Jesus already did for me. If you’re out there feeling distant from God, for something you’ve done in your life; past or present, his gift has covered you. That was the plan from the beginning, to reconciled you back to God.

PRAYER

Lord, thank you for your sacrifice that covers me and all my failures. You are mighty and knew my mistakes even before I made them, yet you choose me still. Help me to live out what I preach and teach. Help me to become more and more like your son Jesus. I love you and your word, continue in me a passion for you, enough to put aside the things of the world and to only love you. In Jesus name Amen.

Devos for Dec. 7th (Jenny's post)

Hey Ground Zero! Hope you are all keeping up with your devos. It is so important for you guys to get into your Word! Read, meditate, listen, and pray! God WILL speak but we have to put ourselves in a position to hear him.

Scripture
Ok, so today's reading was Colossians 1:15-29 and ch. 13

Observation/Application
God kept bringing me back to 13:12. It says, "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,"
Everything changes when you're born again. A total transformation takes place. You actually "have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (v. 3). Jesus becomes the center of your life, and you're transferred into a new Kingdom.
God calls us to express this change in practical ways, through the choices we make. Paul said we are to "put on" new attitudes. The Greek word describes putting on a garment. "You must clothe yourselves" (v. 12 NLT)- this is a picture relating to our daily life. We get up and get dressed every morning. Some of us spend a lot of time in front of the mirror making sure we look just right before heading out to school or our job or to even just to run errands. Pastor Ben will tell you that I like to take my time getting ready for the day. Its almost painful for him to sit and wait and watch me getting ready to leave the house. I know a lot of you are the same way. Trust me, I thought I took a long time getting ready in the mornings, but then I saw some of you girls getting ready when we were in CA and I was shocked at how long some of you take to make yourselves just perfect, ready to face the day. You certainly made me feel like I wasn't so bad after all. :-)
Just like clothing, we are to put on our new nature. Instead of being like the world, and governed by the flesh, we need to be compassionate and kind, humble, gentle, and patient. Even with all of the time that we spend getting ready in the mornings, and with all of the money we spend on wearing the "right" clothes, most of us still the the house way under-dressed. We don't take the time to clothe ourselves in these attributes that are part of our new identities in Christ. They are there for us, Christ calls us to walk in them, but we have to make the effort for it to be part of how we go out and interact with the world.  Today, put on these new clothes, wear this new attitude in everything you say and do.

Prayer
Father God,
You are so good! How you love me still amazes me!
I ask that you would help me to ready myself everyday with the things that you ask me to. In my human nature, its not easy for me to always be compassionate and kind and patient. I get so self-focused that I don't pay attention to how I am treating those around me. God, help me to set my eyes on the things above, not on this world, for I know that when I'm focused on you, I will be a better imitator of you.
Thank you for your Word, that is still alive today.
Amen!

Devos for Dec. 2nd

Hello everyone, it’s Thursday and that means blog day! Remember we blog every Tuesday and Thursday evening. We are to meet with God every day, being in constant commune with God. Being in the word allows us to meet with Him as well as keep His word on our hearts and mind. So this blog serves as a helper to see what God is doing in our hearts, so feel free to comment, ask questions, and interact with any post we do. Enjoy!

Scripture

Romans chapter 10 and 12

Take away verses (Verses that jumped out at me) Rom. 10:9-10, 10:15 12:14-15 12:21

Observation/Application

I was reading today and in Romans 10:14-15 I saw the incredible reminder of what God has called me to do, the passage goes like this, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’  that was 10:14-15 and10: 17 says, “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Wow, I can’t even explain how much that one sentence “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news” means! Like my feet are gross, my wife calls them alligator feet. But when there are people who need to hear who God is, so they can believe or people who need to be sent, it takes a person willing to put God above themselves and also God’s love of the lost! There are people who haven’t heard the love of God and they need obedient believers to be those “beautiful feet” and deliver the word. The world is broken and lost, they need to hear so they can believe. Faith comes by hearing and it’s not talking about hearing the latest gossip but THE WORD OF GOD! I would love to see lost people saved every day, but how if I’m not willing to help them hear the word. It’s an awesome reminder that we are called to live out loud and share our faith.

Romans 12:9-21

“Let Love be genuine” it really says it all in this one verse. Let your love be real, Jesus loved us and gave His life for us, so I could turn that and say to love is to be a good person who looks out for others or who even lives a Christian life where I am a good person. But if I want to let my love be truly genuine, one where I love as Christ loved then I would be compelled to be a passionate, dynamic believer who didn’t settle for a regular Christian walk but wanted more. It’s all about dying to self and living for Christ. In this we show true love, because we will be loving like Christ did even to the point of death. Imagine that a group of believers stopped putting life first and began walking in what Christ intended! Power, authority, and love.

Prayer

Lord bring me to a new level of passion, one that will elevate me to a true love with you and others. You were and are dynamic in your actions, proving to be the almighty God through your love and supernatural and divine works. I want to walk closer to you so that your characteristics rub off on me. You say the feet of someone delivering the word are beautiful, and I pray for the strength and compassion to continue to bring your word to those who need it. Your will not mine to be my concern, is my hearts cry, Lord, continue your transforming work in me. I lift you up because your worthy to be praised.  Be honored with my life Lord, and move on our city and in our hearts to bring revival to us. In Jesus name, amen.

Bonus Devos from Jenny!

Hey Guys! Pastor Ben asked me if I wanted to write the blog for Thursday but when I was doing my devos this morning I was overwhelmed with all of the good stuff that was packed into today's scripture and I wanted to share with you what God was speaking to my heart. So you get an extra one this week thrown in just cause I love you! Tomorrow you will still have to check back and see who won in the coin toss for writing Thursday's entry :)

ScriptureRomans 6:15-23

Observation/Application
This entire portion really stuck out me. When you're reading, do you ever feel that God made sure to write something just for you? That's how I feel about this, well I feel that about all of the scriptures for today actually, but these in particular are what I want to focus on.

Paul is talking about the concept of how before we were saved, we were slaves to sin, and now that we are saved, we are slaves to righteousness. He reminds us that no matter who or what it is that we are giving ourselves to, we are willing, obedient slaves to that. I looked up the term slave and it is defined as "one who is completely subservient to a dominating influence." In other words, it is someone who is willingly putting themselves under the guiding influence of another. In verses 17-18, it says, "But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness."

God really impressed upon my heart that all of the junk in my life that I feel is so hard for me to give up, for whatever reason, the things that I have allowed myself to become a slave to, that I am just that, a willing slave to my sin. There is nothing in this world that is holding me to my sin, but its that I continue to choose to make myself submissive to it. Everyday that I chose to hold onto that sin is a day that I am choosing to be a slave to my flesh instead of a slave to the Spirit.
Paul used a phrase that really stuck in my heart and got ahold of me and its where he says "...obedient from the heart." Obedience. That's a hard concept for me to swallow sometimes. No one likes feeling like they have to obey someone or some set of rules or whatever. Christ calls us to obey Him though and so here I can see that it is through an act of obedience to Him that I make myself a slave of righteousness. Its a choice guys. I may not want to lay down my sin that has become so comfortable to me, but we already know that the end of all those things is death. They may seem good and fine now, but they will get us nowhere and will only hold us captive to death instead of allowing us the freedom of having the abundant life that God wants and has for us. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

My question to you is this: What are you making yourselves slaves to? And will you choose to be obedient from your heart and make yourself a slave of righteousness?

Prayer
Precious Jesus, I thank you for this word today. Thank you for bringing to light for me that I am not supposed to be bound by the chains that hold me captive in my life to sin. That it is not that I don't have a choice in the matter but that it is only by my wiling obedience to it that I am still bound to it. Thank you for reminding me that you want so much more for me and that you have simply asked me to make a decision in my heart to lay those things down and to come under submission to you. I pray that you will put in all of our hearts a desire to follow after the things of you and that we will find the strength and courage, through you, to conquer our sin.
I love you Lord!