Share - Devotion. All In Series

9/30/13 - Share

All In Series

“[And he was] proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.” Acts 28:31

Even though I haven’t seen or talked to her in years, I fondly recall my neighbor, Mrs. Boggs who loved God so much that she shared Him with everyone she encountered.  She started “The Good News Club” in her backyard for kids in our neighborhood to come and hear stories about the goodness of God.  My friends and I would look forward to hearing the Bible stories and seeing her display them on her flannel graph board each week while we munched on cookies and drank her sweet lemonade.  She had such an infectious love for the Bible and the stories it contained of beautiful life change that it made me want to know more.

When you are “All In”, completely sold out for Jesus, you can’t hide what you have.  You want to share it with others so that they too can feel the love of the Savior.  So that they too can have that inexplicable joy and peace that only comes from knowing the One that breathes life into our souls and meaning into our beings.

Sharing doesn’t have to be hard.  It shouldn’t be a task that needs to be checked off our to-do list.  It should just be part of who we are and what we do.  At West Ridge we use the acronym B-L-E-S-S to help us focus on others. First you should Begin with prayer.  Ask God to show you who He wants you to invest in. You won’t have to go looking for them when you pray for that. God will show you someone that you know in your community, someone in your sphere of influence.  Then, Listen to them.  Find out what is going on in their life and what needs they have that you can pray about for them.  Third, Eat with them.  Invite them over to share a meal with you.  Really begin to learn about them.  Fourth, Serve them. Serving others allows us to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to show them concrete examples of love.   And finally, Share with them.  Tell them about your own story and how Jesus made you new and changed your life. 

I am a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come- 2 Corinthians 5:17.  I want to tell people about this.  God has changed me from the inside out and I want others to know about how He can do the same for them.  I want to let my light shine for Jesus in order to draw others to Him.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the people in my life who have shared with me about You and your Love.   Thank you for using them to teach me about You and the new life you offer.   Help me to share that with others that I know and help me to constantly be pointing people back to you and your goodness.

Devotion written by Ruth Wittenbrook

Compassion Sunday

This is a devotion that I wrote for my church's prayer blog.  

Our writing team is assigned to their week's devo, sometimes months in advance.  6 weeks ago when I chose to write for Compassion Sunday, I didn't realize that as part of my new job, I would be responsible for helping with the event.  I love to see how God works and brings all things together like this.  

For Compassion Sunday today, we heard a powerful message by Paul Richardson, then a time afterwards to sponsor a child through Compassion International.  408 children were sponsored today.  Essentially 408 lives were potentially saved today.  What an awesome morning!

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:17-18

A few years ago our church set up tables with information to sponsor a child from Compassion International. We really felt led to help but financially things were tight for our family.  However, one treat we did enjoy was going out to dinner once a week.  We decided to give up one dinner out a month in order to sponsor a child.  As a family, we went over and looked at all the sweet children’s faces on the brochures. One little girl from Burkina Faso, Africa stood out to us, so we picked her.  Partly because her name was Valentine (our girls are such the little romantics and they loved her name) and partly because she was close in age to our youngest daughter and we knew that would be fun.  We were so excited and couldn’t wait to write to her then eagerly waited for her to write back.  In one of her letters she asked us “How can I pray for your family?”  Wow!  I was blown away.  I realized then that sometimes when we help someone we receive a bigger blessing than the one we give.

The Bible contains many scriptures about helping the poor and needy. It isn’t a suggestion; it is a commandment.  God doesn’t say if you have extra money or if you feel led, He simply says ‘feed the poor”. Matthew 25:31-46 tells us about the Final Judgment and how God will separate the righteous from the unrighteous.  He says: 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’  When we serve and care for others, ultimately, we are serving and caring for Christ.

Our love for Christ is what motivates us to love and serve others.  It is at the core of everything that we do. When we sponsor a child, we are giving them more than just food or an education or a chance to change their lives, we are giving them Hope.  Hope that only comes from God.

Lord Jesus, Thank you for loving us and providing for all of our needs. I pray that our love for you will be so great it will motivate us to help others and share your Hope with a world that desperately needs it.

Devotion written by: Ruth Wittenbrook

New Chapter In My Life

Tomorrow begins a new chapter in my life.  After 14 years of being a full time mom at home with my kids, I am thrilled to enter the work force again.  I am starting a part-time position at my church, West Ridge Church, working as an assistant to Kevin Dunlap, the Director of Missions and Mobilization.

Some of my tasks will be to help coordinate local and global mission projects, trip planning and event coordination.  Last year as I was volunteering at one of our church planting events, I thought to myself, I sure would like to be more involved in organizing this event and this year (actually next week) I get to do just that.

After Kevin approached me to see if I was interested in talking about the position, I immediately began to pray Isaiah 48:17 daily over the decision.  “This is what the Lord says…I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.”  It was such an important decision and one that I didn’t want to mess up.  I knew that I needed God’s clear direction.  I felt such a peace about moving forward and I started getting very excited about it.  A couple of weeks later, I went through the interview process and was offered the job. 

After Allie was born, I took maternity leave from my job for 12 weeks.  I wanted to be a stay at home mom so badly but we just couldn’t make it work.  At the end of my leave before starting back to work again, I cried for 4 days solid.  Eventually I got used to leaving her every day and it got easier but I still longed to stay home with her.  In January 2000, when she was 4, I got that wish. Then Emma was born in June 2000 and I have loved every minute of being home with them.  They are older now and I find myself desperately trying to fill up my days while they are at school.  So now… I am fulfilling a new dream. 

My church values families and knows that working mom’s priorities are always going to be their kids.  This will be a flexible work environment in order for me to achieve that goal.   My new hours will be Mon-Thurs from 9:00 to 3:00 - just enough time to drop Emma off at school and be back to pick her up.  It is a perfect schedule for me and I’m extremely excited to see what the future holds. Ecclesiastes 3:1- There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.

Plotting to betray

Devotion written for my church

Plotting to betray

Mark 14:10-11 Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray Him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.

My family is a huge fan of reality shows.  The Biggest Loser and Survivor are two of our favorites.  In both shows, the whole point is to vote the other contestants out and be the last one standing in order to win.  Of course to do so takes much plotting and strategizing.  Often times the contestants align themselves with others and “promise” to never vote for the other.  But usually, at some point those promises are broken and there is often a hurtful betrayal.  Sometimes they decide at the last minute to betray their friends, but often it is fully thought out and pondered upon. 

The Bible says that Judas sought an opportunity to betray Jesus.  Even though he was in Jesus’ inner circle, in his closest set of friends, Judas chose to live for himself rather than live for Jesus.  Judas’ heart was not protected.  He looked for a way to betray Jesus. It didn’t just happen by chance. It began with a plot.

Granted, I don’t plot or plan to betray Jesus but isn’t that exactly what I do each and every time I sin? I betray Jesus when I don’t protect my heart, when I let my flesh lead me instead of following Jesus. I abandon His ways when I think that I can handle a situation on my own instead of following him.  James 4:17 tells me I even betray Him when I know the right thing to do but don’t do it.

One of my favorite Bible stories is about Daniel and how faithful he remained when he was in captivity and forced to follow the Babylonian ways. The Bible says Daniel had resolved beforehand that he would remain faithful to God and not adopt the foreign ways.  It takes a resolve to do the right thing.  It doesn’t happen by chance.  I want to do just the opposite of Judas, I want to plot, plan and seek opportunities to stay committed and to not betray my faithful Savior.

Lord Jesus, Thank you for your loving ways. For your grace and forgiveness every time we seek it.  Help us to stay fully committed and devoted to you.  Protect our hearts when our flesh seeks to betray you.  In your name, Amen

Self-Control

A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. 

Proverbs 25:28

Your kids have been fighting with each other all day. It’s 6:00 and you haven’t started supper then your husband calls and says he has to work late. You are longing to buy that fabulous new outfit even though you know you will have to charge it. While driving on I-75 someone cuts you off and almost causes a major accident.  You really want that last piece of cake even though your doctor told you that you need to lose 20 pounds for health reasons.  These examples merely skim the surface of some of the many areas in our lives that need our self-control.

Self-control is so important in our lives because it is our wall of protection against the spears that Satan will try to hurl our way to throw us off course, to take our eyes off of our purpose, which is to love God, serve and honor Him with all that we do.  Self-control allows us to live fulfilled lives, love others and have joy and peace.  2 Peter 1:5-8 assures us that by possessing qualities such as goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness and love, we will be effective and useful in our knowledge of Jesus. Effective and useful are powerful words and an ultimate goal of mine in serving my Lord and Savior.

How can we gain more self-control?  2 Timothy 1:7 For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. As a believer in Christ Jesus, He has already given that to you. Praise God, it is inside you!  You may just need to reach inside, dust it off and put it into practice. Examine your heart and ask God to reveal any areas in your life that may be lacking and ask for His help.  Seek professional help in cases of extreme lack of self-control. Ask a close friend to help you stay accountable and to ask you tough questions to keep you on track.  Make sure you acknowledge and celebrate successes, giving the glory to God. 

Lord Jesus, Thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit to live inside us that will guide us and help us to live lives full of self control.  Thank you for your redeeming love and grace that will pick us up when we stumble and set us back on solid ground.  Help us to live lives that glorify and honor you.