It is my prayer that every Christian recognizes the importance of serving God through the way we serve others.  There are few things, if any, that are as emotionally exhilarating, and draining, as the task of serving others.  Having worked in a variety of ministry settings, including various roles within Christian camp ministry, I understand the excitement that often comes with the beginning of a new ministry or ministry season.  I also understand the weariness than can develop when our focus begins to drift away from the ministry of serving and onto ourselves.

This is day two in the eleventh week of devotions from the book, “Serving God: Devotions for Active Worship”.  This devotional book is laid out in thirteen weeks of daily devotions with each week wrapped around an aspect of how we can serve others.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God to see how serving others is an act of worship.

Serving God:
Patience Because Of Love

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.“
1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)

How patient are you with the people you love?  Is that different than your level of patience with those you simply tolerate?  How about with people you can’t stand?  Would your answer to any of those questions need to change if you were to view patience as a result of God’s love toward you rather than your feelings toward a person?  How has God’s patience toward you been demonstrated through His love?

Young love is a fascinating thing.  We often use the phrase, “a honeymoon period”, to describe a time when faults are overlooked and patience is at an all-time high.  While the phrase comes from a marriage relationship, it is used in many situations where love for a person, an idea, a job, a friendship, or a variety of other things makes us appear, for a time, blind to the everyday faults that everyone else can see.  When God says that love is patient, He is talking about a love that helps us serve others when the people around us say they don’t deserve it.  As you pray, ask God to fill you with His love in a way that gives you patience in serving others.  Pray that you would daily see God’s love as He is patient with you.   Pray for a patience that overlooks the offences of others in the same way God overlooks yours.

In prayer,

Tom

It is my prayer that every Christian recognizes the importance of serving God through the way we serve others.  There are few things, if any, that are as emotionally exhilarating, and draining, as the task of serving others.  Having worked in a variety of ministry settings, including various roles within Christian camp ministry, I understand the excitement that often comes with the beginning of a new ministry or ministry season.  I also understand the weariness than can develop when our focus begins to drift away from the ministry of serving and onto ourselves.

This is day one in the eleventh week of devotions from the book, “Serving God: Devotions for Active Worship”.  This devotional book is laid out in thirteen weeks of daily devotions with each week wrapped around an aspect of how we can serve others.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God to see how serving others is an act of worship.

Serving God:
Patience From Wisdom

“A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.“
Proverbs 19:11 (NIV)

Are you a patient person?  Would your friends agree?  In what ways are you more, or less, patient now than you were a year ago?  What caused the change?  How has your level of wisdom changed in the same time period?  How does wisdom increase your patience?  How does patience increase your wisdom?

The old joke says to never pray for patience because God may answer by putting us into a situation that requires great patience.  While many would view patience as a noble quality, few in our culture are eager to wait for anything.  Wisdom is gained through a combination of experience and the time necessary to see that experience from God’s perspective.  The more we grow in wisdom in this manner, the more patient we become as we learn to wait with expectation for how God will work out our current situation for a greater good.  When we apply that wisdom to serving, it should give us a greater patience in watching for how God will bring about transformation in our life as well as in the lives of those we serve.  As you pray, ask God to fill you with a wisdom that will produce patience with those you serve.  Pray that you would have a greater practice of patience in your interactions with others as you grow in godly wisdom.

In prayer,

Tom

It is my prayer that every Christian recognizes the importance of serving God through the way we serve others.  There are few things, if any, that are as emotionally exhilarating, and draining, as the task of serving others.  Having worked in a variety of ministry settings, including various roles within Christian camp ministry, I understand the excitement that often comes with the beginning of a new ministry or ministry season.  I also understand the weariness than can develop when our focus begins to drift away from the ministry of serving and onto ourselves.

This is day seven in the tenth week of devotions from the book, “Serving God: Devotions for Active Worship”.  This devotional book is laid out in thirteen weeks of daily devotions with each week wrapped around an aspect of how we can serve others.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God to see how serving others is an act of worship.

Serving God:
Listen For Instruction

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does.“
James 1:22-25 (NIV)

Are you a person who is likely to read instructions and owner’s manuals of things you purchase or do you live by the motto, “If all else fails, read the instructions.”?  Do you often find yourself in the middle of doing something and wish you had more information before you began?  What do you think is the purpose of God’s Word in your life?  How often do you think of it as being instructional?  How would a daily practice of listening to the instruction found in God’s Word help you as you serve?

God says that His Word is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”, yet how often do we really listen to what it says and believe that it is the greatest source of instruction on how to serve?  When we serve people, it is important that we listen to them to understand their needs.  It is even more important, if we wish to serve well, to listen to God’s Word for instruction on how to serve that person according to their needs.

As you pray, ask God to help you listen to His Word with the intent of doing what it says.  Pray that your usefulness in serving would come by applying the instructions of Scripture.

In prayer,

Tom

It is my prayer that every Christian recognizes the importance of serving God through the way we serve others.  There are few things, if any, that are as emotionally exhilarating, and draining, as the task of serving others.  Having worked in a variety of ministry settings, including various roles within Christian camp ministry, I understand the excitement that often comes with the beginning of a new ministry or ministry season.  I also understand the weariness than can develop when our focus begins to drift away from the ministry of serving and onto ourselves.

This is day six in the tenth week of devotions from the book, “Serving God: Devotions for Active Worship”.  This devotional book is laid out in thirteen weeks of daily devotions with each week wrapped around an aspect of how we can serve others.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God to see how serving others is an act of worship.

Serving God:
Listen Eagerly

“My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.“
James 1:19-20 (NIV)

What types of things are you eager to listen to?  Why?  Are there things, or people, that you try to avoid listening to?  Why?  Do you ever feel trapped in a conversation and try to find a way out?  What could you do to listen more eagerly in such a time?  How eager are you to listen to those you serve with?  Why?  How about to those you serve?  Why?  Are you more likely to listen or to want to be listened to?  Would the people closest to you agree with your answer?

We have all likely had times when something happened that caused us to listen eagerly to every detail we could possibly hear.  I think of national tragedies such as 9/11 and the space shuttle Challenger disaster.  Everyone I knew was glued to a news source, eager to hear whatever could be told.  It didn’t matter how minute or trivial the details may have been, we all were eager to hear every last word.  We would do well to apply that same eagerness to our desire to hear every last word of those we serve and those we serve with.

As you pray, ask God to help you to be a person who is quick to listen.  Pray that you would listen to others with an eagerness that encourages them to speak.

In prayer,

Tom