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 five in the third 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:
Strength Through Weakness

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.“
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)

What is your greatest weakness?  Is your answer the same as what others would say is your weakness?  Do you tend to serve through that aspect of your life or do you try to avoid it and concentrate on the things you feel you are good at?  Who do you think receives the most credit when you serve out of your strength?  How about when you serve out of  your weakness?

I’m afraid of people.  To say I am shy would be a huge understatement.  Some people seem to gain energy when surrounded by people, I become filled with fear.  Yet it is out of this weakness that I find God doing great work as I serve obediently in a preaching and teaching ministry.  Because I have no confidence in my ability to speak in a public gathering, I must rely on the power and strength of God’s Spirit to use my weakness for the benefit of the kingdom.  Yes, God can use your strengths — He’s the one who gave them to you.  But He also seems to excel in using what you perceive as a weakness in order to reveal His strength through you.

As you pray, ask God to use your weaknesses to reveal His strength to those you serve.  Pray that He is seen in all you do.

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 four in the third 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:
Strength To the End

“Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.  He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.“
1 Corinthians 1:7-9 (NIV)

Are you good at finishing what you start?  Are you more excited about starting something or finishing it?  Do you ever get tired of serving?  What gives you the strength to keep going?  Have you ever quit something only to find out later that completing it would not have been as difficult as you had imagined?  Has anyone ever given up on you?  Have you given up on someone that you should be serving?  How do you know when your task of serving is over?

I love to hike but sometimes my eagerness to see some great natural beauty causes me to head out on a trail without fully comprehending just how long it is.  There have been times when I became so weary that I turned around before reaching my intended destination.  There have been other times when I would be telling my  hiking companions, “Let’s keep going.  It can’t be much farther now!”  For me there is something special about reaching that intended destination after pressing on when quitting seemed easier.

As you pray, ask God to help you keep the intended finish in mind as you serve.  Pray that you would see your service to others in perspective of God’s bigger picture.

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 three in the third 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:
Strength Through Hope

“Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full.  Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.“
Psalm 31:23-24 (NIV)

What do you hope that your serving will accomplish?  In what ways can hope give you the strength to keep serving?  Have you ever had a time when you lost hope?  Do you serve people who seem to have lost hope?  What does a lack of hope do to the difficulty level of life?  How much damage can a misplaced hope cause?  Where is the one place you can put your hope in that will never disappoint?  How deliberate are you in sharing that hope with those you serve?

When in the presence of hospitals and blood, I have a tendency to lose strength and pass out.  Yet I’ve discovered that hope can help me overcome that weakness and do what needs done.  A number of years ago, my daughter was fighting for her life and in need of daily dialysis for a time.  I found myself filled with the strength to sit at her bedside holding the lines through which all of her blood was flowing because of the hope that she would be made well.  When we allow God to fill us with the hope that He can change the lives of those we serve, we too can gain strength we didn’t know possible.

As you pray, ask God to fill you with a hope that only He can give.  Pray for a hope that endures all things.

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 two in the third 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:
Strength Through Patience

“I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.  Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.“
Psalm 27:13-14 (NIV)

Are you a patient person?  Would the people you serve with say you are a patient person?  How valuable do you view patience to be in the lives of people around you?  Do you typically view patient people as strong people? Why?  How often do most things happen when you want them to?  How much strength does it take to live with patience?  Is it easy or difficult for you to wait on the Lord? 

While they say patience is a virtue, it seems to be a virtue very few seek.  If you start to wonder about the patience level of people in general, try waiting just 2 seconds at a traffic light after it turns green — or have something keep you from responding immediately to a co-worker’s request.  Or have them not be able to respond immediately to you.  Too often, the impatience we have with people is also displayed in our struggle to have the strength required to wait for the Lord.

As you pray, ask God to fill you with the peace and strength necessary to serve with patience.  Pray that you would learn to have patience not only with those you serve, but also with those you serve alongside.  Pray that waiting for God’s perfect timing will teach you patience in your interactions with others.

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 third 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:
Strength That Is Rewarded

“But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them.  In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil.  One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress.  But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.“
2 Chronicles 15:4-7 (NIV)

Who do you consider to be the strongest person you know?  Is it their physical strength or something else that makes you view them as strong?  What rewards have they received for their strength?  What rewards do they expect?  How motivated are you by rewards?  What types of rewards are most likely to get your attention?  At what point in a task are people most likely to be rewarded?  How does God’s promised reward help you to serve with strength each day?

Serving well requires an enormous amount of strength.  Sometimes it is a physical strength that is needed, but more often it is the strength of endurance that is the most difficult part.  It is to those who don’t give up and are faithful to the end that God promises the reward of life eternal with Him.

As you pray, ask God to help you live with an enduring strength that will be rewarded.  Pray that you would not become so focused on temporary rewards that you lose sight of the eternal reward.  Pray that you would see the lives of those you serve as being reason enough to keep serving in the strength that God gives.

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 second 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:
Contentment With God’s Presence

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’“
Hebrews 13:5 (NIV)

If disaster were to strike and you only had time to save one physical possession, what would it be?  Why?  What things tend to lead people to a lifestyle of accumulation?  How should knowing God will never leave you help you to grow in a contentment with what you have?  Why does money seem to be such a huge distraction when it come to our having a growing relationship with God?  Are there times that you feel you need more than God’s presence?  Why?  How does having a contentment with God’s presence help you to serve others?   

If I don’t keep a close eye on myself, I can become a hoarder rather quickly.  For some reason, it can be easier to put my trust in things I can see and feel rather than in a God who has proven Himself trustworthy over and over again.  When our mind is set on accumulating, we tend to serve based on what we think we can get out of doing so.  However, when we learn to be content with God’s presence, it helps us to freely serve others knowing that we don’t have to gain anything from them.  As you pray, ask God to help you see His presence as being enough.  Pray that you would serve others freely, expecting nothing but a filling of God’s presence for doing so.

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 second 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:
Contentment With Basic Needs

“But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.“
1 Timothy 6:8-10 (NIV)

What do you need?  What do you act like you need?  Would the lists of the answers to those two questions be different?  Why?  How difficult do you think it would be to actually be content if all you had was food and clothing?  What makes our “stuff” so hard to give up?  How might a lack of contentment with basic needs keep us from serving others as we should?  Do you think the people you serve need the same things you do?  Do you act like they need what you have?

Our culture has become very good at convincing us that most of the things we want are actually things that we need.  It hasn’t really been a hard sell because we tend to go out of our way to justify obtaining anything and everything that we think will make our life complete.  When called upon to serve, many people feel they can’t because they are enslaved to the payments required for all the things they simply can’t live without.  Yet when it comes to serving those who have less than us, how often do we refuse to share because “they don’t need all of those things”?  As you pray, ask God to help you learn contentment with less.  Pray that you would be more willing to serve as you learn the true needs that everyone has. 

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 five in the second 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:
Contentment With Godliness

“But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.“
1 Timothy 6:6-8 (NIV)

Would you say you make every effort to live a godly life?  Why would you give the answer you did?  What do you hope to gain from a godly life?  How would you respond to someone who believes their godliness should result in immediate material gain?  What should be the purpose of living a godly life?  How does contentment reflect that purpose?  How are godliness and contentment related?  What examples can you give?  Would godliness without contentment be of any value?  Is it even possible?  Explain.

If you’ve lived very long you probably know someone who does their best to live by all the “godly rules”, yet is bitter about “having” to do so.  There are people who believe they have made all of the correct life choices yet have somehow missed out on the best parts of life.  Without the contentment that comes from a complete trust and surrender to God, being a legalistic follower of the rules will often lead to regret rather than relationship.  As you pray, ask God to fill you with a desire to pursue both godliness and contentment.  Pray that your life would be a reflection of both the godliness and contentment displayed in the life of Jesus.

In prayer,

Tom