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Serving God: Purity Of Thoughts
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Serving God: Purity Of Thoughts

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 twelfth 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:
Purity Of Thoughts

“The LORD detests the thoughts of the wicked, but those of the pure are pleasing to him.“
Proverbs 15:26 (NIV)

What do you think about most?  What things would make a thought impure?  Do you think that list is larger or smaller than most people imagine?  Why?  How does your intent, or motives, influence the purity of your thoughts?  How often are your thoughts pleasing to the Lord?  Do you think He agrees with your answer?  What would make a thought pleasing or displeasing to God?  How will having pure thoughts help you serve others more effectively?

As with most aspects of purity, sexual temptation is an area that can quickly overtake a person’s thoughts and wreak havoc in their ability to serve.  Because it is so predominant in our culture, it is easy to be on guard against impure sexual thoughts while completely ignoring the danger of other thoughts that are just as impure.  We have thoughts of selfishness, pride, and envy that can cause us to not serve as we ought if we let them take over our mind.  Any thought that doesn’t please God becomes a gateway for evil to take root.  As you pray, ask God to cleanse your thought life.  Pray that you would take captive every thought and make them obedient to Christ as you serve others.

In prayer,

Tom

Serving God: Purity Of Speech
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Serving God: Purity Of Speech

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 twelfth 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:
Purity Of Speech

“Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.  Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies.“
Psalm 141:3-4 (NIV)

How well do you guard what comes out of your mouth?  How about the words that you post on social media?  Are there conversations that you have in person or online that you would be embarrassed about if your parents or preacher were to hear them?  Do you ever begin a conversation or social media post with the phrase, “pardon the language”?  Why?  What does the words that you are comfortable using and hearing say about you?  What influence does the purity of your speech have on the effectiveness of your service to others?

I believe it is important to have purity of speech both in the content and in the intent of the words we use.  Many people think I’m old-fashioned when I cringe at the language that Christians use freely or when they feel a disclaimer is adequate to allow for foul language.  We like to say they’re just words but Jesus said that it is out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks.  When our speech is impure, it is a sign that our heart needs some cleaning too.  As you pray, ask God to help you examine the words you use in both spoken and written forms.  Pray that you would put a guard over your speech so that you may serve others with complete purity.

In prayer,

Tom

Serving God: Purity Of Your Walk
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Serving God: Purity Of Your Walk

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 twelfth 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:
Purity Of Your Walk

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.“
Psalm 119:9-10 (NIV)

How often do you think about having a purity in the way you live?  Does the level of purity in your daily walk reflect how much attention you pay to it?  How often do you realize that you are being tempted to not keep your way pure?  Are you likely tempted more often than you realize?  How does God say a person can keep their way pure?  What would living according to God’s Word require from you?  How does keeping your daily walk pure help you as you serve others?

We live in a time when most people would agree that keeping one’s self pure in their daily walk is a difficult thing.  God says that the way to keep our way pure is to follow His instructions.  It is so easy, as we go about life each day, to let distractions keep us from considering what God’s Word says about the way we ought to walk.  It is time spent in God’s Word that becomes the straightedge in our life to see if our way is pure or not.  When our way is pure, then our serving reflects God’s Word into the lives of people.  As you pray, ask God to fill you with a desire to walk in a pure way.  Pray that you would meditate on, and live by, the Word of God so that your way is pure as you serve the people around you.

In prayer,

Tom

Serving God: Purity Of Heart
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Serving God: Purity Of Heart

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 twelfth 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:
Purity Of Heart

“Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.“
Psalm 51:9-12 (NIV)

Do you consider yourself to be an emotional person?  Would your closest friends agree with your answer?  How often are your actions driven by your emotions?  When are some times your emotions have led you to say or do something that you later realized you shouldn’t have?  When are some times when your emotions have led you in a good direction?  What made the difference?  How does having a purity of heart (emotions) help you to serve others well?

While not everyone displays or expresses their emotions in the same ways, we all have emotions that can drive us to serve well or to serve poorly.  In the American culture I live in, when I think of God creating in me a pure heart, I think of having pure emotions.  The emotions that we feel and experience are not a surprise to God.  The emotions are His gift to us but how we react to them and what we do with them is our choice.  Love, hate, anger, sadness, and whatever emotion you want to list, have all been experienced by God yet He does so in a way that is completely pure.  As you pray, ask God to help you be pure in heart at all times.  Pray that the emotions that well up within you would be pure as you serve others.

In prayer,

Tom

Serving God: Purity In a Fear of the Lord
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Serving God: Purity In a Fear of the Lord

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 twelfth 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:
Purity In a Fear of the Lord

“The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous.“
Psalm 19:9 (NIV)

Is there someone in your life that you respect and love so much that you would do everything in your power to avoid hurting them with your words and actions?  Who?  When are some times that a knowledge of consequences keep you determined to do what is right?  How does the purity of an authority influence your willingness to obey them?  Do you view the phrase, “Fear of the Lord”, in a positive or negative way?  Why?  How would having a pure fear of the Lord help you as you serve others?

Very few of us, if any, like to be manipulated or feel that we are being manipulated.  When we have a fear of the Lord that is pure, we understand that His actions are always looking out for our best.  Yes, the fear of the Lord contains an awareness of consequences if we disobey Him, but the element of purity helps us to realize even the consequences are designed not to harm us but to draw us back to Him.  As you pray, ask God to put within you a fear of the Lord which is pure.  Pray that you would desire to do right because of God’s love for you.  Pray that you would serve with a purity that comes from a fear of the Lord.

In prayer,

Tom

Serving God: Purity of Body and Spirit
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Serving God: Purity of Body and Spirit

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 twelfth 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:
Purity of Body and Spirit

“Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.“
2 Corinthians 7:1 (NIV)

What comes to mind first when you hear the word purity?  Are there other aspects of purity that may not come to mind right away but are just as important?  What are they?  What are some things that would contaminate your body and spirit?  How deliberate are you in purifying yourself from such things?  Why would having purity in body and spirit be important as you serve others?

Most of the time I hear or read about purity, it focuses almost exclusively on sexual purity.  While there does need to be attention focused on that aspect of purity, much of the time a lack of purity in our sexuality is only one of the symptoms of a lack of purity elsewhere in our life.  When we serve others we must be pure in both body and spirit so that our reverence for God is seen and heard.  As Jesus put it, it is what comes from the inside of a person that contaminates the outside.  We will rarely have complete purity with our body until we allow God to purify our spirit.  As you pray, ask God to help you see anything in your life that reflects an impure body and/or spirit.  Pray that your reverence for God would lead you to remove every contamination from your life.

In prayer,

Tom

Serving God: Patience With A Purpose
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Serving God: Patience With A Purpose

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 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 With A Purpose

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.“
2 Peter 3:8-9 (NIV)

Does knowing a reason for something make you more likely to accept, or do, it?  Why?  Do you ever get frustrated with people who don’t operate on your time schedule?  Do you tend to live by a schedule or are you content to live life flowing from one thing to the next?  Does keeping an eternal perspective in mind help you to serve with greater patience?    Why?  What is the purpose behind God’s patience with us?  How can our serving others improve when we adopt that same purpose?

If you want to understand the influence that purpose has on our level of patience, consider the differing attitudes of a family of five waiting in traffic for two minutes and that same family waiting in line for two hours in order to experience their favorite amusement park ride on opening day.  Most of us are willing to wait when we value what we expect is coming.  On the other hand, when we see no apparent purpose in waiting, our frustration level escalates quickly.  God says we should serve with patience for the purpose of seeing more people come to repentance and accept Him.  As you pray, ask God to help you understand the purpose of His patience.  Pray that you would have the same purpose as you serve others.

In prayer,

Tom

Serving God: Patience In Standing Firm
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Serving God: Patience In Standing Firm

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 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 In Standing Firm

“Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.“
James 5:7-8 (NIV)

Do you ever feel like giving up?  Have you done so?  Why?  Does knowing that the Lord’s coming is near give you greater patience in standing firm as you serve?  How does having the patience to stand firm help you as you serve people who may not want to accept your help, or may want something different than what you are able to offer?  How do you know what to stand firm on and what to be flexible in?

People want all kinds of things which are often very different from what they need.  When you live a life that serves people, you will be asked to do a wide variety of things — some may benefit those you serve and other things may not.  Sometimes the most difficult thing to do is to stand firm in giving what is needed and helpful rather than what is wanted and harmful.  With patience, we must stand firm in sharing the good news of Jesus as we serve others in whatever ways meet their actual needs.  It is through patience that we often win the opportunity to tell of a coming Lord.  As you pray, ask God to help you know when to stand firm as you serve others.  Pray that your desire to stand firm would not only keep you ready for the Lord’s return, but would keep you focused on serving people in a way that helps them to be ready.

In prayer,

Tom