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Closing the Gap 10.12.18

By October 12, 2018Daily Devotional

Week 40 Day 5

Pray:

Ask God to reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.

Read:

1 Pet. 4:10-11 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Reflect:

This might on the surface seem presumptuous – to speak for God and to act as if God were acting through you.  However, clearly it is the opposite of presumption; it is obedience. We have been commissioned, sent to speak and to serve for God.  In fact, what this verse tells us is that we “must” see ourselves as directly speaking for God. This means we must have a working knowledge of what God has said to us in his word.  Then we are to use those words to serve one another by speaking that truth to them. How are we to serve one another with the strength God provides? This can mean a number of things, but at the very least it means that we will often find ourselves using the gifts he has given us to serve others in ways that seem way beyond our own strength and ability.  To serve with the strength God provides has, as its ultimate aim, that God is praised. He is the sole “celebrity” in the universe. He alone is worthy of worship and praise. How do we ensure that he receives the praise for our service to others? It’s not by merely mouthing humble sounding words. If someone says to you, “Thank you for your service, it was meaningful to me,” there is no real humility in saying, “Oh, it was nothing.”  It was obviously not “nothing” to them! Better to say, “You are welcome. I was happy to do it.” Then be sure your heart is becoming more and more truly happy to serve. God receives praise through our service when we serve with willing hearts because of love for God and others. He is glorified when we serve with the strength he provides. This strength is revealed when we feel too tired, too selfish, too lazy, or too passive to serve, but we do it anyway.  It is no mere cliché to say that we are most likely to see God’s power when we come to end of our own. Do not stop serving others when you are out of strength, this could be the point where you actually serve them out of God’s strength. Of course, this can be taken too far because rest is good and necessary, but the point remains, serve others out of his strength not just your own.

Pray:

(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today.

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