Talking With God In Prayer (Day 3 of 4)

DAY 3 — RECEIVING FORGIVENESS

1 John 1:9 — "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

Talking to God
Silently confess the things you have done that are hurtful to others. Ask God for forgiveness. Then thank Him for forgiving you.

Diving In
At your next family meal, have everyone wear earplugs or earphones but talk as usual, without trying to help each other hear what you are saying. Also wear them as you clear the table as a family.

Going Deeper
When you don't come to God to be forgiven, it is as if you refuse to listen to Him. By not hearing God, you separate yourself from Him, just as you did when you suddenly could not hear your family well. Read Psalm 32:5, "I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord' — and you forgave the guilt of my sin." When you ask for forgiveness, God forgives you. It is as if He removes the earplugs from your ears, and you can hear Him again.

Talking to Each Other
—Have you ever kept something you did wrong a secret? If so, how did trying to hide this secret make you feel?
—What might keep you from going to God and confessing a sin?
—How do you feel when someone forgives you for something you've done wrong?

Talking With God In Prayer (Day 2 of 4)

DAY 2 — PRAISING GOD IN PRAYER

Psalm 145:3 — Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.

Talking to God
Praise God for making you and everything you have, including food, a home and people who love you.

Diving In
Think about the things you're grateful for. Make a list of 10 of them. Tell someone why you're grateful for each, and praise God for all that He has given you.

Going Deeper
Through the use of short blessing prayers that relate to everyday life, people learn to praise God and express thanksgiving. The moment you open your eyes in the morning, you might pray, "Thank You, God, for my eyes. Thank You for sight." While getting dressed, you could pray, "Thank You, God, for meeting my needs — giving me clothes to wear, such as these," and at the first sight of the sun, you may declare, "God, You are so great! Thank You for your creation." Psalm 145:1-2 is a great example of how to praise God: "I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever." Praise God today and every day!

Talking to Each Other
—How did writing down a list of things you're grateful for change your attitude?
—If you praised God for everything He has given you, how long would it take?
—How might praising God change you?

Talking With God In Prayer (Day 1 of 4)

DAY 1 — GOD LONGS FOR YOU

Matthew 28:20 — "and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Talking to God
Thank God for all the ways He loves and cares for you. Ask Him to show you how much He wants you to talk with Him daily.

Diving In
Line up a number of small glasses next to the kitchen sink. One by one, fill the glasses. Discuss how you could fill every container in your house and water would still flow out of the faucet. In a similar way, God's longing for you won't end.

Going Deeper
God is available to you at all times. Just as you can fill another glass with water simply by turning on the faucet, so you can enjoy God's presence by going to Him in prayer. Read Isaiah 30:18: "The Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!" God wants you to grow closer to Him, to be filled with His love and peace, because He longs for what is best for you. Although God works on your behalf, He wants you to respond to Him, showing a willingness to share your life with Him. One way you can do that is by talking to Him daily.

Talking to Each Other
—Who is your favorite person to talk to, and what makes this person your favorite?
—Tell about a time when you really wanted to talk to this person. Why did you long to talk to this person?
—Why might God long to be gracious to you?

Finding Real Happiness (Day 3 of 3)

There are mornings when I wake up feeling fragile. Vulnerable. It's often vague. No single threat. No one weakness. Just an amorphous sense that something is going to go wrong and I will be responsible.

It's usually after a lot of criticism. Lots of expectations that have deadlines and that seem too big and too many.

As I look back, I am amazed how the Lord Jesus has preserved my life. The temptation to run away from the stress has never won out — not yet anyway. This is amazing. I worship him for it.

Instead of letting me sink into a paralysis of fear, or run to a mirage of greener grass, he has awakened a cry for help and then answered with a concrete promise.

Zechariah 2:4-5 says, "Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst."

There will be such prosperity and growth for the people of God that Jerusalem will not be able to be walled in any more. "The multitude of people and livestock" will be so many that Jerusalem will be like many villages spreading out across the land without walls.

Prosperity is nice, but what about protection?

To which God says in Zechariah 2:5, "I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord." Yes. That's it. That is the promise. The "I will" of God. That is what I need.

And if it is true for the vulnerable villages of Jerusalem, it is true for me — a child of God. God will be a "wall of fire all around me." Yes. He will. He has been. And he will be.

And it gets better. Inside that fiery wall of protection he says, "And I will be the glory in her midst." God is never content to give us the protection of his fire; he will give us pleasure of his presence.

Finding Real Happiness (Day 2 of 3)

 John 17:24 — Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

Believers in Jesus are precious to God. And he loves us so much that he will not allow our preciousness to become our god.

God does indeed make much of us, but he does so in a way that draws us out of ourselves to enjoy his greatness.

Test yourself. If Jesus came to spend the day with you, sat down beside you on the couch, and said, "I really love you," what would you focus on the rest of the day that you spend together?

It seems to me that too many songs and sermons leave us with the wrong answer. They leave the impression that the heights of our joy would be in the recurrent feeling of being loved. "He loves me!" "He loves me!" This is joy indeed. But not the heights and not the focus.

What are we saying with the words "I am loved." What do we mean? What is this "being loved."

Would not the greatest, most Christ-exalting joy be found in watching Jesus all day and bursting with "You're amazing! "You are amazing!"

• He answers the hardest question, and his wisdom is amazing.
• He touches a filthy, oozing sore, and his compassion is amazing.
• He raises a dead lady at the medical examiner's office, and his power is amazing.
• He predicts the afternoon's events, and his foreknowledge is amazing.
• He sleeps during an earthquake, and his fearlessness is amazing.
• He says, "Before Abraham was, I AM," and his words are amazing.

We walk around with him utterly amazed at what we are seeing.

Is not his love for us his eagerness to do for us all he must do (including die for us) so that we can marvel at him and not be incinerated by him? Redemption, propitiation, forgiveness, justification, reconciliation — all these have to happen. They are the act of love.

But the goal of love that makes those acts loving is that we be with him and see his jaw-dropping glory and be astounded. In those moments, we forget ourselves and see and feel him.

So I am urging pastors and teachers: Push people through the acts of Christ's love to the goal of his love. If redemption and propitiation and forgiveness and justification and reconciliation are not taking us to the enjoyment of Jesus himself, they are not love.

Press on this. It's what Jesus prayed for.

Finding Real Happiness (Day 1 of 3)

 2 Corinthians 4:4 — The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Test yourself. What is your mindset? Do you begin with God and his rights and goals? Or do you begin with yourself and your rights and wishes?

And when you look at the death of Christ, what happens? Does your joy really come from translating this awesome divine work into a boost of self-esteem? Or are you drawn up out of yourself and filled with wonder and reverence and worship that here in the death of Jesus is the deepest, clearest declaration of the infinite esteem of God for his glory and for his Son?

Here is a great objective foundation for the full assurance of hope: the forgiveness of sins is grounded, finally, not in my finite worth or work, but in the infinite worth of the righteousness of God, God's unswerving allegiance to uphold and vindicate the glory of his name.

I appeal to you with all my heart, take your stand on this. Base your life on this. Ground your hope in this. You will be free from the futile mindset of the world. And you will never fall.

When God's exaltation of God in Christ is your joy, it can never fail.

Suffering (Day 4 of 4)

Suffering is a fundamental part of the Christian faith ~ 2 Timothy 3:12. And your Godly response to it grows through encountering God and meditating on His Word. The following verses, when memorized, can encourage you toward a Godly response to suffering.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 — Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Galatians 6:2 — Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

1 Peter 4:19 — So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

Suffering (Day 3 of 4)

Suffering is a fundamental part of the Christian faith ~ 2 Timothy 3:12. And your Godly response to it grows through encountering God and meditating on His Word. The following verses, when memorized, can encourage you toward a Godly response to suffering.

Psalm 119:75 — I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Acts 7:34 — I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.

Romans 12:21 — Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Suffering (Day 2 of 4)

Suffering is a fundamental part of the Christian faith ~ 2 Timothy 3:12. And your Godly response to it grows through encountering God and meditating on His Word. The following verses, when memorized, can encourage you toward a Godly response to suffering.

Psalm 9:9 —The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

Psalm 34:18-19 — The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.

Psalm 46:1 — God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Suffering (Day 1 of 4)

 Suffering is a fundamental part of the Christian faith ~ 2 Timothy 3:12. And your Godly response to it grows through encountering God and meditating on His Word. The following verses, when memorized, can encourage you toward a Godly response to suffering.

Genesis 50:20 —You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Ruth 1:20-21 — "Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."

Job 2:10 — He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Identity (Day 4 of 4)

2 Corinthians 5:16-17 — Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know ye him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Galatians 5:1 — Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 — Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

There is no such thing as a perfect identity. If you always try to be someone that others will like, you'll end up not having peace in your life. To have peace in our lives, we must listen to God and get comfortable being who He wants us to be. We're meant to rely on Him, to know His love for us, and trust that God shows us our identity.

Part of living a godly life is having a group of friends who support you in your relationship with Him. Being a part of a godly community is vital in not forgetting that who we are is defined by God and not others.

In this final episode, the three students must rely on each other to be reminded of who they are, and why having their identity in God is crucial. Watch what happens as all three students learn who God says they are in this episode of Erased.

QUESTION: Which of your friends and family help support you in your relationship with Christ?

Identity (Day 3 of 4)

2 Corinthians 11:30-31 — If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

Ephesians 1:11-14 — In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

We can try to have the highest grades and be the best at school. We can try to be the best at sports. But being smart and good at sports doesn't define who we are. We have to realize that others cannot create our identity.

God has already told us who we are. He says that no matter how smart we are, how weak or strong we are, how athletic we are, or how much people like us, we are loved by Him and matter so much to Him.

Through our weakness we are able to see how great and strong God is. It doesn't matter if others say we aren't good at something, God says He can use all of us to show His love to the world.

In this episode, we learn that Subject 3 wishes he were smarter and athletic so he could be popular. He feels bad about himself because his grades aren't as high as other students'. Watch what happens as Subject 3 learns who God says he is in this episode of Erased.

QUESTION: Who do you think God says you are?

Identity (Day 2 of 4)

1 Samuel 16:7 -- But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

Galatians 1:10 -- For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

It can be tempting to let what others say about us define who we believe we are. But that's not where our identity comes from. You are not what others say and think you are; you are what God says and thinks you are.

You are not on your own; you belong to God. You are His, and always will be. People will always look at us on the outside. They'll think who we are depends on how we look and whether we're cool or not. But God looks at our hearts, and we'll only have peace when we believe who God says we are: His precious creations that He loves.

In this episode, we learn that Subject 2 gets teased at school, and wishes she were popular. She does not love who she is, and thinks that other people liking her will make her feel good about herself. Watch what happens as Subject 2 learns who God says she is in this episode of Erased.

QUESTION: What things do you believe about yourself that you've been told by others? Do you think these things are true or false?

Identity (Day 1 of 4)

Genesis 1:27 — So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

1 John 4:4-6 — Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

John 15:4-5 — Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Identity is defined as who you are. It's what makes you who you are; it's what makes you unique. Still, this can be hard to understand because many of us are still learning who we are each day.

People may call us things like "unpopular," or "nerd." They may also call us nice things like "pretty," or say we're good at sports. But God says these things are not who we are. Other people do not choose our identity. God chooses our identity. He tells us who we are.

You were made in the image of God. This is who you are to your very core. No matter what you like about yourself or don't like about yourself, your identity is in God.

He says that we are His creation; He made us how and who we are for a reason. And no matter what others say, you matter to God. He created us to have a relationship with Him.

In this episode, we learn that Subject 1 does not fit in at school. He doesn't like himself because others believe he's an outcast. Watch what happens as Subject 1 learns who God says he is in this episode of Erased.

QUESTION: How does it make you feel to know that you were created in God's image?

RED -- The Overflow Devo (Day 7 of 7)

PERFECT LIFE

This song is about being happy with who God made us to be and what he has blessed us with. We are not to envy one another's belongings and gifts, for God has blessed us each in a different way.

So often the media and TV feed us this lifestyle where we can all have "this" if we just do "that." A picture is painted for us everywhere we turn that we need to keep up with the Joneses.

Sure, we all like to have nice things, but in the end they will not get us any closer to God and His promise of eternity.

Envy is something that comes from within. It can well up inside when we forget that God has blessed us already.

There is a parable that says, "It's not what goes into your body that defiles; you are defiled by what comes from your heart."

Look at what a man invests his time and money into and there you will most likely find his heart.

We need to be careful and guard our hearts from the things the world tells us will make us happy and lead to a better life.

Again, there is nothing wrong with making a life for yourself. God wants us to live and be prosperous.

Things go wrong when we subtract God from the equation and our hearts focus more on what we have instead of on what we have been given.

God's plan is perfect. When we are living inside that plan, we experience life as he intended us to.

Mark 7:22-23 -- "Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man."

RED — The Overflow Devo (Day 6 of 7)

SO FAR AWAY

At some point in all of our lives we will find ourselves not as close to God as we would like. That is the whole idea of seeking him out daily.

Relationships are two-sided and when only one person is working on the relationship, it cannot thrive like it can when both people are investing the same time and effort

Being a Christian is about having an intimate relationship with the Creator of this world. God desires every part of our life. If we fail to let His presence in our lives be the focus daily, we will start to see how our everyday life begins to unravel.

There have been times in my life where I feel like I can get through certain situations without asking for God's help. Situations where I rely on my strength.

Well if our strength comes from the Lord, how can we expect God to show up when we don't simply ask? We are the ones to blame when God doesn't seem close by.

Job is a perfect example of what it means to have an intimate relationship with Christ. Job had everything a man could ask for. A thriving farm, family and health.

Satan told Jesus to watch Job curse him when he took that all away. Satan was convinced that the only reason Job was praising him was because everything was going so smooth.

Sure enough, the Lord took everything that Job had been blessed with, but because Job had such a passion for Christ and His word, he had no other way of coping with his loss but to shave his head and praise God.

In the end, the Lord blessed him even more than He did in the first half of his life. If Job had turned his back on God like Satan knew he would, he may have never seen what God had in store for him.

Psalms 22:19 — But be thou far from me, O Lord; O my strength, haste thee to help me.

Psalms 73:25-26 — Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

RED — The Overflow Devo (Day 5 of 7)

RELEASE THE PANIC

Fear, Stress, Anxiety... these are a few of my least favorite things.

There is this story about a guy who plays a sport. It doesn't matter what the sport is. All that matters is that he has had one of the worst seasons in his career. At least to this guy, everything seems to be collapsing. Fans are really coming down on him and he himself is stressing with feelings of letting his team, family, and city down.

At this point, he begins to panic and he realizes that he is making things worse by doing so. The interesting part of this whole thing is that this athlete knows a God who loves him and has made a plan way before it has been executed. He knows that he ultimately has no control over the plan but only the ability that has been given to him.

We all know how this story ends in the movies. The athlete has a horrible year but when the championship is on the line, and the play must be made, he of course saves the day and gets the win. The fans believe in him once again, and his team is holding him on their shoulders off the field.

The reality is that we don't always feel like God answers our prayers. We pray for the turn around and sometimes it doesn't happen. Does that mean we stop having faith when we call on God?

No, and that is where we get things wrong. We often forget that God's plan is perfect even if sometimes the answer is "no." That is where we let fear, stress and anxiety creep in. We lose faith.

Faith allows us to be confident that God's plan always has us in His favor.

Deuteronomy 31:6 — "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."