Devotional Passages for Week of January 28-February 4

Monday: Exodus 5:22-7:25, Matthew 18:21-19:12, Psalm 23:1-6, Proverbs 5:22-23

Tuesday: Exodus 8:1-9:35, Matthew 19:13-30, Psalm 24:1-10, Proverbs 6:1-5

Wednesday: Exodus 10:1-12:13, Matthew 20:1-28, Psalm 25:1-15, Proverbs 6:6-11

Today’s passage to savor – Are you a Ninja?

“My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.  Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.  For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.  Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” 

Proverbs 4:20-23

Two of our camp directors were sitting in church one morning when one of them caught the other looking up into the rafters, studying them, and lost in his own daydreaming.  (Yes, it happens to us too.)  After the service the one approached the other because he thought he knew exactly what the other had been daydreaming about. 

“Were you daydreaming during part of the service?”

“Yes!”

“Were you imagining you were a ninja and discerning how you would drop from the rafters onto unsuspecting armed men who had entered the church, thereby saving all the congregation from certain doom”.

“Yes, that’s pretty much how it went.”

“I thought so.”

The truth is , many of us have great delusions of grandeur, picturing ourselves as heroes, able to save people from certain doom.  We dream of guarding our friends, our neighbors, our families from imminent attack.  Most of us will never have these dreams become a reality in life, at least in the fantastical way we daydream.  Yet, each of us are called to be the guards we dream of being.  It just looks a little different than our dreams, especially the daydreaming described above.  We are called by God to guard our hearts.  

More Savoring of God's Word

The heavens declare the glory of God...

I had not known when we started this themed week of "Savoring God's Word", that at the very center of the week, on Wednesday, we'd be reading Psalm 19. Cool how the Holy Spirit works. Read this Psalm about God's revelation to His people through creation and Scripture.  We've highlighted a couple particularly sweet and savory verses.

Continuing to Savor God's Word

Matthew 14:28-33                        

I'm sinking!!!  I'm in real trouble here!!!  This is not good!!!

I don't know exactly what was going through Peter's mind in this moment, but I do know this, his instincts to call out to Jesus were right on.  Are those your instincts?  Have you brought your troubles before our Lord and Savior?  Jesus rebukes Peter's doubt as a means to push him to grow in faith and trust, but make no mistake, Peter had stepped out of that boat in faith.  He was pursuing Jesus Christ.  This was not a man for whom Jesus was just "fire insurance".  This was not a man for whom Jesus was present just in case he got in trouble.  In the course of following Jesus, and seeking to know Him, in the course of stepping out of the boat in faith, Peter found himself in over his head.  So what do you do when difficulty arises?

A Week of Savoring God's Word

As I mentioned in our last post, one of my favorite times of the day is before breakfast when I dig into Scripture.  It is often an experience of savoring truth as I digest what God has said in His Word.  Our desire at SB2W is that you also experience the delight of knowing God and reading His Word on a regular basis.  To that end we invite you this week to follow us in the daily readings provided in the last post.  Each day this week we'll post some morsels from the reading that we found delicious.

Monday, January 21st Readings: Genesis 42:18-43:34, Matthew 13:47-14:12, Psalm 18:16-36, Proverbs 4:7-10

1. Matthew 13:49-50 - "So it will be at the close of the age.  The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In what place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

• You might ask: How is this passage a sweet morsel?  

Devotional Passages for Week of January 21-28

Monday: Genesis 42:18-43:34, Matthew 13:47-14:12, Psalm 18:16-36, Proverbs 4:7-10
Tuesday: Genesis 44:1-45:28, Matthew 14:13-36, Psalm 18:37-50, Proverbs 4:11-13
Wednesday: Genesis 46:1-47:31, Matthew 15:1-28, Psalm 19:1-14, Proverbs 4:14-19
Thursday: Genesis 48:1-49:33, Matthew 15:29-16:12, Psalm 20:1-9, Proverbs 4:20-27

Devotional Passages for Week of January 14-21

Monday:  Genesis 30:1-31:16, Matthew 10:1-23, Psalm 12:1-8, Proverbs 3:13-15
Tuesday:  Genesis 31:17-32:12, Matthew 10:24-11:6, Psalm 13:1-6, Proverbs 3:16-18
Wednesday:  Genesis 32:13-34:31, Matthew 11:7-30, Psalm 14:1-7, Proverbs 3:19-20

Read your Bible: Recommitting to Daily Bible Reading

One of the most precious times of my day is waking up each morning to open God's Word.  Why?  Simply stated; my heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick (see Jeremiah 17:9).  My heart is not prone to wake up in a godly frame of mind.  Let's be completely honest, I'm prone to wake up selfish.  I'm prone to have my mind filled with my plans, my desires, my struggles (Me, Me, Me).  How about you?  The Bible first thing in the morning reorients me to think God, God, God.  God first right? Is that not exactly what we need, to have our mind fixed upon God, upon Jesus, that we might honor Him each day, that our joy and delight might be in Him?

We here at SB2W encourage you if you don't already have a good reading plan, to use the reading plan at www.oneyearbibleonline.com.  We often post the reading plan here on the blog for you to read on a weekly basis.  Our devotional posts are most often on a passage from that very week's reading.  If you are reading along with us then last week you read of Jesus' temptation in Matthew 4.  Let me point out something that astonishes me.  Jesus is being tempted.  He, like us, had to do battle with temptation.  How did He find victory?  He used the Word of God.  Now think with me.  Jesus is God, therefore everything that proceeds from His mouth is the word of God.  Yet, look at what He chose to do battle with temptation.  Each time He's tempted he says these words, "It is written...".  Wow!! Jesus who could have used a variety of means to defeat Satan's attacks chose to use the written Word.  He chose the Scriptures.  Why?  To show how powerful and effective the written Word of God is for any who face temptation.  To point us to the importance of knowing the Word of God that we might faithfully follow Him.  Read your Bibles friends.  Soak up time with your Lord; enjoying, listening, learning, growing, and loving Jesus Christ.  Blessings to you in this New Year.

Devotional Passages for Week of January 7-14

Monday: Genesis 16:1-18:15, Matthew 6:1-24, Psalm 7:1-17, Proverbs 2:1-5

Tuesday: Genesis 18:16-19:38, Matthew 6:25-7:14, Psalm 8:1-9, Proverbs 2:6-15

Wednesday: Genesis 20:1-22:24, Matthew 7:15-29, Psalm 9:1-12, Proverbs 2:16-22

Is Worship Boring?

 As a kid I always thought worship was boring.  I have never liked singing very much and since, in my limited understanding at the time, worship = singing, you can see why I was not so enthused. Added to this was the fact that I understood heaven as a place of continual worship - a place of continual singing.  I want to remind you this morning of what we talk about every summer at SB2W.  All of life is worship.  By this I do not mean that all of life is an opportunity to sing.  Worship encompasses so much more than singing and Sundays.  At camp over and over we talk about glorifying God on the athletic field.  The point is that there is equally an opportunity to worship God as you compete in sports as there is anywhere else.  Sports, time with friends, academics, playing in the band, a family dinner...every moment in life is an opportunity to worship. 

Winning the Reward

 "Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward." 2 John 8

Losers and winners are terms we are all familiar with, but ones that we don't see too often in the Bible.  Are you interested in the full reward?  Or would you be content to lose the reward that John talks about in the above passage.  John did not want his readers to lose sight of what he had worked so hard for on their behalf.  What he had worked so hard to do is teach them to follow Christ and obey His commands (see v. 6).  Think about what we worked for this summer.  What were the things the ministry of SB2W worked hard to instill in you?  There are many, but here are just a handful:

Devotional Passages for week of December 3-10

Monday: Daniel 11:2-35, 1 John 3:7-24, Psalm 122:1-9, Proverbs 29:1

Tuesday: Daniel 11:36-12:13, 1 John 4:1-21, Psalm 123:1-4, Proverbs 29:2-4

Wednesday: Hosea 1:1-3:5, 1 John 5:1-21, Psalm 124:1-8, Proverbs 29:5-8

Lake Gloria Birthday Photos!

LG summer 2012 Birthday Photos are up on the blog! Click on the slideshow in the right hand corner of the blog. This will take you to a gallery where you can right click on your birthday photo and save it to your computer! Enjoy!

Devotional Passages for the Week of Nov.26- Dec. 3

Sunday: Ezekiel 40:28-41:26, James 4:1-17, Psalm 118:19-29, Proverbs 28:3-5

Monday: Daniel 4:1-37, 2 Peter 1:1-21, Psalm 119:97-112, Proverbs 28:17-18

Tuesday: Daniel 5:1-31, 2 Peter 2:1-22, Psalm 119:113-128, Proverbs 28:19-20

Baited By Our Desires

Sometimes in the summer, I like to go fishing.  Fishing isn’t necessarily my thing, and I absolutely hate taking the fish off the hook, but trying to get the fish to bite and reeling it in is fun! Usually before I head out, I look into the tackle box and find the prettiest looking lure I see. Probably not the best fishing tactic, but don’t worry, someone always corrects me and chooses bait that is fit for the fish I want to catch.

The Devil works similarly.  Temptation isn’t the same for everyone. He knows how to choose just the right bait to lure in his fish.  He dangles the bait in front of us, makes it look harmless, hiding the hook. We have a choice, swim away and live, or bite the bait and die.

Devotional Readings for the Week of November 11-18

Sunday: Ezekiel 23:1-49, Hebrews 10:18-39, Psalm 109:1-31, Proverbs 27:13

Monday:  Ezekiel 24:1-26:21, Hebrews 11:1-16, Psalm 110:1-7, Proverbs 27:14

Tuesday: Ezekiel 27:1-28:26, Hebrews 11:17-31, Psalm 111:1-10, Proverbs 27:15-16

Croc Hunter! (SLN Video- Lake Gloria)

Devotional Passages for Week of November 5-12

Monday: Ezekiel 12:1-14:11, Hebrews 7:1-17, Psalm 105:37-45, Proverbs 27:3

Tuesday: Ezekiel 14:12-16:41, Hebrews 7:18-28, Psalm 106:1-12, Proverbs 27:4-6

Wednesday: Ezekiel 16:42-17:24, Hebrews 8:1-13, Psalm 106:13-31, Proverbs 27:7-9

God's Grace: Like Standing Beneath a Waterfall

Does this waterfall look familiar? (see below for answer)

In a recent article on grace, Pastor John Piper likens our walk with the Lord to standing underneath a waterfall.[1]  Wave after wave of water flows over us.  God’s disposition towards His children is one of continual grace.  This just means that God always has grace in mind for us in every circumstance we encounter in life.  Just as when we look upstream we see nothing but more water coming to us, life then is an experience of seeing unending grace coming to us from God.

We see this very thing stated in Lamentations 3:21-25:

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:  The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’  The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”

Every morning is a fresh and new day, a new beginning with God’s grace to experience and to look forward to.  God’s love is steadfast, meaning it is loyal or faithful.  Is the Lord your portion today?  Are you relying upon Him today for your joy and peace or are you seeking it elsewhere?  I just want to remind you this morning to soak in God’s goodness, to seek refreshment in Him, to hope and trust in the Lord your God.

I love the daily resolution of a man named Clyde Kilby.  He resolved:

I shall  not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities.  I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual [adulthood].2

There are those of you who, in response to the above statements, are refreshed and rejuvenated by the reminder of God’s grace.  However, there are others of you that the above statements feel like lemon juice; bitter words to your soul, because you look at your current circumstances in life and just do not see God’s grace and steadfast love. 

What does it mean to be a Christian athlete?

Check Out this wonderful article from www.desiringgod.org.  See link below for David Mathis' video interview with Minnesota Twin's Josh Willingham.  Our favorite here at SB2W is Josh's description of how he reads his Bible daily.  

To see the portions of the video interview go to http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/ordinary-life-for-an-extraordinary-athlete.

Ordinary Life for an Extraordinary Athlete  
by David Mathis | October 29, 2012

 




We can be so quick to put them on a pedestal. So quick to assume professional athletes live a fantasy-camp life, away from the everyday pressures and pains facing the rest of us.

We subtly treat them as almost a different order of being, somehow immune not only to our daily grind, but our need for a Savior.

Unashamed for Jesus

Enter Twins slugger Josh Willingham — by all accounts an extraordinary athlete, and manifestly a normal human, and Christian, unashamed about his need for Jesus.
Willingham is a regular guy, even if his baseball stats aren’t. This year he batted in 110 runs (third in the American League) and became the first Minnesota Twin to hit 35 homeruns in a season since Hall-of-Famer Harmon Killebrew in 1970. He also once hit two grand slams in one big-league game — no ordinary feat.
But as he sits down in the Desiring God studio — for a moment forget the bright lights and multiple cameras — he sounds so ordinary, and isn’t afraid to look the part in jeans, sandals, and a long-sleeve thermal tee. Mention hunting and he’s ready to talk. Fishing will do just as well. When I try to relate as a fellow deer-hunter, I quickly learn he’s a bowman, and I’m kindly put in my place as he informs me with a smile, “My five-year-old could kill a deer with a rifle.” That must be why they call him Josh.

It’s a Wild Life — Sorta

Without the major-league uniform, and 40,000 on-looking fans, Willingham seems so ordinary off the field — like one of the guys I played high school baseball with. So when I ask what the life of a professional athlete is like in the everyday, out of the public eye, I’m not too surprised to hear a litany of disclaimers following his initial claim, “It’s a wild life.”
Turns out it’s not so wild in the ways we amateurs might expect. The life of a pro athlete definitely has its wildness, according to Willingham. Wild inconvenience. Wild irregularity. Wild frustration. Wild temptation. Wild stress.
But press deeper, and you’ll discover a surprising sense of normalcy in the things that really matter. Deep down it’s very ordinary and very human. This life is a vapor’s breath, “a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14), and a view from the brink of eternity has a way of adjusting one’s perspective.