Tag: Spiritual Gifts

Blessed To Bless Others

Posted on by Northstar Devotional

” I will bless my people and their homes around my holy hill. And in the proper season I will send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing. The orchards and fields of my people will yield bumper crops, and everyone will live in safety. When I have broken their chains of slavery and rescued them from those who enslaved them, then they will know that I am the Lord.” – Ezekiel 34:26-27. 

There is an old hymn written by Daniel Webster Whittle in 1883 entitled, “There Shall Be Showers of Blessings.” Whittle wrote this hymn and many others. The words are based on Ezekiel 34:26-27.

God truly does shower us with blessings: deep compassion, amazing love, kindness and grace, His forgiveness, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and His multitude of promises to name a few. God doesn’t simply bless us just so we can say we are a blessed people. God blesses us because He loves us, and so we can be a blessing to others. He instructs us, so we can instruct others. He comforts us, so we can comfort others.

The Christian faith proves to be way bigger than just me and you. His blessings are not meant to be totally consumed by us. Blessings flow from God, but they should never stop with us. They come to us and then flow through us. Every blessing we have received from God, whether material or spiritual, is to be used for the benefit of others. Ephesians 2:10 tells us we were created anew in Christ Jesus for a purpose to “…do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

God is all about blessing people. In fact, God gave His people a blessing that we still use today: “May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’” (Numbers 6:24-26). 

Psalm 20: 2,4,5 says, “May he send you help from his sanctuary and strengthen you from Jerusalem…May he grant your heart’s desires and make all your plans succeed…May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory and raise a victory banner in the name of our God. May the Lord answer all your prayers.”

God blesses others through the blessings we have received. In a way, we keep those blessings moving forward as we partner with God and share our blessings with others. We do it for the common good instead rather than for personal gain, worth, or recognition.

Look around you at your neighbors, the people you work with or go to school with, the person sitting next to you at church, or the person in your small group. Are there opportunities to share your blessings with them? You will never regret a moment of helping someone else. And, you might just find that you are blessed as much as those you set out to help. 

  

Discussion Questions:

  1. How has God blessed you?
  2. How are you passing on to others the blessing God has given you? 

Do You Tend To Play It Safe?

Posted on by Northstar Devotional

“After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’“The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!” – Matthew 25:19-21. 

 In Matthew 25, Jesus gives us the parable of the three servants. The parable is about a master who left bags of gold in the care of three servants. To the first man, he gave five bags. To another, he gave two bags. And to the third man, he gave one bag of gold. The first two men invested the gold the master gave them, but the man with one bag dug a hole in the ground and buried it. The man with one bag was afraid and didn’t want to take a risk, so he played it safe. “I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth.…” (Matthew 25:25)

The master called him a “wicked and lazy servant,” and took the bag of gold away. That seems a little harsh on the surface. He made a decision, similar to modern people hiding money under their mattresses or in other places. He was unwilling to take a risk because he was afraid. The question is are we all that different? 

God has given each of us a gift that is more precious than gold. But sometimes we want to hide it away for safekeeping. Not because we don’t want to share it, but because we’re afraid. Maybe we are afraid of what people might say, or what could happen. Oy maybe we are afraid to step out of our comfort zone. So we play it safe.  

But God didn’t call us to play it safe. He called us to be courageous. The life of a Christian is an adventure. The journey with God is full of surprises. It is based on the fact that you never know what is around the next bend. Nor do you know that in the next minute you will have the opportunity to change your life or someone else’s life for all eternity. The most important decisions of our lives will require us to stop being invisible and risk becoming visible. A little dramatic? Maybe. But, we must never underestimate the importance of one moment, one word, one deed in the life of another human being. And these moments seldom come at a convenient time and they never come if we tend to stand on the sidelines.

Taking risks is simply stepping up and God stepping in. How often do we start the day with this question: What can I do today to make a difference in the world? What opportunities is God giving me today? Those opportunities can be anything from listening to praying, to giving somebody a ride to work, to buying some groceries.

Discussion Questions

  1. How would you rate your aversion to risk? 
  2. How does your personality impact your ability to take risks?
  3. What can you do this week to seize the opportunities God gives us?
     

Every Moment Matters

Posted on by Northstar Devotional

“If you can’t fly, then run, If you can’t run, then walk, If you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Many of us live life at breakneck speed. If our life was a Nascar race, we would not pit for more than 15 seconds before we were back on the racetrack of life. But life isn’t lived on a racetrack, nor will we experience the green flag when the race is finished. It is pretty much the opposite. 

The book of James tells us that “how do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” The problem with living your life like it is a Nascar race is that you are going too fast to embrace the moment.  What’s special about this moment right now? Every moment has an inherent specialness simply because we’ll never have this moment again.

Have you ever thought of your life as a series of finite fragments that are here and gone? Do I appreciate my moments? How well am I spending those moments? How well am I using those moments to follow God’s plan for my life? In this moment God has given, how can I spend it well? Follow Jesus’ example and His saving sacrifice. 

Sin and the enemy will threaten to steal our moments or insert roadblocks as we follow God. In these moments, let’s spend them wisely by looking to Jesus as our guide.  He was fully man and God and fully understands how life’s moments can be less than blissful. Yet, He always chose to spend every moment well. Romans 12: 2 says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

The obvious question is what should we focus on for the remainder of 2022? The short answer is, everything, but specifically, how do we love God and love people in the various areas and categories of life? We cannot do this without being intentional. Imagine waking up every single day convinced that the twenty-four hours ahead of you are a precious gift to be used wisely. Now imagine that you know exactly how to spend them to be a force for God’s good. All too often we wander through life without appreciating the gift of every day we’ve been given. That leads to an unsatisfying life, missed opportunities to experience the joy of being in sync with God, and days marked with apathy instead of passion. Our time on earth is short. We should want to make every moment count—not only because we aren’t guaranteed the next one, but also because this is exactly how our Savior spent His time here. We don’t want to waste a single one.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How do you live out the hope of the gospel every moment?
  2. What can you do to make God a priority today? 

Living The Generous Life

Posted on by Northstar Devotional

“ But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne…Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.” – Matthew 25: 21, 34-36. 

Generosity is commonly associated with tithing to a church or an organization. When we look at the generosity of the Bible, though, we see it goes deeper than just the amount of money we’re willing to donate. It starts with the generosity of God. 

Many people do not view God as generous. Somehow we got the idea that if we begged God for help and if we were good enough, He might show us a little mercy. The opposite is true, God is amazingly generous. He made the first move of generosity toward us. And the second move and the third. God was the first and is the most generous Giver of all.  

He went above and beyond anything we could have imagined.  God loved people so much that He gave. He gave His best (John 3:16). He gave His Son for you and for me. This act of generosity began in His heart first. He loved so He gave. Titus 3:4-6 says, “When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

Jesus sees the love in our giving. Jesus was in the home of some friends when a woman came in and poured very expensive perfume over His head. Her generosity was significant because of the value of her gift: it was a great sacrifice and it revealed the depth of her gratitude. Jesus pointed out that this kind of generous gratitude and worship was to be forever connected to His followers.

We are most like God when we are generous and that generosity is tangible. Instead of speaking about money in Matthew 25, Jesus mentions food, water, clothes, and love. In 1 Kings 17, a widow offers the prophet Elijah her flour and oil, even though it’s all she has. It is a tangible, sustainable gift—not a financial one. In the same way, we can volunteer our time and resources in place or in addition to our finances.

Biblical generosity is also cheerful. God doesn’t want gifts motivated by a sense of duty or obligation. He wants us to give out of joy and compassion. If anyone knows generosity, it is God—who gave His Son to us freely, even when He knew we would abuse the gift. Our generosity should be founded in love, not duty.

No one is more generous than God. He’s the greatest giver of all time. And we should acknowledge that fact every day. “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)

Discussion Questions: 

  1. What excuses do people sometimes make for not being more generous with their resources (time, money, and energy) toward others? What excuses have you made?
  2. Can you remember a time when your resources were very limited, and God provided for you?
  3. Identify one practical way you can be more generous in the weeks ahead. 

Is There An Energy Shortage?

Posted on by Northstar Devotional

“Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” – Mark 12:29-30

The Message translation says, “love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.” How well do you manage your energy? In a time when a hectic schedule is normal, we need to not only manage our time but manage our energy. 

The longer you live, the more you can appreciate the natural strength and vigor God makes available to sustain your life. People with high levels of energy tend to brighten a room and make life seem easier. Their natural enthusiasm and vibrancy radiate and inspires others around them. On the other hand, folks who are weak with little strength can sap vitality from others—especially if they are down or have negative attitudes. 

God gives each of us certain talents and abilities, and therefore, we glorify God when we use those talents and abilities in church, in our career, or in relationships with others. Loving God with all of our energy, with all of our abilities, and with all of our spiritual gifts, is a way of expressing our love to Him. It means holding nothing back when it comes to our energy level in showing our love for God. It means that when we’re using all that energy to do our very best at everything we do, we’re pleasing God.

As he worked harder than anyone, Paul shared “the secret” of his remarkable energy and contentment “in every situation” (Philippians 4:12). In Colossians 1:29, he says “That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.”  Philippians 4:13 explains how: “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” 

A quick turn to 1 Timothy 1:12 confirms that Paul indeed has Christ Jesus specifically in mind as the supplier of his strength: “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work.” Similarly, 2 Timothy 2:1 makes the same connection between spiritual strength and Jesus as the source: “be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus.”

Paul must have understood this truth because look at how he prayed for his brothers and sisters: “… so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;” Colossians 1:10-11.

Are you striving to please God in your own power, or, like Paul, are you struggling with God’s energy? The life God has planned for you is designed to require constant dependence on Him. You cannot do it alone; and if you try, you will find yourself weary and defeated.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What can you do to better spend your time and energy on spiritual matters this week?