FREE RESOURCES FOR EVERYONE

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2 CHANGE DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE Welcome to the Daily Devotional Guide for the CHANGE series at Nappanee Missionary Church! We hope this tool will help you dig deeper into God s Word and discover the changes He wants to make in your life. Each day s devotional will include a key Scripture, some thoughts from the NMC staff and some practical next steps. There is no right or wrong way to use these devotionals; they are merely guides to help you process the lessons God wants to teach you through this series. The back of each day s devotional has intentionally been left blank so you can journal or take notes. FREE RESOURCES FOR EVERYONE If you want to share this resource with others, all materials are available as free downloads at nmconline.net/change. Sermons from this series can be viewed or listened to, and printable sermon notes are also available at the same website. WEDNESDAY NIGHTS Wednesday nights at NMC are a great opportunity to further your journey toward the change God wants to make in your life. Change is also the name of a group that meets Wednesdays, 7-8 p.m. in GH 226 to dig deeper into the previous Sunday s sermon. Other Wednesday electives you may find helpful during this process include Oasis Cafe for Women, ESPMen, Financial Peace University, Be Free, The 7 Experiment, Changing Conflict Patterns in Marriage and Tactics in Defending the Faith. Pick up a Wednesday brochure at the Ministry Center or find one online at ncmonline.net/ministries. New electives start every 4-8 weeks so check back often to find the best fit for you.

3 WEEK 1 - DAY 1 Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. When was the last time you paused to reflect on that which needs to change in your life? On the morning of New Year s Day, I asked my wife, What are a couple things that you would like to see us work on or change in 2014? I waited with bated breath for her potentially candid response. Honestly, she said, We ve been so busy that I haven t thought a lot about it. While I was initially a little relieved, as the day unfolded I found myself troubled by the fact that we had been so busy that we had failed to ask and answer this question. Would you pause today and ask God to search and know your thoughts, desires and attitudes, and show you where He is calling you to change. Ask Him to lead you today. We have to first discover where we are before we can get to where we want to be! Write out Psalm 139:23-24 on a small slip of paper and tape it to your bathroom mirror. Keep it there this week. Make the verse your prayer. Pray it before breakfast, before lunch, before dinner and before you go to bed. Throughout the day, write down anything that God brings to your mind (or text them to yourself). Write down one specific thing that needs to change and two steps that you need to take in that area. At the end of the day, share that one thing with someone else and ask them to pray with you about it. ADDITIONAL REFLECTION QUESTIONS: God, what needs to change in my life? Is there someone I need to forgive? How can my prayer life improve? Are my attitudes and actions lining up with God s word? Is there an unhealthy pattern in my life that needs to change? How can I become a better steward of the resources, finances and talents I have been given?

4 WEEK 1 - DAY 2 Romans 12:2 (NLT) 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. Have you ever heard the phrase, You are what you eat? That s obviously not literally true. We don t see pizzas, hamburgers or tacos walking around. We do, however, see the effects of what we eat and how we eat all around us. What we put into our bodies is a major determining factor of our health. The same thing is true of our minds. What I fill my mind with affects my emotional, psychological and spiritual health. What I think will eventually determine how I live and act. Paul reminds us that the world in which we live often has a mindset that is the opposite of a Jesus mindset. Without even realizing it, we can begin to think unhealthy things. A transformed mind begins with God and His word. There s something transformational the Holy Spirit does when I fill my mind with God s Word one bite at a time. When I snack on it, chew on it and make it part of my daily diet, a transformation will begin to take place. Here s a question: What has my mind been digesting lately? What thoughts have I been chewing on? If your answer to those questions is something unhealthy, the good news is that it s never too late to let God change how you think and what you think about! Make a list of possible unhealthy thoughts/thought patterns (negative thoughts, angry thoughts, critical thoughts, sinful thoughts, etc.) and then crumble the list into a ball. Throw it into the trash as a way of saying, I m done with that way of thinking! Ask God to give you a desire for healthy thought patterns. Begin diving into God s word today begin with one verse. Try memorizing a verse and watch how God uses it in your life this week! God s goal for healthy thinking begins with a transformation of my heart and mind.

5 WEEK 1 - DAY 3 Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Every year people make New Year s Resolutions in an effort to change something in their lives. However, failing at New Year s Resolutions is so common it s almost a cliché. Keeping a resolution is the exception, not the norm. We start with good intentions but life quickly gets in the way and keeps us from achieving our goals. As we seek to move forward on the path to becoming fully committed disciples of Jesus Christ a similar thing can happen. We have the best of intentions but we encounter roadblocks along the way. We can get distracted or we can be held back. Sin can be a major interruption in our quest to follow Jesus. Past sin can hold us back. Current, repeated sin can distract us or even stand directly in our way. When the one we follow, Jesus Christ, died on the cross and rose from the dead, He defeated the power of sin in our lives. Sin is no longer a master we must obey. The power that resurrected Jesus from the grave gives us freedom from our sins of the past, present and future! When we accept the authority and the resurrection power of Christ in our lives, we are forever CHANGED. Instead of making a New Year s Resolution this year, how about trying something new? Make a list of sins which you ve allowed to hold you back, distract you or stand in your way. Ask Jesus to assure you of His victory over each one. Draw a line through each sin and beside it write the word VICTORY. Finally, put this list somewhere you ll see it often and let it remind you of your new life in Christ.

6 WEEK 1 - DAY 4 Luke 15:17 (NLT) When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, At home even the hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger! This quote was written right in the middle of the parable of the prodigal son. In a story Jesus was using to tell His followers about lostness, He painted a powerful picture of the moment of change! You can sense the despair, the dissatisfaction, the disgust at his poor choices when he looked around at his current state of affairs only to realize that this is just not working out like he thought it would. He had hit rock bottom. He was sick and tired of being sick and tired. So, it was time for a change. A fully-committed transformation to a new way of life. I too often find myself dabbling in change, not fully committing to applying the necessary effort to make the corrections in my life that I know would be beneficial for me. Then comes the moment when I come to my senses. This is the moment when I realize that something must change and change now! Here are a few steps that have helped me navigate these challenges of life. Identify. Identify the specific area that needs to change. Pray. Begin to pray for God to provide a deep dissatisfaction in that area of your life. Move. Take your next step to move towards the new you. It could be a long journey, but keep your focus on the next step. It could be a difficult battle, but keep your focus on the next step. The victory is well worth the pain of the process.

7 WEEK 1 - DAY 5 Ephesians 4:21-24 (NLT) Since you have heard all about him and have learned the truth that is in Jesus, throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God s likeness-righteous, holy, and true. I grew up watching Superman transform in a moment of time from mildmannered Clark Kent into the superhuman, monogram-emblazoned defender of truth and justice. It was the moment when he not only changed his clothes, he changed his world. I would like to change my world. Usually I start by taking a quick, but in-depth inventory of how the people around me should change. That will not work. The only things we have any control over are our own attitude, behavior and choices. Even then, lasting change is a challenge that goes beyond my ability to affect. Like the apostle Paul, I don t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don t do it. (Romans 7:15 NLT). Paul, though, learns the lesson and passes it on to us when he says,...there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. (Ephesians 4:23 NLT) To experience transformation, it must be a spiritual, inside-out action accomplished by God through the Holy Spirit in our minds. Pray. No surprise there. Pray specifically and pray often. Be honest with yourself. After all, who are you really fooling? Change your self-talk: what you are telling yourself about an almighty God that created you, loves you, will forgive you and has a plan for you? Let God change you and watch your world transform. Why do you want to change? What do you want to change? What lies are you believing about God? What lies are you believing about yourself? Write a ten-word or less prayer that specifically targets this change.