Devotional. Made to Count Weekend. Contact Us Dudley Shoals Rd Granite Falls, NC 28630

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1 Made to Count Weekend Contact Us 1882 Dudley Shoals Rd Granite Falls, NC Phone: Web: Devotional

2 Table of Contents Day God prepared a unique plan and calling for your life even before you were born... 1 God calls you to a life-changing relationship with Him through Jesus Christ... 2 God calls you to partner with Him in a mission bigger than you are... 3 God calls you to be on mission with Him right where you are starting now... 4 God reveals His Mission through His Word, His Spirit, wise counsel, and His work in circumstances around you 5 God will repeatedly bring you to a crossroads of choice as He forges you for His mission... 6 God guides and provides for your mission one step at a time... 7 When you answer God s call you will experience His pleasure and change your world... 8

3 Day 8: When you answer God s call you will experience His pleasure and change your world Every Christian has been called by God; called to salvation, called to personal holiness and then called to service or ministry. God sent His Son to seek and to save those who are lost. Peter explains that God is "not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."(2 Pet. 3:9b) God calls us to salvation and by grace through faith we can call back. Paul wrote, "for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Rom. 10:13) A call to personal holiness: "But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy. "' (1 Pet. 1:15-16) The Christian is called, is summonsed to act like a Christian all the time, to be like Christ. To be set apart. And every believer is called to ministry in God's kingdom. Ephesians chapter 2, Paul wrote, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Eph.2:10) In Psalms 149:4 it says For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns them with salvation. Psalms 37:23 A man's steps are established by the LORD, and the LORD delights in his way. How does this change your world? How does it not? You are a child of the King. He delights in you and crowns you with salvation. You are set apart from others. You receive His many blessings. You receive His grace, His protection, and His love. He is always there for you to guide you and to comfort you. If the Lord God has saved you, then you are blessed above most of those who live on the earth. If you are not saved then you only have the curse of judgment to come (Rev 20:11-15) and this curse cannot be reversed. If today you will repent and trust in Christ as your Savior, your blessings will be awaiting you in heaven because they will be reserved for you there (Eph 1:3) and what greater blessing is there in all the universe than to have eternal life in Christ? Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:1, "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." Day 1: God Prepared a Unique Plan and calling for your life even before you were born I am writing this at 2am on Valentines Day which is fitting for it is the greatest love story ever told. As far back as I can remember the voice of love has called to me in my deepest being, ever so softly He said- Come to Me all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest. Matt 11:28 NIV but to me it sounded more like, my child you know I love you, you know I want what's best for you, please take my hand and let me lead you through these rough days ahead. Ever so sweetly, He would whisper to me, I alone know the plans laid out for your life and I alone can fill your hearts longing and deepest desires. I am the Lord your God and I am with you. I am mighty to save. I will take great delight in you. I will quiet you with my love. I will rejoice over you with singing. Zeph. 3:17NIV My Father knew before my first breath the choices I would make, good and bad and He designed a plan to work everything out for my good. He knew the skills I would need to cultivate to be successful in my job which is also my mission field. He prepared me in advance for the obstacles He knew I would face. I've walked with Him many years now and learned to trust Him at every turn. In health, in job security, in family and friends in large decisions and small to first seek His kingdom. His leading, and then be obedient, even if I'm afraid He is mighty enough to overcome my doubts and fears and lead me in the right path! So, remember- Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do and He will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6NLT Held by His grace and compelled by His love! Gina

4 Day 2: God calls you to a life-changing relationship with Him through Jesus Christ Col 2:9-10 For in Him the whole fullness of the deity dwells bodily. And ye are complete in Christ, which is the head of all principality and power. When you believe a lie instead of truth, you needlessly suffer the effects of that lie, and find yourself enslaved. The only reason you ever feel offense instead of love and thus find misery in this life is because you have bound yourself to the deception that you are not already complete. All that causes you offense and threatens you are lies from the accuser. When you bind yourself to such deception you place your identity in the world. Binding yourself to flesh, you will reap the destruction that comes from your identity with the world of flesh. The way of the world offers a lie that it can offer security through wealth, status and relationships. These things will only bring happiness for a little while. Jesus Christ offers us eternal life of happiness. Mark 8:34 If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. Think of your mind as divided. Part is caught in the lies of the flesh and your old will; the other part is one with Christ, who is Truth and shares the will of the Father. We have a constant battle to fight and choices to make till we depart from this earth. Are you blinded by lies of flesh and you old will? (not willing to forgive, judgment, fear) Or in the Truth with the Father? (forgiveness, love and freedom). To follow Christ, you must deny yourself. What blinds and masters one person is not necessarily the same as what blinds and masters another. Being aware of what blinds you, is the first step in moving forward in Christ. When you align yourself with the Truth of the Father, you will have the life-changing relationship God calls you to. What you believe and perceive about yourself in Christ determines how you will walk. You are His son, His daughter so love yourself as He loves you, and flee all that distracts and blinds you to this undeniable truth. Then you will have the life changing relationship with God thru Christ Jesus. The Forgotten Way Ted Dekker Day 7 God will repeatedly bring you to a crossroads of choice as He forges you for His mission I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. Isaiah 48:17 Most babies take their first steps sometime between 9 and 12 months. They are walking well by the time they are 14 or 15 months. However, your child might take longer. It is when they are physically, mentally and emotionally ready that they can learn to walk. They still need help. Parents help them. The parents are their strength until they can stand firm. We all do not grow in our relationship with Christ or learn and understand Scriptures at the same time and at the same level as others. We are all individuals in our spiritual maturity. As a toddler taking their first steps, so must we. Jesus gave us an invitation and a challenge to follow in His footsteps. What is our mission? Your mission is as individual and personal as you are. He designs for you a specific mission in hopes you will execute according to His Will. His mission is YOU. Your mission is GOD. It isn t enough for you to be merely my servant. You must do more than lead back survivors from the tribes of Israel. I have placed you here as a light for other nations; you must take my saving power to everyone on earth. (Isaiah 49.6) Are we not to live out His mission everywhere at all times? The answer is absolutely. Where are you in your walk? Does the Lord approve? And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love. What is the next step He wants you take for Him? Not sure? Meditate on His Word and have a little talk with Jesus. And listen. When God asks of you, He will give you what you need for the task. He will equip you with His gifts to do His will. It will always take that first step. You may not have been called to lead someone to accept Jesus. You may not have been guided and directed to plant the seed to convict hearts of their need for salvation. You are however to be a witness on a mission to share God s love, His Word and your faith. The LORD God is my strength He will make my feet like those of a deer, equipping me to tread on my mountain heights. Habakkuk 3:19 Do you remember a song sung by Crystal Lane called One Day at a Time Sweet Jesus? Show me the stairway, I have to climb. Lord for my sake, teach me to take one day at a time. One day at a time sweet Jesus. That s all asking from you. Just give me the strength to do every day what I have to do. Yesterdays gone sweet Jesus. And tomorrow may never be mine. Lord help me today, show me the way, one day at a time. Do you remember when cheating and stealing, violence and crime. So for my sake, teach me to take one day at a time. Parents teach their children to be strong and brave and stand on their own. Their lives change as ours should. So stand up for Christ. Be strong and courageous. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)And as you grow, standing on solid ground with Jesus, you will see in each step you take our God is watching you. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Guiding and directing your path He needs YOU to take the first step.

5 Day 6: God will repeatedly bring you to a crossroads of choice as He forges you for His mission There are times in our lives we run into a wall, physically and spiritually. We ask ourselves this question, what in the world are we going to do now?. I have noticed in my life when these situations happen I try not to hesitate in turning to God. These are the times that God is looking to make us stronger. He gives us the things that we need in our lives when we run into these situations. We are like a piece of metal just a plain piece of metal and God is a blacksmith who is taking this piece of metal putting it into the fire and then having to hammer it out into something that is useful. This is not an easy time, because that piece of metal does not bend easy. If you are like me you are stubborn, and being stubborn is not always bad but when it comes to listening to the heavenly father that stubborn goes nowhere. So in order for us to become useful and God's hands we have to submit ourselves to him to be molded and made into something that is useful. We see our own lives different then God sees us. When we can see ourselves through his eyes then we can be used by him to witness, to live, and to boldly tell others about him. Day 3: God calls you to partner with Him in a mission bigger than you are. Scripture: 1) Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. John 14:12 2) Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:20 3) And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14 In David Platt s book, Radical Together, he writes: I am convinced that Satan, in a sense, is just fine with missional churches in the west spending the overwhelming majority of our time, energy, and money on trying to reach people right around us. Satan may actually delight in this, for while we spend our lives on the people we see in front of us, more than six thousand people groups for generations have never even heard the gospel and remain in the dark. But when we rise up as the Church of Jesus Christ and give ourselves urgently, sacrificially, and radically to taking the gospel of the kingdom to all those people groups, we can expect to be met with the might of hell. So, Christ told us that we would perform mightier works than He did. And Paul tells us that Christ s power is at work within us. And, Jesus tells us that our glorious, eternal life with Him would come when the gospel of the kingdom has been preached to all people in the world. Sometimes, I hear people make comments like, why should we be going to (you fill in the blank), when we have people hurting right here? If we look at the life and works of Christ, yes He met physical needs, but then he always shared the gospel. THAT was his focus, not the physical need. He knew that was everyone s greatest need. Then He moved on, we never see Christ approaching the same need over and over. I would never say we should write people off, but when we limit ourselves to reaching out to the lost people where we live (ie. the Bible Belt of the United States), for the most part we are reaching out over and over to people who have rejected Christ repeatedly. So, if we know exactly what we have to do to bring about the Kingdom of God, and we choose to limit ourselves to something much less than that, and are actually critical of attempting the Mandate of Christ, than what is it that we really do want, and whose team are we (perhaps unwittingly) working for? Do we want the Kingdom of God now? As David Platt says, we probably do know that this would be met with the might of hell. Or, did we decide a long time ago that it is much easier and more comfortable to just keep trying to save the same reached people group over and over? Perhaps, we would be a better witness to the lost around us by becoming a spirit-filled and powerfilled church devoted to fulfilling the Great Commission.

6 Day 4: God calls you to be on mission with Him right where you are starting now Let Your Light Shine -God is calling you to be on mission with Him right where you arestarting now! You probable sang it over and over as a child, twisting your small body back and forth to the tune. Holding a preciously small finger up in front of your chest This little light of mine, I m gonna let it shine; This little light of mine, I m gonna let it shine Now, close your eyes, as an adult, and really hear the words as you sing them softly in your head. That glowing flame that comes from within is God s abounding love. And, to be on mission with Him, we must first return to our hearts and worship His greatness! Prepare yourself spiritually! Acts 13:47 reads: For this is what the Lord has commanded us: I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. God calls each of us to help people with their needs through ministry. We collect food, clothes, school supplies and basic necessities to meet the needs of others. We support our missionaries from home through prayer and financial support. All of this is a part of God s mission, for us to help His people, to love and support His people. Everyone can contribute to God s great mission because He has given each of us unique interests, talents, and abilities. Use your God given passion to serve Him today. Do what you love and love what you do, to bring glory to God. Our mission begins in our own hearts. It is a reflection of God s own love. Though, we may all be at different stages and seasons in our lives, we serve God s mission together. Supporting and encouraging one another. Let us be on mission with each other to unify the body of Christ, making it stronger in our fellowship. Let your light shine, right where you are, starting now! Day 5: God Reveals His Mission Through His Word, His Spirit, Wise Counsel, and His Work in Circumstances Around You We all know this scripture well, it is a mandate of what we as a gospel church live by. How often have we heard this scripture, have we become numb to the relevance of it, have we brushed it off? If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, God has given you a mission in this world. You re not here to just strive after your own personal goals. You have an assignment from God, Himself. Once you re in the family, your life changes. You have a new reason for living. Your life isn t about you anymore; it s about God and His mission for you. It s natural for the Christian to come up with clever excuses why we shouldn t follow the mission the Lord has given us to go unto the ends of the earth and spread the gospel. We say to ourselves and God, I don t know enough about the Bible. What will they think of me? I don t want them talking behind my back. I might lose my job! Let somebody else do it." Fear is a great motivator and a greater inhibitor. God immediately saw the fear in Jeremiah s heart and said, Do not be afraid of them. The Bible teaches that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and the fear of man is a stumbling block. (See Proverbs 9:10 and 29:25.) Allow faith to overcome your fears and be obedient to God. He will not let you down if you are obedient to His calling. He has your back! God never calls us to do something for Him that He doesn t empower us to do if we are willing to do the work and time. Please, take the time to get to know God in an intimate way. Your purpose on earth is to shine God s love to a lost, dying world. Your mission, if you should choose to accept it, is waiting for you! Open your ears and your heart to the Lord and be excited about your new future serving Him in truth and spirit.