Faith & Life Connections

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1 A Daily Devotion & Resource Guide for Your Spiritual Journey From the Sermon-Teaching Ministry of Fairhope UMC Reset Series #2 A New Heart - Week of September 4, 2011 Ezekiel 36:24-28 Reflections on this week s message: I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. Jeremiah 24:7 How s your heart? I m not talking about the muscle that pumps blood through your body. The condition of your physical heart is between you and your physician. What about the heart that God is concerned with? God sees your heart, your inner being, the place of desires and motives. God knows what you are all about. So, when I inquire about the condition of your heart, what I m asking is this: When God looks into your heart; is He pleased? Are you comfortable with God seeing your thoughts, desires and motives? Is your heart one that glorifies God and places Him above all else, or is your heart more about you? Tough questions, aren t they? In the text for this week s message, the prophet is speaking to a nation in exile. Israel is in bondage in Babylon, they are in need of a word of hope from God. Through the prophet God promises to restore the heart of the nation. I love the language that God uses for this promise. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26) While the message is for the heart of a nation, it is also for your heart and mine. Again, let s consider the condition of our hearts: Has you heart become hardened? Are you weighed down and burdened to the point that you are emotionally sick? Is your heart so focused on the stuff of the world that it is difficult, or even impossible to make room for God? Are you spiritually sick? The greatest commandment is this: Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5) That is the picture of a healthy heart. So, how s your heart? Are you ready to allow God to replace your hardened heart with a heart that is softened and yielded to His will? Love, Pastor Joe This Week s Challenge: Identify your heart defect and allow God to give you a new heart. Listen to this week s sermon teaching by clicking the Online Sermons link at

2 Begin with Prayer: Faith & Life Connections Getting Started: Grab your bible & find a quiet, comfortable spot to begin your daily Bible reading. Light a candle & spend a few minutes relaxing, quieting your mind. Keep a notebook nearby to jot down distractions that interfere with your focus to put them out of your mind to deal with later. You may want to play your favorite hymns or praise music softly in the background. To quiet your mind & prepare to focus on God & His Word try one of the prayer exercises found under Spiritual Growth Resources. Then pray the suggested prayer starter personalizing it to your needs & desire for God s guidance. This Week's Prayer Starter: Gracious God, Thank you for your promise to renew me & make me a new creation. I am not deserving, Lord. Your grace is beyond my limited understanding. Pour out your Spirit upon me as I read & study your word today. Create a teachable spirit within me, Lord. This week s sermon message calls me to explore my life in ways that make me uncomfortable. Give me the courage, Lord, to truly be honest. I don t like to admit it, but there are malfunctions in my heart. I need you, Lord. Help me to embrace those malfunctions & give them to you so that you might grow me & change me. Take my heart of stone & make me soft & pliable, eager to please you. Help me to also see the ways in which my church needs to start fresh. Show me how you want me to help my church reset. My finger is on the reset button, Lord, give me the faith to push it and let you change my heart & life. In Jesus name I pray. AMEN. day 1 week of September 11 Read Ezekiel 36:22-38 How is your heart? What does God see when He looks into your heart? Has your heart become hardened? Are you weighed down & burdened to the point that you are emotionally sick? Is your heart so focused on the stuff of the world that it is difficult, or even impossible to make room for God? Are you sick spiritually? What does this passage say about God s character? What does it say about our need for forgiveness & salvation? What did the people do to deserve God s actions (see verse 32)? Reread verses Describe the surgery God will perform on the people of Israel. How do verses shed light on the mission of Jesus? What does it mean to be sprinkled with clean water & given a new spirit & a new heart? In what ways does your heart need to be reset? Are you ready to allow God to replace your hardened heart with a heart that is softened & yielded to His will? Know that God is seeking you at this very moment. Sprinkle a little water on yourself & remember how God s love & forgiveness bring you the sense of being fresh & newly cleansed. Pray for God to change your heart.

3 day 2 week of September 11 Read Jeremiah 24:6-7 What does it mean to know that God watches over you & wants to be in relationship with you? Are you comfortable with God seeing your thoughts, desires, & motives? Do you trust God with your heart, knowing that He desires to change you for good, to build you up & plant you to be fruitful for His purposes? Why does God want you to identify the defects of your heart & give you a new heart? Do you desire to return to God with your whole heart? What is holding you back? Are you willing to surrender your heart to God s will? Memorize 2 Corinthians 5:17. Pray, asking God for the faith to push the reset button & give Him your heart! day 3 week of September 11 Read Deuteronomy 6:4-10, Matthew 22:36-40 Is your heart one that glorifies God & places him above all else, or is your heart more about you? What is the significance of The Great Commandment? Why do you think Jesus emphasized loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, & strength? Do you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, & strength? How do you demonstrate your love for God? What will do today to demonstrate this love? In what way do you want to grow in your love toward God? Your family? Humanity? How important is it to you that the children in your life & in our church & community grow up to celebrate God s love & appreciate his role in their life? How can you build traditions that teach them about God s love? Pray for God to show you how he wants you to live out the Great Commandment in your family, church, career/school, community, country, & our world.

4 day 4 week of September 11 Read 1 Samuel 16:1-13 What was God communicating about passing over all of Jesse s sons before picking David? If you had been one of David s brothers, how would you have felt watching your younger brother get chosen? When have you looked down on someone because of their appearance? What difference would it make if you saw them as God does? How are the things the Lord looks at different than the things that man looks at? What do you learn about God from verse 7? What does God see when he looks at your heart? Ask God to help you look at things the way He does. day 5 week of September 11 Read Psalm 37:3-9, What does it mean to delight yourself in the Lord? Are God s desires your desires? Have you committed your way to the Lord? Why or why not? Which Biblical qualities found in verses 3-8 might a close friend suggest that you work on? Reread verses Is the Lord delighting in your ways? What does it mean to you to know that the Lord will make your steps firm, keep you from falling, & uphold you? If we believe this to be true, why is it so challenging to let go of our ways & desires and seek God s will for our lives? How can you apply this passage to your life this week? Your physical heart requires a balanced diet to be healthy & so does your spiritual heart. Check out the Spiritual Growth Resources tab & use one of the suggestions to help you develop spiritual habits to cultivate a heart that seeks God. Download this Spiritual Growth Assessment & spend some time reflecting on your spiritual heart.

5 After reflecting & praying through this week s readings & sermon teaching, I feel God is nudging me to take these steps: Seek first His kingdom & His righteousness Matthew 6:33 Dig Deeper: The Bible is full of examples of God using unlikely people, many with challenging pasts, to make a difference for Christ s kingdom in the world. Read about some of these Biblical characters, noting how they cooperated with God and experienced reset & a fresh start in their lives. Wouldn t it be cool of life had a reset button? Well it does: JESUS! Remember that Jesus wants to do the same in your life! Saul persecuted Christians, yet God changed him into a passionate follower of Jesus responsible for spreading Christianity in the world Acts 26 Moses killed a man, yet God still used him to free an entire nation Exodus 2 Abraham lied about his wife & endangered her safety, yet God still used Abraham to build a nation Genesis David committed adultery with Bathsheba and has her husband killed, yet God still used David in mighty ways 2 Samuel 11 Peter denied Christ, yet God still used Peter to build His church Mark 14 & Matthew 16 Barnabas was a hypocrite, yet God still used him to play a vital role in the early church Galatians 2 What other examples can you discover? Fairhope UMC s Mission Focus: We exist to love & serve God by loving & serving others, for the purpose of making & maturing disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

6 Resource Family Connection: Bible Adventures The Bible contains some of the greatest adventure stories ever told. As a family spend some time exploring some of these stories by having a Bible Story Adventure Night. Encourage each family member to select a favorite Bible story to share. See how many creative ways you can come up with to share these Bible adventures. Some suggestions include acting out the story, a puppet show, retelling the story in your own words, creating pictures or artwork to retell the story, creating a power point presentation, or even simply reading from a favorite family Bible. You may want to compare the story by reading in different Biblical translations. Try doing some research about the history surrounding the stories and share what life was like for the people portrayed in these stories. Encourage family members to imagine what it would have been like if they had been there. Talk about how God was at work in each story. Ask God to reveal to you what he wants you to learn from these stories. Pray that He will show you how to apply what you are learning to your life today. Mission in Action: Fall 2011 Pray for boldness and courage and then tell someone how Jesus has reset your life. When you notice your neighbor working in their yard, go help them finish the job. Prayerfully ask God to show you how He wants you to share your financial resources with Him. Take a friend s dog for a walk. Post information about your church on your Facebook page. Invite someone who lives alone to join you for dinner one night. When your church newsletter arrives in the mail, spend some time praying for each item mentioned. Get in the habit of praying for your church every time you receive something in the mail or through about your church. Pray for your church leaders as well. Read a Bible story to a child! Pack up a bag of lunch, school supplies, & toiletry items & give them to a family with schoolaged children. Write a letter to someone and share how you see God at work in their life. Pray for them as you write. Contact your church leaders & ask how you can be a part of your church s ministry. Find out what you can do to help spread the news of Jesus in your community. Visit a nursing home and spend some time with some of the residents. Offer to organize an activity for the residents.

7 Resource John Wesley s Covenant Prayer I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by you or laid aside by you, enabled for you or brought low by you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen. Make praying the Wesley Covenant Prayer a part of your daily devotions. After praying the prayer, take one line each day and meditate on what living a life reflective of this line would mean for you.