HERO DEVO ~ Day 3

I hope you all forgive the roughness of these.  I am sure they might be a grammatical nightmare. They are written quickly but with lots of heart and good intentions!  THANKS!

          A Drop in the Ocean

Do you ever feel like what you do isn’t worth doing?  LIKE, why bother???  Honestly, I feel that almost every day.  Why bother making the beds or sweeping the floors no one really notices but me, and they are messy again with the hour!  Why bother counting the calories?  Why bother buying the cream cheese brand that is 50cents cheaper?  Does it really matter?  Does it really add up?  There are so many ways to feel discouraged if we lose our focus. 

Reading John 6: 1-13 again makes me see these things in a new way!!!!

 ¹Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), ²and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. ³Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples.⁴The Jewish Passover Feast was near.

 ⁵When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" ⁶He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
 ⁷Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages^[a] would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
 ⁸Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, ⁹"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"
 ¹⁰Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. ¹¹Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
 ¹²When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." ¹³So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

Jesus can take a no name boy’s meager offerings that might feed a couple of people and makes it MORE THAN ENOUGH for 5 Thousand.  So, he can take your “WHY BOTHER” situations and turn them into real miracles!  After all, here Jesus is in real SUPERHERO form!!!  But, I love seeing it as he turned this boy’s mere drop in the bucket to exponential blessing and abundance.
There are so many ways this translates into our lives today.  GOD can take and turn the home blessings we do into so many blessings and abundance for HIS glory and our amazement!!!  HOW COOL!!
What are some ways that you feel like you merely scratch the surface so why bother????
Maybe you feel that way about teaching these children at VBS or during Sunday School?  Can you imagine the ways he can grow your offerings in service to him?  GOD IS TRULY AMAZING!  HE is THE SUPERHERO!

HERO DEVO ~ DAY 2

Here's today's devotion:

Thank YOU FOR joining me this morning!

Isn’t it so exciting to be talking about Jesus to these children this week?  You may be the very people they remember when they think of these scriptures or lessons when they are adults!!  I still remember some of my past VBS and Sunday School teachers and what they taught!  Have no doubt you are making an impact!

Today we are looking at………………..

The ROMAN Centurion: A HERO BY FAITH

Do you have a personal story of great faith in your life?

Have you given your last $’s in your wallet to a mission or the church, and wondered how your next grocery trip would be covered?

Have you felt a total mind and soul connection while worshiping GOD knowing there is no doubt in his Holy Spirit in you? 

Have you prayed and seen the results of those prayers and knew without a doubt they were a result of God’s power working through you?

I really wish we had time to share stories!!!  I bet you all have some great ones!!

Let’s read an amazing example of pure and solid faith.

Let’s read Matthew 8: 5-13

The Faith of the Centurion  5When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6"Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."  7Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."  8The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."  10When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.  11I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica

13Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour. New International Version (NIV)

The Centurion was a ROMAN OFFICER in charge of 100 soldiers.  He was a GENTILE of position.  His heroics weren’t in the way of his job as an officer in the Roman army but in the way he approached Jesus with full and total faith in WHO JESUS was and WHAT Jesus could do.   He knew that Jesus was a straight connection to GOD and was bold in going straight to HIM with his compassionate plea.  Not only that, but he believed with such conviction that he asked Jesus to just say the word instead of coming to the sick man’s bedside.  The Centurion’s BOLD and PURE faith saw beyond the circumstances and JESUS’ power over circumstances.  He was a hero who saw the real power in Jesus. 

Instead of Jesus responding, “who are you, sinner, coming to ME, GOD IN THE FLESH, to help your suffering servant?”, he marveled at his faith.  JESUS MARVELED at the Centurions faith. He was so struck by the gentile’s faith that he spoke to the Jews letting them know how important it is to have this great faith!

We should not be afraid or feel unworthy to go straight to God.  He was the sacrificial lamb so we could do just that!  HE made our unworthiness worthy.

The curtain came down giving us direct access to HIM. 

When Jesus died on the cross the curtain of the temple was split in two, symbolizing the removal of the barrier between us and God.

MATT: 27:51

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 

 Only the high priest was permitted to pass beyond this veil once each year (Exodus 30:10; Hebrews 9:7) to enter into God's presence for all of Israel and make atonement for their sins (Leviticus 16).

Let’s be heroes by taking full advantage of that access.  Let’s be heroes with our FAITH!!!!

VBS ~ Teacher DEVO from DAY 1

I thought I would share the devotions that I am giving to the VBS teachers this week at HERO HEADQUARTERS.  Here is Day 1:

LUKE 2: 8-20

⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch 
over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, 
and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 
¹⁰But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news 
of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David 
a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^[a] the Lord. ¹²This will be a
 sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

 ¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel,
 praising God and saying, 

 ¹⁴"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

 ¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said 
 to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord    has told us about."

 ¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was
 lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word
 concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard
 it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured 
up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds 
returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen,
 which were just as they had been told.

The shepherds weren’t larger than life heros.  They were
 just everyday hard working men who were obedient to God. 

God’s love is communicated in big ways through all 
of us unpolished, frantically busy, sleep deprived,
average everyday people!!!  The angel came to the YOU & ME’s
and NOT the priests, CEOS, high officials, Billy Grahams,
 Joyce Meyers. 

Here is what is HUGE.  What these everyday men of God 
saw and reported perpetuated the good news of JESUS 
CHRIST!  Luke 2:18 “and all who heard it were amazed….”

So here are so interesting thoughts about the shepherds.

I wondered why them???  Don’t you.  What I did find is that 
these shepherds were most likely the ones raising the 
sacrificial lambs.  The very ones used in the temple
 for forgiveness of sins.  How appropriate for it to be them 
that see the LAMB OF GOD. 

Another wonderful thing to note is the emotions of the 
Shepherds through this experience.  Oh how I think we can
 relate to them on this one!!! 

When the angel appeared and spoke and told them what
they would find, they were terrified!!!  However they were 
obedient and learned that all they had seen and heard
were exactly as they had been told.  Because of this they
were glorifying and praising GOD. 

Likewise, we might get scared when God is calling us
to do something new, difficult, or uncomfortable.  But, 
when we find ourselves to be obedient to his calling, we 
end up fully blessed glorifying and praising GOD!!!  AMEN?

SO MY HERO FRIENDS……..BE OBEDIENT AND TAKE ACTION!

Neurotic Dependency

Today I want to share with you some comments made by author Eugene Peterson that I found in a study I am currently doing.  I think there is so much to think about in these comments!  I find something new every time I read them.  I hope you find them as relevant.

"But if we are not to be proud, clamorous, arrogant persons, what are we to be?  Mousy,cringing, insecure ones?  Well, not quite.  Having realized the dangers of pride, the sin of thinking too much of ourselves, we are suddenly in danger of another mistake, thinking too little of ourselves.  There are some who conclude that since the great Christian temptation is to try to be everything, the perfect Christian solution is to be nothing.  And so we have the problem of the doormat Christian and the dishrag saint: the person upon whom everyone walks and wipes their feet, the person who is used by others to clean up the mess of everyday living and then is discarded.  These people then compensate for their poor lives by weepily clinging to God, hoping to make up for the miseries of everyday life by dreaming of luxuries in heaven. Christian faith is not neurotic dependency but childlike trust. We do not have a God who forever indulges our whims but a God whom we trust with our destinies."

These are thoughts that expand on Psalm 131:1.

     LORD, my heart is not proud;
    my eyes are not haughty. 
    I do not get involved with things
    too great or too difficult for me. 




Don't you love it!?!?!