Circleing Circles

The staff at Camp Living Waters have been doing a study of the book Circle Maker by Batterson. It is a book about praying circles around your biggest dreams and greatest fears. It has been helping expand our thoughts on prayer.

 

We have been praying circles around camp, finances, staffing, building projects, campers, and friends battling cancer. We have seen God's hand at work in all these areas.

 

On the weekend of March 8th we were blessed to be serving the Elders from Banner of Christ UB Church. Saturday afternoon they blessed us by praying circles around ours. They prayed all over camp. It was a huge blessing and encouragement to our staff to see a retreat group taking the time to pray all over camp for the things we had been circling in prayer.  Thank you Banner Elders and thank you God for the answers you have given and those still to come.



Banner of Christ UB Church Elders

 

True Friends

“As soon as he was finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.”             1 Samuel 18:1

How many friends do you have on Facebook? One hundred? Two hundred? A thousand? More? Now, think about why they are listed as your friend. Are they actually someone with whom you discuss issues of life, or take advice from? Can you describe those people, including their likes/dislikes, goals in life, struggles they are dealing with? Maybe you can, or maybe you have been sucked into trying to see how many people you can have listed as your “friend”.

It feels good to have lots of “friends”, but if you really needed help, how many of them would be able to come to your aid? There are lots of relationships in our lives. There are relationships that you have no control over, like your family. There are relationships that are not good influences in our lives. And there are relationships that we would be wise to keep. As Christians, we are called to be friendly towards all people, but friends with a few.

True friendships require a lot of work. A lot of time, energy, and investment go into them, so we can’t afford to have tons of friendships. They are carefully cultivated from the ground up. They are the people that we confide in and share our happy, sad, frustrated, and disappointed times with. They are the people we turn to for advice. When we need help, they are there for us.

Read 1 Samuel 18-20. A great Biblical example of one of these friendships is between David and Jonathan. What attributes do you like about David and Jonathan’s relationship? Are there people in your life that are like Jonathan? How many people can you call your true friend? If you can’t think of anyone, maybe you need to answer this question, “Who are your real friends?”

The Light Summons Saul to go All In

The Light

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way,  men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” Acts 9:1-5

Light has an amazing affect on things as it reveals to us the reality of situations. A doctor uses light to look down your throat the same way a dentist looks for cavities using a light or a mechanic looks at an engine. A common saying is that things are “brought to light.” We have to go through something similar with God, having all of our old life brought to the light in order to see where we are falling short.

Saul, later re-named Paul, was a murderer of Christians before he ever came to know Jesus. This passage is the pivotal point, in which, Jesus changes one of the greatest persecutors of that time. Jesus is calling Saul out, revealing his flaws. Meanwhile, Jesus is revealing His own power to the amazement of Saul and his companions. In the same moment, Jesus is beginning to light the way for Saul.

Camp gets very dark after the sun goes down. I’ve found myself nearly on the ground many times when I don’t have a light of some sort to help me along the way. Without a flashlight, I could end up anywhere! This is exactly what Jesus is trying to do for Saul, and you, light the way to life. Will you let Jesus light your way?

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”  John 8:12

Blind!

And he said, “Who are you Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Acts 9:5-9

Light also has another effect on us from time to time. Going from darkness to light suddenly can blind us as our eyes adjust. It can even be a bit painful. When God suddenly reveals His glory to us, it also reveals our short-comings. This is a painful process that we need to go through in order to come closer to Him.

Saul rises to find that he is completely blind! How scary is that?! He hears the voice of Jesus telling him simply to go into the city and wait for directions. It takes a lot of faith on his part to do it because he’s been persecuting the followers of Jesus. Not only is he following orders from the Jesus whom not seconds before he was hating, but is now also blind and has to fully trust that God knows what is best.

We go through a very similar process when we become Christians.  God reveals His glory and we respond by following Him. Then we go through a period where we don’t know how to do something He’s asking us to do. We are, in essence, blind.

The key here is that Saul didn’t just give into woe and become a blind beggar on the streets. He simply trusted and did as he was asked. You see, God is going to ask you to follow Him to places that you may not understand or even see the purpose of. It is your choice to either become a blind beggar or follow God’s lead.

All In

For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name?” Acts 9:19-21

So Saul goes into the city and waits for further direction, as Jesus had told him to. A man named Ananias receives a vision telling him to find Saul and lay hands on him for healing. Saul has such a horrible reputation that Ananias is shocked and asks him if this is the same Saul that had been killing Christians. The Lord’s answer in Acts 9:15—16 is really cool here, ‘But the Lord said to him (Ananias), “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”’

Saul had made so many suffer for the name of Jesus and now it was his turn. Now we know that Saul later became Paul who wrote a large portion of the New Testament and suffered in horrible ways for the name of Jesus. The great thing is this; There is such an awesome testimony to God’s power when a man who hates Jesus, comes to Him and gives up his life for Christ.

Even after all that he’d done to kill Christians, he immediately began proclaiming Jesus to the temple! He, of all people, knew that the persecutors were seeking to kill Christians, yet as soon as God’s glory was revealed, and he regained his sight, he went all in. There was no hesitation in Saul, he simply knew what he had to do. Our hope and prayer is that as you begin to follow Him, you’ll go all in for Jesus.

Following at a Price

Following at a Price

“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’” Matthew 4:18-19

Picture yourself out on a fishing boat, just doing your job. When someone comes up to you and asks you to leave your job and then follow him, would you do it? Would you be able to give up your job, your home, your family, just to follow someone you don’t know that well? Not knowing what would lay ahead for him, and not truly grasping what it would cost him, Peter decided he would give up his life to follow Jesus.

Peter had known Jesus for about a year at this point in his lifetime, but it’s still remarkable that he would willingly give up everything. Because Peter had faith that Jesus was the Messiah, he found the decision to follow Jesus fairly easy. Over the course of his life, Peter would do amazing things for God. He would continue to follow God, even to the point where he gave up his life for Him.

Over the course of His ministry, Jesus had other people that would follow Him to a certain point, but then would desert Him at the smallest sign of trouble or disagreement. In Luke 9:57-62 some people tell Him they will follow Him, but only after they have finished business back home first. However, Jesus tells them that in order to follow Him, they must drop everything and follow without looking back to the old life.

Are there things in your life that are keeping you back? Maybe you are afraid of what lies ahead. Maybe you just want to wait until you are older and better equipped to handle following after Jesus. But just as Peter, who was an uneducated fisherman, did miraculous things later in life, it only came from daily following after Jesus.

Take time today to pray and ask God to help you let go of those things holding you back and give you courage to follow after Him, no matter what the price will be.

Day 2

You Follow But Do You Know Me?

 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”  (Matthew 7:21-23 ESV)

 Imagine all those friends you have on Facebook for a second. Now imagine that one of them spots you at the beach or mall or wherever and walks up to you. You don’t really know them well enough to have a conversation. Most likely, you don’t even know their name. To make things worse, they attempt to bring up the few things they know from your profile or the status update you posted recently… awkward right?

We are guilty of doing the same to God! All too often we take little tidbits from the bible or offer up a little prayer (much like a tweet) to God when we think about it. Maybe we even go to youth group and serve at camp. What God really wants though, is a deep relationship that is meaningful and rich. Deep down, we all want the same.

So how do we get that relationship with Him? Daily devotions, constant prayer, fellowship with believers, worship… the list goes on and on. Living a life that is holy and set apart from that of the world is near the top of the list. Believing that Jesus Christ died for your sins and is the Son of God is the first step in that relationship.

Now imagine you doing the ’Facebook friend’ thing to Jesus when you stand before Him at His throne… awkward right? Don’t let your relationship with Jesus be a shallow one, as this is the most important friendship you’ll ever have. The last thing you want to hear on the day of judgment is “I never knew you…”

Follow Me

^{Now that our Winter Bash! youth retreats are over, we want to share some of the devotions that were written by our staff and included in a 5 week devotional book that each camper received. We hope it blesses you and them!}

^{Follow Me}

²³And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. (Luke 9:23-24 ESV)

Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Pinterest… most of you have heard of these social websites that supposedly reveal your true self to others on the internet. It is so easy to get sucked into these sites, allowing them to draw your attention from the life going on around you. Our first question for you is this; Who are you following?

This is a simple question. You could probably name off five or six people you follow on Facebook or Twitter and talk about all the cool things they say or do. Perhaps you even want to be like them, emulating their actions and activities. They set an example for your life, whether it’s a good one or a bad. The problem is, we don’t see who they -really- are and what they really stand for. We get a small taste of their lives online and the rest is a mystery to us.

God has given us the coolest Facebook page ever. It reveals everything you’d ever want to know about Him. Every detail of the life Jesus is written down for you from four different viewpoints. His closest friends even wrote about Him, leaving wonderful bits of knowledge and wisdom for those who dig in. You could spend years on His page and never see all that there is to offer. The Bible doesn't leave much of a mystery as to how Jesus walked on earth and is better than any social media page.

 Luke 9 tells us that Jesus expects us to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him. In the following weeks, we’ll repeatedly come back to this passage with the hopes that you’ll begin to see why it’s so important to do as Jesus says; “Follow Me.”

Ephesians 2:10 Moments

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

I was reminded this past weekend of the need to follow God’s nudges and prompts. I have posted before that I try to pray and live out Ephesians 2:10 every day. I ask God to fill my agenda and try to listen to Him when He adds things to it. I often get the feeling I need to stop some place or call someone. People around me think oh here goes Chad following a whim. I know that it’s not a whim but an Ephesians 2:10 moment. I love when God’s Spirit moves and I follow what He is nudging me to do. It brings great joy to me and often I just stand their shaking my head and thanking God for the miracle he just made happen.

I have Ephesian 2:10 moments everyday most of us do we just don’t realize how God is orchestrating those moments. This past Friday I was sitting in my office and God was putting someone on my mind. I had the thought I need to call. This is the point where we make or break God’s plan. Do I continue what I was doing or do I follow God’s nudge? This day I followed God’s nudge. I prayed for the person He laid on my mind and followed it up with a call. I got voicemail and left this message. “Hello________ just wanted to call and check in. God put you on my heart today and I just wanted to let you know I was thinking of you and prayed for you. No need to call back.” Back to the project I was working on and continued prayers.  Fast forward to Saturday morning. I had taken a break from serving groups and came to the office to check messages. I no more than sat down and the phone rang. It was the person returning my call. They said this is going to be hard for me to share with out crying. So I listened and they shared that when my call came to them that they were sitting with their family dealing with a serious matter. They said that my call was just what they needed at that time. They felt peace come over them as they listened to the message and they were able to look at the situation knowing that God was in control. After hearing the story and how God needed me to be a part of His plan I prayed with this person and went back to fix lunch for our group. I stood amazed and satisfied knowing I just had an Ephesians 2:10 moment.

Every time this happens God reminds me that I need to follow nudges that He gives me. We never know what we are needed to do. Knowing that God has things for us to do, that He has planned in advance we should be ready and willing to follow through. Follow his nudges and complete the to-do list God has for you.