Being a Humble Servant

Being a Humble Servant

In the past, we have talked about how God wants you to succeed in everything you do.  He also wants us to be servants.  The word servant is mentioned in the bible at least 2337 times.  Coincidence?  I don’t think so.  God new that we would be reluctant to be a servant that’s why he tried to pound it into your head.  Over two thousand times!

What did Jesus mean when he said, "Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”?  Mark 9:35.  He wasn’t saying that you shouldn’t try.  He definitely wasn’t saying to give up and be last at everything you do.  He was saying that you should be putting others in front of you.  Making sure that they are taken care of before you take care of yourself. 

What I think of is ever since I was a young child I can remember that at family gatherings, there always seemed to be a fight for who would be the last one to go through the line to eat.  Would it be grandpa, dad, my uncle, or my grandma?  They were all waiting to make sure that everyone else made it through at least once before they would fill their plates. (Of course there was always enough food, my family likes to be prepared to feed an army, or a couple of teenagers they seem to eat about the same amount of food.  Lol). 

The truth is that’s not really, what Jesus meant.  The real servant here were the ones helping everyone else get their plates filled.  The ones who after dinner didn’t hesitate to fill the sink with water and start washing.  Those are the real servants.  They didn’t do it for the glory; they did it because it needed to be done.  In addition, they did it without complaining, most of the time. 

Being a servant doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to get down on your knees and scrub the floor.  You can be a servant at any stage in life and at any position, you hold.  Being a servant means that you put others first.  You make sure that others are taken care of before you tend to yourself.  Not only that but you help them when they need it. 

As a parent, being a servant might be cooking dinner, washing clothes, or taking your kids to their activities.  It also might be being quiet when your child is struggling so that they can learn how to problem solve on their own.  It might be not giving direct orders but allowing them to fall so that they can learn.  Of course, you will be there to help them get back up, dust off, and learn the lesson. 

As a Christian being a servant means that, you pray constantly.  Pray for God to help show you how he needs you to serve him.  We all serve in different ways.  For me one way I serve is by writing blogs and devotionals every week.  I serve by having scriptures at the bottom of every webpage.  By not being afraid to talk about God, no matter who am around.  We all serve in different ways, and that’s a GREAT thing.

There are many ways that you can be a servant.  Take a few moments and think of ways for you be a servant today.  What were they?  How can you accomplish them today even better than you did yesterday?  Do this exercise every day this week and see if it opens your eyes to just how you serve others.

Prayer

Lord today we come to you on our knees asking that you help us to see how we can better serve you.  We come to asking that you take a few moments out of your busy day to show us exactly what you need.  Then God we ask you for the courage to go out into the world and serve you the way you want is to.  We pray God for your guidance and wisdom in every aspect of our lives.  We are thankful that you allow us to serve others.  We are thankful that you give us those opportunities.  We pray that you would help all of those around us who might not fully understand what being a servant really is.  Help them to see how being a servant is the highest honor we could ever ask for.  Lord thank you for the wonderful title of SERVANT.  Thank you for your love.  Amen

Will you Pray with us?

Mankind throughout the world throughout our current situation
All Law enforcement and emergency response personnel 

For all military personal serving our country and their families 

Those in Leadership positions throughout the world

God has A Plan For You

God has A Plan For You

The Lord doesn’t want us to fail.  In fact, he wants nothing but the opposite.  He wants us to succeed every time.  Nevertheless, he does understand that sometimes we need to fail in order to truly succeed.  He uses those hard times to help us grow if we allow him to. 

You can ask my parents, I was tough child to raise.  I was stubborn, loud, knew it all, couldn’t be told anything, lost my temper, got in trouble for everything, and took chances I shouldn’t have taken.  My parents had their hands full, to say the least.  God had plans for me though and they knew that.  (That’s probably why they didn’t give up on me.)  God never gave up on me either.  He knew that eventually I would turn around and truly accept him into my life.  He knew that I start writing devotionals to help others endure the same things I have in my past.  He knew that I would prosper. 

You see God gives us every situation we are in for a reason.  I didn’t understand most of the time why things happened the way they did.  I used to not accept that God has a plan as a reason either.  Now I know that God has a plan.  I know that he is helping me to grow.  I know that he truly wants us to prosper because he has plans for our future.  Plans that we know nothing about, yet.

Until I was about 31, I said that I would never want to work for myself.  I wanted the comfort of getting a paycheck and not having to worry about the other parts of the business.  God had blinded me to the fact that I was supposed to be an entrepreneur.  He made it to where I could not see that that was part of my role in his world. 

I could look back and think, God why didn’t you allow me to see this earlier?  On the other hand, I can look back and think, I am so grateful that you put me each and every situation that you did so that I could learn have hope for the future.  I'm grateful that you gave me opportunity to learn and meet a TON of people that I will be able to help now and in the future.  I know that God’s plans are bigger than mine, and I accept that.  I know that he never has intentions to cause me harm.  He loves me, just as my parents love me.  He wants nothing but to the best for all of us.

Things to think about

Is there something that happened to you that you didn’t understand at first, but later knew that God protected you?

Have you ever “failed” only to find out that you learned so much more through that process than you ever could have otherwise?

Do you trust that God is there for you every day in every way?

Prayer

Lord we come to you today with a humble heart.  We know that you love us and we are thankful for that.  Love is what keeps us moving every day.  We would than you for giving us opportunities to grow.  Even if we don’t see those opportunities right now, we know that you are here for us.  God you give us hope every day and encouragement.  We pray that you help us to give that same hope to others.  Help us to never give up on anyone just as you never give up on us.  We pray that you open our eyes to see you working in, not only our lives but also those around us.  Help us to stay strong and be the encourages you NEED us to be.  Lord, we thank you for your guidance, wisdom, and patience.  Thank you

Amen

Will you Pray with us?

Mankind throughout the world throughout our current situation

All Law enforcement and emergency response personnel 

For all military personal serving our country and their families 

Those in Leadership positions throughout the world

Trust in God, Always

Trust in God, Always

Trusting in God even when the world is telling you not to can be tough.  That is Satin at work and let me tell you he does a great job at making us question God’s plan for us. 

If you feel like this is you don’t worry you’re not alone.  As humans, we have always struggled with trusting God plan fully.  Personally I tend to trust him to help me get started but after a little while I end up taking it back from him and stressing about how I are going to make it work.  Then when I finally come to my senses and actually give it back to God, he set the task right where it needs to be and save my neck, every time. 

Why do we tend to stop trusting God?

There are many reasons.  One is that because we were designed in his image.  He designed us to be confident, strong willed, to do what’s right, gracious, loving, and forgiving.  Just like he is.  I am not giving you permission to not trust Gods plan by saying that we were designed in his likeness.  What I am saying that he understands, and that’s why he constantly forgives us and helps us get back on our feet.  He helps guide us back to the path he needs us on. 

Another reason might be that our pride gets in our way of listening to God. Have you ever started a project without knowing exactly how it was going to turn out?  ALL the TIME, right!  We trust God to help us through then our dang pride gets in the road and tells our mind, “I got this” and we lose track of God.  This happens a lot, especially as we mature in our relationship with the Lord. 

Trust God always because he knows what is best for us.  He loves us and wants what’s best for each of us.  He knows before we are born and he has plans for us from that moment.  Our only jobs while we are on this earth is to have faith that God has this all under control, and tell everyone we meet about God.

A few things to think about.

Is there anything that you did lately that didn’t go as you planned?  What did you do to get it back on track?  Did you think about giving it to God?

Prayer

Lord we come to you today with our hearts and minds open to your word and your knowledge.  Lately we have been praying for wisdom and you have blessed us immensely.  This week God, we come to ask that you take our life and put it on YOUR path, not ours.  Help guide our steps to be so in-tune with you that others might see you and your son by simply watching how we live.  God we thank you for forgiving us when we lose sight of you.  we pray that you would guide every step of our lives to serve you better.  Thank you for everything.

Amen

Will you Pray with us?

Mankind throughout the world throughout our current situation

All Law enforcement and emergency response personnel 

For all military personal serving our country and their families 

Those in Leadership positions throughout the world

Living Word

Living Word

The bible is called the living word for a reason, because it lives within every person who reads it.  I also believe that the meaning of verses change as we read them in different stages of our lives. 

Lets take Ephesians 5:21-25 as an example.  Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.  Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. 

If you were engaged and getting ready to be married what might your perception of these verses be?  As a wife I am supposed to submit to my spouse in every way.  The man should be the head of the household. 

Now let’s look at a 30 something’s perspective. I am supposed to submit to others because I respect God.  That includes my spouse, my boss, and others around me.

If we put ourselves in an older persons shoes their perspective might be. That the man and woman are to work together in everything they do.  Just as Christ worked with the people so should both members of the marriage should be willing to lay down their life for the other. 

While none of these are wrong I have different perspective as I read these.  It clearly states that wives are supposed to submit to their husbands as the leaders of their households.  It also clearly states that Husbands are supposed to love our wives just as Christ loved those around him (the church).  One question that I asked myself was, what good is a head without a body?  And vice versa what good is a body without a head.  Both parts of the marriage have to work together to truly succeed.

Who knows maybe my perspective is completely wrong too.  The great thing about the bible is that as long as we read it with God in our hearts then we are doing it for the right reasons.  Its supposed to change perspectives as we grow in our relationship with God.

Have you ever read the same verse multiple times and discovered a different meaning?

Prayer

Lord today we come to you asking that you guide us to the verses that we need.  Not necessarily the verses we want but the ones we truly NEED.   we want to that you for helping us to better understand as we continue to read your word.  Please open our eyes to the meaning you need us to see today. 

Amen

Will you Pray with us?

Mankind throughout the world throughout our current situation

All Law enforcement and emergency response personnel 

For all military personal serving our country and their families 

Those in Leadership positions throughout the world