January devotional

Hey Counselors! Have you read your January Newsletter yet? Here's the devotional if you haven't - it's a good read!

Interact With God's People

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25

When preparing a soup can for the recycling bin, I rinsed it in excessively hot water and ended up dropping it in the sink. Steel and tin cans hold their heat!

For believers to retain their heat and keep the fire of love for God and zeal for service burning in their hearts, there are disciplines or habits that we need in our lives – including interacting with God's people. One of the many benefits of interacting with God’s people is that it encourages us to act justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him (Micah 6:8). As leaders in ministry, interacting with God’s people is a dual-opportunity to be held accountable by our leaders and to give accountability – especially to the younger women and girls that are within our sphere of influence (Titus 2:3-6).

Accountability is vital to the body. God’s Word says, Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they watch over you as those who must give an account (Hebrews 13:17, TNIV).

Yet according to a recent Barna Group study, accountability is not regularly taking place in the church. Barna Group reported, “Although there were a few subgroups that were more likely than average to experience church-based accountability, there was not a single segment for which even one out of every five people said their church does anything to hold them accountable. Among the 5% who said the church holds them accountable, there were seven primary approaches to oversight that were described. The most common was through small groups. Putting those figures in context, the survey found that 22% of adults were involved in a small group, which means only 7% of all small group attendees identified accountability as one of the functions fulfilled by their group.”

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing (Hebrews 10:25). This is an oft-quoted verse on the necessity of regularly gathering with the saints to worship. Truly, worship is central, but not exclusive to interacting with God’s people! Read the verse that precedes it: Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24). We must provide accountability by motivating one another to be loving and good (Hebrews 10:24), building each other up (1 Thessalonians 5:11), and teaching and admonishing one another with wisdom (Colossians 3:16).

PASSION Step:

If you are not receiving and giving accountability, seek and welcome it into your life in 2011.

Because the underlying theme of the Christian life is one of being transformed from a selfish and self-driven individual to one who lives for and surrenders control of one's life to God, the practice of accountability for life choices and behavior is central to that process of transformation.

Barna Group

Interact with God's People

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:24-25

In his book, Spiritual Rhythm – Being with Jesus every season of your soul, Mark Buchanan compares two stories about David – one well-known, and one buried in the Old Testament – much more difficult to retrieve from the memory bank. In 1 Samuel 17, young David easily defeated Goliath the giant from Gath who was over nine feet tall and whose iron point on his spear weighed about 15 pounds. In the later years of David’s rule, once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted. And Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels [NOTE: exactly half of what Goliath’s spearhead weighed!] and who was armed with a new sword said he would kill David. But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue; he struck the Philistine down and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished” (2 Samuel 21:15-17).

Buchanan draws this parallel between the battles. “We’ve made an icon of David’s battle with Goliath. We’ve largely ignored his battle with Ishbi-Benob. And is it any wonder? We don’t celebrate weakness. We don’t honor dependency. We don’t value needing others.”

Would you describe yourself as dependent or independent? Is it easier for you to ask for help or to offer help? Would you rather work on a team or do it yourself? Interacting with God’s people means living in community not on an island. God’s design for His Church is not that they be independent hands, feet, eyes or ears. He designed the Church to be His body – a single unit that needs one another. No part is indispensable. No part is less honorable (1 Corinthians 12).

Interacting with God’s people is critical to the health of His body and all its parts – including you and me. We need each other. We need to corporately and regularly worship together. Come, let us, bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker (Psalm 95:6, emphasis mine). We need to meet together so we can spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24), rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those mourn (Romans 12:15), agree in prayer together (Matthew 18:19), teach and admonish one another with all wisdom as we sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in our hearts to God (Colossians 3:16). Community is not simply a good idea it’s God’s idea – His best plan for our lives.

PASSION Step: What can you do to live in deeper community in 2011? Begin today.

No candle which God lights was ever meant to burn alone.

J. C. Ryle

~Lenae Bulthuis, GEMS Training Manager

Wow, it's been a while!

Dear Area 3 counselors,

I apologize for the long gap in posts here! Once Faithgirlz was over, I finished up all the details from that, tried to get myself caught up around my home and finished up our GEMS year. Now that Christmas break is over and I'm finally looking forward instead of playing catch-up, I realize that I put this blog on a back burner and pretty much forgot about it!

Now I'm looking at the remainder of our GEMS year and am so excited to get back into it! We're still finishing up our December lessons on Serving Others and will also learn about Interact with God's People during the month of January. I've been using the PASSION WALL visuals and activities with the girls and they are loving it! The congregation is participating when they can as well! I know Satan was working to douse the fires, though. I showed up at church one Sunday (during a crazy busy fall) to find my entire PASSION WALL display removed! I was so frustrated. What on earth? Who would do that? Come to find out, there had been a wedding and they wanted them down for that. Okay, that was fine. Then I had to go looking for the stuff. It had been stashed in a classroom, one piece on top of the other so that all the tape from the back of one poster was sticking to the front of another! What a mess. Then I went to find tape and of course the church was out. It wasn't until this past Sunday that I finally was able to re-post the entire PASSION WALL! I found myself very discouraged and frustrated that all my work was treated so disrespectfully. But as I re-posted everything, and looked at the examples of all we had done, God changed my heart. I saw anew the excitement and PASSION of the girls and the congregation and felt the fire burning again within. All the names signed to the flame, all the initials by the books of the Bible being read, all the prayer requests and praises - all things that were done to God's glory. God wouldn't let Satan keep me discouraged! He provided an opportunity for me to re-post the visuals so that I would have to really look at each and every one and could give Him thanks and glory for all He has done in our club this year. I am now so anxious to meet my girls and counselors again next week and continue to fuel our PASSION together!

How about you? Have you been frustrated? Or are you refreshed from a bit of a break and ready to find your PASSION again? What's going on in your GEMS clubs this winter? I'd love to hear from you about how you are feeding the fires in your own hearts and in the hearts of your girls. Send me an email or leave a comment and give God the glory!

{{hugs}} and prayers,
Julie Ball
Area 3 AC