Your Spiritual GPS

Vol 3 No 22 THEO'S DEVOS

Psalm 48:14 For this God is our God for ever and ever;

he will be our guide even to the end

The US Census Bureau just told me that they want me to work for them in the next phase of the census. They said that I had done a good job and they want me to stay with them. Now in order to do that good job I had a very valuable helper. I have a GPS for my car. This device allows me to find any address anywhere and find the quickest route. By having this I am able to quickly find the addresses I have to map. I can get more done than someone just using a map. However, two days ago it developed a problem. I turned it on and it could not acquire the satellite. Without being able to contact the satellite circling the earth it is rendered useless. Everything else works fine and the thing does all kinds of extra stuff.

The problem is that I didn't buy the GPS to play music or look at pictures or convert currency. I bought it for one reason: to locate addresses. Since it cannot do that right now, it has to be sent back and replaced. I have no idea why it can't acquire a satellite. If you were to look at it, you would say that it looks OK. All the controls work but something inside does not function properly and it has been cut off from the source of its purpose.

Our verse today tells us that, spiritually we, as Christians have a built in GPS that leads us through life. God guides us and He is there for ever and ever. So, if that is true, and it is, why do we get off track and end up places that we know God does not want us to be. The answer is to know how this spiritual GPS works. What is it that connects us to the source of our guidance?

There are two parts to this answer. First is God's Word. Without access to His book we cut ourselves off from the map that we need to walk the path God desires for us. We need to read and study the map. My GPS does that first of all. It loads the right maps so it can find the locations that I ask it for. Without those maps I is useless. But my GPS does that, or at least it tells me that it loads them. So what else could be wrong? That is the second thing: prayer. Prayer, talking to God when He is not physically present, is the connection that plugs us into the source of our guidance. If we do not pray, we cut ourselves off from the pipeline that delivers the information to us. When we pray, God can bring the concepts of scripture, the truth that He wants us to know, so that it can lead and guide us into making the right decisions that will take us along the proper path in life.

Many Christians seem to think that everything will go right without having any contact with the Bible and without praying. This is a critical mistake. The only way that God can lead you if that is your plan, is to let you make mistake upon mistake and learn the hard way. But even if that is the path you take, you still cannot get going in the right direction without reading scripture and praying. The mistakes will just pile up and after years of living like that, you may find that there is no way to accomplish all that God had in store for you. It is very important that you begin to connect to your spiritual source as quickly as you can. Begin reading your Bible and praying to your Father so that your spiritual GPS will function properly. If you do, you will discover that life is not as difficult as it has seemed to be. This is not to promise that life will be smooth with no bumps but it is to say that it can be smoother than it has been.

May God bless you as you keep in touch with Him. I am praying for you.

Theo

Dear Small Group Leader (or soon to be Facilitator)

Please allow everyone in your group to answer the Quick Question. It will get things started on the right foot, encouraging quieter ones to open up. Please do not require everyone to answer every question. They may not be ready to share yet. Also please allow at least 5-10 minutes at the end of your study so as many as would like to can respond to the REFLECTION question. This may be the most important time in your small group study. Thank You

SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDY

Please Read: Psalm 48

QUICK QUESTION: Do you have protection for your house and, if so, what kind? Does it make you feel safe?

1. What is this writer primarily trying to say?
   
   

2. What causes God's people to give thanks to God?
   
   

3. What is so important about the city of Zion?
   
   

4. How does the Paalm end?
   
   

5. What does this Psalm tell you about God's power?
   
   

6. Why does the phrase, “God has no grandchildren” ring true?

REFLECTION: For what would you like to praise God this week?

Rest for the Weary

Vol 3 No 21 THEO'S DEVOS

Psalm 23:2-3a He lets me rest in green meadows;

he leads me beside peaceful streams.

³ He renews my strength.

As I travel the back roads of Oregon I notice something very interesting. This state has plenty of water and grass, the two things most necessary for the raising of sheep. And that explains why there are so many sheep here. Flocks and flocks of sheep, along with so many other forms of animal. It makes my job almost fun Notice that in our verse for today we see God letting us rest in green meadows. In other words we have all that we need for our souls. So much so that we can rest without having to struggle for that nourishment. We also are led beside peaceful streams. I must say that I have seen more of them since coming to Oregon than I have seen in my whole life and I have traveled throughout Central and South America as well as most of Europe. That is not to say that those places do not have these things, it is just that Oregon seems to have more of them throughout the state. In thinking of these verses even today, Oregon gave me mental pictures of just what the psalmist was describing.

In a spiritual sense this is what God offers us. A quiet nourishment for our inner person. Our souls can have the rest that it needs if we simply, by faith, appropriate it. The Bible promises us these things but we need to activate our faith if we want to benefit from them. They do not come naturally. The natural man is restless. He, or she, will always struggle with life. Life is hard. We know that. Life does not get easier as we mature. In fact life can get more and more difficult as we go along but the rest we need is always right there for us when we need it.

So how do we appropriate this rest? Is it though prayer? Do we simple ask God and He gives it? Is it something that we thinks about, meditate on, and it is available? Well prayer is a great help but it is not the final answer unless it must be because we do not have access to the tool we really need. The real answer is the Word of God. It is the Bible that gives us the rest we need. The living words therein, coupled with prayer to God our Father, is the solution to the rest problem. God can speak to your inner spirit though His word; He can touch you deep inside where no one else can reach. By believing the things that God tells us in His book, we can relax and know that He is in control no matter what our outer circumstances are and we can rest in Him.

We have direct access to the God of all creation through His word the Bible. His power resides there and can be poured into your soul by reading its words. When you open your Bible, you open the mouth of God. He will speak to you through its pages and He will give you the rest you desperately need by simply reading it. If you then go so far as to dig into it and study it, there is no telling what will happen. It has inspired many men and women to bring about great change in our world by studying the Bible. Just by reading Theo's 'Devos each week will bring thoughts to your mind that will aid in your spiritual growth and bring you closer to the rest He wants you to have.

I have seen hundreds of sheep over the last few weeks resting in the pastures of Oregon. I can only wish that more Christians would find that kind of rest for there own lives in the turbulent pastures where they live.

May God bless you this week.

Theo

Dear Small Group Leader (or soon to be Facilitator)

Please allow everyone in your group to answer the Quick Question. It will get things started on the right foot, encouraging quieter ones to open up. Please do not require everyone to answer every question. They may not be ready to share yet. Also please allow at least 5-10 minutes at the end of your study so as many as would like to can respond to the REFLECTION question. This may be the most important time in your small group study. Thank You

SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDY

Please Read: Psalm 23

QUICK QUESTION: When is it most difficult for you to rest?

1. List the nouns used in this Psalm.
   
   

2. List the adjectives.
   
   

3. List the verbs.
   
   

4. Discuss the reason why those parts of speech are used. How do they impact the meaning of the Psalm?

REFLECTION: How can the group best pray for your peace and rest this week?

Sheep and the Shepherd

Vol 3 No 20 THEO'S DEVOS

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Rev 5:12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.

I have been working for the US Census Bureau for the last couple of weeks and have been driving all over this section of Oregon. It is interesting work and I meet lots of interesting people. I also see lots of cool animal like turkeys, deer, buffalo, horses, llamas, alpacas, and sheep, thousands of sheep. They are so cute, especially the new born ones. I really like sheep and think of the scriptures that calls us sheep quite often. So I guess we can consider ourselves cute and stupid. Now I could go into proving that by giving an analysis of sheep but that has been done so many times I think I will pass.

What I am more interested in is Jesus. These are devotionals you know. One of the things that I find interesting about Jesus in His inscrutability. Our verses today says that He is the Shepherd and the Lamb. Now how does that work? How can Jesus be the shepherd and the sheep? Well it is just like Him isn;t it. I mean He is the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God. He is the beginning and the end. He is all man and all God. He was before the beginning and is, already, at the end. How can that be? It can be because of two important facts. One, He is God. And, two, we are not. We are finite and He is infinite.

I mention that because I find it fascinating when I hear prople trying to figure out Jesus. They seem to only be able to grasp things about Him that they can understand. If we could it would mean only one thing. Our God is too small. If you ever get the chance, read the book, Your God Is Too Small by J B Phillips. I have read that little book three times and always am greatly blessed by it. It has helped me to understand that not grasping all there is about God and scripture is a good thing. I don't want a God who is so small that I can understand Him. There are doctrines that I believe but cannot fully understand. That is OK with me now. When I was younger it bothered me but as I matured I understood that I could trust God. I could trust Him with my life and my eternity.

When you get to the point where you do not have to have a complete explanation for everything about God, your life will relax a lot. You won't find yourself wrestling with the things taught in scripture and you will find yourself arguing less with other Christians about what you should or should not, believe. We must contend for the faith, I know, but we do not need to be contentious while doing it.

Go see some sheep sometime soon. You will find them very cute. They will look like you. Lol.

Theo

Dear Small Group Leader (or soon to be Facilitator)

Please allow everyone in your group to answer the Quick Question. It will get things started on the right foot, encouraging quieter ones to open up. Please do not require everyone to answer every question. They may not be ready to share yet. Also please allow at least 5-10 minutes at the end of your study so as many as would like to can respond to the REFLECTION question. This may be the most important time in your small group study. Thank You

SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDY

Please Read: John 10:1-10

QUICK QUESTION: What is your impression of sheep? If you were God would you have used sheep as a description for humans? Why or why not?

1. If they could think, what would sheep think about their shepherd?
   
   

2. When Jesus spoke, how did He impress those He spoke to?
   
   

3. To what did Jesus liken Himself to?
   
   

4. Who would the sheep not listen to?
   
   

5. How did Jesus relate His coming to a thief?
   
   

6. How is Jesus like a shepherd?
   
   

REFLECTION: How could you become better at listening for Jesus' direction in your life?

The Essence of Love

Vol 3 No 19 THEO'S DEVOS

John 3:16-17

¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.

John 3:16 is arguably the most well known verse in all of the Bible. I have used it first because no matter how often I have read it, it never grows old. The thoughts behind this verse are priceless and timeless.

As I thought about this verse today I could not help but notice some interesting characteristics about the essence of love in them.

1. You are greatly loved. I know that the verse says that God so loved the world but that is a hard concept to grasp. Also, is an interesting verse in that you can read the entire Old Testament and not discover the fact that God loves the 'whole' world. The Old Testament lets us know that God loved His chosen people but there isn't a hint that He loved the whole world. Aside from the Jewish nation God had some nasty things to say about the gentiles. You read Matthew and we don't find that God loves the whole world. You can read Mark and Luke and hear nothing about God loving the whole world. The first two chapters of John do not mention it. It isn't until you come to John 3:16 that you discover that God, in fact, loves the world.
   That is well and good but the major thing to notice is that He loves you. You are a key part of this 'world' that He loves. He reaches out to you. He desires to keep you safe and no matter what happens He will always love you.

2. The essence of love is to give. 'He gave...' When you love someone, you want to give them something. Affection, attention, etc. And God didn't just give us a mere gift, He gave us the gift of His Son. There was no better gift that He could have given us because in that gift came eternal life and the ability to be with God forever. So giving is the essence of love as God sees it and that is a timeless truth we can hold onto.

3. Love never dies. When love is true it never dies. It is eternal. We often mistake 'like' with love. Like comes and goes. We, sometimes think we love someone or something but time reveals that we merely liked that person or thing and then our feelings change and we find other things to like. But love is not a feeling. It is a commitment. True love is not threatened by time and circumstance. I often wonder how many people have ever really experienced true love. How many people have established relationships with people that they liked a whole lot at some point but have to admit that the reality was not true love.
   God does not have that problem so frequent in human relationships. He loved us from eternity past and His love will extend into eternity future

You are greatly loved and that love will never die. It will grow throughout time and eternity. You are safe with Him and He will never let you down. We may fail Him but His great love will overcome our inadequacies and will draw us to Him. May God bless you today.

Friendship is like the breeze,
You can't hold it,
Smell it,
Taste it,
Or know when it's coming,
But you can always feel it,
And you'll always know it's there,
It may come and then go,
But you can know it'll always be back.

- Terri Fanning -

Theo

Dear Small Group Leader (or soon to be Facilitator)

Please allow everyone in your group to answer the Quick Question. It will get things started on the right foot, encouraging quieter ones to open up. Please do not require everyone to answer every question. They may not be ready to share yet. Also please allow at least 5-10 minutes at the end of your study so as many as would like to can respond to the REFLECTION question. This may be the most important time in your small group study. Thank You

SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDY

Please Read:

QUICK QUESTION: If you could go back and start over, would you or wouldn't you and why?

1. What is required in order to be saved?
   
   

2. What is the result of the belief stated here?
   
   

3. What did God do to show the world His love?
   
   

4. Why did Jesus enter our world?
   
   

5. Exactly what does John say here that you must do to be saved? Search the book of John to see if there are any other requirements (no other book, just John).

REFLECTION: What can you and/or your group do this week to show your love and gratefulness to God?