Ever watch White
Wolves? My new goal in life is to
incorporate this movie every time I write a devo… since starting I’ve got a 50%
success rate… not too bad ;) I’ve already given you a brief synopsis of the
movie in case you haven’t seen it. So after the trip has become a rescue
mission, there is yet another injury and it gets to the point that the whole
group just can’t travel on anymore. In the middle of the night, Benny decides
he’s going to go off alone and get help. Pandra catches him as he’s packing up
and asks him what he’s doing. He explains his plan is to hike an old lava flow,
cross an old bridge then white water raft the Lone Pine. Pandra tells him he
can’t do it alone that it’s class 4 rapids and she’ll join him. As they are
hiking along, Pandra trips and Benny tells her they can stop for the night and
she says she’s fine and she doesn’t want to slow him down. To which he replies,
“You’re not slowing me down, you’re keeping me going.” After awkwardly glancing
at each other, she says, “Then let’s keep going.” And they continue on.
Jumping around some in the story may make it hard to follow, but I’m
hoping that we are all familiar enough with David’s story that it’s not too
confusing. So today we’re moving back towards the beginning of the story. Saul
is currently king. David has been anointed as his successor, but hasn’t taken
his place yet. We’re looking at a chapter where Saul is jealous of David but
hasn’t been so overt about it yet. David has a really close relationship with
Jonathan, Saul’s son, and is married to Michal, Saul’s daughter.
Read 1 Samuel 19:1-10. Quick recap: Saul is coming after David, but
Jonathan protects David.
Read 1 Samuel 19:11-17. Quick recap: Saul is coming after David, but
Michal protects David.
Read 1 Samuel 19:18-24. Quick recap: Saul is coming after David, but
Samuel protects David.
David had people in his life who cared about him and helped him out when
he needed it. Maybe I have oversimplified this passage, but I think all of the
stuff we’ve been talking about this week is important. There are a lot of great
ideas in Unleash!, but it can be hard
to do it on your own. I think we’ve all heard messages on community and how we
need to be at church and fellowshipping with other believers if we want to be
successful in our walk with the Lord. And not to beat a dead horse, but it’s
true!
Besides Pandra making the white water rafting easier (and safer) by
joining Benny, she is also there to motivate and encourage him, and he does the
same for her. We need people in our lives who can come alongside us and make
things easier and motivate and encourage us along the way.
Most of you guys know I lost a lot of weight and have started running to
help keep the weight off. One of the best things to help me do this is meeting
up with friends. When we make plans to meet up on a Saturday morning to run, I
can’t just hit the snooze button and skip out cause I know that friend is going
to be there waiting for me. Another benefit to running with a friend is it
makes it more interesting. You can chat about things and encourage each other
along the way. A final benefit to mention is you can spur each other on. I am
not the fastest runner. One day Leif and I went running and that kid is like a
cheetah. I ran faster (and much longer) than I would have done on my own.
In life we should have people who we do the same. They can motivate us
to do the right thing even when we don’t want to. We can have people who are
fun to hang out with and can be open and honest with about things we are
struggling with so they can help us. We should have people who challenge us and
push us to do greater things. These may be friends, but they should also be
parents or youth leaders or adults you can trust.
Who do you have in your life that motivates you to do the right thing?
Who do you have in your life that you can hang out and have fun with?
Who do you have in your life that you can be open and honest with about
your struggles?
Who do you have in your life that you go to for advice?
Who do you have in your life that challenges and motivates you?
When I run races, I often see people that I would like to be like. Maybe
they have the latest gear, or they have good form or are super fast. I love
seeing old people run that you can just tell they’ve been doing it their whole
life. The same thing is true spiritually.
There are people that I interact with that I often wish I could turn out to be
like them. Who do you have in your life that you look up?
If you could grow up to be like anybody you know, who would you want to
be? Why?
In Unleash!, Perry mentioned how
often the phrase “one another” is used over and over again throughout the New
Testament because God doesn’t want us to go through life alone. Here are some verses that talk about one
another-ing. After each one, write down how it applies to what we’re talking
about.
Heb. 10:24-25- 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.
Gal. 6:2- Carry
each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
1 John 3:23- And this is
his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one
another as he commanded us.
1 Pet. 3:8- Finally, all
of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be
compassionate and humble.
1 Thess. 5:11- Therefore
encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Eph. 4:32- Be kind to one another,
tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven
you.
James 5:16-
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be
healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
Col. 3:16- Let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with
all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in
your hearts to God.
2 Cor. 13:12- Greet
one another with a holy kiss.
David had close relationships with a lot of people. We can see how he
did many of these things in his relationship with Jonathan and also with his mighty
men. If these verses don’t characterize your relationships, think and pray
about what you might need to change.
And one final thought… when we hear about people making bad choices, we
often think that won’t happen to me… “I know how to text and drive safely.”
“I’m going to wait until I’m married to have sex.” “I’m only going to do it
this one time.” “It’s just a little white lie.” “It doesn’t affect anyone
else.” We think we can do things and get away with it, but it’s a slippery
slope that we shouldn’t mess with. In Unleash!,
we read about how friends are like guardrails who can protect us when we are
tempted to swerve. Don’t think you are invincible. If you play with fire,
you’re gonna get burned!
If you have any questions or comments or concerns and want to talk, feel
free to connect with me. I’d love to talk with you more about this stuff. And
thanks for reading these extra devos!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For youth group, I wrote a few of the devotionals we put in a booklet for the teens. The second trip we did was a Missions Trip to New York where we did some Street Evangelism in NYC and some work projects in Upstate NY. Prior to this trip we Read Unleash by Perry Noble and focused on that and the life of David.
No comments:
Post a Comment