Thursday, June 29, 2017

DOD 8

Warm up:
Take a 5 minutes to talk to Papa.  Don't think about what you need to praying for like purity or self-control.  Just talk to Him.  Tell Him how your feeling.  Express your pain, worries, fears.  Thank Him for everything.  Even the little things.  Maybe you had a really good cup of coffee this morning.  Tell Him what you need.  Don't ask. Tell Him like you would a friend.  Settle your mind and relax.

So rest before short rounds.  Consider how sin has owned you.  How it has ate up your time, energy, integrity and made you hide in shame.  It has owned us all.  Exodus starts out by telling the story of God freeing the Israelites from their bondage to the Egyptians. So let me set the stage here.  God appears to Moses and tells him to go talk to the Israelite elders. God sends message that He will rescue them. Follow along. 

Exodus 3:16-17 "Go, assemble the elders and say to them, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers-the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-appeared to and said: I have watched over you and see what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you out of your misery into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perrizites, Hivites and Jebusites-a land flowing with milk and honey.'"

Round 1:
"I have watched over you and see has been done to you..."  God has watched over you.  He has seen how the world has sold you lies.  He sees how sin has owned you and wrecked you life.  Reflect on how sin has ruined your life or at least parts of it.  See what sin has done to you.  Consider how much more it could have taken from you.  What if this had happened or had I not got exposed. Yes we have been exposed and it is hard but we could have lost more. Realize God has been watching over you. Take a minute to thank God for what you still have left. 

Round 2:
"And I have promised to bring you out of your misery..."  Sin does not own you.  Sometimes we feel like we are powerless to our temptations.  We feel like even if we could say no we will be miserable with desire or left wanting.  God does not want us to be miserable.  He doesn't want us to be doing all the right things but unhappy because we just keep telling ourselves no.  So how does He do this.  He changes our desires.  So take a minute to talk to God about your struggle with sinful desires.  Yes He knows but talk to Him.  Ask Him to change your heart, mind and feelings.  Ask Him to show you the lies that make you miserable.

Round 3:
"...a land flowing with milk and honey."  God doesn't just promise to deliver us out of misery but He also wants to give us the riches He has.  Imagine that. God does not just want to free you but to give you the promised land.  So now dream big.  Dream how you would want God to change your life.  Dream of you not only being faithful and free of lust but closer to your wife and kids.  Dream of how God would give you friends that know you and be like brothers.  Dream.  Don't stop there.  Maybe you want to be driving a truck.  Maybe you love golf and would like better clubs.  This may seem off the point but it is not.  I don't want you to be greedy but I want you to talk to God about your promised land after He has freed you from your misery.  Remember He frees you.  You don't work hard enough to get better.  You go to Him to deliver you.  Back to my point.  Talk to God about your promised land.  Be honest and real with Him.  Relax.  Be excited about the journey God has you on.

Cool down:
Reflect on what God said to you today.  Share any thought or feeling on GroupMe.  Even if God took you on a tangent from the points here.  Share what told you today.  Share how He has met you right where you are and what you needed.








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