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Friday, June 6, 2014

Church: Part 3

Church Part 3

By Leah F.
Flashback to First Devotion:
I was looking at my emails/subscriptions and this website showed up in my inbox:
http://stevesimms.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/c-h-u-r-c-h-a-poetic-acrostic/
In it, there was an acrostic poem that looked like this:
C-Christ followers
H-hanging out together
U-under the influence of the Spirit
R-responding directly to His promptings
C-celebrating the glory of
H-his only presence!
For a couple months, I'm going to grow through 1-2 letters at a time, going into each of these
descriptions into detail.
Today we go on with:
R-responding directly to his promptings
------
I actually had to ask my youth pastor on this one. I had to understand exact ally what promptings are.
Before I start, here's the dictionary definition: 1. Something used to suggest or remind. 2. To move or or
speak in response to a cue.
Now, this might be a bit confusing, but basically prompting is a command or statement for us to do. For
example, in Matthew 28:19 says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Now here, the prompting is to go out and help
bring people to Christ.
Now I know I'm thinking "How am I supposed to do that? I'm only a teenager!" But, if you remember,
last time I talked about how we are under the influence of the Spirit, and with God all things are
possible. But God's promptings don't always come from the Bible, they come from our conscience, or
the Spirit gives you a yearning. This is what I'll be talking about today.
Have you ever been in your school cafeteria and seen the new girl/boy siting by their self? Did you (with
or w/o your friends) go sit next to him or her, or did you just leave them be. As Christians, we should
have the urge to help the new kid, be their friend, but then our human nature gets in the way, where we
worry of what other people will think. Now, God is giving you the prompt to go sit with them, but
sometimes we don't listen to his prompt. This acrostic says "responding directly to His promptings." Not
tomorrow, not next week, not next month, right now.
I hope we all realize that this isn't all fixed in a Christian school. I go to a private Christian school, and we
don't listen always to the promptings of God. We might spend the year memorizing Bible verses, but
after we recite them, we forget them, since memorizing scripture is normal to us. There is a boy who
just came into my class this year, and he has a bit of a social disorder. He is a great kid, but he doesn't
have many friends because of his disorder. But, I tried to hang out with him a bit, and he is actually
really smart, and really nice. Then i watched as in my friend group, in a way he is made fun of. I knew
there was something I could do to help him. Then one day during Friday devotions, we were giving a
post card, and we were told to write about someone and tell them of their good qualities. At first, I
thought I would just write it to my best friends, but something was telling me I should write it to the
boy. So I did, and when I gave it to him, I still remember how happy he was when he read it.
Responding to God not only is doing what he says, but in return it gives you a reward. It gives you a
higher sense of self-worth, and it helps you realize that you are here to make a difference. Maybe that
difference is to one day make world peace, or maybe that difference is making a kid's day. Maybe that
difference is starting a big anti-abortion charity, or maybe it's sponsoring a child by Compassion. Since
we are made in God's likeness, we do have the urge to do good, but our sinful nature gets in the way.
And that's why we need God and we need the Holy Spirit, we can't do anything on our own, it all
requires help from God.
Listen to God's promptings, and with each person you help, the more of the love of God you reveal.
Just in case you are interested: http://www.compassion.com/m/default.htm?

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