This week, we'll dig further into the importance of service in a life of faith and spend some time thinking about the impact that serving in community can have for God's Kingdom.
Week Ten
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Day One
PRAY: Quiet your heart and talk to God about your last week. Have you been open to God showing you opportunities to serve others? Talk to Him about that.
WRITE: In your journal, respond to the prompts below.
Where have you seen and acted on opportunity to serve others in the last week?
Where have you been on the receiving end of service in the last week?
READ: In your Bible, or below, read Hebrews 6:10–12.
God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown
Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them. We want
each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you
hope for may be fully realized. We do not want you to become lazy, but
to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been
promised.
WRITE: In your journal, respond to the prompts below.
What stands out to you from that passage? Why?
Do you relate with the idea of “becoming lazy” in serving others? Explain.
What are ways that you think Christ-followers can “stay diligent to the very end”?
How might community help us not become lazy?
PRAY: Close your time by asking God to keep you encouraged and strengthened to serve others.
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Day Two
PRAY: Ask God to help you be mindful of His presence with you today.
READ: In your Bible, or below, read Philippians 2:1–8.
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ,
if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any
tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being
like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do
nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value
others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of
you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as
Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God
something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself
nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled
himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!
WRITE: In your journal, respond to the prompts below.
As you read that passage, what stands out to you?
With that passage in mind, how would you describe humility?
How is Jesus a perfect picture of true humility?
Why is humility something we should strive for?
What role does humility play in serving others?
PRAY: Close your time by sharing with God where you desire to grow in humility.
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Day Three
PRAY: Talk to God and ask Him to help you take the nature of a servant this week.
READ: In your Bible, or in the Day 2 devotional from this week, re-read Philippians 2:1–8.
WRITE: In your journal, respond to the prompts below.
What does it mean to “take the nature of a servant”?
How can you follow that example that Jesus set?
REFLECT: When Jesus served others, He did so knowing that more was happening in those moments than just simply achieving a goal or meeting a need for someone else. In your servant acts of love, God is often at work in many ways for the benefit and growth of His Kingdom.
WRITE: in your journal, respond to the prompts below.
What are the ways that service can have a Kingdom effect above and beyond the physical act of service? Make a list of all the ways.
If individuals can have large-scale effects through serving others, how might we come together as God's children to serve as community to have an even bigger Kingdom impact?
PRAY: Spend some good time in prayer, asking God to help you find the strength to encourage those around you to serve others as well.
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Day Four
PRAY: Open your time with prayer, thanking God for the people He has put into your life to help you in faith.
WRITE: In your journal, make a list of people who are encouragers for you in your faith. This can be family, friends, whomever.
PRAY: Spend a few moments asking God to inspire you to love and serve others today.
ENGAGE: Watch the “Loving God and Serving Others” video.
WRITE: In your journal, respond to the prompts below.
What stood out to you from the video? What was inspiring for you?
What was Alan's motive for serving the homeless of Austin, Texas?
Is his motivation to serve similar to yours? Why or why not?
How might you be able to serve your community?
Who are people you can serve your community with?
PRAY: Close your time by telling God the things that keep you from humbly serving those around you. Ask Him to help take those.
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Day Five, Six & Seven
PRAY: Spend some time talking to God about the different needs you see in your community and in the world. Which of those are you most passionate about? Talk to God about that.
ENGAGE: Instead of a devotional today, get a group of people together to serve somewhere in the next couple weeks. It could be through the church, at a local non-profit, or even just picking up trash in your neighborhood. Here are some options, feel free to do something outside of this list as well.
