Broken to Beautiful
Theme For The Week: Our main text for this series of devotionals is from Luke 8.1-3. You can listen to teaching on this passage here: (part 1) & (part 2)
Intro Prayer: “Jesus, please help me in this time to be fully present to You and myself that I may commune with You for the sake of your glory and the world around me.”
Silence: In this time, try and become silent before the Lord both internally and externally for 5 minutes. If your mind wanders, gently bring it back to stillness.
Praise: Bless the Lord by declaring these truths about Him!
“You are the God who caring and close You counsel your people are our comforter. You are our confidence and our covenant-keeping God. You never change, you are consistent. You are creative and capable. You are deserving of ceaseless praise.
Devotional: This week you are learning about the power of testimony. Sometimes we disqualify ourselves thinking that God can’t use our story because we are too messed up or too in process, What we see over and over again in Scripture is that God uses broken people to make beautiful things. Abraham was a liar. Jacob was a deceiver. Moses was a murderer. Hannah was barren. David was an adulterer. Esther was an orphan. Peter denied Jesus. Mary had demons. Paul killed Christians. And yet God worked powerfully in their lives to heal and redeem. In today’s Scripture we read Jesus’s mission statement. Note how he takes broken things and makes them things of beauty. He takes shattered lives and uses them to rebuild the world.
Scripture: Read today’s text slowly. Feed your spirit on the words. Your goal in this time is to commune with Jesus through His Word. Take note as you sense His Presence.
Isaiah 61.1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.
Worship: Respond to Jesus with worship today! Our worship song for this week is Overcome by Jeremy Camp:
Listen: Take time to listen to the Holy Spirit. Write down anything you sense the Lord speaking.
Obedience: What from today is the Lord calling you to put in practice? Could be to pray for someone, to call someone, to serve someone etc.