A Happy Heart

Hey everybody! Hope your weeks are going pretty well. And I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. Here is a devotion from creativeyouthideas.com. It is something that I certainly try to live out in my life, and I hope you all do the same.

The Bible says,
"A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit." -Proverbs 15:13

A cheerful heart is good medicine. Laughter, as an expression of joy, is essential to our physical and emotional well-being. Dr. Hendrie Weisinger's manual on anger management, "Dr. Weisinger's Anger Work-Out Book", warns that if our daily total is less than fifteen laughs, including three belly laughs, we are under-laughed.

Laughter and humor are essential for coping with life, for relieving tension, and for keeping things in perspective. A noted theologian wrote that we resolve the ambiguities of life with faith and humor. When it comes to daily living, around the office or the home or the classroom, we need a combination of faith and laughter in abundance!

Followers of Christ know full well that some days do not bring much happiness. But we experience joy that no circumstance can touch. In an increasingly despondent world, believers can lead lives of joy mixed with laughter. As Grady Nutt said, "Laughter is God's hand on the shoulder of a troubled world."

Trick or Truth

Alright guys. The day is here. Halloween. Hollows end. Day of the Hallows. Whatever name it is given, it amounts to the same thing: free candy if you dress up. So, to give a little key info on this topic, here is a devotion from dare2share.org. Hopefully this devotion will help you put Christ in Halloween.

During the years that I served as a Pastor of Student Ministries, I had a definite love/hate relationship with October. On the one hand, students were back in the swing of things, and attendance usually was much more consistent. Yet football, other sports, homecomings, and a host of other activities made it very tough to keep the momentum going. The hardest thing for me to decide each fall was what to do with this mysterious 'holiday' called Halloween.

The Apostle Paul said:

"I try to find common ground with everyone so that I might bring them to Christ." (I Corinthians 9:22)

My purpose in this devotion is not to make a statement about how you should or shouldn't feel about Halloween, rather to equip and resource you with information so that you can find 'common ground' with unbelievers and use October 31st as a way to help bring people to Christ, because this season typically brings a greater openness on the part of people to discuss spiritual issues- so why not take advantage of these two factors to get the Message to the lost?

One of the biggest problems we face is the enormous amount of misinformation put out by well meaning believers who have 'researched' this topic at an elementary school level or below. So first off, let's try and make some sense out of the loony tunes literature floating around regarding the history behind Halloween.

In North America, the yearly observance of Halloween amounts to a multi-billion-dollar industry, second only to Christmas...selling costumes, candy and food items, party supplies, greeting cards, tours of so-called haunted houses, and other forms of entertainment. But what is the history of this particular day? The story may surprise you.

• FACT: It's Old
  More than two thousand years ago, a people called the Celts lived in what are now Ireland, Great Britain, and France. Among the Celtic people was an elite intellectual class known as the Druids, who served as religious priests, judges, lawmakers, and scientists. They had an elaborate pagan religious festival, along with certain rituals. Chief among these was the Fire Festival called Samhain (pronounced sow-en), observed at harvest time to mark the Celtic New Year.
  The Celts believed that on this night the barrier between the natural world and the supernatural was removed, and the spirits of the dead were able to move freely among human beings. Samhain was the most solemn and important night in the Celtic year.
• FACT: Christians had a Part
  After the Roman Catholic Church brought Christianity to the Celtic peoples in the seventh century, some of their traditional folk customs were Christianized. In 835 A.D. Pope Gregory IV moved the church's "Feast of All Saints" from the spring to November 1st to replace the observance of Samhain. All Saint's Day, still observed today by many Christians, honored believers who had died. The night before, which featured a sacred vigil in church, became known as "All Hallow's Eve," or Halloween. But the old practices of the Druids died hard and were denounced by the church as witchcraft. This is how Halloween became known as a witch's holiday.

• FACT: Today's Customs are Different
  Dressing in costumes and going door-to-door comes from a much later tradition in the British Isles, a practice not restricted to Halloween. Masked players would go from house-to-house, putting on a simple drama or musical performance in return for food and drink. Often these performances had Christian themes.
  The "trick-or-treat" custom we know today is thoroughly American in origin. In the nineteenth century, when Irish and Scotch immigrants brought their Halloween traditions to North America, the night became an occasion for pranks and mischief. Vandals would go through the night, soaping windows, overturning outhouses, and pulling gates from their hinges. These pranks were playfully said to be the work of witches and ghosts, but by the 1920s the joke wasn't funny anymore. The damage to neighborhoods was mounting.
  To counteract Halloween vandalism, community clubs like the Boy Scouts began to organize alternatives that are safe and fun. Children were encouraged to go door-to-door and receive treats from homeowners and merchants, keeping the troublemakers away. By the 1930s, the practice was popular nationwide, and young voices crying, "Trick or treat!" were echoing through neighborhood streets.
  In this way, a combination of pagan, Christian, and civic elements formed the Halloween celebration we know today. In recent decades, however, a renewed interest in the old pagan beliefs has blossomed in North America. Popular entertainment, including television shows like "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer," and even "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," make occult themes and witchcraft seem fun and acceptable. The result is that Halloween today has become strongly associated with the occult and a preoccupation with the dead—two influences that Scripture and the church have always warned against. (source:http://www.october31st.org/)

So now that you know the skinny on this scary day, how can we use this odd celebration to introduce people to the Savior? Here are three suggestions:

1. Meet your neighbors. One of the ideas behind Halloween was to give communities a chance to meet each other. It's kinda tough to 'love your neighbor' when you don't even know his/her name- don't you think? I know you're probably too old to trick or treat, so why not go door to door and pass out 'community service' coupons (like raking leaves, washing cars etc.). This will probably blow folks away, but what an awesome way to show that believers actually care about showing the love of God!
2. Try to turn conversations to spiritual themes. Hello...this is Halloween! Can you think of a better time to bring up things like life after death, heaven and hell, good vs. evil, etc.? You could even use some of the above mentioned history to show what a smart cookie you are, then make a smooth transition to the gospel.
3. Pass out a tasteful tract with your candy. Be careful with this one, because there is Christian literature out there that quite possibly drives people further from God. However, there are many great tracts out there that convey the incredible message of God's grace in a way that children can understand. Before you give a tract out, you should read it thoroughly from the perspective of an unbeliever. In other words, if you weren't saved, what would you think of what you were reading?

Above all, use this day as a reminder that your eternal destiny is secure- and evil cannot touch you. The Apostle Paul informs us that:

"God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ." (Colossians 2:14)

To me, all the wacky symbols and gory costumes are visible evidences that one day Jesus is coming back to make things right. In heaven we will be treated to a universe free from all pain and suffering- and that's no trick.

Questions:

1. How can you use Halloween to help bring people closer to God?
2. How big of a threat do you think you are to Satan's Kingdom?
3. What is one change you want to make this year?

Consume

Hey guys! It's finally Friday again! I don't know about you guys, but it's been a pretty long week for me. But now it's the end of that long week. The time to wind down, reflect, and to have a good weekend. So, to start you off, here is a devotion about worldly possessions, something we all struggle with. This one is once again from dare2share.org. So read, meditate, and go do good in the world!

"One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple." (Psalm 27:4 esv)

Each and every single one of us has a choice laid out before us. Whom or what we will choose to follow. It could be anything; a car, job, material possessions, a boyfriend or a girlfriend, maybe even a title or an honor. We could have the best job, the coolest car, and the hottest boyfriend/girlfriend, but there will still be a void. Many times we consume our lives and our thoughts with getting ahead, making more money, buying bigger and better possessions, but strangely enough, the void grows larger. The emptiness we fill inside can only find satisfaction when we seek the One who can offer a truly fulfilled life. ("But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him..." Philippians 7-9 NIV) Jesus Christ must be our top priority, our number one. He must be the One and only in our lives, our all in all. Jesus is constantly drawing us closer to Himself. He desperately desires an intimate, love relationship with us. However, it takes effort on our part to maintain that relationship. We must put forth all our time, energy and love into seeking Him, therefore nothing or no one else can rival Him. Isaiah 46:9 says,

"...I am GOD, the only God you've had or ever will have--incomparable, irreplaceable. (MSG)

Here I will venture to ask you a deeply personal question: What is your passion and desire? What consumes your thoughts and actions? Is it Christ or something else? Consider this poem I found in Beth Moore's book, Further Still. It can be a sincere prayer each and every one of us can pray to make Him our everything, our uncontested love and joy in life.

Consume Me, O Lord

Consume me, O Lord, flood my soul with Your Son. Leave nothing uncovered, leave nothing undone.
Set me on fire, consume all my dross. Make beauty form my ashes and gain from my loss.
Consume me, O Lord, be the life in my bones. Put your head in my marrow till Jesus alone.
Can set me aflame with Your holy fire, unquenchable passion, exquisite desire.
Thrill all my senses with sacred romance; consume me, O Lord, come bid me to dance.
Down streets paved in gold a pure virgin bride, nothing to run from, nothing to hide
Consume me, O Lord.

Now that most of you are on summer break, this is the perfect opportunity to be swept away in His love and become enraptured in a sacred romance, with the love of your life. I pray that you can find time to spend with Him, reading His Word, and talking with Him. I also pray you can find time to walk around in His creation and admire all the wonderful things He has done for you.

I know it is difficult to find time for Him, with all the great things summer has to offer. The sun, the beach, the mountains, hikes, the pool, vacations, and so on, but I want to challenge you. I would ask that right here and right now you would make a commitment to know Him better. I challenge you to set a reasonable goal in which you will spend time with Him each day, and set a pattern of discipline that you can follow throughout the summer, into next year and the years to come. You will create a habit that will benefit you and your relationship with God forever!

What is more, you will find yourself worrying less about the things this world has to offer, and seeking out the things of God more and more. Jobs, cars, and possessions will loose their luster in comparison to Jesus Christ, who encompasses all that is good. Our perspectives on life will change as we strive to help those who have less than ourselves and reach out to a hurting world with the hope of the gospel message. However, we will never make an impact on this earth until we make Christ our unsurpassing joy, laughter, hope, desire, breath, and life. When He consumes our deepest depths, then and only then, will people see God more valuably than all the power and success the world has to offer. They too will want to choose Him above all else, because they see you living it out daily!

Let this be the cry of our hearts; In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul." (Isaiah 26:8 ESV)

Questions:

1. What is your top priority in life?
2. Will you make a goal and follow through with it, to spend a good amount of time with Jesus every day?
3. Will you work hard to discipline yourself, so you can create a habit that will last the rest of your life?