Pump You Up

Madison listens to music before a game to pump her up. She likes to put on her headphones and listen to it by herself. It is not for anyone else in the car to listen to, or join in. It is all for her, and helps get her ready for a game. It helps her put her mind in game mode and focus on the upcoming match. This is very common, a lot of athletes do this before a game.

Praise music at the beginning of a Worship service can serve to “pump us up.”

Madison has particular songs that she likes to listen to. These particular songs really pump her up. There are certain praise songs that touch my heart more than others …they “pump” my heart up for worship. 10,000 Reasons is one of those songs. Every time I see it displayed on the screen as the song we will sing next a smile comes to my face because it means so much to me and I really worship The Lord when I sing it (Psalm 30:12, “So now my heart will sing to You and not be silent; O Lord my God, I will always give thanks to you.”).

Next time you are in church and the music starts to play, let the songs pump you up for worship and let your heart really worship the King (Psalm 100:2, “Worship the Lord with joy! Enter his presence with joyful singing.”).

Act 16:25, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the rest of the prisoners were listening to them.”

Love Ya,
Dad

King Richard III

King Richard III, the last king of The House of York in England, ruled for only 2 years, 1483 - 1485. Henry Tudor of Lancaster thought he should be king, so he and his followers went to battle against King Richard III in the War of Roses. King Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field, ending his reign, and beginning King Henry VII’s reign.

So how does this make you feel about King Richard III and King Henry VII? You feel kind of sorry for King Richard III dying just because King Henry VI wanted to take his crown. Things are not always as they seem. Do not jump to conclusions and make rash judgments of people. King Richard III had 2 nephews who had a claim to the throne, but they mysteriously disappeared from the Tower of London shortly before Richard became king ...how convenient. It is believed that Richard had them murdered so they would not be in the way of his crown.

We are good ...really good at making quick, rash, and often wrong judgments of people. We need to slow down, and get all the facts. In other words when we meet someone new we need to get to know them before we make a judgment about them (John 7:24, “Do not judge according to external appearance, but judge with proper judgment.”). We also need to find out the facts for ourselves instead of taking gossip for the truth, or what other people's opinion is about someone (Luke 6:37, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.”).

Love Ya,

Dad

Lessons From Katniss

As you know I just finished Reading “The Hunger Games” and I really liked it. Katniss is a great character and heroin. I realized there are a lot of things we can learn from her. Here are a few lessons we can learn from Katniss.

Lesson 1: Let’s start with the most obvious one, her sacrifice for Prim (John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.). Jesus taught us this, and through the “The Hunger Games” story we see a parallel to Jesus’ sacrifice for us, but we also see the example of love and sacrifice we should have for one another in our own family. Are you willing to be a Tribute for your sister, brother, mother, or father?

Lesson 2: Katniss is great with a bow and arrow, and she is not afraid to use them to not only defend herself, but also to release her wrath. God is the same God today as He was in the Old Testament (Psalm 7:12, “If He does not relent, He will sharpen His sword, He will bend and string his bow.”). I will bet He does not miss either. Thank goodness we have our Lord Jesus Christ to intercede for us, or else I would be a “Bang, head shot.”

Lesson 3: Water was life! Without it Katniss and the other Tributes would have died. Those first few days Katniss did not have any water and she was slowing dying. At first she could not understand why Haymitch did not send her any water when she was so desperate. Then she realized that he was not sending it for her own good (2 Peter 2:9, “if so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials,”). Haymitch could see the whole picture and knew she was close and heading in the right direction. He knew that by not sending the water, Katniss would keep searching in the right direction, and he would not have to waste an expensive gift.

Katniss is not Jesus, or God, or perfect.

Lesson 4: Katniss selfishly fakes her love for Peeta in front of the cameras to save her own life. She’s very good as showing her love when it matters most, when she really needs to, when she is desperate to save her life. But as soon as they are back home and the cameras are gone, she grows distant from Peeta. We can be a lot like that. When we are in trouble or in the middle of a trial we cry out to the Lord and proclaim we love Him and need His help, but as soon as the trial is over sometimes we slowly forget how much we love Him and we grow distant from Him (Matt. 24:12-13, “and because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold. But the person who endures to the end will be saved.”).

Lesson 5: Katniss hates the Career Tributes from the beginning because they are arrogant, and give her hateful looks. I do not blame her, but we have been given a command to forgive. (Col. 3: 12-13, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others.”).

Lesson 6: Katniss knows everyone is watching, so she plays the part to look good and get things from people. As believers, we have people watching us too, and we are to play or rather live the part, but for a different reason (Heb. 12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us.” (or the game)).

There are a lot more lessons, but that is enough for this devotional.

So, are you Katniss, Prim, Peeta, Gale, Cato, Rue, Haymitch, or (cue music: dun, dun, dun) President Snow? We will find out in another devotional.

Love Ya,
Dad