Philippians 4:6-7

⁶do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus

“Come on come on” said Josh we can’t be late! It was time for his soccer game and he didn’t want to miss it. “Calm down we will make it on time” said Josh’s mom “don’t be so anxious.” So they all got in the car Josh, Josh’s mom, and his sister. Then they drove to the soccer field, and nobody was there. Josh said “where is everybody?” Then he remembered that the soccer game was tomorrow.

Sometimes we worry about things that we don’t have to worry about. We shouldn’t worry about those things because we know that God we take care of all our problems. Therefore when we have bad day’s or problems but those problems are in the big plan God has for us.

Questions To Ponder:

Are you anxious about tomorrow?

What can you do to let go of anxiety?

 Prayer:

Dear God please help us to let go of our worries and anxieties to focus on you lord.

Amen.

Everyone knows the story of The Three Little Pigs, right? Well here is my version. Their mother kicks them out so they can build their own homes. The first one builds his house out of hay, the second one builds his house out of sticks, and the third one builds his house out of bricks. When a hungry wolf sees the first pig, he wants to eat him. He asks to come in his home. When the first declines, the wolf blows down his house and eats the first pig. The wolf is still hungry so he goes and finds the second pig. He asks to come in dressed as a pig. The pig, thinking the wolf was a pig, let him in. The wolf ate him too. Still hungry, the wolf finds the third pig. He asks to come in, but the third pig won’t let him in. The wolf tries to blow down the brick house but fails horribly. The third pig is safe.

We are the pigs. We set off to build our lives in faith. We can build it in many ways. Jesus is the bricks. However, we usually want to build with straw, hay, and sticks. Those things are money, our strength, and our intelligence.  The wolf is like sin. If we build our lives on money, our strength, and our intelligence sin will blow it away and we will die. If we build our lives on Jesus, sin can’t hurt us and we are safe. Sin tries to take us away from Jesus.

Matthew 7: 24-27 (ESV), Jesus tells a parable. “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who builds his house on a rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Questions:

What do you build your life on?

Which little pig are you?

Would you answer the door and let the wolf in?

Does sin wash you away?

Luke 12:13-21

 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”  Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”   And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.  He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’  “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.  And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’  “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’   “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (NIV)

We can sometimes struggle with earthly possessions, especially money. But those who depend  solely on earthly possessions, and don’t realize that all our belongings are God’s, God calls fools.  If we focus more on what we can acquire in heaven, we will not need to rely on earthly items.

Greed is when someone relies on what they have acquired in their lifetime.  When Jesus tells the parable of the man who had earthly wealth, the man did not realize that the wealth was a gift from God.  God in the end of this parable takes away a greater gift from the man, the gift of his own life.  Jesus tells this parable so that we may learn to be thankful of God’s gifts that he’s given to us.

Sometimes in our lives we take for granted the gifts that God has given to us.  God gives gifts to everyone, whether its wealth, possessions, or things that you’re good at.  We in our lives need to remember that God has given those gifts to us, not that we have the things because of what we have done.  Do not be like the fool in the parable and believe that you have done well for yourself; believe that God has given you the gifts that you have.  And when you don’t have a wealth to live on, you must trust that God will provide for you.  God has given the greatest gift to everyone, the gift of eternal life through his son.  God gives us possessions in heaven to live with forever.  We may not have earthly richness but in heaven we will have the richness of God’s love.

Questions

How can we in our lives today trust that God will provide for us?

Why do you think that God provides more to some people than others?

How has God blessed your life with gifts?

Luke 12:28-31

²⁸And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? ²⁹ “And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things. ³⁰These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs. ³¹Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.

New Living Translation

There was a time when I was about 8 years old when I worried about money, clothing, food and drink, and possessions. Then, as He always does, God had made the devotion apply to my problem to show me God will always provide. Even to this day, whenever I am going through a hard time, a problem, or I’m starting to worry, God always gives me a sign or sometimes a simple action to show me he will provide, even in the hard times.

Possessions and constant worrying are a big distraction for all people, like worrying about what we will wear,or what we will eat and drink. Instead of constantly worrying, we should trust in God to provide for us. We should trust God to help us, give us clothing, food, and drink. God cares for the ravens and the lilies, and Jesus says “By how much are you more valuable than the birds”. If we become distracted we can drift away from God’s word and what God wants for us. Even the disciples at one point were distracted, and Jesus called them “you of little faith”. Putting your anxiety over possession is a sign that you lack faith. God sees when you are in need, and when He sees your need He will provide for you. How much more valuable are you over people in the bible whom God provided for?  Do you seek food and clothing or do you seek the kingdom of God?

— Questions–

1. Has there ever been a time where you’ve seen God provide for you?
2. Has there ever been a time where you feel very left out and sad maybe even depressed, but God sent someone over to you to cheer you up?

Have you ever felt like God has called you to help someone else, who is going through a hard time?

Luke 16:19-31 (NIV) 

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Sometimes we want miraculous miracles to happen to prove to ourselves that God is there. People will pray and ask God for him to do something crazy just so we can know He’s really there. We may do something like ask for a lot of money. Then if God gives it to us we can reassure ourselves that He is actually there. We may pray and ask God to send a lightning bolt in the middle of a parking lot, just to satisfy ourselves.

In Luke 16:19-31 it talks about a poor man named Lazarus and a rich man. Since Lazarus was given a name in this parable it shows that he was important. (Lazarus means trust in God). The rich man feasted sumptuously every day, whereas Lazarus begged for the crumbs from the rich man’s table. When both Lazarus and the rich man died, a great reversal happens. Lazarus is in heaven feasting with Abraham, and the rich man is in anguish in hell.

The rich man begins conversation and ask Lazarus to come and cool his tongue. Abraham answers by telling the rich man that he had a well life while Lazarus suffered. Then the rich man asks Abraham to warn his brothers by raising someone from the dead so they will believe. Abraham replies by telling him that God gave the prophets like Moses for people to trust.

Today we don’t have the prophet Moses just hanging around so we need to use God’s word to guide us. When we are doubting God, or our trust is failing, we can pick up the bible and there will be great hope for us lean on. God’s always going to be there, but if you’re ever just having a bad day you can pick up your bible and read the hope given to us. Since we believe God’s word, which tells us that Jesus is there for us, we can have this hope.

Have you ever felt like you needed to test God presence?

Did you resort to something other than the prophets in the bible?

Talk about how you can as a family read the bible together to overpass anything bad going on in your life.