FAITHFULLY FIT:2012

Devotional Guide
Week 3
Monday: More Than Following Rules
For I tell you that unless your righteousness
surpasses that of the Pharisees and the
teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter
the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:20
People sometimes dismiss the importance of
hearing God by saying that if you just do
everything God commanded, you are doing
Gods will. But you could do all that God
explicitly commands and still not be the person
God would have you be. An obsession merely
with doing all God commands may be the very
thing that rules out being the kind of person
that he calls you to be. The watchword of the
worthy servant is not mere obedience but love,
from which appropriate obedience naturally
flows. There is some good in the attitude
of doing what we are told to do by God, which
amounts to the righteousness of the scribes
and the Pharisees. But this severely limits
spiritual growth. A life of free-hearted
collaboration with Jesus and his friends in the
kingdom of God surpasses that righteousness.
REFLECT: In what situations would it be easy to
do everything right and yet still miss out on
loving people? What goes on in the mind of a
person who is trying to do everything right?
What goes on in the mind of a person who is
seeking to love?

Base your meals on starchy foods

Starchy foods include potatoes, cereals,
pasta, rice and bread. Choose
wholegrain varieties when you can: they
contain more fibre, and can make you
feel full for longer.

Tuesday: Not Gods Robots

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are
children of God.
Romans 8:14
Do we believe God is present only through
blind faith or logical reasoning? Is a strong
impression of Gods presence, or seeing in
hindsight that God acted within our actions
beyond our powers, as experiential as Gods
presence gets? Although these are valid, there
is more. These ideas leave our interaction with
God in the realm of vague feelings, the Ouija
board and superstitious conjecture. God is also
with us in a conversational relationship: he
speaks with us individually as it is appropriate
which is only to be expected between
persons who know one another, care about
each other and are engaged in common
enterprises. When Paul said all who are led by
the Spirit of God are children of God, he
wasnt saying that we are led by being robots
or interpreters of vague impressions and signs,
but that we engage God in a conversational
manner that is suited to the personal
relationship with God so often spoken of in the
Christian community.
MEDITATE: Read Romans 8:14 and try to
picture the unseen spiritual reality of being led
by God in a tangible way. Which scriptural
image of leading
fits
best:
being led by the
Eat lots
of you
fruit and
vegetables
hand (Jeremiah
31:32;
by
Its recommended
that Hebrews
we eat at least8:9);
five
of different
types ofas
fruitaandcloud
veg a and
natural portions
phenomena
(such
day.13:21);
Its easierby
than
it sounds.
A glass
of
fire, Exodus
a voice
(John
10:3)?

100% unsweetened fruit juice can count as

one portion, and vegetables cooked into
dishes also count

Wednesday: Gods Multifaceted Ways

To these four young men God gave knowledge
and understanding of all kinds of literature and
learning. And Daniel could understand visions
and dreams of all kinds.
Daniel 1:17
What we know about guidance and the divinehuman encounter from the Bible and the lives
of those who have gone before us shows
that Gods communications come to us in
many forms. We should expect nothing else,
for this variety is appropriate to the complexity
of human personality and cultural history. And
God in redemption is willing to reach out to
humanity in whatever ways are suitable to its
fallen and weakened condition. We should look
carefully at these many forms to see which
ones are most suited to the kind of relationship
God intends to have with his people.
REFLECT: While God most often speaks to our
thoughts especially as we read Scripture, its
important to be open to any form of
communication he may use. What forms are
Eat more
fish to? (Consider
you most open to? Least
open
Fishliterature
is a good source
protein and
such things as
andofstories,
nature,
contains
many vitamins
Aim
visions,
dreams,
wordsand minerals.
of
others,
for at least two portions a week, including
circumstances.)

at least one portion of oily fish. Oily fish is

high in omega-3 fats, which may help
to prevent heart disease.

again and ask God to show you in what ways

you need to listen for God to speak in those
relationships and circumstances.

Thursday: Motives For Hearing God

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat
falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a
single seed. But if it dies, it produces many
seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it,
while the man who hates his life in this world
will keep it for eternal life.
John 12:24-25
Many people seek to hear God solely as a
device for securing their own safety, comfort
and righteousness. An extreme preoccupation
with knowing Gods will may indicate, contrary
to what is often thought, that I am
overconcerned with myself, not that I have a
Christlike interest in the well-being of others or
in the glory of God. In The Secret of
Guidance, Frederick B. Meyer writes, So long
as there is some thought of personal
advantage, some idea of acquiring the praise
and commendation of men, it will be simply
impossible to find out Gods purpose
Cut down on saturated fat and sugar
concerning us. Nothing will go right in our
We all need some fat in our diet. But its
effort
to hear
if this
motivation
is its
important
to pay God
attention
to thefalse
amount
and
foundation.
God
simply
will
not
cooperate.
We
type of fat were eating. There are two main
must
a different
type ofToo
motivation for
typesdiscover
of fat: saturated
and unsaturated.
much saturated
fat will
can increase
the amount
of voice.
knowing
Gods
and listening
to his

cholesterol in the blood, which increases your

risk of developing
heart
disease.
Saturatedslowly.
fat
MEDITATE:
Read
John
12:24-25
Close
is
found
in
many
foods,
such
as
hard
your eyes and ponder: How does hearing God
cheese, cakes, biscuits, sausages, cream,
require that we die to self? That we abandon
butter, lard and pies.
self-advancing motives? What are good
motives for wanting to hear God?

Friday: Led By God

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean
not on your own understanding; in all your
ways acknowledge him, and he will make your
paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6
There is massive testimony to and widespread
faith in Gods personal, guiding communication
with usfar more than in blindly controlled
guidance. This is not only recorded in Scripture
and emblazoned upon the history of the
church; it also lies at the heart of our worship
services and our individualized relationships
with God, and it actually serves as the basis of
authority for our leaders and teachers. Only
very rarely will someone profess to lead or
teach the people of God on the basis of his or
salt
her
education,Eat less
natural
talents
and
Even if you dont
add salt to your
food, you
denominational
connections
alone.
Credibility
eating too much. About threein any may
sortstillofbespiritual
leadership derives from
quarters of the salt we eat is already in the
a life in the Spirit, from the persons personal
food we buy, such as breakfast cereals, soups,
encounter
ongoing
relationship
with
breads and
and sauces.
Eating
too much salt
can God.

raise your blood pressure.

MEDITATE: Read Proverbs 3:5-6 and consider

the ways you are a leader in a friendship,
family, church, neighborhood or workplace.
(Being a leader means that people listen to you
and value your opinion regardless of whether
you fill a role or hold a title.) Read the verses

Saturday/Sunday:
With God

Secret

Interchanges

I will give you the treasures of darkness,

riches stored in secret places, so that you may
know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel,
who summons you by name.
Isaiah 45:3
A high percentage of serious Christians (even
the Babylonian king Cyrus to whom the words
above are addressed) can tell of experiences of
being sure God spoke to them. Yet many have
never spoken of them even to their closest
friends. Robert C. McFarlane, a recent convert,
was forced to take control of an insurance
agency in order to save the money he had
invested in it. By the third year of strain and
stress, he was struggling against defeat and
frustration. As he drove to his office, he was
filled with a frantic urge to leave town and
disappear. Into his inner turmoil came a
command: Pull over to the curb. He did so,
and these words came to him as if someone
were with him in the car: My Son had strains
that you will never know, and when he had
those strains he turned to me. Thats what you

should do. Robert sat at the wheel, sobbing.

He drove to his office, where he faced major
problems that were substantially resolved by
that days end.
PRAY: Pray for someone who needs a secret
word from the Lord. Listen to see if God has
anything for you to do to help.

Don't get thirsty

We need to drink about 1.2 litres of fluid every
day to stop us getting dehydrated. This is in
addition to the fluid we get from the food we
eat. All non-alcoholic drinks count, but water,
milk and fruit juices are the most healthy. Try to
avoid sugary soft and fizzy drinks that are high
in added sugars and can be high in calories
and bad for teeth.