Day 15 Intentionality

Jan 21, 2024

BE STILL Spend 2 minutes in stillness and silence with God

SCRIPTURE 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT)

DEVOTION

Today’s scripture reminds us that the world we live in is looking more like the book of Revelation by the minute! Now more than ever, we are called to walk with community as we let our lights shine. We learn that our relationships are important for several reasons: we motivate one another to move with acts of love, we motivate one another to do good works, and we encourage one another in these janky times as we wait for the return of Jesus. While we understand that building relationships with others is a necessity, they also take intentionality to thrive.

Are there any plant people out there?! Treat intentionally growing our relationships the same way we would intentionally growing our plants. There requires a certain level of effort to nurture them and keep them alive. For plants, fertilizer or other plant food need to be added to the soil to maintain nutrients. In different seasons, some plants need to be watered more often while in other seasons they can last with infrequent watering. When the plants get too big, we need to repot them. For those who have multiple plants, we know that the watering and feeding schedule is not consistent across each plant.

Our personal relationships look the same when we give them little acts of intentionality. A phone call or a “thinking of you” text may be the nutrients the relationship was craving. A video chat or lunchtime meetup may be the watering that the relationship needed not to shrivel up. Our relationships also go through seasons – at times they need more frequent nurturing and at times there may be fewer interactions, but no love lost. Just like plants, our relationships get “repotted” as they go to deeper depths and new levels.

As someone who desperately struggles to pour into all my relationships without burning myself out, I know intentionality isn’t always easy! If pouring into all your relationships feels overwhelming, then start small. Send a “how can I pray for you?” text to someone you haven’t talked to in a while (and actually pray for them). Have someone’s favorite cookies or meal sent their way for lunch. Send them a funny video that makes you think of them. Let’s find little ways to show those in our lives that we care about them. One day we’ll look up and see those little acts of intentionality have produced a thriving relationship!

LIVE IT OUT

Let's implement this right now. Go to your phone and find someone you haven't talked to in a while. Ask them how you can pray for them!

Which relationships in your life is God calling you to be more intentional in?

What are small ways that you can pour intentionality into your relationships?

PRAY IT OUT

Pray the prayer requests of the person you texted. If they haven't texted you back by the time you've gotten to this section, then say a prayer as Holy Spirit leads.

Thrive in Finances

Money is one of the most controversial topics out there, and the hold it has on us as people is frankly quite scary! One of the top causes of divorce is money issues. Politicians campaign for months with promises to increase, decrease, cut, or modify money policies. Nations and empires have fallen because of financial crises. People leave churches or the faith altogether because of their disagreement with how money is handled. Best friends have fallen out over finances. Even Jesus Himself was betrayed by Judas Iscariot for 30 silver coins!

To sum it all up - people are funny about their money. This is because our hearts toward money can be a little funny, too. We've all had different experiences that have shaped our interactions with money. Some of us may have been taught false narratives about how we handle money and how God feels about it. Some of us have had negative experiences that have deeply impacted not only our trust in others but our spending habits as well. Some of us have idolized money, or even treat money as evil out of fear of idolizing it.

Over the next three days, we will address three different heart issues that we may experience regarding money. As we deal with these heart issues, we will also learn God's truths about money. It’s time for us to ditch the world’s way of looking at finances, embrace how God feels about them, and thrive in them for His kingdom!