Leader's Devotional #4: Provider God

This, the fourth in a series of 6 RaiseUP devotions, can be shared amongst team and used individually ahead of the children’s meeting – for example, at home in the week before church. Alternatively, they could be used as a team devotion and a focus for prayer shortly before the children arrive for the session.

LEADERS DEVOTION

What is the most mundane thought you’ve had today?

[For team reflection] In twos or threes, share some of the every-day matters that mill around your mind: anything from picking up more milk to the need to book a vacation.

There’s a lot to be said for the many, MANY spiritual blessings God gives to us. In Jesus, we have been made right with God. We are welcomed into God’s family and given the hope of eternal life with Him.

But God’s blessings are not just spiritual, for the hereafter. They are material too, for the here and now. God’s love is something that breaks through into our everyday experience of life as He walks besides us each day.

READ

‘The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.’ - Psalm 23:1

REFLECT

With its scenes of shepherds, still waters and valleys, Psalm 23 has come to be one of the most well-known and well-loved Psalms in the Scriptures.

God Himself is at the centre of that scene. He’s the Shepherd who tends and leads His people. He keeps them with a promise never to leave them – even in life’s darkest hours. No wonder so many turn to this Psalm, finding peace, comfort and joy in its poetry.

The great thing about this Psalm is that it reminds us that God’s love is not a hypothetical concept but a daily reality. It tells us that God cares for us and keeps us. Whatever we need each day – whether material or emotional – God will give us. Whatever we face each day, God is with us.

It’s often been said the Christian faith is just ‘pie in the sky when you die.’ But this is a long, long way from what the Bible teaches. The incredible truth is that God our Father wants to be involved in every aspect of our daily lives. He wants to hear from us and to speak to us each day. He is concerned about what concerns us.

Corrie Ten Boom wrote: ‘Nothing is too big for His power. Nothing is too little for His care.’ Whether it’s a problem at work we need wisdom for, help with our kids, financial challenges or health struggles, God invites us to tell Him all about it and ask for His provision and help.

God is our loving Heavenly Father. He’s a Good Shepherd. The things we’re going through, the things we need – they matter to Him. There’s never any question of whether God could possibly care about this or that situation we find ourselves in - only whether we will take hold of all God has to give us in the midst of it.

RESPOND

• Be still. Take some time to repeat the words of Psalm 23:1:

‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.’

As you repeat it, ask God to make this promise real in your heart. Thank God for all the ways He has already met your needs.

• Talk to God about any needs you and your team currently have – and those of your children, church and community.

LEADERS PRAYER

Dear Father God,

Thank you that we matter to You. Thank you that You promise to care for us – and that it’s Your pleasure to do so.

Help us to be bold in asking You for whatever we need, so that we will be ready and able to love others with the same love You show to us.

Amen.