God Made You to Make a Difference - September 4, 2013

Ephesians 2:10
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

God calls you to a service far beyond anything you could ever imagine. You were put on earth to make a contribution.

You weren't created just to consume resources - to eat, breath, and take up space. God designed you to make a difference with your life.

The Bible says, "God . . . has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10 TEV) These "good deeds" are your service to the world. Whenever you serve others in any way, you are actually serving God.

When most people think of this "special work," they think of pastors, priests, and professional clergy, but God says every member of his family is to minister. In the Bible, the words servant and minister are synonyms, as are service and ministry. If you are a Christian, you are a minister, and when you're serving, you're ministering.

Have you ever wondered why God doesn't just immediately take us to heaven the moment we accept his grace? Once you are saved, God intends to use you to fulfill his purposes. God has a ministry for you in his church and a mission for you in the world.

Is there anything holding you back from accepting God's call to serve him?

Although we are all made in the image of God, we're all pieces of art in progress. During that progress, we're called to serve, which ultimately serves God. I think intention is the key factor to our contribution, the true reason behind our actions. And God does have the tendency of knowing our hearts, considering that He addresses us as His children. As we see Suji, Denise, Crystal, and even Yoomin (Moses) returning to the youth group to serve as teachers, it really does challenge us to serve and give back to what was previously ours. I guess that's how God envisioned the world to be, how He had wanted it. Personally, the only thing holding me back is failure. Sometimes I'm afraid of displeasing God and not being able to reach His standards, restricting and limiting my potential to serve.

"Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first of many must be your slave -- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:26-28

Luckily for us, we've already been served by Christ, our teachers, and even our pastors. Although we don't have to exactly fall into those shoes, I'm sure that there is something that God will always entrust us with.

Our existence isn't arbitrary, God had planned to create us, and has known us since the beginning of time: each with our own unique purpose to serve Him. We don't all have to be a pastor, reverend etc. to be able to serve God. We can serve God through how we live our lives, the choices we make, and what we do.
Our existence here is not an accident, coincidence, we weren't put on Earth to amble about aimlessly without any purpose in life. When we accept the grace God has given us we can see that purpose take form and shape in our life, therefore ultimately serving God in our own way. We can find what our existence means within God's plan.
God knows our purpose, and how WE fit into society. He knows our contributions that ultimately serve Him and His Kingdom, and hopefully, makes the world a better place. God has given us a purpose that He knew since even before time began, we just have to seek Him to find it.

58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58

This devotion in my opinion is tied to a lot of the other devotions we have been doing recently, and that is that we are all put on the earth for a purpose, and that purpose is to serve God. God did not put us on this earth by accident, it was no coincidence. We were all given talents and strengths that God blessed us with to use for His purpose, to serve others, ourselves and Him.

It does not matter what kind of deed we do to serve God, because in His eyes there are no standards and everything is equal to Him. We could be serving him when we least expect it. The praise team is a good example of this. We all have different gifts of playing instruments or singing to glorify God, and praising him helps us to serve ourselves, others and Him. What I think we need to be cautious about is not to gloat or be cocky about serving God, because serving should not be done to gain recognition or to have a status. It should be done out of free will.

Overall, we should always try to serve God because we are all here for a purpose. As well, we should avoid wasting time throughout the day by doing useless things such as playing video games or being on the internet or your phones all day because that will not benefit you when you are trying to please God.

Ephesians 2:10 "For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

As the verse says, we were created by God to do good works, and God already prepared the works that we will do.
Since we were created by God to do good works, he has and will continue to equip us with what we need to fulfill our purpose. Many times I find that God puts certain people in my life depending on what I need as well as where I may be needed. God knows our strengths and weaknesses better than we do, and He wouldn't call us to serve in a place that we are unable to succeed. So if you don't think that God is calling you to become a pastor or something of the sort, you don't have to worry, because pastoring is just one of many ways that we can glorify and serve God.

God calls all of us to serve Him and He has prepared in advance what he wants us to do. He already paved the way, and all we have to do is walk in it!

None of us were made by mistake. We all have a purpose to serve in this world.
Everything God does, he does for a reason.
He can do this through your talents and gifts he gave you. I find it more difficult to praise though everything we do. Of course praise, the first thing that come to mind is praise through song.
How can we praise through the other things that we do? Like our job or at school?
I guess it's doing work while moving with the spirit and keeping gid with you as you go a lot your day. In many ways, you can serve others as well while working or studying. Do your good deeds and have that good relationship with others. In that way you are also pleasing God.
Each of us are made to make a difference to the world. How big of a difference are you going to make it?
Keep that in mind as you go back to school.

~Audrey~

Hi guys first day of school and maaaaan i cant wait til summer... only been one day hahahaa

It isnt enough for us to just accept God. God wants us to accept him and than help others into accepting Him. He wants us to spread like a plague and spread the good news.
God made us for the sole purpose to serve him. We can serve him in many many ways and almost anything can relate to serving him
Ephesians 2:10
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

I like how todays devo pointed out this
If you are a Christian, you are a minister, and when you're serving, you're ministering.
There are no rankings in Christianity. Just because were on praise team doesnt mean that we are closer to God than others. If you think like that, you have to change it. Being on praise team is a calling to serve others into worship doing it with your 100%

latesssss

I think everyone has their a personal calling to something. Some are called to be servants like pastors and such, but like the devo says, we're all here for a purpose. This devo is special to us because we have a calling specific to us. Not that it should ever be a point of pride in front of people, we are the ones called to further God's kingdom through worship. The privilege we have to lead others into worship is never one that we should take lightly, after all, it is what we have been called to do and God's calling is never a light issue. Also, although our main thing may be ministering through worship, never be afraid to take new opportunities up like mission trips or even introducing our faith to schoolfriends and such. God put Jesus here to minister to the weak and the lost, and if our ultimate goal is to be Christlike, we should be working with the weak and lost of our day. So yeee,, kinda rambled but whatevz yo. Serve God with all your heart, soul, and mind!

Aaah sorry that I didn't post yesterday but here it is now!!!

God had a plan for you since the very first second you were born. He gave you every single one of your talents, strengths and even your flaws for a very specific reason.
He wants us to use all that for his work because as Christian's we are to serve him by ministering others in this unholy world.
True, it's not easy but does that mean it's impossible? Nope.
You have a purpose and maybe you don't know it but that is ok because one day God will call for you and that's when you'll know why he created you.

Well, this really struck a chord with me today.

There is no particular opinion, as the devotion said it all for me this time, but I do want to share a little something.

As most of you know, I am hearing impaired, and I grew up thinking that I would have a harder time than other 'normal' people. That was the case, and through the ages, I grew to depend on God as well demand questions from him constantly. About why I was the only one out of all my friends who had this 'issue' and what could possibly be the 'great' plans he had in store for me. Little did I know, I (apparently) impacted my peers and the people around me, who were curious about my hearing impairment; they had asked me how I lived life so brightly and positively, which they thought they wouldn't be able to if they were in my situation and living my life. That brought me question a lot of things. Was this one of the kind of impacts and differences God wanted me to make on this world? To prove that being hearing impaired, was no issue at all?

As a praise team, of course, it's different. I'd just like to ask myself and you, about whether we're making a difference in Milal EM. Are we impacting the ministry in a positive way and serving God at the same time?