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5 Days of Heartwork: What's In Your Hands?Sample

5 Days of Heartwork: What's In Your Hands?

DAY 5 OF 5

Mission: What’s in your hands now? 

Heart //

As our 5 Days of Heartwork comes to a close today, you’re probably itching to hear about that tangible, Gospel-success story – the one that we all seem to crave (and expect) will come after impactful time spent with God and his Word. You may even be itching to have one of these stories of your own. 

Studies* on the development of teenage brains may help. This is interesting... in adolescence there is an incredible opportunity for new and rapid brain growth, just like when we're learning language around age 2. This intense growth may be connected to the passionate idealism that’s so common in our teen years – the drive for something thrilling, exhilarating, something much bigger than ourselves! Can you relate to that? It’s like, in our teen years, our brains are literally making a way for us to find a BIG vision to orient our lives toward. 

Sadly, we often fill this deep human craving for grandeur with obsessions over fame, fortune, and our great pile of things… but God shows us another way! Can you imagine that anything could so satisfy our desire for greatness than the maker of Heaven and Earth? It is here – in our tension between wanting greatness and feeling so small - where Jesus meets us.

In this devotional, you’ve seen that our hands can easily be too wrapped up in stuff, in doing-to-get-ahead and doing-to-be-someone. Realizing that you are not the sum of your consumption, but the sum of the Son, and taking up the family business of compassion, you may want to be told that you’ve got all the tools you need to change the world (insert dramatic music, epic slo-mo, and the weight of the world on your shoulders HERE.) 

Yes, of course extraordinary change is possible when we offer ourselves and our hands up to our incredible God! But the most exciting part? More often than not, God operates in VERY ordinary spaces. We want to end our time together in one of those simple places. 

John 6 shares the story of an ordinary little boy, who Jesus used to bless a massive crowd. Do you think that he had any idea that the lunch his mom probably gave him would be used to such an effect? All that the little boy did was show up with a sack lunch. He didn’t show up just anywhere, though. He showed up next to Jesus. 

The miracle of this sweet story is not only the multiplication of the food. Looking deeper, it’s the beauty of what God can do with our average. The fact that God can take our average, mundane, everyday, unoriginal, non-Instagram-worthy moments and use them for his kingdom is so exciting. When what we have is given to the Lord, it doesn’t really matter what it is. When it is in his hands, and not ours, it can be multiplied and used in truly miraculous ways. 

So what’s in your hands, friend? We’ve challenged you to let go, to find your identity in God, to see compassionate living as a real option in your life… to spend yourself for those in need! Now bring your ordinary to God - your art, hospitality, passion, knowledge or talent. Stay close to him like that boy in John 6, and know that when the time is right, he can take that very ordinary thing and turn it into a miracle. 

May we have the faith to offer ourselves, our hands, and the humble things that we hold loosely in them up to Christ, who alone may use them to extraordinary effect for the kingdom. 

*The Teen Years Explained: A Guide to Healthy Adolescent Development" (Johns Hopkins University, 2009) by Clea McNeely and Jayne Blanchard. / Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain, Daniel J. Siegel

// Work

It’s time to ask yourself, “What are my fish and my loaves?” What are the ordinary things in your hands that God can turn into a miracle? Take inventory of the time, resources, talent, passions and energy that God has given you, and give them back to him in a simple and honest prayer. Decide on just ONE WAY to offer a very average gift you have to God and others this week. 

This is not about squeezing some “good deeds” into our long to-do list, it's about getting know our incredible and sacrificial God, doing what he does... shining light in any darkness. See, our Creator invites us to be like him! The One maintaining the UNIVERSE, is also Savior, always keeping his hands freed up to serve those who are in need. 

Throughout the last 5 days, we’ve introduced the four ideas that are the pillars of Heartwork. If you want to continue immersing yourself into the practices of Letting Go, Identity, Compassion, and Mission, please join us for 30 Days of Heartwork on YouVersion. And  if you have a group (youth group, school, club or team) you'd like to do 30 Days of Heartwork with, we have lots of resources over at www.heartwork.tv!  Come visit and please share your story !  

Scripture

About this Plan

5 Days of Heartwork: What's In Your Hands?

We're spending our time, money and energy everyday. So, how do we prioritize our needs vs. our "wants"? Let’s reflect on what we really have to offer this world. Like the boy in John 6 who had fish and loaves, we all hav...

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