Bible Studies

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The Scriptures
Isaiah 42:1-9 - Protected to Serve
Key Verses: (NCV)

• 1: "Here is my servant, the one I support. He is the one I chose, and I am pleased with him." - To serve God means to be chosen by Him for special moments of ministry - moments of His choosing. As a servant of God, when we respond to His call He is well pleased.
  
  
• 4: "He will not lose hope or give up until he brings justice to the world. And people far away will trust his teachings." - A servant will face obstacles in his path but as long as he keeps his eyes on the Lord, he will persevere through all the challenges and barriers he encounters with one purpose steadily in mind - God's love and righteousness will prevail.
  
  
• 5: "God, the Lord, said these things. He created the skies and stretched them out. He spread out the earth and everything on it. He gives life to all people on earth, to everyone who walks on the earth." - God, the creator of all things, gives life to ministry. It is through His love that true servant-hood comes alive.
  
  
• 6: "The Lord says, "I, the Lord, called you to do right, and I will hold your hand and protect you." - Doing what is right is the work of the Lord and as long as we follow that pathway, He will be there to guide and to protect.
  
  
• 7: "You will help the blind to see. You will free those who are in prison, and you will lead those who live in darkness out of their prison." - A laundry lists of tasks for us all to do.
  

Points to Contemplate:

• Is God pleased with you? At the end of each day, are you able to kneel before God and hear Him say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant?" Do you feel His support in everything you do? Do you recognize that you have been selected by God for certain tasks and ministry opportunities? Do you seek out these opportunities to serve or are you focused on simply making it through your day, completing your own agenda, and focused only on your own needs? What steps in this New Year are you willing to take in order to move God's agenda more central to your life?
  
  
• Are you encouraged by God's hope in you? Are you strengthened when you realize that He will not give up on you? In this same vein, because of God's love for you, do you find that you are able to persevere in your efforts to bring justice into the world without giving up or losing hope? Are people turning to you to learn and grow in their understanding of God? Do they trust your teachings?
  
  
• Is your ministry growing? Is God giving your ministry life? Can you feel His creative love beating and coursing its way through your life? Is He the source and lifeblood in everything you do? Are you responding to His call? Are you following His path to righteousness? Are you helping the blind to see by revealing the love of God to everyone you meet? Are you freeing those who are locked in prisons of hate, despair, or hopelessness? Are you bringing the light of Christ into the darkness in which you walk?
  

Promises of the Gospel:

Today's verses, known as the Servant Song, provide us with a template for servant-hood. Even as they reveal the glory of Christ on this Baptism of the Lord Sunday, they also remind us of our own calling into ministry. As we attempt to walk His path we can regularly run across barriers of discouragement and pitfalls of hopelessness. Many times we feel that our efforts are for naught and it is time to give up on the course we have taken. It is in these difficult times that we are reminded by these verses of God's persistent love. As long as we focus on bringing His light into the darkness of our world, and as long as we strive to break down the barriers of imprisonment in the lives we meet, then God will hold our hand, lead us onward in ministry, and protect us from the despair that threatens to overwhelm our hearts.

FUMC Devotionals

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