Week 11 Devotional | Prepared

PREPARED | WEEK 11 DEVOTIONAL

“I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Genesis 12:2

Dana Evans has been one of the best college basketball players in the country the last few years. She is the star point guard for the University of Louisville. She is an All-American and was the ACC Player of the Year last year. She has helped lead the Cardinals to heights they have never reached before. What makes her story unique is that though she was a high school All-American, she didn't start for U of L her first two years in college.

Most high school All-Americans are starters their first or second year, and if they don't, they usually transfer to a place where they can start. Instead of transferring, Dana bought into her role coming off the bench, she worked hard in practice, believed in her coaches, and learned from her older teammates. She said herself that coming off the bench was hard because she was used to starting, but coming off the bench PREPARED her for the success that she is enjoying now.

WATCH HER 4-PART DOCUSERIES HERE: DANAEVANS1.COM

What are you PREPARING for? What are the challenges in your life preparing you for? What is the adversity that you are dealing with preparing you for? Pastor Andrew Forrest at Munger Place Church in Dallas had a powerful message where he asked, "What if the pandemic is PREPARATION?" The main character of his message was the Apostle Paul. There is a ten-year period in which Paul drops out of history following his encounter with Jesus on the road to Demascus and transformation. He was sent home to Tarsus and we don't hear from him again until Barnabas goes to get him and brings him to Antioch around AD 48. We don't know what happened in that 10 year period, but we do know that God used Paul in a mighty way after that. Paul is considered by many to be the most important person, after Jesus, in the history of Christianity. About half of the New Testament stems from Paul and the people he influenced. 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament are attributed to him, the book of Acts deals with Paul's life and works [1].

Paul's life wasn't easy. Some of the letters that he wrote and that became important books in the Bible were written from jail. Jesus said that in this world, we will have trouble. But He also said in Him we may have peace, and to take heart because He has overcome the world (John 16:33)! Jesus and Paul both went through many hardships, and Jesus ultimately bore the cross so that we would be PREPARED to go through our own storms with the peace and joy that Jesus has gifted us.

Going through adversity is hard. This pandemic has been hard. Being uncomfortable is hard. But we know that we grow through adversity. We grow through the hard stuff. The hard stuff is how God PREPARES us so that He can bless us so that we can be a blessing to others.

This Week:

1 - Ask God, "What are you preparing me for?" Pray on that. It helps me redirect frustration, fear, and anxiety into hope, joy, and peace for the future.

2 - God blesses us to be a blessing to others, but we still have to go through storms. What is one storm, challenge, or piece of adversity that you have gone through or are going through, and how can you use the lessons that you learned to help someone else?

3 - Read more about Paul's journey in Acts 9:20-30 and Acts 11:19-26.

For a Google doc version, click here.