Week 19: Day 2

Intro: Hello, and welcome back to Orbit. My name is Aaron. And I'm excited to join you again to look at another devotional today. We looked yesterday at James chapter one. And we'll be in James one again, today as well. But yesterday we were looking at, well, what does it look like for us to have joy? In the midst of trouble? In the midst of pain? How can we be people of faith? And how can we see Jesus in the midst of our circumstance? And today, we're going to look at, well, what is God calling us to be?

Bible: So in James 1, again, if you've got your Bibles, love for you to turn with me. But I'm going to be reading verses 17 and 18. Today, and it says this:

Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God, our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens, he never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation became his prized possession.

Thoughts: Wow, what an encouragement to start with. I don't know about you, as I was reading this, I really felt the Father, and the love of the Father for us and how, in awe of his creation. I was thinking when the God the creator of this universe, who put the stars in the sky, who spoke all the wonders around us that we see spoke it into existence, the God, the Creator, the author of our life, he looks at us today, and he says, You are my favourite. Now, I remember moving to the UK, as a 11-year-old grew, I was born in Bahrain grew up in India, came to Liverpool as 11 year old kid. And I don't know about you, but I think we all wrestle with what our identity is and where it comes from. And being a teenager in a new country, I definitely struggled with that. And loads of things were forming and shaping my identity. And some of that is healthy. And some of that often isn't. And I know I struggled a lot with maybe some of you can relate with that with comparison, and kind of carried some of the labels and stuff that people had told about me, as a young person. And some of the things I believed to be true about myself, whether I thought, you know, I'm not like them, or this I hide, have this or don't have this, or whatever it may be, I think often we tend to carry lies about ourselves, whether it be from external people, or whether what we believe for ourselves.

And, and as I was praying for us today, my sense the Lord gave me was this, maybe there's some of you watching this? who feel the same. You believe the lies spoken about you, maybe words spoken about you growing up, or what people have said, or maybe things you believe to be true about yourself that you're carrying? I just felt the Lord say, it's not for you to carry. And that is not who you are. And I was so struck by that word, that out of all of his creation, we became his most prized possession.

So, what does it look like? In a world that speaks in so many different narratives that shape who we become. Now we go to the source of our identity today, and that is Jesus.

Challenge: So today, I'd love for you to do something practical. The first thing is this. I'd love for you to go out on a walk. Get into nature, breathe in the fresh air, look around you see God's handiwork at display. And as you take it all in as you look around you and take in God's creation.

Just remember those words out of all of his creation, you are his prized possession. I think we need to remind ourselves of that today. And the second thing is this and this, I'd love for you to do with someone you trust that might be a friend or maybe a youth worker. Maybe we need to sit and acknowledge what are some of the lies I've been carrying about myself. You might want to say that or write to down or pray that through with someone. And once you've done that, then pray together. God, what are you saying about me? What is God the Father speaking over you today?

Prayer: So I'd love to pray for us now.

Our good Father, we thank you in this moment that the God of this universe, the Creator of all things around us, God, we thank you that out of every thing that you made you look at us and you say, this is very good. You look at us as the most prized possession out of all your creation and God today I pray for those who are maybe carrying lies and pain that has been spoken over stuff that we've carried and labels that have been put on us that is weighing us down. God we pray healing in this moment, would you take away from us what is not of you? Would we give it to you and cast all of that burden onto you? And God thank you that Your Spirit reminds us of fresh through the words in James that we are your most prized possession we out of all your creation, or the one that is your favourite? Would you remind us that a fresh today we welcome your presence into our lives in all that we do today? In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Outro: That's it for over today. I'll join you again tomorrow with another devotional!