The Devoted Life

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© 2018 by Marjorie Jackson Print ISBN 978-1-68322-687-1 eBook Editions: Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-68322-970-4 Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-68322-971-1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without written permission of the publisher.

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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked esv are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Scripture quotations marked nkjv are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Cover Design: Marjorie Jackson with Thinkpen Design The author is represented by, and this book is published in association with, the literary agency of WordServe Literary Group, Ltd., www.wordserveliterary.com.

Published by Shiloh Run Press, an imprint of Barbour Publishing, Inc., 1810 Barbour Drive, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683, www.shilohrunpress.com Our mission is to inspire the world with the life-changing message of the Bible.

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 SECTION 1: Doing It All unto Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

SECTION 2: Setting an Example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 SECTION 3: Identity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 SECTION 4: Joy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 SECTION 5: The Power of the Tongue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 SECTION 6: Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 SECTION 7: Why Read the Bible?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 SECTION 8: How to Read the Bible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 SECTION 9: Why Share Your Faith?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 SECTION 10: Defending Your Faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 SECTION 11: Ministry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 SECTION 12: Standing Up for What’s Right. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

SECTION 13: Fearless. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 SECTION 14: Forgiveness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 SECTION 15 : True Beauty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

SECTION 16: True Love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

SECTION 17: True Purity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 SECTION 18: Delight Yourself in the Lord. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 SECTION 19: The Truth about Your Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 SECTION 20: Guys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 SECTION 21: Beware of Idols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 SECTION 22: Selfishness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 SECTION 23: Humility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 SECTION 24: Being a Good Friend. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 SECTION 25: Picking Good Friends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 SECTION 26: Being a Good Sister. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 SECTION 27: Submitting to Authority. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 SECTION 28: Being Teachable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 SECTION 29: Living Wisely. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 SECTION 30: Determining God’s Will. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 SECTION 31: Trusting God with Your Future . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

INTRODUCTION

Devotion means letting our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls be utterly infected with passion for and loyalty to the object of our dedication. Our thoughts, actions, words, and decisions reflect our all-consuming preoccupation. The stronger our devotion, the more we identify by it as it becomes an integral part of our lives and a defining facet of our identity. It changes us, and at some point, we can’t contain the strength of it and just have to share the love with others. I don’t know what sorts of things or people crossed your mind during that description—maybe devotion to a sport, a hobby, a job, a music group, a certain cause, a special guy. . .probably some special, treasured part of your life that makes your “top five priorities in life” list. As someone with a strongly passionate personality, I relate—if I’m going to involve myself in something, I want to be all in. Otherwise, count me all out.

Jesus feels the same about our having a relationship with Him. Listen to His plea from Revelation 3:15–16: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” Never let it be said that Jesus didn’t use harsh analogies; clearly, He’s trying to get His point across: the Christian life done right can only be done all in. The price that He had to pay for salvation? High.

The gift of salvation and communion with God? Priceless—and yet absolutely free. Life with Him is a gift worth cherishing every day for the remainder of our lives.

You see, about two thousand years ago, the God of the universe

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lowered Himself to our human level to be born into humble means and to live a perfect life of loving people, performing miracles, and preaching a hard, divine, earth-shattering message. The long-awaited Savior was executed on a cross by the very people who claimed to expect a God-sent Messiah to deliver them from their enemies. But in fulfillment of the prophecies of old, Jesus conquered darkness, sin, and death, rising back to life three days after His crucifixion, thus creating a way for every human being who battles with sin to be made right with God. In His ever-deep love and compassion, God had orchestrated the events in history, handcrafted Jesus’ genealogy since the first humans, and allowed Himself to be the perfect sacrifice, taking the death penalty for our sins—all so that we can accept the beautiful free gift He desires to give us of a relationship with Him, if we choose to, through repenting of our sins, fully trusting in Christ alone, and surrendering to His lordship.

God wants a relationship with us?! That’s something you won’t hear in other religions. And not only that, but He wants us to live eternally with Him, on this earth and in the next life.

My guess is you already knew the story behind the Gospel message. Perhaps you’ve already made the decision to follow Jesus (though as long as we’re on earth, it’s never too late to do it now!).

Maybe your relationship with the Lord has already transformed you inside and out, as it has a tendency of doing, through the Holy Spirit’s daily sanctification. Regardless, let the good news about Jesus blow you away every time you hear it or speak it. It’s the greatest news in life, hands down. As official daughters of the living King of kings from the moment we give our lives over to the Lord, we’re members of God’s family. Even though we’re undeserving of such merciful love, He lavishes it on us in immeasurable

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heaps, endowing us with worth and purpose and giving us in Him a source of true joy and peace.

Life with Jesus is meant to be abundant (John 10:10). It’s an adventure of faith, fulfillment, and purpose, of changing the world as a vessel carrying Christ’s love, truth, and Gospel. Yet so many people who claim to be believers live as though they just won a free ticket to heaven that they can forget about until their funerals. Their relationship with God becomes merely a compartment of their life rather than the most important, all-encompassing object of their truest devotion. So many believers live life shrouded in spiritual apathy. What will it take to wake us up? To rattle our generation hard enough that we snap out of a mindless cycle of simply doing the “Christian image”—the Christian conference and concert hopping, the youth group attending, the posting of Bible verse captions on social media—and start to be truly devoted to Christ, putting our relationship with Him first? Jesus tells it like it is in Matthew 10:38–39: “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

Truth is, nowhere in the Bible is there a promise claiming that the Christian life will be easy. Abundant, yes; fulfilling, yes; covered in the unending love of God, absolutely. But oftentimes, God’s Word directs us to take the less popular routes in life and travel a difficult journey with our cross daily propped up on our back. But we’re not in this alone—we have our Lord and Savior by our side every step of the way, never leaving or forsaking us (Hebrews 13:5). That will never change. And additionally, we have one another—a supportive family of Christ intended to sharpen

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one another and spur one another on in the journey during both the difficult and the joyful seasons.

The goal in this journey is not to create a checklist for how to reach perfection and then work toward achieving it. Disclaimer: I’m not perfect, nor are you, nor will we ever work out all the kinks.

The process of becoming more and more like Jesus is a job done by, well, Jesus. Through His Holy Spirit working in us, He sanctifies us and weeds out our sinful tendencies through His kindness that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). Our job is to be humble enough to say yes to Jesus and allow Him to take over the driver’s seat of our lives. He has a way of running our lives a whole lot better than we can alone!

So you picked up this creative coloring journal/topical devotional at your local bookstore. Or maybe your aunt Thelma gave it to you as a gift (how nice of her). In the following pages, I’ve jotted down some thoughts in the devotionals, picked some verses, written up some journal prompts/discussion questions, and hand-lettered sixty-plus scripture coloring pages on a whole array of topics to encourage you, challenge you, and get the ball rolling on whatever new thing God wants to teach you. There’s also space for you to be creative through drawing, doodling, and journaling out your unfolding journey. May this creative journal be an outlet that points you to the Lord, acquaints you with His ultimate truth found in His Word (the Bible), and gives you a space to let your creative juices flow as you grow spiritually (whether you consider yourself the artsy type or not).

By no means do I have all the answers to life, do I have it all together, or am I done learning and growing—I’m still square in the middle of that sanctification process (aren’t we all?). But I know Jesus, the

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One who has all the answers to even the wildest situations life can possibly throw at us, and I know where He keeps His truth— we can find it in His Word. Let’s go on this journey of becoming wholeheartedly devoted to Christ together. Through submerging ourselves in scripture, taking our worries and delights to God in constant prayer, and surrounding ourselves with women who will encourage us and push us to know Jesus intimately, seek the face of God daily, and chase His truth furiously, we can live the life of faith with fervor and ultimate joy. We can prioritize the most important relationship of our lives with the highest devotion.

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SECTION 1

Doing It All unto Jesus Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 C orinthians 10:31

The day our identities changed from slaves of sin to daughters of the King, our priorities shuffled around. Jesus desires for us, and asks us daily, to re-center our lives around intentionally, perpetually worshipping Him, our first and greatest love. He wants an invite to be the center of our lives, to transform us from the inside out. Through our every act, thought, and word, we honor and praise the only One truly worth living for. Of course, we’re not perfect or immune to mistakes and weakness, but we’ve undergone life-change thanks to Jesus’ powerful blood and His repentance-inducing kindness (Romans 2:4). Through the evidence of our transformed lives, we can mirror Christ to those around us throughout our Sunday morning worship, weekday grind, and weekend fun. Whatever time, whatever place—we can’t help but be changed. The very word transformation denotes that something is not the same as it was before. In this short blip on the time line that we get to walk the earth and impact history, we have the opportunity to live life well. To choose living with integrity over cutting corners. To embrace joy, exude positivity, and complain less. To let daily worship pour from our actions even when the floor needs vacuuming, the chemistry needs solving, the dissertation needs writing, the tough conversation needs having, and the decision needs making. Live life abundantly, without regrets, for the 14

Giver of life Himself, obeying His Word, listening to His loving voice.

Surrender all with open hands to Jesus, and let Him guide you on a wild faith adventure.

SCRIPTURES FOR GOING DEEPER Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You. P salm 63:3

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.

P salm 115:1

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize?

Run in such a way that you may win. . . .

Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim.

1 C orinthians 9:24, 26

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JOURNAL PROMPTS What does it mean to bring glory to the Lord in all things?

What would it look like to live your life with the sole intent of pleasing Christ? What things would change from how they are right now?

What is an area of your life that you think reflects Jesus? What is an area you need to work on surrendering in order to glorify Him?

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Describe a time when you put your whole heart into something in order to glorify God.

Do you struggle with trying to hold on to certain areas of your life rather than surrendering them to Jesus? Describe the struggle of pride versus humility in relinquishing all control and praise to the Lord.

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SECTION 2

Setting an Example “You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

M atthew 5:14

The bright side to living in such a dark world is that it is that much easier to spot the radiating light of Christ. As members of the body of Christ, “we are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20) on this foreign soil, here to represent our King, His better way of life, and the hope of His salvation and His return. Do our lives exhibit proof of Jesus’ fingerprints? Coach John Wooden once put it this way: “If I were ever prosecuted for my religion, I truly hope there would be enough evidence to convict me.” Our lives can show the world around us a new standard for morality as outlined in God’s Word. Forget simply not killing our enemies—we’re going to actually love them to win the battle (Matthew 5:44). We’re not going to avoid sin so long as it’s convenient, but rather we’re going to steer clear of situations that would compromise our testimony or our integrity (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Through the prime of our youth, we can set a higher standard than the low bar “kids these days” are held to. No matter our age, we can live out our devotion to Christ in a way that encourages, challenges, and ministers to both believers and unbelievers. Who knows who will be taking notes on the countercultural, Christ-pursuing way you live? We can exemplify to the world who Jesus Christ is through the tangible evidence of the way we live our lives, desiring to use each breath we take to win others into the family of God. 20

SCRIPTURES FOR GOING DEEPER “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.”

M atthew 7:16–17

Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.

C olossians 4:5

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

E phesians 5:15–16

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JOURNAL PROMPTS How would you want someone to describe the way you live your life?

What do you want to be known for?

What are some specific changes that have happened in your life since you began following Jesus? What are some areas where the Holy Spirit is still sanctifying you?

Who are some people you think have exemplified Christ well? What do you admire about them?

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Compare some of the world’s norms with biblical standards for believers (for example, Matthew 5:44 says to love and pray for our enemies). What are some differences?

What are some ways you can set a Christlike example for those in your life and your environment?

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