Jesus is a Friend in Deed

JESUS IS A FRIEND IN DEED  

Kingdom Kids devotions authorize Jesus’ LORDship over our lives.

Hebrews 4:15-16: “Therefore, [everything’s in plain view to Him in whom we must give account], since we have a great High Priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

“For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.

“Let us then approach the Throne of Grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

            Twelve-year-old Jeremy is serious about blocking better.  (See Muddy Failure Footprints devotion).  He’s sick of failing to block defenders and wants to win the job of tight-end when football season opens.  “Coach, I want to drill harder.  I want to be a tough blocker for my quarterback.”

            Coach had mercy on Jeremy and smiled at him.  “That’s the spirit!” he said.  “Your arms are too weak to block defenders.  Let’s add more resistance weight to the sled that you push using your forearms.  It’ll be painful and your forearms will become sore.  But after a couple days, you’ll be tougher.

            Jesus isn’t a friend on word only.

            Jesus jumped on the sled to add weight along with Jeremy’s coach.  Jeremy suffered humiliation after he failed to block a defender.  If he wants to win the tight-end position, he must pay the price of toughing up.  Jesus is a friend in deed for whomever believes in Him and goes with us through whatever battle we face.

            Besides Jesus enduring the cross to pay the price for the forgiveness of sins, Jesus loves football!  He was delighted to help Jeremy.

            Ow!

            After practice, Jeremy’s bruised black-and-blue arms ached a lot.  When he prayed for healing, Jesus’ shed blood bought Jeremy’s entrance directly to the Father’s throne.  Jesus interceded to the Father on Jeremy’s behalf. 

            After the next practice, Jeremy braved the sled drill again.  Afterwards, he prayed for healing again. 

            Again, Jesus interceded for Jeremy and prayed effectively for his healing.  By the third practice, the Father showered His grace on Jeremy.  When his forearms hit the sled, Jeremy pushed his coach (and Jesus) farther than before.  

       

Take Home Nugget

            Jeremy acquired head-knowledge about the God in church.  He’s convinced that Jesus is his friend.  He learned that his faith in Jesus won him access to the Father.  When Jeremy prays, he’s sure that Jesus “dresses up” his prayers to perfection.

            Jeremy’s sled improvement proved to him that Jesus’ (many unseen) deeds helped.

Holy Father, Indeed, Jesus is my friend in deed!  Amen. 

Adapted from “Comfort in Jesus” by Dr. Charles Stanley.  April 25, 2018.  In Touch Devotional Magazine.  Georgia.

J.D. Griffith

Click here for an Interactive-Online-Lesson for Jesus is a Friend in Deed 

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Written for www.Biblestudyforkids.com

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Latest Christmas eBook by J.D. Griffith:  

To purchase "Star Watchers" for only $0.99 USD, click here 

  This eBook shows Mary’s adventure traveling to Bethlehem right before Jesus’ birth.   This Biblical fantasy weaves supernatural delight into facts surrounding His birth. 

Here’s another eBook by J.D. Griffith:  

Twelve-year-old Jeremy befriends “Aunt” Rita when lured up her front steps after football practice one fall day.  Her piano music isn’t the only thing that makes Rita especially different.  She is intrigued by Jeremy.  God uses Aunt Rita to transform Jeremy into a true follower of Christ. 

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Muddy Failure Footprints

 MUDDY FAILURE FOOTPRINTS

Kingdom Kids devotions authorize Jesus’ LORDship over our lives.

John 21:3: “‘I’m going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, and they said, ‘We’ll go with you.’ So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.”

Another failure.

            “I feel crappy!” twelve-year-old Jeremy whined to his best friend, Brad.

            “What’s up?” Brad asked as they left football practice together.

            “Didn’t you see my awful failed block?  Coach won’t pick me to play tight end now!”

            Brad did see Jeremy’s failed block.  He replied, “Yeah, I admit that you looked pretty bad.  Don’t we practice to get better?”

            People rarely get things right the first, second, or even the third time.  What’s important is how we respond afterwards.  Do we drop our heads after failure or do we believe that Jesus can help us do better?

            Jesus warned Peter in Luke 22:31: “Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.”

            Uh oh!  How often does he ask Jesus to do that to us?

            But Jesus offers Peter hope in verse 32: “But I have prayed for you, Simon [Peter], that your faith will not fail.  And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” 

            Even despite Jesus’ warning, Peter failed Jesus miserably.  Luke 22:34 shows what Jesus predicted, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know Me.”

            Luke records Peter’s failure in chapter 22, verses 60-61.  When another person accused Peter that he was with Jesus, Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”  As Peter was speaking, “the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter.” 

            After denying Jesus three times, Peter felt crappy.  Luke 22:62 says, “And he went outside and wept bitterly.”

            See the lesson linked below to see how Jesus helped Peter.  Peter didn’t lose his faith.  He lost his pride.  Jesus knew that Peter must lose his self-confidence and have his heart broken.  Only then could he become a strong, yet humble leader in God’s kingdom. 

             In like fashion, our Lord also uses our muddy failure footprints to prepare us to be effective servants in His kingdom.  Our failures prove that pride is a joke.  We become more humble and willing to grow past our self-sufficiency.  

Take Home Nugget

            As they passed the swimming pool, Brad offered, “This ticket can get you in to swim with me.  Do you want to cool down?”

            Jeremy smiled.  “Thanks, Brad!”  As they traipsed inside the swimming pool entrance, Jeremy noticed his trail of his muddy failure footprints.  He decided to refresh himself in the cool water and practice better next time.

Holy Lord, If You must break me first, thanks for helping me rise again afterwards!  Amen. 

Adapted from “Triumph Through Failure” by Dr. Charles Stanley.  April 15, 2018.  In Touch Devotional Magazine.  Georgia.

J.D. Griffith

Click here for an Interactive-Online-Lesson for Muddy Failure Footprints

 For a personal, private lesson experience with our staff

Written for www.Biblestudyforkids.com

For FREE Online Bible Study.  Resources click here.

Latest Christmas eBook by J.D. Griffith:  

To purchase "Star Watchers" for only $0.99 USD, click here  

 This eBook shows Mary’s adventure traveling to Bethlehem right before Jesus’ birth.   This Biblical fantasy weaves supernatural delight into facts surrounding His birth. 

Here’s another eBook by J.D. Griffith:  

Twelve-year-old Jeremy befriends “Aunt” Rita when lured up her front steps after football practice one fall day.  Her piano music isn’t the only thing that makes Rita especially different.  She is intrigued by Jeremy.  God uses Aunt Rita to transform Jeremy into a true follower of Christ. 

Click here to purchase "Your Salvation is Jesus' Passion"     Only $2.99

     

     Click here for inexpensive Christian eBook and app offers

Special Project

 SPECIAL PROJECT

Kingdom Kids devotions authorize Jesus’ LORDship over our lives.

Romans 6:19-23

Psalm 19:14:  “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”

            Every person is God’s special project.  Doesn’t that warm your heart?  Young Believers-in-Christ resist yielding to God’s indwelling Spirit.  His job is to show us how to live right.  When He sounds the alarm that warns us to not do something that we clearly want to do, we choose to either obey Him or disobey. 

            Either way, we’re still God’s special project. 

            Each of God’s kids is so special that He lets us come to Him when we’re ready.  He delights receiving us “just as we are” when we choose to follow Jesus.  Whenever we make that decision, the rough draft of who we are when God knit us together in our mother’s womb, begins to develop as God’s special project (Psalm 139:13).

            Check out the lesson linked below for details of sanctification [sank-tif-i-KA-shon]=set apart.  Living God’s blessings present a sanctified life.  Our new life as a Believer grows more like Christ every day when we cooperate with His Spirit.  People thrive spiritually when we choose to obey His Spirit.

            We bask in His love.  We depend on His power to accomplish all that we’re led to do.  The opening Scripture becomes so important that we HATE thoughts which our gut knows is not pleasing in His sight.  We toss out wrong words and change our thought patterns to please Him.

            This is not the way of the young Believer.  Maturing kids allow ourselves to grow spiritually into His special project.  Christlikeness is our Father’s end-game for His kids.   

Take Home Nugget   

                        

            After a little time, a look in our rear-view mirrors reminds ourselves who we once were.  Disgusting thoughts surface and we cringe.  Facing our sin, we confess.  Breathing out gratefulness, we give our Father thanks.  2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

            God’s special project worked out perfectly! 

            Now, it’s delightful to us to declare that same passage, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ!” 

            Yes, you are!

            In fact, Romans 14:17 says, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

            Did you know that verse 18 says, “Anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men?”

Holy Lord, thank You for this simple formula to enter Your kingdom.  You do all the work.  The only part we play is to obey Your Spirit!  Amen. 

Adapted from “End Results” by Rev. Thomas E. Engel.  April 13, 2018.  Portals of Prayer devotional magazine.  Missouri.

J.D. Griffith

Click here for a personal interactive lesson for Special Project

 For a personal, private lesson experience with our staff

Written for www.Biblestudyforkids.com

For FREE Online Bible Study Resources click here.

Latest Christmas eBook by J.D. Griffith:  

To purchase "Star Watchers" for only $0.99 USD, click here

  This eBook shows Mary’s adventure traveling to Bethlehem right before Jesus’ birth.   This Biblical fantasy weaves supernatural delight into facts surrounding His birth. 

Here’s another eBook by J.D. Griffith:  

Twelve-year-old Jeremy befriends “Aunt” Rita when lured up her front steps after football practice one fall day.  Her piano music isn’t the only thing that makes Rita especially different.  She is intrigued by Jeremy.  God uses Aunt Rita to transform Jeremy into a true follower of Christ. 

Click here to purchase "Your Salvation is Jesus' Passion"     Only $2.99

     

     Click here for inexpensive Christian eBook and app offers

The Basics

THE BASICS  

Kingdom Kids devotions authorize Jesus’ LORDship over our lives.

Luke 6:27-8:  “But I tell you who hear Me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” 

            Jesus usually makes us shake our heads in disagreement.  But the next statement usually finds us nodding our heads in agreement: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

            Isn’t ‘The Golden rule’ what everybody learns in Kindergarten?  Do we really learn all the basics in Kindergarten?  What if life gets in the way?  Can we remember all the basics that make life-smart?  Some basics need repeating until we get them right as we grow older.

            “You’re so wrong, Cassie!” twelve-year-old Missy screamed to her best friend. 

            Cassie bit her lower lip, thinking over what Missy just said.  Boy, she is really angry at me!  Could I be wrong?  Cassie sighed.  Then she wondered what would Jesus do?  Her pondering their argument chewed up a minute before Cassie decided how to respond to Missy.  “I’m sorry, Missy.  Let’s not fight.  The sun is so bright and the pool so inviting.  Let’s jump in the deep end and figure this out later?”

            Missy let out a huge breath.  She smiled at Cassie when saying, “I can’t be mad at you for long! …  Last one in is a rotten egg!”

            “Treat others how you’d like to be treated,” goes down easy, but is hard to do.  It’s even harder to do when we’re angry.  Jesus NEVER said, “Do to others as they do to you!”  If someone hits us, isn’t pushing them back our first urge?  Check out the lesson linked below, for a quick review of Jesus’ basics.

            We are never promised a rose garden.  2 Corinthians 11:23-27 says that Apostle Paul was imprisoned, beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, in immediate danger, hungry and thirsty—all for what Iron-Will Rosa (see her devotion) dreamed to share about Jesus to the world. 

 

            Yep, Jesus calls His followers to the impossible—apart from His living in us—connected to the vine (John 15:1).  When someone uses us as a punching bag, we’re taught to “get back” with love.  Jesus’s sap from the vine provides us the strength and courage to obey.

Take Home Nugget

            Jesus never promised us fair and equal treatment.  In fact, John 16:33 quotes Jesus’ exact words: “In this world you will have trouble.”  But His next words flip our frowns to smiles: “But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”

            Missy suddenly stopped playing.  Cassie wondered, “What’s up?” 

            Missy admitted, “I forgot why I was angry with you!  I guess it’s not important.”

Holy Lord, enable me to love others as you love me! Amen. 

Adapted from “The Golden Rule” by Ms. Christine S. Weertz.  June 13, 2018.  Portals of Prayer devotional magazine.  Missouri.

J.D. Griffith

Click here for an Interactive-Online-Lesson for The Basics

 For a personal, private lesson experience with our staff

Written for www.Biblestudyforkids.com

For FREE Online Bible Study Resources click here.

Latest Christmas eBook by J.D. Griffith:  

To purchase "Star Watchers" for only $0.99 USD, click here  

 This eBook shows Mary’s adventure traveling to Bethlehem right before Jesus’ birth.   This Biblical fantasy weaves supernatural delight into facts surrounding His birth. 

Here’s another eBook by J.D. Griffith:  

Twelve-year-old Jeremy befriends “Aunt” Rita when lured up her front steps after football practice one fall day.  Her piano music isn’t the only thing that makes Rita especially different.  She is intrigued by Jeremy.  God uses Aunt Rita to transform Jeremy into a true follower of Christ. 

Click here to purchase "Your Salvation is Jesus' Passion"     Only $2.99

     

     Click here for inexpensive Christian eBook and app offers

Iron-Will Rosa

 IRON-WILL ROSA

IRON-WILL ROSA

Kingdom Kids devotions authorize Jesus’ LORDship over our lives.

Matthew 5:15-16:  “You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

“Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

            Down a long winding red-clay road in Hamburg, Alabama, Rosa Young lived a generation after American slavery ended.  Rosa was free, but never fled Alabama.   Each morning, Rosa got out of bed and prayed that God’s Spirit would walk accompany her hundreds of miles, enlighten her with His Word and sink His Gospel deeply into every heart she could find.

            Summers are hot and sticky in Alabama.  Neither the scorching sun nor sapping humidity could squelch Rosa’s iron will to share Jesus’ love.  Farming families who lived among rows of cotton were populated with ex-slaves.  These people were Rosa’s targeted mission field.

            Her entire life sprang from one dream of planting Gospel seeds among her brethren.  Only God could fulfill Rosa’s dream.  This story highlights Rosa’s life as a champion to the people in Rosa’s backyard.  Rosa Young earned the name “mother of Black Lutheranism in Alabama”.  St. James is a three-room school and church she helped found in Buena Vista, Alabama. 

            In Rosa’s book, Light in the Dark Belt, she wrote, “It unlocks the door of opportunity where you may enter many a home and tell people the old, old story of Jesus and His love.”  This slight woman blazed a trail for twelve African-Americans ordained as pastors in the 1920s-40s.

            Dozens would follow.  They were needed to serve the Lutheran churches and schools she helped establish. 

            In 1917, Rosa Young founded St. Andrew Lutheran Church.  Its remains are found by hiking six miles up a deeply rutted, narrow dirt road through a heavily wooded pine forest.  The collapsed church could only be seen through heavy undergrowth. 

            A simple while cross greets visitors with the old, old story. 

    

Take Home Nugget

            With God’s help—we, too—can share Jesus’ Gospel light with others, person-by-person, beginning with the lesson linked below.  Do you know the song?   

             

“Tell me the old, old story,

Of unseen things above,

Of Jesus and His glory,

Of Jesus and His love;

Tell me the story simply,

As a little child,

For I am weak and weary,

And helpless and defiled.

Tell me the old, old story,

Tell me the old, old story,

Tell me the old, old story,

Of Jesus and His love.”

Tell Me the Old, Old Story lyrics by Arabella K. Hankey, 1866. 

Adapted from “Shining the Gospel Light”, “From One, Many” and “Church History 101” by Ms. Christine S. Weertz.  June 5, 6, and 7, 2018.  Portals of Prayer devotional magazine.  Missouri.

J.D. Griffith

Click here for an Interactive-Online-Lesson for Iron-Will Rosa

 For a personal, private lesson experience with our staff

Written for www.Biblestudyforkids.com

For FREE Online Bible Study Resources click here.

Latest Christmas eBook by J.D. Griffith:  

To purchase "Star Watchers" for only $0.99 USD, click here  

 This eBook shows Mary’s adventure traveling to Bethlehem right before Jesus’ birth.   This Biblical fantasy weaves supernatural delight into facts surrounding His birth. 

Here’s another eBook by J.D. Griffith:  

Twelve-year-old Jeremy befriends “Aunt” Rita when lured up her front steps after football practice one fall day.  Her piano music isn’t the only thing that makes Rita especially different.  She is intrigued by Jeremy.  God uses Aunt Rita to transform Jeremy into a true follower of Christ. 

Click here to purchase "Your Salvation is Jesus' Passion"     Only $2.99

     

     Click here for inexpensive Christian eBook and app offers