Week of February 5
Devotional Guide - Made for More: Resurrection
Spend a few minutes each day this week to pray:
• For the all-church meeting this Tuesday night, as we meet with the candidate for senior pastor and his family.
• To seek God’s direction for our church as all members prepare to vote next Sunday to call our new senior pastor.
• That the peace and confidence of the Holy Spirit would rest upon the board, staff, and congregation of Springdale Church of the Nazarene in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Monday – Read Psalm 16. The psalmist lists many things that the Lord has done for him, and climaxes with the best things in 16.9-11. Notice the resurrection language he uses as he talks about the path of life and rescue from decay. Use this psalm as a springboard into your own prayers, and thank God for the places you see resurrection in your life.
Tuesday – Read Ezekiel 37.1-14. Read with your imagination, and try to visualize this scene. What would you have been thinking or feeling if you were Ezekiel? Try to paraphrase the message of this passage in your own words. What was God saying to Israel? What is God saying to you? Ask God to show you what dry bones he wants to bring to life today, and how he might use you to do it.
Wednesday – Read John 5.1-29. While you read, take note of which actions, words, and persons bring resurrection in this passage, and which try to suffocate it. How do Jesus’ words help you understand the resurrection he has come to bring? Think through his words. If anything surprises or confuses you, make a note of it. Find answers to any questions by doing your own research, contacting a pastor, or asking a wise friend. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand Jesus’ teaching on this promise of resurrection so you can live in the hope he desires for you.
Thursday – Read 1 Corinthians 15.12-34. Like others in the ancient world, there were apparently those in Corinth who had forsaken the idea of resurrection. Yet Paul reaffirms that resurrection – both the past resurrection of Christ and the future resurrection of believers – is at the core of the gospel. Resurrection is not something that can be tacked on as an after thought, or set aside as a secondary tenant of the faith. Concentrate on Paul’s words in 15.16-19. Allow yourself time to think through the implications of this passage. How does this teaching of resurrection and life bring hope and purpose to your life today?
Friday – Read 1 Corinthians15.35-58. If Christ has risen from the dead, he has done so as the first human to do so–the ‘first fruits’ of the harvest. Yet that also implies that at some future point, all those who follow Christ will also be resurrected in bodily form, like Christ has been. Yet this brings about certain questions of how and when and where. Notice that Paul does not try to answer each of these in a definitive way. The main point seems not to be how this will happen, but what it means to us that it will happen. Give time and thought to the way Paul closes this passage in 15.54b-58. In response to this resurrection hope, ask the Lord to show you how you need to be steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord.” This passage and others are discussed at length by N.T. Wright in his book on resurrection, Surprised by Hope.