KICKSTART DEVOTIONAL
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On every Mission Discovery mission trip, we begin the morning together in God’s word. One speaker is chosen to give the word of the day so that everyone else can meditate on the Scripture. Our hope is that volunteers engage in group discussions throughout the day and in their small groups.
Since the way ministry is being done has shifted, our goal is to serve by creating resources that will help others focus on God throughout the day, and influence family and small group discussion.
Join us every weekday as we explore God’s word together. We will have speakers from all over the US and the world. Here is today’s Kickstart Devotional.
Video: Theresa Liebelt // Guard Your Heart
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Guard Your Heart
Mission Discovery Mission Trips with Theresa Liebelt
Theresa Liebelt has been a Mission Discovery extraordinaire since 2010. Her Tecate, Mexico mission trip led with her fellow high school students led her onto a path to a traveling internship. While she was a college student, she joined Mission Discovery and led many short term mission trips – domestic and international missions. Today, she speaks on guarding your heart from Proverbs 4:23.
Hi. I am Theresa Liebelt. I first got connected with Mission Discovery ten years ago when I went on my very first missions trip to Tecate, Mexico, which is where I met Nathan Walters, who I then went on to intern for about three years later. With the best intern crew out there you know who you are. Mission Discovery has a really special place in my heart and I’m excited to be doing this today.
So, I am in my house in Fond du Lac Wisconsin. Today, I have a quick story, a couple of verses to look at, and a challenge for you guys. So, about a year ago, I went on a camping trip with my husband and his two younger brothers. We went down to the Florida Keys and one of the nights when we were sleeping in our tent I talked the group into letting us sleep with the rain fly off because the stars were out and it was really beautiful. I checked the weather three times and it said zero percent chance of rain.
So, of course, at 2:00 in the morning, it starts to downpour. We were soaking wet and scrambling to try and find the rain fly and put it back on our tent. But, by the time we did, it was too late. We were wet. Our sleeping bags were wet. And, it made for a really long rest of the night. So the rain fly is important and it would have protected us from that rain.
Guard Your Heart
So the first verse I want to look at today comes from Proverbs 4, and the whole chapter of Proverbs 4 is a father giving wise counsel to his son. So starting at verse 20 it says:
“My son, pay attention to what I say;
turn your ear to my words.
Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;
for they are life to those who find them
and health to one’s whole body.
Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it”
So, verse 23 is talking about protecting your heart. Your heart determines the rest of your life. That’s a pretty huge thing.
So one way that this verse really stuck out to me was looking at even the way that I live my daily life. Now when I wake up in the mornings, my first thought is that I should check my phone. Who texted me? What’s going on on social media? I haven’t checked in like eight hours, a ton of things kind of changed right?
So that’s my first thought – I have to go get caught and buy into all that stuff but that’s not life-giving.
The Life-Giving Christian Walk
Romans 8:6 says:
“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”
So really, what I should be doing first thing in the morning is digging into God’s word and I should be letting the spirit lead and pour into me because that’s really life-giving. Anything that I find on social media is not going to be life-giving. So, I really need to be focused more on the Bible and protecting not only my heart but protecting my mind.
It’s kind of like that old saying that what you put in is what you’ll get out.
And so that’s something that’s important. You know if we’re putting life-giving things in we’re going to give life-giving things out. And I know right now it’s really hard because everyone’s schedules are kind of messed up and they’re all different, but it’s actually a great time to start a new habit and to get into something that you haven’t done before and to really be pouring that life back in so that you can be pouring life out to those around you.
Just like I should’ve put a rain fly on my tent to be protecting against things that I didn’t see coming, I want you to find what your rain fly is.
What can you be using right now to protect your heart and to protect your mind so that down the road, in the future, your life is more fulfilling and more life-giving?
