Grow, Pray & Study Guide: Everyday Heroes, Week 2

Our hope at River City is that you grow daily in your walk with God! One way to do that is to spend time with God every day. This Grow, Pray and Study Guide (GPS)  is just one easy way to connect with God on a daily basis.
 

Everyday Heroes

Week 2

The Book of Esther

ON Sunday we discussed developing “heroic habits” that will shape how we respond in times of crisis. Check out the sermon here. This week’s GPS Guide will give you some practical ways to develop heroic habits.

Monday

  • Heroic Habit: Prayer
  • Matthew 6:5-15
  • Prayer is the foundation for being used by God to do great things. By coming to God regularly in prayer we include God in our lives, center our heart and mind on God’s will and join the body of Christ in the most powerful tool that we have in our toolbox. But so many times we skip this step. Below is a story about how prayer has worked wonders in a man’s life. Take the time to read the story and if you feel led, I challenge you to “pray like Bob.”  http://mhccfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Bob-Prayer-Challenge.pdf

Tuesday & Wednesday

  • Heroic Habit:  Reading Scripture
  • The book of Esther
  • Just like prayer, God’s word is available to us and is extremely powerful when it fills our lives. So many times we don’t know where to start when it comes to reading The Bible. One easy way is to read bits and pieces of a Proverb and a Psalm on a daily basis.  There are 31 chapters in proverbs so the math works out really well. You can also add a chapter from another book of the Bible to learn more about what the Bible teaches. Over Tuesday and Wednesday read through the book of Esther. It has 10 chapters.

Thursday

  • Heroic Habit:  Patience
  • Matthew 13:1-9 and Hebrews 11
  • Timing is everything and everything is dependent upon what is done while we wait for “everything” to happen. A farmer casts seed in hopes of producing an amazing crop. A fisherman throws out nets in hopes of hauling in an amazing catch. An athlete shows up to practice to prepare for a big race. On and on it goes and usually out of nowhere we begin to see signs of life and then a harvest. But harvest requires patience and perseverance. Continuing to work even when it is hard and we don’t know if the harvest is going to produce. 

Faith is having a conviction and belief in things unseen. The heroes listed in Hebrews 11 spent more days casting seed than they did bringing in the harvest. In what areas of your life are you preparing for harvest by casting seed?  Do you find yourself growing weary? If so, what for what reason? Is there an area where you are experiencing a time of harvest? Spend some time praying about where you are casting seed and thanking God for the present or coming harvest.

Friday

  • Heroic Habit:  Walking in Awareness
  • Acts 17:16-34
  • Paul was an amazing missionary because he used “the signs of the times”  to point out spiritual truths in people’s lives. In Athens he told the people of the “unknown god” who they were truly longing for. Cultural context is so important in reading the signs of the times and culture to point people towards Christ. Most of the time we are unaware of the opportunities we have around us because we experience them so regularly. The statue to the unknown god just became part of the daily walk through the neighborhood for the people of Athens.

Take some time today to walk through your neighborhood or area where you work and see it with fresh eyes.   Specifically pray as you walk and use the steps below as a guide.

As you walk:

1. Pray for discernment—that God will reveal what he sees, hears, and knows about the people, events, and things of the community; that you will develop the eyes to see what God is already doing in the community and among the people.

2. Pray for blessing—over every house and person you see and interact with; for God’s intervention in each life, so that each one can be fruitful in his kingdom.

3. Discover the neighborhood—take note of the gifts that exist in the community which might be a source of blessing when they are shared.

4. Look for ways to bless and intervene in the community with love and grace, as Jesus would.