Reckless Devotion

Heidi Baker

Description

Are you ready for a revolutionary year with Heidi & Rolland?Whether stopping for the one in a dusty village in Mozambique or reaching out to the world, Heidi and Rolland model--and invite everyone into--the radical love that thrills God's heart.Energized by their work on the frontlines of ministry, the Bakers weave together miraculous stories, Scriptures, encouraging devotional thoughts and prayer to take you through the year.Every day is a fresh invitation to live fully devoted to God. When you surrender to Him and allow His presence to grow in you, you will find, like the Bakers, that you don't become less of yourself; you actually become more fully the person He has always intended you to be. Join Heidi and Rolland for an unforgettable year of sold-out, passionate, reckless devotion to the One who loves you more than you can imagine."All God wants is my laid-down love, my reckless devotion. He is asking the same from you."--Heidi Baker

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 29 juillet 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441263988
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

© 2014 by Rolland and Heidi Baker
Originally published by River Publishing and Media Ltd., Maidstone, Kent, United Kingdom.
Published by Chosen Books
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.chosenbooks.com
Chosen Books is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Ebook edition created 2014
Ebook corrections 12.21.2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
ISBN 978-1-4412-6398-8
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations labeled AMP are from the Amplified® Bible, copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
Scripture quotations identified ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2011
Scripture quotations identified T HE M ESSAGE are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
Scripture quotations identified NET are from the NET BIBLE®, copyright © 2003 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. www.netbible.com . Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified NLT are from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified P HILLIPS are from The New Testament in Modern English, revised edition—J. B. Phillips, translator. © J. B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.
Scripture quotations identified TLB are from The Living Bible , copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Cover design by LOOK Design Studio
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Week 1 An Adventure Beyond Your Wildest Imaginings
Week 2 Allowing Jesus Complete Access
Week 3 Centering Life on Jesus
Week 4 Carrying and Sharing the Presence
Week 5 Living with Passion, Loving with Compassion
Week 6 Serving from a Place of Rest
Week 7 Following the Leader
Week 8 Trusting the Father to Guide and Provide
Week 9 Passion for His Presence
Week 10 Drawing on the Riches of Heaven
Week 11 Losing Ourselves in Him
Week 12 Offering Our “Little” to God
Week 13 The Evidence of Heaven’s Presence
Week 14 Enjoying God’s Relentless Kindness
Week 15 Understanding Power in Weakness
Week 16 Finding Joy and Authenticity
Week 17 Hopelessly in Love with Jesus
Week 18 Being Uniquely You—and His
Week 19 Standing on Daddy’s Feet
Week 20 Abiding and Walking in Your True Identity
Week 21 Remaining Plugged In
Week 22 A Constant Supply of Oil
Week 23 Emptying Yourself to Be Refilled
Week 24 The Cycle of Fullness and Emptiness
Week 25 Giving Away What You Cannot Keep
Week 26 Simple Acts of Obedience
Week 27 Overshadowed by His Presence
Week 28 Being Who You Were Born to Be
Week 29 Entrusting All to Him
Week 30 Pouring Out Love on Others
Week 31 He Makes Everything New
Week 32 Letting Jesus Be in Charge
Week 33 Resting in God’s Goodness
Week 34 Bringing Everything to Him
Week 35 Making Ourselves Small
Week 36 Clothing Ourselves with Jesus
Week 37 Beautiful Fragrance
Week 38 Pressing On Toward the Goal
Week 39 Let God Break In
Week 40 Simply Sharing
Week 41 What Does Jesus Want to Do?
Week 42 Who Are the Disciples?
Week 43 Getting Lower and Slower
Week 44 Seeking and Finding
Week 45 Hunger
Week 46 Trusting God for Everything
Week 47 Growing Down
Week 48 Who Is in Charge?
Week 49 The Power of Suffering
Week 50 The Fruit of Suffering
Week 51 The Path to Joy
Week 52 God with Us

Final Words
Notes
About the Authors
Books by Heidi and Rolland Baker
Back Ads
Back Cover
1
Jars of Clay
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
2 Corinthians 4:7
S imple jars of clay are formed in the dust and the dirt and used in the business of life. They aren’t beautiful; they don’t stand out as unusual on the outside; it’s what they hold inside that is of real value.
In spiritual terms, we are these little jars of clay. All I really am is a little person, sitting in the dirt, just loving my Lord Jesus with reckless devotion. On the outside, I am small and unremarkable, with not much to show for myself. But on the inside, it’s a whole other story.
I’m made to carry the all-surpassing power of the One whom I love so deeply, and the good news is, so are you.
The treasure that fills me, making my heart overflow into the world around me, comes from God and not from me. I am nothing; He is everything. He made us to be receptacles for His glory, His love, His compassion, His grace and His mercy. All He wants is a place to inhabit.
“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). When God fills us with His Holy Spirit, we are filled with love. He desires to pour Himself out through our lives, our jars of clay , into His world, which aches for Him. His all-surpassing power is given to us, not so we can hoard it for ourselves, storing it in a darkened room somewhere, from which it trickles out in small quantities. It is given to us to be splashed out in the light, for the joy of all people everywhere.
We can’t love God’s way without being filled with Him. If we try it on our own, we end up exhausted and burned out. I’ve done it; it doesn’t work. Only when we let His love pour into us and let it spill out from deep within us will His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
2
Reshaped Vessels
Then the word of the L ORD came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the L ORD . “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.”
Jeremiah 18:5–6
G od wants to reshape us into vessels that will hold more of His glory. He wants us to understand how different life can be when we are filled and poured out again and again.
For 26 years, we were missionaries, doing our best to serve the people around us. We thought we were doing it right. As we labored and worked and toiled for the Lord, getting more and more burned out, we honestly thought that was how it would always be. Looking back now, I now know we were bound to a false belief system that said, “If I’m working for God, I have to be cracked and dry, pushed to the edge and always miserable.” It’s a lie, but it’s how we lived for years.
That was, until God broke in, pouring His sweet Holy Spirit into us. He reshaped us on His potter’s wheel, lovingly reworking us so our hearts overflowed with life and energy and love and power. We understood for the first time how the love of the Lord completely transforms a life so that it becomes like His own. We began to see miracles and signs and wonders, and our love and compassion increased. It was as though someone had switched on a huge light, and we would never be in the dark again.
Now we are compelled to love those we serve through a love for God that never runs dry. Why? It is His Holy Spirit who fills our jars of clay, and all we do comes from Him. We know the love of God lives in us, not because we deserve it, not because we are better than anyone else, but because of His beautiful Holy Spirit. As we have let Him reshape us—moving away from thinking it’s all about us to letting it be all about Him—His presence in and around us has multiplied.
Our cry is now, “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:30).
3
Filled with Possibility
For nothing will be impossible with God.
Luke 1:37 NASB
J esus loves us so much that He will never keep us small. In Him, absolutely nothing is impossible: There are no limits.
Luke 1:37 is part of the angel’s announcement to Mary that her old cousin, Elizabeth, who was well past her childbearing days, was six months pregnant with a boy who would become John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin. If that wasn’t enough, Mary also had to come to terms with the declaration that she was about to conceive by the Holy Spirit and would give birth nine months later to the Son of God.
That’s some news.
God doesn’t have a problem with making possible what we think is impossible. He loves to shake us up, out of our small-minded thinking, and free us from doubts about this thing or that thing. He loves to blast through our assumption that, somehow, if it can’t be done in earthly terms, it can’t be done at all.
Remember, He loves to reshape us. He speaks truth where we’ve believed lies.
You think He can’t change you? He can.
You think you have gone too far down to be rescued? You haven’t.
You think you’re too old now? You’re not.
You think you have to wait until you’re older? You don’t.
Nothing is