Living Unfiltered for God

Have you ever wanted something so badly, that you prayed if God gave it to you, you would give it back to Him? Sounds a little crazy, doesn’t it? Yet, that is precisely what the individual we’re about to look at did. We’re almost done with our recap of what the Youth of Florida Family CFO discussed out on the dock early each morning. When Thursday came, it was time to study a little more about another great woman of the Bible… Hannah. Hannah was one of two wives of Elkanah. (A detail that required a little extra discussion that early morning.) His other wife had given birth to multiple sons and daughters, while Hannah’s womb, “was closed”, and had not produced any offspring. This was a constant point of irritation to Hannah, as her rival “provoked her.” Once, during their annual visit to Shiloh, where they worshiped and sacrificed, Hannah, while in the presence of Eli, the priest, started weeping and praying. In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitt...

(Continuing some reflections from Youth Devotions and Communion at Florida Family CFO camp last month...) The purpose of our discussion on the third day of the week, was to go a little deeper into the story behind one particular, well-known verse. I’ll start this post the same way I began the lesson that morning with the teenagers… Which verse in the Bible do you think is the most popular to quote, or at least the most well known? Who said it? Who was He talking to? After the first question, there were several good answers provided, but the consensus of the group settled on John 3:16. (I’ve said before, this was a smart bunch of kids!) Of course, I had to follow it up with the question, “Where is that verse found?” After a few seconds of looks of confusion, they realized I was just seeing if they really were awake that early in the morning! The second question was trickier. Their initial answer was John. A logical and reasonable choice. But then, they zeroed i...

The second day of our Dock Devotions focused on one of my personal favorite characters, and stories, in The Bible: Abigail. Her name appears in only a couple of different chapters, but the part she played in history – particularly the future King David’s history – was enormous. The discussion was based on 1 Samuel Chapter 25. As usual, a bit of context first. David and his mighty men as they are called, had been on the run, trying to avoid King Saul. King Saul knew that David had been anointed King and wanted to kill David so that this would not take place. Shortly after the Death of Samuel (who, many years earlier, had anointed David to be the future king), while still trying to hide from Saul, they came to a town called Carmel. They arrived during a festive time, so David instructed his men to ask Nabal, a wealthy landowner, for any provisions, “you can find for them.” The request included the fact that they (David and his men) had been in the area and had done nothing to h...