Dev4GamersDevotions for Real People, for Real Gamers!

Romans 8:38-39 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
38For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Just one more try, one more push.  I am so close to my goal that I am not about to give up now!  So what if its 2 am?  I have nearly got it!

The typical gamer is known by their ability to push themselves to reach the goals they have, or reach the end of a level, or strive to do the best.  It is a quality that shows the vital differences between those who are wired to be gamers and those who are not.  Neither person is right or wrong, they simply approach things from a different viewpoint.

A person with the “gamer” gene, lets call it for lack of a better word, will strive to reach a goal in the game.  Perhaps they are close to reaching max level in wow.  Perhaps they have one more checkpoint to get to in a FPS, or perhaps they just want to go one more level of Mrs. Packman?  It does not matter the time and effort put into it, as long as they reach that goal.

As hard as a gamer will push to a goal and shut the world out to them until they reach it they will never show as much dedication and love for what they are doing than God.

In Romans, Paul shows us how much God loves us, how much He loves you.  Nothing will stand in his way of His great love for you.  No one can match the achievement boards as long as God is around, for He loved us so much that He sent us Jesus, the way and the truth.

God loves you more than you know, He gave His Son for you to spend eternity with Him in heaven.

How bad to you want to reach that goal?

1 John 2:1-2
1 My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous One. 2 He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world. (HCSB)

Words can be fun. For the longest time our youngest daughter Rachel would get onto Tanya, Bethany and myself for using an expanded vocabulary in seemingly everyday normal life. We have never used words to make us sound like we are more than we are, but being that our life has taken us to some wonderful places and experiences our word banks had grown from what they where when we were younger.

When I was in college in the south I remember hearing some . . strange vocabulary as well. But most of the time it consisted of modifying a word or dropping an ending off of a word. It took me nearly 6 months to figure out that Barvoul was actually the name of the city next to us, Barberville.

When we come across a fancy or strange word in the Bible we can sometimes get stumped or try to gloss over it. Propitiation is one of those words. Who, outside of Bible college and church, uses the word PROPITIATION? No one, that’s who. So what does it mean and why is it important?

To boil it down to the simplest elements, propitiation means, atoning sacrifice. I know, atoning is not used very much as well but we will run with it.

John says in this passage that he hopes that we would not sin, but if we do we have an advocate, someone to speak on our behalf. His qualifications to speak for us, and take the wrap for us is that he died for us. Propitiation!

Jesus is able to stand before the Father in our place because of His love for us, that love lead Him to die for us. That right there is pure win and awesome.

Genesis 2:1-3
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (ESV)

So this week marks the beginning of the countdown to rest. I gave my two week notice at the job I have been working for over 7 months in order to focus energy on our new church plant, Redeemed Point. Already some have sent me text messages and facebook comments as to what I will be doing now. Many of which I have not been able to answer because of . . . time.

When God created everything around us, the land, sea, sky, animals, matter, he did something that would seem out of place for God; He rested. Did God need this rest? No, he is God after all, but what he did want to do is set an example for his creation.

When our day gets so busy that we have to juggle who and what gets attention from us it is time to stop, sit down, take a breath and put things into perspective.

Your mental health, family health, and enjoyment of life will be so much grater if we will do this. That last piece of Tier 9 armor can wait, you DON’T have to run one more heroic instance that leads to another and another all the time while you neglect spending time with Him.

So why a 2 week notice? Because 4 years of cave dwelling and not having time for Him is FAR to long!

Taken from our archives, a mid week music program from March 1, 2006.

Enjoy.

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.”- Isaiah 53:3-4 (NIV)

Music:

You Did Not Have a Home – Rich Mullins

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”-Romans 6:23 (NIV)

I have been playing some old first person shooters lately along with my mmo’s. A pattern I got into when I used to play these games all the time was doing a quick save just before a hard section or boss fight. I learned to do this after countless hours trying to get something done and failing. I would turn a corner to soon and wamo, time to start over.

You see, in a game, the AI of the bad guys will not give you an inch. If you step to far to one side or the other you are toast. Well, in life, if we see that we are already toast. We have already stepped to far to the wrong side. The result is death. Not just an, oh well, I think I will start over type of death. No, this is death, eternal separation from God type stuff here. The finish, the end, roll the credits.

The only way to get pat this level is to . . take the gift that the programmer put into it. Save the game. Well, the analogy breaks down a bit at this part, mainly because you can not repeat this over and over and over if you fail. But here is the truth, here is the good news.

Jesus died to give us all a second chance, second life if you will. He offers us this freely. If you want to get to the next level, if you want to win, then take His offer. Hit the save button, ask Him to be your savior.

Music:
Amazing Grace – Jars of Clay

Mark 10:28 (New International Version)
Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!”

In 1993 Tanya and I were blessed to meet Samantha Siegel, a summer missionary that had come all the way from Kentucky to California. She spent the summer out here doing Vacation Bible School, Back Yard Bible Club’s and just about anything else our association could think at throw at her. The three of us became fast friends in the two to three weeks of the summer that we had Sam in our lives.

The day she left I somewhat joked to her about having that school she went to send me some information. She went to a small Christian College in the mountains of South Eastern Kentucky. This college was made up mostly of students over the age of 25 to 35 with families.

At this point of our lives we had given ourselves to the Lord to serve Him. We knew that He wanted us in ministry, but Bethany had come along, we were working to make a living, and school was out of the question. So we thought.

Not two weeks after saying those words to Sam had a small package of literature show up in our mailbox. She had them send out a package right away. At first I was like WHAT? We started reading the material, ended up at Round Table Pizza in a booth with a list of pros and cons, then realized that God was moving.

Three weeks later we where in a moving van on our way to Kentucky, sight unseen. Over 3000 miles the three of us drove. We gave left everything behind, for the most part, and started the adventure that has brought us to the point we are at now.

God has blessed us in so many ways. Even while in a state of not knowing what is next and really relying on him for day to day living have we begun to live.

Is God calling you to leave something behind to follow Him? I am not talking about selling all your possessions and moving into a commune, I am referring to your life, your way of doing things, your wants. Turn them over to him, follow him, and the next verse will become clear.

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”- 1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)

Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
C. S. Lewis

Keep it Simple Stupid

I know we covered a verse similar to this recently, but hey, its God’s Word and He has a way of getting His point across.

Here it is in a simple nutshell.

We have hope, that hope is in Christ that we will see heaven when we die. How do we get this hope? By trusting in Christ as our Lord. I wish I could use a snappyillustration that would help you understand this fully, but that would just muddy the waters more. You hope your car will get you to your destination, you hope that the chair you sit in today will hold you up, you hope.

As always we need to be ready to tell someone who asks why we have this hope in Jesus. You whip out your long essay on how God saved you from the fiery pit of despair and damnation only to see the person you are talking with lose interest and consider you a nut.

Don’t unleash a 30 minute exposition on grace, faith and hope on them, just tell them the plain truth. Save those big words for when you really need it.

Be gentle and use respect. Not everyone will listen to you, and that’s ok. Keep Christ in your heart and doing what He has asked.

No one wants a 50 pound Bible to hit them in the head.

MUSIC:
Inara’s Suite – Firefly Soundtrack

We all need a litle fun and crazyness.  Back in April of 2006 was just one of those moments.

Please enjoy this old epesode of Dev4Gamers.

(NOTE)

GMPodcasting and Gaming Ministries no longer have a web pressence.  Just in case you where wondering

Enjoy this. . . fun, backwards, and out of order show.

Joshua 1:9 (NIV)
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Music
Frail -  Jars of Clay