True Needs | Crosstraining 10.21.15

Read Acts 3:1-10 A few weeks ago, my wife and I decided to go out to lunch on a Saturday afternoon. I had decided that I really wanted pizza, so I pushed for us to go to a pizza joint close by. I was excited to go because I thought it would be perfect. However, as we got our food, the pizza wasn’t good at all. I realized that what I thought would be good really wasn’t the best. I do this a lot in my life. I get confused as to what really would be best for me. One day, Peter and John were hanging out around the temple. They came across a man who hadn’t been able to walk his entire life who was begging people to give him a few bucks. When Peter and John walked by, the man asked them to give him some money. When they stopped, the man was expecting to get a handout. Instead, Peter told him that they didn’t have money, but they had what he truly needed. Peter reached out his hand and pulled the man who had never walked up and healed him. After meeting Peter and John, the man was able to walk and even jump. The man believed that what he needed was money. But, he had a greater need. That was to be healed. Even more so, his ultimate need was to have God in his life. It’s so easy for us to get confused over what we think we need and what we actually need in our lives. We get caught up in so many things that we tend to forget what’s truly important. This is also true of the people in our lives. When people look to us for help, they’re often confused as to what they actually need. Sometimes, to truly make a difference in someone’s life, we have to get past what they say they need to provide them with what they truly need. Reflect: For the following groups of people in need, what are some things we often try to do thinking it’s good and what’s the best thing we could do for those people? Do you have any of these people in your life?

• Someone struggling with an addiction
• Someone in an unhealthy relationship
• Someone asking you to do their schoolwork for them
• Someone who can never pay their bills
• What are some other examples?

Pray: If you’ve identified anybody in your life that fit into one of the previous categories of people struggling, pray for those people. Ask God to help you see what their true need is and provide that for them. // TWO-A-DAYS // GO A LITTLE FARTHER WITH YOUR DAILY DEVOTIONS // Go through these questions with your spouse, kids, or friend, or you can even journal about the answers to these questions:

1. What was the best part of your day?
2. What was the toughest part of your day?
3. Where did you mess up today?
4. Where did you see God today?

READ THROUGH THE NEW TESTAMENT: Today’s Reading: 1 Peter 3]]>