Dave Ambrose - Chew on This. 31 Biblical Devotions into the Heart of Christ

YOUTH SPECIALITIES

Chew on This: 31 Biblical Devotions into the Heart of Christ

Copyright 2007 by Dave Ambrose

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

EPub Edition JUNE 2009 ISBN:978-0-310-85124-0

Youth Specialties products, 300 S. Pierce St., El Cajon, CA 92020 are published by Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49530.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ambrose, Dave.

Chew on this! : 30 biblical devotions into the heart of Christ / Dave

Ambrose.

p. cm.

ISBN-10: 0-310-27922-4 (pbk.)

ISBN-13: 978-0-310-27922-8 (pbk.)

1. Christian teenagersReligious life. 2. Devotional literature. I.

Title.

BV4531.3.A43 2007

242.63dc22

2007037120

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, Todays New International Version. TNIV. Copyright 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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 electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

07 08 09 10 11 12 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CHEW ON THIS

31 BIBLICAL DEVOTIONS INTO THE HEART OF CHRIST

DAVE AMBROSE

This book is dedicated to

my wonderful wife, Melody, and my two boys, Josh and Ty. Thanks for always encouraging me to pursue my dreams! Theyve all come true by being a part of your lives.

Thanks to

Tic Long for believing in me enough to invite me to be a part of everything God continues to do through Youth Specialties. Thanks also to Patty McCaulay, Angie Adams, and Brent Bill for all of your help reviewing this book. May Jesus Christ be lifted up and honored as a result of our labor.

B oth of my boys have incredible imaginations.

My younger son Tyler likes to use his imagination when hes playing with his action figures. I love listening to the different voices he uses before he falls asleep at night. The best ones are when the rubber snakes are eating all of the village people who cant seem to escape no matter how fast they try to run away. In the morning, his bed is covered with all sorts of make-believe items that were a part of his imaginary epic battle the night before.

My older son Josh, on the other hand, uses his imagination when he dreams. I love listening to his stories when he wakes up. I never know if he actually had a dream or if hes making it up as he goes. Either way, its very entertaining! Last week he told me about a dream where he was in a boxing ring fighting off pepperonis and cheeseburgers that were attacking him and trying to take him away to their castle. He managed to defeat them, but not before a giant clown came down and started licking his face.

Believe it or not, when it comes to our spiritual lives, our imaginations are very useful. Thats not something you may be used to hearing, but our imaginations are very valuable tools in helping us become better followers of Jesus. When we use our imaginations, our world takes on a different dimension. Imagination allows us to dream about things that havent been created yet, to envision ourselves and others in different places and circumstances, even to discover things about ourselves that will be pivotal in our journey toward God.

Whats the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word meditation? If youre like me, you get an image of some guy sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, his arms spread out with his palms facing upward, humming to himself. While that may be an accurate picture for some religions, this isnt at all what guided meditations are about in Christianity.

First of all, in the Bible, the word meditate, as best we can tell, literally means to chew upon over and over againkind of like the way a dog chews on a bone. On special occasions, I give my dog Raider a nice big soup bone. I love watching him as he gnaws it over and over again, mulling it over in his mouth until he scrapes every last possible piece of meat off it. This is the image the Bible gives us for what it means to meditate: To chew upon Gods truth over and over again until we get every last ounce of nourishment from it. (Hence the title of this book!)

The Bible is meant to give us strength and to help us become more and more like Jesus himself. The Bible wasnt written to make us smarter. It wasnt written so that we could impress our friends with how many verses weve memorized or how much we know about God. The Word of God is meant to be consumed and digested. Its meant to help us grow and transform into the kind of people we were created to be from the very beginningpeople who live like Jesus and conduct themselves based on the truth that hes here today, living in our souls. Thats the goal, isnt it? To imitate him in every way? Only when we learn to live like that will we ever truly be fulfilled.

Now, the guided meditations in this book are different from Bible meditations: When you meditate on Scripture, you focus on and enter into the narrative of the biblical text; the subject matter of the guided mediations in this book are much broaderyoull imagine yourself in various scenes and circumstances, sensing and responding to the images you see in your minds eye and the emotions they bring. Then after youve completed your Guided Mediation, you have the chance to write about what you experienced and connect it with Scripture.

The reason were using Guided Meditations in this book is because Ive found them to be exciting tools for engaging the imagination they bring the Word of God to life in ways that youve probably never experienced! Its my desire that you see Jesus in brand-new ways as you uncover important aspects about your spiritual life.

So thanks for coming along for the ride. (And by the way, wheres your seatbelt? Youre going to need it. Using your imagination will be quite an adventure!)

1. Look through this book for a Guided Meditation that sounds interesting. You dont have to start at the beginning.
2. Find a comfortable place where you feel relaxed. Take a deep breath, and then exhale slowly, allowing the cares of your day to disappear for a while. Pray and invite God to join you in this adventure.
3. Slowly read through the Guided Meditation or listen carefully as its read on the accompanying audio CD. As you do, use your imagination and enter into the story.
4. Next, take a few minutes to journal about what you experienced from the meditation. (Note: See the sidebar on what journaling is, and how its done.)
5. Take some time to read the accompanying Scripture reference(s) or listen carefully as Scripture is read on the accompanying audio CD.
6. Then take some time to answer the Questions for Reflection. (Feel free to write your answers and any other insights underneath each Question for Reflectionand even in the margins as well as in your own journal. Make this a book youre not afraid to mark up with your thoughts!)