This Book Will Change the Way You Serve
“Serve one another in love.” Galatians 5:13
Do you want to serve but can’t find the time? Maybe you’re unsure what you have to offer. When you think about serving, what comes to mind? Saturdays at the soup kitchen? Mission trips to Mozambique? These are great ministries, but they might not be for you. Maybe it’s time to rethink your definition of serving.
Try this: serve those around you every day. We all encounter ways to serve others in our day-to-day lives, but we often overlook them. 24 Ways To Serve Through Your Day helps you recognize these opportunities and develop a habit of serving. You will discover you don’t have to schedule, scramble or be a superstar to serve. Simply seize the serving opportunities right in front of you. As you do, you’ll develop the heart of a servant and start living a Galatians 5:13 life.
24 Ways To Serve Through Your Day is one installment of a four-part series designed to help you live out the greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30 On these pages, you’ll find practical, daily steps to develop a loving, humble heart of serving—a heart dedicated to God’s purposes.
I pray God uses this content to grow you in your love for Him.
Kerry Nenn
Watch for the book’s release in March.
Coming soon: Keep following Nenn Pen, Ink to learn about giveaways happening next month during the book launch!
Hot off the presses!
Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
The Northwest Herald has featured the latest book from Nenn Pen, Ink – 24 Ways to Pray Through Your Day. (Newspaper for the NW Suburbs of Chicago).
Locals can find the full-page article on page 4 of the Style section, or read it on the newspaper’s site.
Praising God for this opportunity! Praying He uses it to bless people with this book.
Check out the book’s Facebook page.
Get the book – available in paperback and e-book formats.
Check Out What’s New! From E-Book to Paperback
The latest e-book from Nenn Pen, Ink is now available in paperback!
Get your copy of 24 Ways To Pray Through Your Day now for just $6.99. Available on Amazon.
Is your day slipping by without prayer? Do you keep waiting for the perfect time or some peace and quiet? In the midst of the busyness, the stress, the to-do’s and the to-don’ts, those moments never seem to come. They don’t have to. God gives us moments throughout our daily chaos to call out to him. We simply need to recognize them. When we do, prayer is no longer something we try to work into our day. It becomes our day.
Gain insight into these daily prayer opportunities with 24 Ways To Pray Through Your Day and learn two dozen ways to transform each moment of the day into time with God.
“Your spirit will be refreshed and your heart stirred. This is most definitely a must-read book that I know will give you a new perspective on prayer. And you will never pray the same.” ~ Vernita Simmons, Assistant Publisher, Faith Filled Family Magazine.
Equipped for Happiness
Are you happy?
My church is finishing up a summer teaching series on “Happy Songs.” We’ve studied several Psalms (songs), which tell us how to be blessed (happy).
I was thinking about all this, and do you know what came to mind? A lego guy. Yep, this guy right here.
I realized I am like this lego dude. On my own, I am pretty ill-equipped. While he looks pretty happy right now (everything is awesome, right?), he probably won’t be so happy if he encounters any challenges. He’s not very impressive. He is pretty helpless and vulnerable. Incomplete. Like me.
Also like me, he doesn’t have to stay this way. God offers us the tools we need to be happy. Inspired by the Happy Songs study, I started digging through Psalms to find what’s available to us.
Guess what? God offers us everything we need. We just have to accept it. It’s there for the taking, if we are willing to put it on. We can be transformed. We will be fully equipped for whatever comes our way. As we are told in Ephesians 6:10-13 –
Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
When we can’t stand, and we lose this struggle, we lose our happiness.
What is this happiness-protecting armor?
Ephesians 6:14-17
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Breaking this down, we find the essential tools for happiness. Reaching back to the Psalms to equip ourselves, we find:
Truth: Psalm 25:5 Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.
Righteousness: Psalm 112:6 Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever.
The Good News: Psalm 22: 29-31
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.
All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!
Faith: Psalm 25:1 In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.
Salvation: Psalm 62:1 Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.
The Word: Psalm 119:16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.
Praise the Lord I can look like this instead!
Fully armed, I can be ready to battle whatever comes my way. You can too!
Are you fully equipped today? Which picture are you?
Which do you want to be?
It’s easy to let down our defenses. We think we’ll be fine on our own. But, our happiness is quickly stolen when we aren’t equipped with God’s armor to protect it.
Get geared up!
24 Ways To Pray Through Your Day
Now available on Amazon!
Is your day slipping by without prayer? Do you keep waiting for the perfect time or some peace and quiet? In the midst of the busyness, the stress, the to-do’s and the to-don’ts, those moments never seem to come. But they don’t have to. God gives us moments throughout our daily chaos to call out to him. We simply need to recognize them. When we do, prayer is no longer something we try to work into our day. It becomes our day.
24 Ways To Pray Through Your Day gives insight into these prayer opportunities and teaches readers two dozen ways to transform each moment of the day into time with God.
Blessed Beyond Measure
I am so excited about this latest opportunity God has provided! If you or someone you know is looking for a transforming prayer tool, please check out my new book.
Visit the 24 Ways Facebook page to see what others are saying and share your own prayer experiences.
I’d love to hear from you!
The Sacrifice
He came into this world,
no glory, crown, or fame,
just a simple little manger,
Jesus was his name.
No palace marked his birth,
no riches or a throne,
just a humble servant child,
Son of God, flesh and bone.
As He grew He learned
His purpose.
His Father’s business was
His own.
To Him the sacrifice he’d make
one day,
was always known.
He expected no praise,
power He did not seek.
He was simply there to save,
to help the lost and meek.
He served with love until the day
when persecution had arrived.
His enemies rose up
against Him,
but He knew He would survive.
And as they nailed Him to
the cross,
He gazed upon each face,
and asked His Father
to forgive them,
a show of His eternal grace.
They mocked Him, beat Him,
put Him in the tomb,
placed the stone in front,
and sealed the room.
But three days passed,
and victory He claimed,
when the stone was rolled away,
“He has risen” was proclaimed.
The same child of the manger,
the humble servant one.
His resurrection a hope for all.
All pain and suffering done.
So as one thinks of baby Jesus,
remember what He’s done,
His birth so long ago,
the death of God’s own son.
And as one gazes at the cross,
remember the tears He cried,
as He hung there,
He saw your face,
“This blood’s for you”
– and died.
Excerpt from Random Thoughts by Kerry Nenn
Zoom Out
Zoom out, I would say. Your focus is too narrow. You are zoomed in on this tiny issue, and it seems so big right now. Zoom out, I tell myself. Get a better perspective. See the whole picture, and this will be revealed as the small issue it is. It will seem insignificant once you broaden your view. Zoom out.
So, I zoomed out. Taking everything in does make that experience seem small. Insignificant. It makes me feel small and insignificant. It makes me think, “No, this doesn’t really matter that much. It’s not worthy of stress, or anxiety, or anger. In the grand scheme of things, it’s a random dot that won’t matter a second from now. I really don’t matter that much, in fact.”
While this thinking may provide some kind of relief, it didn’t turn out to be that healthy after all. I zoomed out, and all I saw was insignificance. Nothing matters? Is that better than each little thing I’m zoomed in on mattering too much? I’m just a speck in the midst of it all, so why worry?
I zoomed out, and became overwhelmed with the big picture. It’s too much to take in. You mean there’s ten more things to be concerned about over here at the edge of the image I wasn’t even seeing before? You mean what I’m doing in that little pixel I was zoomed in on could affect the other end of some panoramic I still can’t see? Zoom out. Great. Now my perspective is so big I’m consumed with the immensity of it all. Zoom out. See how small you are, surrounded by so many big things that can crush you.
There has to be another solution, other than throwing the camera out the window. Dear God, what is it? Do I need a new lens? A filter? A new memory card?
Turns out, I had it backwards. Zoom out? No.
Zoom in. Zoom all the way in. Zoom in on the only thing that should ever fill our frame. Zoom in. Zoom in on His grace. Zoom in on His mercy. Zoom in on His love. Let nothing else crowd out the image of our Lord. Zoom in on Jesus Christ.
Zoom in, and He is what we see. Zoom in, and everything else happens with Him at the center of the picture. Zoom in, and there’s no room for distractions on the perimeter. Zoom in, and we experience everything else with Him in our vision. Zoom in, and we are forced to look to Him and through Him to see anything else.
This is the focus I need. Not that I’m insignificant. That’s simply not true. Zoom in. See that I matter to Him. Zoom in. See the immensity of His love for me. Zoom in. See the parts He wants me to see. It’s His big picture to paint, to change, to reveal, as He sees fit. Zoom in. The grand plan isn’t mine to know.
Zoom in. He cares about this very moment with me. Zoom in. Those little experiences may matter after all, but not in the ways I saw before. Zoom in, and see Him at work in those times.
Zoom in, and stay there. No more adjusting in hopes of gaining the perfect perspective. No more worries about the perfect lens. No more wondering if I’m seeing what I should see.
Zoom in, lost child, and see your good, good Father. Zoom in, lost and despairing, and see your Hope. Zoom in, lost perspective, and see your Focus. Zoom in, lost sinner, and see your Savior.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12:2
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Praising the Lord for these opportunities!
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