Friday February 25, 2011
Theme: Loving Like Jesus Loves Me
Weekend Music links on iTunes: God Is With Us - Michael Olson, Today Is the Day - Lincoln Brewster, None But Jesus - Hillsong, Attention - Know Hope Collective
Read: Luke 12:6-7, 1 Pet. 2:17, Eph.3:18
Think: I have a lot of family and loved ones that I don’t get to see very often. Because I can’t be near them and be in their lives the way I’d like to be, one of the things I pray for them is, “Lord, please bring people into their lives to love them, be there for them, encourage them and lead them closer to you”.
I have a home childcare and so have many young parents and children coming in and out of my home daily. One day, it occurred to me that they may have someone in their life who is praying that sort of prayer for them. I can be God’s answer to someone’s prayer! How amazing and how humbling that thought is. It made me more aware that my serving these young families is part of God’s plan for their lives and for mine. It gave new purpose.
We know from the Bible that Jesus is all about relationships. He is constantly exhorting us by his words and by his example to love one another, accept one another and to value one another. When his spirit is in us, we can be his hands and feet, an instrument used by him to bless others and even to lead them to follow Jesus themselves. I believe each one of us has been given our own personal “circle of love”: the people with whom we come in contact with on a regular basis and even those who we pass along the way.
Do: John 17:18 says, “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world”-Jesus. Ask God to show you who he has placed in your life that he wants you to minister to. Who is he sending you to? Who is in your personal circle of love? How can you show love to them today?
Pray: Dear God, Please open my eyes to those around me. Who can I encourage today? Who can I show love to in your name? As I open my heart to you, please send me. Use me to be your hands and feet. Help me to love others as you love me. Amen
The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.