Good Morning Very Loved, Redeemed of the Lord! What great love we know that God sent His Son to die for our sins and to make a way to spend eternity with Him! WOW! Ponder that today as you praise and pray. What do we do with that kind of love? First, receive it! Then share it! Jesus said, "Go love as I have loved you." That is a command that is empowered by the Holy Spirit in us and our choice to obey. Check out ODB today. Then be strong and courageous as you go love like Jesus (UR).
That's it today as I am waaaay behind schedule! This sleeping in until 4 is not conducive to a productive day! God really loves us and made a way. He created us for such a time as this and has empowered us to go love just like He loves us. We know where we will be spending eternity. (With Him) and this life is lived for His glory. What joy we know for His great love and what love we get to share! Go! Live and love like Jesus today! Don't worry! Be happy and rejoice! Amen!
ODB:
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As a new believer in Jesus at the age of thirty, I had lots of questions after committing my life to Him. When I started reading the Scriptures, I had even more questions. I reached out to a friend. “How can I possibly obey all God’s commands? I just snapped at my husband this morning!”
“Just keep reading your Bible,” she said, “and ask the Holy Spirit to help you love like Jesus loves you.”
After more than twenty years of living as a child of God, that simple but profound truth still helps me embrace the three steps in His great love cycle: First, the apostle Paul affirmed that love is central in the life of a believer in Jesus. Second, by continuing to pay the “debt to love one another,” followers of Christ will walk in obedience, “for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). Finally, we fulfill the law because “love does no harm to a neighbor” (v. 10).
When we experience the depth of God’s love for us, demonstrated best through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, we can respond with gratitude. Our grateful devotion to Jesus leads to loving others with our words, actions, and attitudes. Genuine love flows from the one true God who is love (1 John 4:16, 19).
Loving God, help us get caught up in Your great love cycle!
By Xochitl Dixon
REFLECT & PRAY
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When have you struggled to feel loved by Jesus or to love like He loves? How does knowing Christ loves you completely and unconditionally change the way you love others?
Dear Jesus, please help me believe You love me so I can love others through the overflow of Your love for me.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The Bible has much to say about loving others. Jesus says that “to love your neighbor as yourself” is the second greatest commandment (Matthew 22:39) and that the greatest love a person can show is to “lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).
Paul’s description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 refers to the love the body of Christ should have for one another. But in his letter to the Roman believers in Jesus, Paul puts his admonition to love (13:8-10) in a peculiar place. It’s sandwiched between an exhortation to be submissive to governing authorities by fulfilling civic responsibilities (vv. 1-7)—authorities that weren’t friendly to early believers in Christ—and a reminder that the day of Lord is “nearer now than when we first believed” (v. 11). Perhaps the apostle is suggesting that love is a responsibility (akin to civic responsibility) that’s motivated by anticipating our future with Jesus.
JR Hudberg |
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UR: Bird in the Storm
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid . . . for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. - Deuteronomy 31:6 (NIV)
My wife and I sat in our sunroom and watched a storm rage outside. As we watched the rain pour down and heard the thunder rumble, we noticed a purple martin flying through the wind and rain. She flew up to her nest under the eaves at the corner of our house. We could hear the chirping of her babies as she brought them a tiny insect, and then with a chirp of her own, she took off to find more for them to eat. Time after time she returned and then took off again. The heavy rain and strong wind occasionally blew her off course, but she never stopped. Our admiration for her grew with each trip she made, and we both remarked that there was something inspirational about her behavior.
Long after the storm ended, I kept thinking about what we had witnessed. The mother bird’s behavior made me think of the sacrifice that Jesus made for all of us. Like the purple martin, his sacrifice was an act of intense love! The little bird’s determined care for her young reminded us that God really does care about and provide for all of creation. God’s love will endure and will not be turned aside by the storms of adversity. I pray that the devotion of the little bird will stay alive in my memory and inspire me to show love to others and to trust God to provide for God’s children.
TODAY'S PRAYER
Dear Jesus, thank you for the sacrifice you made for us so that we may live abundantly. Inspire us to show your love to the world. Amen.
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