Good Morning Earnestly Pursuing Christ Co-Laborers! Please Lord! May that be us and may we find our teammates and helpers and be good ones too as we spur each other on to the good works You have planned. May others see you, Your love and our faithfulness and be drawn to You. Come fill us, unite us and send us in love! Amen!
As we pursue Christlikeness, we often fail and fall short. After all, we are not Christ nor fully like Him yet. We are on a journey that sometimes has some deep valleys and steep hills to climb. We will often fail. But we do our best to seek, repent, renew our thinking and ways and strive earnestly to become more like Jesus and do what we are created to do as His image bearers. May we be steadfast in our pursuit and focused on Christ always. Being a member of God's Body and teammates can be messy and hard at times, but it is one of our commanded pursuits--Jesus said to live and love like Him as one. Help us Lord! We are commanded that if we come to the altar with our offerings and remember an offense to a co-laborer or other that we should leave our gift and go correct the situation before carrying on with our worship. Today God has highlighted that to me as I awoke thinking about a situation from Sunday and someone that I need to forgive and then correct myself and work at unity before helping to correct in love. Our devos below seem to be highlighting that thinking as well. God sure does speak and get our attention at times! How do you respond when that happens? Surrender, repent, renew your thinking, forgive and go love like Jesus as your act of worship when this happens. And so today, that is my plan. I will be reaching out to our PRC to help me and hold me accountable and maybe to be mediators if needed. That is the Jesus way we are called to pursue. Help me Lord! Be in this situation. Open hearts and minds and rectify this. Lead this and may I agape love well today--please! Thanks! Amen!
Who has God brought to your mind right now? What will you do about it? Who are your helpers to spur you on, pray for and with you and mediate if needed? Talk to God and them about this and then die to self, take up cross and follow Jesus as you continue to work at living and loving more like Him today! I'm praying for you! Remember, everyone is not like you nor where you are in your journey to Christlikeness. We are called to patient love like God shows us. Pursue that! I sure need to!
The Word God has for me for you today is to listen, abide and respond well to the Holy Spirit in you and His prodding to Christlikeness. And to earnestly pursue Christ and His ways with surrendered, willing and ready hearts! We are called to live and love like Jesus. What's getting in the way of that or for you to hear Him and respond well? Repent and find some teammates to help! We are made for love and unity and anything that hinders that or gets in the way of abiding in Love needs to be corrected like Jesus would, with agape love and earnestness. They will know we are Christians by our love and unity in Christ. Let's work on that today! I'm trying. May God be in it and lead it and lead us to our partners and unity and love. Amen! Come Jesus! Your will be done, Your way. Amen. May we live and love more and more like Jesus today!
ODB
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I stopped behind a car at a red light the other day and noticed a bright sticker on the rear window boldly stating: “New Driver. Please Be Patient.” Given all the road rage we hear about (or experience), what a great reminder to be patient with other drivers.
As I looked at the sticker, I wondered what would happen if people carried around signs that alerted us that they’re a “New Parent” or “New Christian.” If we knew what our neighbors, coworkers, or others we encounter throughout our day were going through, would we be more patient and even help them deal with their struggles?
We may be rushing through our days, trying to avoid being interrupted by others, but let’s consider how Jesus treated people. He wasn’t in a hurry. He had compassion on people and took the time to comfort and teach and show love to those He encountered.
As believers in Jesus, we’re called to “live a life worthy of the calling [we] have received” (Ephesians 4:1). The apostle Paul says that includes being “completely humble and gentle; [being] patient, bearing with one another in love” (v. 2); and making every effort to live in peace and unity with each other (v. 3).
We may not know what challenges people are facing, but we can be patient with them. Let’s be an expression of Jesus’ love to everyone we encounter on our daily path.
By Nancy Gavilanes
REFLECT & PRAY
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How can you be more patient with others? Who can you be a blessing to today?
Dear God, please help me to be more loving and patient with those You place in my path.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
When calling for gentleness and patience as believers in Jesus relate with each other, Paul recognized how difficult this can be. “Bearing with one another” (Ephesians 4:2) could also be translated “putting up with one another.” The same word is used in Mark 9:19, where Jesus says, “You unbelieving generation . . . . How long shall I put up with you?” Paul doesn’t naively imagine that maintaining unity in relationships with fellow believers will be easy, and he doesn’t call for believers to always have positive feelings for each other. Instead, following Christ’s example of humble, patient service, believers make the choice to “make every effort” (Ephesians 4:3) to press on in the difficult work of cultivating unity. Even within significant differences and relational friction, it’s possible to demonstrate Christlike love for each other.
Monica La Rose |
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Sarah Young
UR: Trusting the Lord
Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. - Jeremiah 17:7 (NRSVUE)
Where I live, we have only two seasons — wet and dry. April and May are usually the hottest months, and for the past few weeks we’ve been experiencing extremely hot days with no rain.
Recently our water source was drying up and my family’s water pump stopped working. I read a news headline claiming that we have an 80 percent chance of experiencing the climate pattern known as El Niño in the coming weeks. I was scared by this possibility because El Niño’s warm waters are associated with drought in my country. It was already hotter than we could bear. How much harder would it be without water? What would my family drink?
God surely knows what we need and when we need it. As I was reading my journal, I saw that a few days back I had written down Jeremiah 17:5-10. The passage compares those who trust in man and those who trust in the Lord. Verse 8 says those who trust in the Lord will be like a tree planted by water and will not be anxious when drought comes. This reminded me to trust and fix my eyes and heart on God. Regardless of the changing seasons, I can trust God will remain faithful through it all.
Today's Prayer
Dear Lord, we know you are faithful and trustworthy. Help us to fix our eyes on you, no matter what we are going through. Amen.
TWFYT
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