Good day everyone. As I sit here putting together this devotional, my spirit is kind of heavy. As Christians, each and every one of us fall short every day when it comes to loving those around us. We pick and chose to love those that are just like us and stop there. What if Jesus had taken a stance of only loving those that looked and acted like Him? Think about that as you move forward today.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Most gracious heavenly Father, help us to see that it is truer today than at any other time in our nation’s history that we have a generation of citizens who hold nothing to be sacred, and who march to the beat of their own drummer. Let us consider Charles Colson’s words: “Man’s noble goals are freedom, choice and tolerance. Gone are any notions of duty to our fellow man, and to the Creator. As a result, there is no straight-edge of truth by which one can measure one’s life. Truth is pliable and relative; it can take whatever shape we want. Indeed, many simply look within to find it.” Help us, Lord, to be able to recognize our own limitations. If we don’t acknowledge You as Creator, and as a higher authority, then we have only our human capabilities to sustain us. Remind us that our first president, George Washington, observed that a democracy could not long survive without a religious base. Open our eyes and help us to see that we who believe must pray for our nation. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Let’s eat.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
-1 John 4:4-21-
But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception. Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the Day of Judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Steadfastness in believing doth not exclude all temptations from without. When we say a tree is firmly rooted, we do not say the wind never blows upon it.”
John Owen
WITH HOPE AND FAITH; follow us on the foundation community site: http://facebook.com/therelationshipfactory
REV. ELDER G E STERRETT
FOUNDER
GCKRS HELPING HAND FOUNDATION & THE RELATIONSHIP FACTORY