Devotion
We Are Representatives of God’s Love
Chipo Biti
The way we love God is reflected in the way we love the people around us. The Christian life is not a life of selfishness or pickiness, where we choose to stick to ourselves or hang around select people of our liking. There is no room for excluding people when it comes to walking in the love of God. The same way God's arms were wide open for us when we were sinners, is the same way we are to have our arms stretched out wide open to the people around us. The love of God knows no boundaries when it comes to reaching out to people.
The love of God isn't for a certain group of people. It is for anyone and everyone and the only way God's love can reach other people is through us. We are God's representatives on earth and He expects us to do what He would have done.
When Jesus came to the earth He looked down upon no one. He entertained everyone and accommodated them as best as they can. Even though He had many disputes with the Pharisees over their self-righteousness, Jesus never closed them out. He was open to talk to Nicodemus (John 3:1-21), who was a Pharisee. Jesus still spoke to him, counselled him, and taught him about the Way.
The love of God should move us to overlook all offences in order to minister to other people. This is no easy feat but this is why God is with us. This is why the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit teaches us how to love people past the offense they may have caused us.
Loving the people around us is not an option, dear brothers and sisters in the Lord. It is a commandment.
God is Love. You cannot claim to be of God if you refuse to love the people around you. The love of God overrides all prejudice and forms of exclusion.
God doesn't expect us to stand on the outside, looking in. He expects us to go in, full speed ahead, loving on anyone we can so that they know that there is a God out here who cares about them deeply.
Prayer
As children of God, it is our duty to exhibit God's love through our words and actions. If we fail to do so, how do we expect to lead more people to Christ?
You cannot reach out to people without the love of God. It is the love of God that compels you to reach out to people in the first place.
Devotion
Abraham is Father of All
Frances Taylor
There are questions in every age about the importance of the Old Testament for Christians. Abraham is considered to be the Father of Faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims. We forget that it was Abraham who believed in the doctrine of only one God. It is through him and his descendants that this tradition comes down to us. Another fact that we can overlook is that Jesus was Jewish. He was born a Jew, lived as a Jew, died, rose and ascended into heaven as a Jew. Because we believe that he was the Messiah, the Christ, and we follow him, we are called Christian. Without the Old Testament, we wouldn't understand the promise of salvation; we wouldn't understand why it was important for Jesus to be of the family of King David. We would not understand his teaching either, because Jesus quoted from Scripture – the Old Testament – frequently. He told us that he came to fulfill the Scriptures, not to abolish them. In the same way, we can ...
Morning Prayer
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Inspiration
We have a responsibility, as Christians, to abstain from the sinful practices we partook in before we became saved. While it may be a gradual process of change, we should ensure that we are putting in our best to play our part in resisting temptation. God enables us to resist temptation, but it is up to us to actually resist.
Prayer
Dear God, I pray that I will always be a person of action. Father, I take delight in my new life in you and I do not desire otherwise. I pray that in times of temptation, may I act on the strength you have given me to flee and/or resist. May I never rely on excuses or procrastination, Lord. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
Night Prayer
Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
Inspiration
We have chosen to surrender our lives and serve the Lord. We serve Him by witnessing, completing missionary projects, and ministering to those in need. There is always work to do and a world full of people to help. We will look for opportunities to provide for our brothers and sisters in Christ by any means necessary. We are servants to one another as a service to the Lord; He will never forsake us.
Prayer
Dear God, Help us see the world through Your eyes. We desire to serve those around us by reflecting Your love through our actions. You will never forsake us, and we will continually lift praises of thanksgiving to You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
