Devotion
Practice lovingkindness
David Jacobs
I love podcasts and listen to them regularly. One of my favorites is called the 'Tim Ferris podcast' with host, you guessed it, Tim Ferris. Ferris is an angel investor and all-around smart guy, constantly experimenting on himself in order to improve the way he feels, thinks, and acts. He had a Buddhist monk on the program that taught me something that I still use today: practicing lovingkindness. Every morning when the monk wakes up, he writes down a list of the first 10 people that he wants to share his love and kindness with. I started to do this, and it had a dramatic effect. Lots of the people on my list were people that I had problems with or that were on my mind. After writing their names down, the next time I saw them, it was as if the problems had melted away and been replaced with lovingkindness.
It is rather depressing to think of how few people we share our love with on a regular basis. Our love is also somewhat conditional, hinging on things like if they are faithful, reciprocate our love, or don't understand us fully. God has written His list of lovingkindness, and it contains every living thing. There are no conditions as there may be for us, but we should strive to accept God into our hearts. Until we do, we will never be able to fully love others, ourselves, or experience eternal life. His love for us is unconditional, but He gives us the choice of whether or not to reciprocate. The choice is ours; thanks be to God for giving it to us!
Prayer
Write your lovingkindness list. Who is on your list? Is God?
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.
