Love Does..... Denison Ministries

 Love Does

Denison Ministries

Weekly Overview:

James 2:26 tells us, “Faith apart from works is dead.” If we are going to experience the fullness of life offered to us through our faith we must be those who put our words into action. We must not profess to love God on Sundays and live as if he isn’t present, real, or good on Monday. May your faith come alive this week as you seek to be a doer of the word.

Scripture: “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” James 2:26

Devotional:

God has designed the Christian life to be one filled with adventurous and redemptive action—action that is fueled by the love and work of Jesus in our own lives. So great is God’s love for us that he would leave the glory of heaven, take on flesh, and destroy the power of sin and death with his loving sacrifice. God's love was so great that he gave himself up for us who are undeserving and could never repay him. And he longs for his love to be the foundation for all we do, think and feel.

As Christians we are to reflect the love we’ve been shown in Christ through the way we offer compassion and love to those around us. God has appointed us as the sole carriers of his message of redemption for all. He longs to use you to share and exemplify the hope that comes solely through relationship with him. Love doesn’t mean all that much just as an idea. The power of God’s love comes through action. It comes through helping a stranger, showing compassion and mercy to those who wrong you, serving someone while expecting nothing in return, and sharing the hope of Christ through word and deed. Jesus proved that love isn’t just an idea. Love does.

Bob Goff champions the cause for putting action to love in his book, Love Does. In it he writes, “He says to ordinary people like me and you that instead of closing our eyes and bowing our heads, sometimes God wants us to keep our eyes open for people in need, do something about it, and bow our whole lives to Him instead.”In his book he articulates an important spiritual principle—your faith was never intended to be limited to hearing. Your faith was never intended to be limited to conversation. James 2:18 tells us, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

What does your love mean if it isn’t demonstrated? What would the love of God have meant if he stayed in heaven and never suffered for us? How would you feel about God if he could have saved all of humanity but didn’t? Jesus would have been completely justified to stay on his throne. God would have been completely justified to wipe out humanity and start over every time we chose idols over him. But instead he put action to his love for us. He committed the most incredible act of love possible in sending his Son to die for you and me. Jesus didn’t just talk about love.His love was demonstrated in every crack of the whip on his back, in every taunting word, in every nail that pierced his body and in every excruciating gasp for air in which he prayed for us rather than end the torture. He lived out his love for you and me, and he calls us to do the same. 1 John 4:9-11 says,

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Spend time with God today asking him how you can put your faith into action. In what ways has the love of God been demonstrated to you? In what ways can you share with those around you the incredible gift that’s been given to you? Oftentimes, we think of the big things: leading someone to Jesus or selling everything we have. But putting your faith into works could be as simple as a phone call, a cooked meal, a kind word, or a hug. Whatever God shows you, choose to live life as a believer whose faith and works are tethered, bringing redemption to a world desperately in need of God's grace.

Guided Prayer:

1. Take a minute to meditate on God’s love put into action. Choose to make Jesus your example.

 “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:9-11

2. Now ask God how he would have you put action to love today. What can you do to show the Father’s love to those around you?

“For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” James 2:26

3. Ask the Spirit to fill you with the strength and courage to do the works he has planned for you today in love. Let him empower you with his presence.

The Holy Spirit longs to help you connect with God and live out of the fruit of your relationship. He longs to empower you to love others. By his power and grace you can do incredible, eternal and impactful things with your time on earth. You are the child of God, made in his image and filled with same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. Lean on God, ask for his help and have the courage to submit to his leadership today.

Extended Reading: James 2

Accepting God's Gift of Love..... Dr. Charles Stanley

 Accepting God's Gift of Love

Dr. Charles Stanley

1 John 4:7-12

Many people simply can't believe that the Lord loves them. Others believe that He loves them, but only when they are pleasing Him in some way. Why is it so hard for us to accept His unconditional love?

One reason is that we have a hard time loving others without condition. We might say the words "I love you" to our spouse, children, friends, co-workers, or fellow believers but all too often are calculating in our mind whether or not they've lived up to our standard. We sometimes excuse ourselves from loving certain people because their behavior upsets or annoys us. The fact that we place restrictions on extending favor causes us to wrongly assume that the Lord does likewise.

Another reason is poor self-image. Considering ourselves unworthy, we refuse to accept God's love. You know what? None of us are worthy of the heavenly Father's goodness and mercy—so you can let go of that excuse once and for all. We're not coming to Him based on our worth. Rather, we're coming to Him based on His grace, and our position is secure in Christ. To put yourself down as "beneath His grace" is to trample on His loving, generous gift. God arranged an awesome divine way for us to be reconciled to Him, and His greatest desire is for relationship with each of us.

If you feel unloved or struggle to accept yourself, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of our heavenly Father's love for you—and to sink it deep into your heart. Receive the truth that He reveals. It will be a completely different story about your value as an individual.

A Prayer for When You are Battle-Weary..... By Bobbie Schaeperkoetter

 A Prayer for When You are Battle-Weary

By Bobbie Schaeperkoetter

Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you. - 2 Chronicles 20:17

Do you feel the tension that seems to permeate the air of this world lately? Things just feel heavy. Hearts are hurting. People are discouraged and dissatisfied. It seems as if this whole world is worn down from struggles and it would be so very easy to just give in to the pull of weariness and discontent.

In the middle of the strife and struggles, we can start to feel overwhelmed, worn, and just plain weary. When these feelings come, and they linger far past their welcome, what can we do to keep our heads up? How do we remain hopeful when things just seem so difficult?

Maybe a good place to start is to look at someone else who was weary in the battle and see how they overcame it. In 2 Chronicles 20, Jehoshaphat is facing a multitude that has come against him. He’s going to have to fight his enemies. However, when he seeks God’s battle plan, he sees that it is a little different than the one he might have been considering.

Maybe like Jehoshaphat, God’s plan to overcome our battles looks a little different than ours.

Battle weary friend, we do not need to be overcome by the strife and the difficulties that surround us. Let’s give up our battle plan with all of the fear, worry, discouragement, wobbliness, and struggling that it brings and follow God’s plan instead. We can embrace the peace, hope, and assurance He offers. After all, His record for victory is pretty solid.

Let’s Pray:

Lord, I admit, I am weary. Life is going a million miles an hour and I am just trying to hang on. I am tired and I am afraid when I look to the future and think about all that is coming. Lord, I know You want me to trust You through this. I know You want me to surrender this weariness to You. I surrender now. Fill me with Your strength. Fill me with Your presence. Help me find moments today of rest and rejuvenation. Thank You that You never abandon us in the midst of the battle. Thank you for your everlasting faithfulness.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Spring Training for Christians..... by Shawn McEvoy

 Spring Training for Christians

by Shawn McEvoy

We don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong... - 2 Corinthians 5:16, The Message

You've probably heard that God loves baseball. After all, He began his holy book with the words, "In the big inning..." Everyone who loves baseball like the Lord does feels a tremendous rush this time of year with another set of words: "Pitchers and catchers report." For the uninitiated, this phrase signals the official start of spring training, which brings with it new hope, and knowledge that at least there's a thaw and green grass in some parts of our country.

In fact, the game I love, and the game of fantasy baseball off which it is based, are both so prevalent in my mind this week that as I sat down to write this I found my mind wandering. So, noticing that a good friend, fellow fantasy baseballer and pastor was active on his Instant Messenger, I began the following conversation:

Me: I'm sitting here trying to write this week's devotional, but I've got a screenful of stats in front of me, taunting me. Pastor Jay, is there any way I could combine the two? Does our league have any good devotional content?

Jay: Oh, I'm sure we do. How about how we peak spiritually at age 27, like most hitters do?

Me: Goodness, I hope that's not true. How about our Spiritual Slugging Percentage... are we whomping our fair quota of sinners and unbelievers regularly?

Jay: Uh, riiiight... How about how On-Base Percentage equals theological correctness/sound doctrine, and Slugging Percentage equals evangelism, the impact you're making for the Lord?

Me: You're on to something.

There are truly spiritual parallels everywhere.

But as is always the case, snippets of insight and truth are only valuable when applicable. The above only served to remind me that it's time to take a break from my analysis of the statistics of men who play a game, and check in on my own statistics, go through my own spring training of sorts.

Today's verse gives us a starting place for where to look, what kind of statistics are important in the Kingdom as opposed to the diamond. Things like height, weight, vertical leap, 40-yard-dash times, race, creed, color, gender... none of those matter. Here's the checklist we'll be using to see who's gonna make the team this season:

Measurables

On-Base Percentage - Like my buddy said, in our checklist this involves good theology and doctrine. Baseballers like to hear chatter out there on the infield. Are you talking the talk?

Slugging Percentage - Now you have to put the above theology to good use, and walk the walk. How much 'oomph' can you contribute to the goals of the team?

Batting Average - The most you can do is just put the bat on the ball. So many other factors determine if you're gonna get a safe hit or not, meaning you'll probably fail to connect or reach safely at least 70 percent of the time... and that's if you're one of the best. The rest is up to God.

Errors - Can't be avoided, even by the very best of us. What's important is that we don't grow complacent with making them. Biblical ignorance is not an acceptable excuse. Neither is yelling at your teammate for making an error.

Strikeouts and Walks - Both are fine. They reveal effort. The way you know you're off-track is when these become Walkouts and Strikes. I don't need to be leaving, boycotting, quitting, or checking out in the middle of a slump or when the other team is full of punks.

Sacrifices - When the coach calls for you to bunt another person into a more prominent position, will you obediently lay one down? When you can bring in a run by hitting a fly ball for an out will you gladly do so?

Intangibles

Coachability - I can't think of a single reason or supporting scripture for a me-first attitude on the Kingdom Conquerors.

Discipline - To what do you say yes, to what do you say no? What do you fail to do? What do you never fail to do?

Leadership - Look behind you. Is anyone following?

Performance Enhancers - Yes, please. I'm simply not good enough to compete in this game without them. No, not steroids, but the Holy Spirit, and regular Bible study and prayer times.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Watch a sporting event with a younger person this week, and see how many parallels and applications you can make together to our spiritual journey.