Love Makes Time for Others..Craig Denison Ministries

 Love Makes Time for Others

Craig 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: “Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.” Luke 8:40-42

Devotional:

There’s a story in Luke 8:40-42, 49-56 that gives us insight into Jesus’s love for those in need. Luke writes,

Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. . . While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.” But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.” And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

Jesus made time for those in need. He wasn’t too busy to leave what he was doing, which happened to be ministering to a large group of people, to make time for a single girl. Jesus displayed the heart of the Father in going after the one. Throughout his ministry, Jesus consistently made time for people around him. Whether it was eating a meal with his disciples, going to the house of Zacchaeus, or spending time with little children, Jesus was there for those around him.

God is the same way with you and me today. Through the death of Jesus we have been given an opportunity to have conversation with God all day, every day. God’s desire is to make time for us. He counts our needs as important. Jesus’s ministry exemplified God’s heart to make time for his children.

This week as we are looking at what it means to not only be a hearer of God’s word but a doer,  let’s ask God how we could be more like Jesus. In what ways could you make time for those around you today? Will you choose to spend time with someone in need even if it doesn’t fit in your schedule? Will you put those around you above yourself? If you will choose to be a doer of God’s word today, you will experience the joy of not living just for your own goals and pursuits, but for the benefit of others around you. Spend some time with God in prayer today, and ask him to help you know when and how to make time for those around you in need.

Guided Prayer:

1. Reflect on Jesus’s heart to make time for those in need. Choose to make Jesus your example.

“While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, ‘Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.’ But Jesus on hearing this answered him, ‘Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well’ And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child.” Luke 8:49-51

2. Who needs you to make time for them? Ask God to bring someone to mind you can love well today.

3. How can you spend time with someone in need today? How could you make time to listen to, help, or simply be there for someone?

Love is powerful. It has the power to lead someone to Jesus, heal a wounded heart, and even help someone on the path to restored relationship with God. It’s worth your effort to make time for those around you today. Jesus never wasted a minute. He did everything in perfect accordance with the Father’s will. You won’t be missing out if you make time for someone today. Follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit as you seek to love others well.

Extended Reading: Luke 19

Living Loved..SHARON JAYNES

 Living Loved

SHARON JAYNES 

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” John 15:9a (NIV)

For most of my life, I felt like I was in second place, not quite as good as everybody else.

I was a cheerleader my junior year in high school, but I was an alternate. That meant I was on the squad and did everything the other girls did, but it was clear I wasn’t quite as good as the other cartwheeling, high-jumping pompom shakers. Barely made it. Last one chosen.

When I applied to college, I was put on a waitlist. I got in because someone else dropped out at the last minute. Barely made it. Last one chosen.

Even when I had to serve jury duty, I was the alternate! I had to stay and listen for an entire week just in case someone had to drop out, and I didn’t even get a vote. Barely made it. Last one chosen.

I wonder if you’ve ever felt that you were an “also ran” … an afterthought … someone who barely made it … the last one chosen. If so, you’re not alone.

One thing I love about Jesus’ disciple John is that he knew without a shadow of a doubt he was not second place to anyone when it came to Jesus. He referred to himself as “the one Jesus loved.” John knew he was Jesus’ favorite. And so was Peter, James, Andrew, Phillip and all the rest. And so am I. And so are you.

Of course, John wasn’t really saying that of all the people in the world, Jesus loved him the most. But perhaps he was saying that of all the things people could say about him, all the adjectives they could use to describe him, all the names they could call him, “the one Jesus loved” was the only description that mattered.

Check out these verses and note how John described himself:

• “One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.” (John 13:23, NIV, emphasis added)
• "So [Mary Magdalene] came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!'” (John 20:2, NIV, emphasis added)
• "Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, 'Lord, who is going to betray you?')" (John 21:20, NIV, emphasis added)

Do those verses make you smile? I'm a bit amused by John’s confidence. But suppose you and I lived like that … My name is Sharon, the one Jesus loves.

Go ahead and put your name in the blank: My name is ________________, the one Jesus loves.

You were not chosen as an alternate, an “also ran,” someone who barely made it or was the last one in. You were chosen because you are Jesus’ favorite, and so am I! Jesus says this about you: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you” (John 15:9a). That’s some serious love right there.

So the next time you feel less-than, say to yourself exactly what John said: “I am the one Jesus loves.”

Father, sometimes I can feel so mediocre, but I know that’s not how You want me to live. Your Word says I am chosen, holy, dearly loved, set apart — equipped by You, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and enveloped in Jesus Christ. I am the one Jesus loves. Help me live like I believe it. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Responding to God's Love..Dr. Charles Stanley

 Responding to God's Love

Dr. Charles Stanley

John 3:16

God has to be true to Himself. People are foolish to entertain the hope that He will ignore justice and sacrifice holiness in order to allow unbelievers into heaven. Living a mostly moral life will not satisfy a righteous Judge.

As much as the Lord loves us and desires to save us from our sins, He cannot deny His holiness by accepting sin in His presence. The Father is pristine perfection--a holy Being who, by His very nature, must condemn all sin. Therefore, it is the height of egotism to think that God will bend both His law and His nature to welcome one whom still bears the stain of wrongdoing.

There is not one person who's good enough to enter heaven on his or her own merit. Every one of us needs Jesus. The stain of sin is washed clean only by the sacrifice of God's holy and blameless Son. Those who believe in Christ are forgiven their wrongs and cloaked in His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21).

Let me make it very clear that trusting Jesus is far more than giving intellectual assent to His existence--that's something even the Devil acknowledges. A true believer enters into a relationship with the One who loves his soul enough to save him from eternal punishment.

Those who remain tightly wrapped in their mantle of sin cannot hope to sneak into heaven. God's holy nature demands perfection, and since we can't provide this for ourselves, the Lord has given it to all who believe in Him. He has exchanged our filthy rags for a cloak of righteousness (Zech. 3:4).

Empowered to Love Your Spouse..Emily Rose Massey

 Empowered to Love Your Spouse

By Emily Rose Massey

“We love because He first loved us” ( 1 John 4:19, NIV).

December 5, 2009. It may have only been a little over thirteen years ago that my husband and I said our “I do’s,” but that special day sure does feel like a lifetime ago. Time tends to do that to us, doesn’t it?

Perhaps, this feeling isn’t the fact that physical time has gone by and that we have grown another year older. Perhaps, it is because with time comes change – for better and for worse. I know my husband and I have each changed since December 5, 2009, especially after we both became parents! Oh my, did we experience changes in our marriage once that happened! Often, in marriage, the changes may happen slowly or small enough that we don’t notice it right away, but when it comes to the person we have vowed to spend the rest of our life with, it is difficult to ignore when you finally realize that time has shaped you each in unique ways and it is starting to cause a lot of friction between the two of you.

Problems and arguments arise and increase. We may get on each other’s nerves a lot. Instead of talking it out calmly and sharing our hearts with one another, we build walls around our hearts to keep the other person out. We may want to spend time with someone who understands us better. Sometimes all of this friction and struggle may cause us to want to throw in the towel. When things get hard in relationships, calling it quits seems like the easy thing to do, right? After all, this isn’t the person you first married. So many people who are wrestling with this feel stuck and don’t know what to do or where to turn. The D-word may even have come up a time or two.

But I can say emphatically divorce is not the answer! You can experience personal changes in your lives individually and still stand the test of time and grow stronger together! This might sound impossible. And honestly, in our own broken and weak human strength, it is. But take heart! There is hope for your marriage because Matthew 19:26 tells us that with God, all things are possible! Even if you were not a Christian when you got married but found Christ later on (or if you stumbled upon this website and are not a Christian at all), know that you cannot love your spouse and stay committed to them without God’s help. Without God’s love shed abroad in our hearts by the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are incapable of loving another person unconditionally. We are able to love our spouse because God first loved us.

“We love because He first loved us” ( 1 John 4:19, NIV).

There is no step-by-step guide to having a successful and thriving marriage, but there are things we can implement to help strengthen it. Thankfully, when we make a commitment to put God first within the marriage, He gives us grace and wisdom for the journey together. The Holy Spirit truly does empower us to show the love of God, even to the most unlovable.

Intersecting Faith and Life:
One way we can be empowered to love our spouse is to study the Word of God regularly, both individually and together. The Bible is full of truths about God, who is Love Himself (1 John 4:8). The more we dive into His Word, our selfish minds are renewed to think as He does, and love like He does, extending the same grace and mercy we have received from Him to others. The Word transforms us from the inside out, all for the better, and we begin to see the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23) develop and mature in our life, which we need to fully love others.

In addition to studying Scripture together, you can pray together and pray for each other. God is the only One who can change someone’s heart and life. Don’t just pray for God to change your spouse but pray and ask God to help you love your spouse in the midst of the difficulties and obstacles. Your circumstances may not change right away, but you will be surprised at how God changes you in the middle of those circumstances, and you begin to see your spouse how God sees them – with eyes of mercy and grace. Be quick to forgive and quick to apologize to your spouse. Because we have been forgiven through the Cross of Jesus Christ, we must forgive others. We have received such great mercy; therefore, we must extend that same mercy to our spouse, even if they have wronged us or offended us. 

Obviously, there are so many other ways we can ensure our marriage has a solid foundation that not even time can shake it or destroy it. Just like how our individual lives must be founded upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, most importantly, our marriages must have that same foundation. Jesus is our example of how to love one another selflessly and unconditionally. May the Lord continue to empower us with His grace to do just that. 

Further Reading:

• Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
• Matthew 19:4-6
• Ephesians 5:22-27

God is So Much More than Love..Mike Nappa

God is So Much More than Love

By Mike Nappa 

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” ( 1 John 4:16)

I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately (big surprise). When that happens, I usually pass the night trying to pray through questions I have about faith and life, and lately I’ve been praying about love. You see, I have known great love, intimately, purposely, lavished on me with unwavering determination for 30 years, three months, and three days. Then, too soon, came the day when cancer took my wife’s body, set her spirit free, and left me behind sleepless and alone. Now, more than a year after hearing the hum of Amy’s last breath, I keep wondering why the pain of losing this love (at least here on this earth) has kept such a stranglehold on me for so long after she has died.

I’ve thought about it a lot, and read about love and the meanings of love. I’ve also studied the Greek terms for love, especially the Greek word agapē which is supposed to be the highest expression of love—a pure, selfless, unconditional thing. But as I meditate on the love I’ve experienced, examining how it shaped and reshaped me, even agapē seems not enough to explain it.

I know that Amy’s love for me was rooted in the truth that “God is love”—something the Apostle John taught us both ( 1 John 4:16). If that’s really true, then love encompasses more than just the highest expression of selflessness. Inherent in Christ’s personhood is every shade and texture and breath and aspect and heartbeat and death knell and meaning of whatever love is. This is probably why  1 Corinthians 13 describes love (and by extension God) with a laundry list of concepts: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres…” This is also why, within each of us, the presence of God (who is love) naturally expresses itself in “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” ( Galatians 5:22-23).

So if God is love, and God is all these things, then love is all these things, which makes it more than simply agapē. His love is not just the highest form of love, it is ALL of love—love that laughs, that rests, that waits and forgives and so much more.

Even love defined as all of love is not adequate to explain the kind of love I’ve experienced, both from Amy and from our Christ. And here’s why:

Language at its core is a collection of symbols that society agrees will represent reality. Our words for love are, at best then, tokens of meaning, not exact expressions of substance. We cram letters together and say “this is what those letters mean” but symbols alone can never fully communicate the truth of what they represent.

L-o-v-e is not just what we’ve all agreed that those letters should define. It is unfathomably, immeasurably, inexpressibly more. We know it instinctively, deep within the soul, but we can never adequately define or even understand it.

And so tonight, while I can’t sleep, I look at   1 John 4:16 (“God is love”) and no longer see just a definition of God or love or agapē to catalog and quote with casual indifference. Those three words, those simple alphabetical symbols have now become for me a moment of awe… a reason to worship… an unbreakable promise that the best is yet to come.