Loving Family..Craig Denison Ministries

 Loving Family

Craig Denison Ministries

Weekly Overview:

Loving others is one of the most important and difficult commands Jesus gave us. We are a messy, broken, needy, and sinful people. We constantly deal with our own wounds and those of others. Because there is no perfect person, the foundation for loving others must be based outside of the merit or worth of others. The foundation for love must come from the God who is love. As believers we must be constantly tapped into the love and grace of our heavenly Father so that we can love others selflessly and powerfully. May you receive the love of your Father and be empowered to love others this week as we look to grow in our obedience of Jesus’ command to love people.

Scripture: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” >Exodus 20:12

Devotional: 

One of the most direct examples of the kingdom of God on the earth is the family unit. God longs to use the love between family members to tell the world of his love as the Creator and Father of all. As believers, we must choose to continually love, forgive, help, and pursue strong relationships with those God has given us as our family.

You are not a member of your family by mistake. Psalm 139:13 says, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” God formed you perfectly for your family. He had plans for you and your family before the formation of the heavens and the earth. And he has placed your family on the earth intentionally and purposefully. He has incredible plans for a family that will pursue love for each other and walk in his eternal purposes.

Your heavenly Father knows the follies of your family. He knows their weaknesses, trials, and temptations. But he also longs to empower you with grace to love them. He longs to use you to restore your family to him so that you might experience the wonders of God-filled family relationships.

Scripture is filled with commandments about the family unit. Exodus 20:12 says, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” >Ephesians 5:22 says, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” And later in Ephesians 5:25 it says, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” >Proverbs 17:6 says, “Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.” 1 Timothy 5:8 says,“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” And Leviticus 25:35 says, “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.” God clearly values the family unit.

The commands of Scripture are not suggestions based on how your family has treated you in the past. They are loving commands from your Lord who has the absolute best plan in store for you behind every word. God knows that there are wounds from your family. He knows that loving them can be difficult, especially when your love isn’t reciprocated. But he is calling you to a lifestyle of grace-filled love for those he has specifically given to you. He will provide for you all the courage, strength, power, and grace you need. He longs to help you love your family into restoration. Have patience with them. Pray constantly for them. And love them as your Lord Jesus has loved you: passionately, faithfully, and gracefully.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on God’s command to love your family. Allow Scripture to influence the way you view the importance of loving your family.

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” >Exodus 20:12

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.” >Ephesians 5:22-29

“If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.” >Leviticus 25:35-38

2. Pray for your family. Pray for each family member specifically, and ask God to meet and bless them. As you pray for them, allow the Lord to fill you with grace and love. Allow God to fill you with the knowledge of how he feels about them.

“Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints . . . .” >Ephesians 6:18

3. Ask God to empower you to love your family well today. Ask him to give you a creative way to love them. Pursue forgiveness in your own heart as well as with your family. God will help you do what you have felt is impossible. He will fill you with the strength to love your family well.

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” >Philippians 4:13

As you grow in your pursuit of loving your family well, look to Jesus as your model. He loved all those around him perfectly. Sometimes he would speak the truth in love. Other times he would rest with those who simply needed to be around him. Other times he would provide for their physical needs. The Holy Spirit will give you wisdom into exactly how to love your family if you will open your heart and ask him for it. May your family be blessed by the love of God working through you today.

Extended Reading: 1 Corinthians 13

The Power of Patience..Dr. Charles Stanley

 The Power of Patience

Dr. Charles Stanley

Hebrews 6:9-15

Picture yourself waiting in a checkout line that hasn’t moved for ten minutes. Many of us would feel frustrated. We live in a generation that expects instant results.

Everyone struggles with some degree of impatience. We’re born with this trait—think about a three-month-old who wants milk in the middle of the night. The inborn reaction is to fuss at the first hint of discomfort and to keep at it until the need is met. Patterns from our old “flesh” nature make this a continual battle for most people, but one that is very worthwhile to fight.

Let’s consider the biblical definition of patience. It can mean both longsuffering and perseverance, or not giving up and yielding under pressure. In either case, it reveals itself when we are willing to wait without frustration while suffering or experiencing some strong desire. In other words, we accept difficult situations without giving God deadlines. What’s more, patience means accepting what the Lord gives, on His timetable—or what He chooses not to give. This quality results in inner peace and lack of stress. Meanwhile, we should pray, obey, and persist as we seek God’s direction.

The danger of impatience is that we might miss the Lord’s perfect plan and His blessing. Only when we trust our Father’s will and timing can we rest peacefully.

What causes you stress? Carefully examine whether you are taking matters into your own hands or releasing the circumstance to almighty God. Listen to Psalm 37:7, which says, “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” Seek His way and His timing. Anything else can be destructive.

Waiting with Hope..Whitney Hopler

 Waiting with Hope

By Whitney Hopler

“But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” – Romans 8:25 NIV 

One day when my daughter Honor and I were rushing through a store, we weren’t paying attention to where we were walking and ended up getting our shoes stuck in something. We looked down and saw that we had stepped into the middle of a gray, gooey substance where floor tiles had been removed. The substance held our shoes down, so we couldn’t walk any farther. We were literally stuck. Although we had been in a hurry – in such a hurry that we hadn’t even looked where we were walking – we were now forced to wait. We learned that the area where the floor was being replaced hadn’t been marked off as it should have been. Our shoes were stuck deep in a strong adhesive meant to hold new floor tiles in place. As a store employee and some caring bystanders worked to solve the problem, Honor and I talked with them about how ridiculous the situation was, and how grateful we were for their help. We had been forced to wait, but they had chosen to wait with us. Finally, the employee found a bottle of rubbing alcohol we poured on our shoes to break free of the messy adhesive. Then we escaped by balancing on a chain of shopping carts and outstretched arms set up for us by the caring onlookers.

Cheers erupted from the crowd of people gathered around us. I found myself spontaneously hugging the people who had helped us. They had delayed their own plans to help two strangers, and they had encouraged us while we waited. Getting stuck that day had been more than just an annoying problem. The situation had been an opportunity to learn how to wait well.

Waiting is often challenging. When we want something now but must wait for it, we can feel quite frustrated. Sometimes we may try to get around delays by looking for shortcuts. Our time is valuable, after all, so it’s easy to rationalize getting impatient. But God calls us to practice patience and be hopeful. Psalm 33:20-21 NIV tells us: “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.”

What are you waiting for right now? Is God taking longer than you would like to answer your prayers for it? You can’t know when God will choose to answer your prayers, but you can count on the fact that waiting for his timing is always worthwhile. If you decide to trust God to act in his timing rather than trying to convince him to act in your timing, you’ll eventually discover that God’s answers will be better than you’d expected, because they’ll come with his blessing. 

Even though you do have to wait, you don’t have to wait passively. The time you spend waiting can be much more than simply a boring and frustrating period to get through. In fact, you can be quite active while you wait, cooperating with God’s work in your life. God has the best time in mind to answer your prayers. Waiting for God’s answer in whatever situation you’re facing is well worth the time – not only because God will ultimately respond, but because he’ll change you in the process. The ways God builds your faith while you’re waiting are as important as the answer for which you’re waiting. You can be confident the time you spend waiting isn’t wasted, because God will deepen your faith in the process.

Patience is one of the “fruit of the Spirit” mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23 NIV. So, while you’re waiting for something important, you can work with the Holy Spirit to develop more patience. Along the way, you’ll also find hope to strengthen your faith. 

Intersecting Faith and Life:

As you reflect on waiting with hope, consider these questions:

• In what situations do you struggle to be patient? How can you remind yourself of the importance of waiting patiently with hope in those situations?
• How can prayer help you cultivate patience and a sense of hope while waiting for God’s timing?
• How can you rely on the Holy Spirit to help you be more patient day by day?
• How can you remain hopeful and trust in God’s plan even when it seems like your prayers are going unanswered because you’ve been waiting for such a long time?
• How can you use your waiting period to grow in faith and deepen your relationship with God?
• How can you support and encourage others who are also waiting for answers or direction from God? 

Further Reading:

• Psalm 37:7
• Psalm 40:1
• 2 Thessalonians 3:5
• Lamentations 3:25-26
• Colossians 3:12

Who Among Us Is Crying Out for Help?..Cara Meredith

 Who Among Us Is Crying Out for Help? (2 Samuel 23:15)

By: Cara Meredith

Today’s Bible Verse: And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” - 2 Samuel 23:15

My children are not afraid to ask for what they need at any given moment. Water! Scrambled eggs! Lotion! A snack! While many of their requests revolve around food (and usually involve a “please” and “thank you,” if we’re lucky), sometimes I have to chuckle: Why can’t I be more like them and ask for what I need too?

Too often, we adults forgot to ask for what we need – not from our spouses and our partners, not from our friends and our roommates, not from our co-workers and our neighbors.

Prayer, of course, can be a different story: some of us remember to petition our wants and needs before God when something feels particularly pressing, or when the pastor on the front of the stage (or over the screen on Zoom), reminds us to be sure to present our requests to God. Some of us, on the other hand, can’t not square up with the Lord of Hosts on a regular basis: we skin our knees with the stuff of prayer. We make real the words, “I’ll pray for you.”

I always wish I could be found in the latter camp, but alas, I find myself going back to the children among us, to the little ones who aren’t afraid to make known their requests. Perhaps it would do all of us (myself most of all) a bit of good to tune our ears to their example as well.

Recently, I saw this while reading through an obscure Old Testament passage – if you haven’t already, go read 2 Samuel 23:13-17b. Had David recently been in the company of small children, I wondered, when he shouted, “O that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” (v. 15). Although the scene was set in battle (and not in a palace, among throngs of servants), David wasn’t afraid to ask the men around him for a cup of water. He had no problem broadcasting his needs to the humans within his reach.

I can’t help but wonder if it’s any different for us, not in our own houses, our neighborhoods, our places of work, and our churches. Who among us is crying out for help, already making clear their needs? Who among us isn’t crying out, but clearly needs someone to notice that they’re hurting, to simply ask, “How can I help?” Sometimes it’s not even a matter of asking, but it’s a matter of noticing and simply doing: we drop off a meal. We mail a postcard. We pick up the phone and dial their number, just because.

Perhaps the invitation for all of us is to start to listen, not only for the needs of those who are right there in the trenches with us but also to ourselves.

Because when we listen, we start to notice, just a little more. And when we notice, well, that’s when the doing – of extra batches of enchiladas, as well as skinned knees in prayer – actually starts to happen and maybe, even, make a difference.

A Prayer to Follow God..Jessica Van Roekel

 A Prayer to Follow God

By Jessica Van Roekel

“Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.” -  Psalm 37:5-6, ESV

There have been times when I made a commitment to something I did not want to do. I scowled and grumbled and looked for a way to get out of it. But there was no way out without violating my principles, and I needed to follow through. It became an opportunity to grow. One of my favorite Scripture passages, Proverbs 3:5-6 echoes Psalm 37:5-6. Both passages refer to committing our way to the Lord and trusting him.

There are times when this feels impossible because, whether I like to admit it or not, sometimes I want my way more than I want God’s way. For instance, my way is the comfortable way. I’m not going to choose the rocky path when the smooth path lies before me. But I’ve learned that when I say yes to God, he may lead me along paths that go through valleys and over mountains. It means comfort may be swapped for the adventure of trusting God for the next bend in the road, rocky or smooth.

When I choose the easy way of my own understanding, I miss out on deepening my trust in God’s character. He leads by telling us when to go and when to stay. He strengthens us by encouraging us to take the next step and then the next. He comforts us while simultaneously compelling us onward despite the difficult terrain.

Psalm 37 is a set of instructions about godly wisdom and shows the proper godly attitude toward the hardships Christ's followers may face. Life holds difficulties and blessings. Both the hardships and successes in life give us an opportunity to deepen our reliance on the Lord. He helps us through the hard times and guides us to keep our successes in the proper perspective. Within this passage, we discover two actions that lead us closer to knowing God’s heart.

First, we can choose a wholehearted commitment to the Lord. It’s tempting to withhold pieces of ourselves from him. We may have regrets which keep us from a whole-life commitment. Or we may have habits or perspectives which we withhold from God because we know he’ll want to refine them, and we don’t want to. Yet, we’re instructed and encouraged time and again to commit our whole selves to the Lord. Our whole-hearted commitment leads us to know God’s heart for us because we learn how gentle and kind he is with us.

A whole-hearted yes to God creates opportunities to grow our trust in him. To trust him means we place our life in his hands even when we cannot see the outcome. Taking a risk to surrender every bit of our heart, including the parts we keep secreted away, brings us closer to receiving from him the care and concern we desperately want.

Second, we can trust him with our hurts, offenses, and unforgiveness. He is not going to respond with a hammer when we bring them into his light. Instead, he helps us sort through the rubble to repair the broken pieces. Commitment and trust go hand in hand. We commit the secrets of our hearts to him and trust him for the healing process. The results reveal Jesus Christ’s righteousness in us, and we shine for him. Our world is wandering in the dark, and we have the light of the Gospel of Jesus shining through us to point the way to him. We can commit our ways to him, trust his heart, and watch him work through us.

Let’s pray:

Holy God,
Only you can make sense of a journey that takes us through deep ravines and over steep mountain paths. I want the easy way, but without difficulties, I don’t learn to trust you more and more. Forgive me for wanting my idea of comfort over growing in my relationship with you. I choose to trust you with my journey. I choose to commit my ways to you and believe that you will make your righteousness shine through me so the world may know you. Draw others to you through the way I live my life. Let your light shine as I commit my life to you and trust you.
In Jesus’ name, Amen