Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
It seems weird that Paul would even have to say those words, but it happens. People take sides. People get jealous and want others to fail. Think about when people get in a physical altercation and others flock to it – often videoing for pure entertainment. Think about how people throw the word “karma” around.
God, please help me to love like you even in the hard situations. The right path is often the hardest path, but that is the only one I want to take. Help me to speak the truth in love in all situations. Help me to love like Jesus. Amen.
The two go hand in hand – truly the epitome of a viscous cycle. We already talked about that fact that love is indeed patient. Love helps those short fuses grow longer. Love also keeps bitterness at bay. Remember anger isn’t a sin, but how we handle that anger potentially could be. And harboring hard and hostile feelings won’t help any situation. In fact, harboring hostile feelings is a fiery, festering furnace ready to blow at any given minute.
God, I don’t want to snap at the people I love. I don’t want to be annoyed with them, and I certainly don’t want to make them feel like they are annoying.
And if anyone had the right to be resentful it was your son Jesus. He came down from a perfect Heaven to die an unimaginable death for imperfect people. People that shamed Him, deceived Him, and still to this day deny Him.
God, help us to do better. Help us to love better. Help us to be more like you. Amen
And He knew. He knew the whole time what Judas would do. He could have said, “No, you wash my feet. I am YOUR King.”
But He didn’t.
Oh God, help me to be more like Jesus. Help me to humble myself and “wash the feet” of others instead of demanding what I think I deserve. And let me remember what I truly do deserve – and that’s death on a cross.
Arrogance. Thinking you are more important than others – maybe thinking you are the “catch”. 👀
I read it this way, “In pride we become the objects of our own life.”
God, please help us not to be that way. Help us to stay humble like Jesus. Help us to keep YOU the center of our love and our life. Help us to look around us and to truly see the people around us and their amazing qualities. Help us lift them up – not ourself.
God, as children of yours help us also to not be rude. Most of us learned manners and how to treat others from a very young age. We should care about how our words and actions affect others. As we speak, please keep that at the forefront of our thoughts and our tongues. Let us communicate in words and actions that are not crass, but that carefully portray our Savior’s attributes. Amen.
Envy in this verse takes the form of an onomatopoetic word mimicking the sound of water so hot that’s it bubbling or boiling over. Picture that! Being envious is no way to live life – no matter the type of relationship. Envy is a deep root that creeps and crawls through every other aspect of your life.
God, let us be so full of you, so confident in your love for us, that we know that we are not lacking. God, let us be so full of you that there are no missing parts that we covet from others. Envy is truly the lack of peace that only having a close knit relationship with God brings.
In the same manner, help us not to brag about the things – or the love – that we give others. Help us have true servant’s hearts that give without wanting anything in return. We don’t need praise. We don’t need glory. We don’t need the accolades. We just want to serve you all the days of our life.
God, help us to continue to grow closer to you so that we can in fact love others the way you do. Amen.
You’ve heard it a hundred times – actions speak louder than words.
Love is truly an action.
God, all throughout scripture you show us the true meaning of patience, of long-suffering. You’ve shown us through the many chances given to us and by the immense amount of mercy shown as time after time we have failed you. Thank you for your patience.
Love is also kind. It’s mild. It’s gentle. I read in one commentary that not only does love “wish well” but it also “does well”. God wants the best for us, and He certainly tries to lead us down that path – it is us that strays.
God, thank you for your patience with me. Thank you for being gentle and kind to me and for truly wanting what’s best for me. Help me to love the people you have placed in my life in the same way. Help me to live what true love is out loud and on purpose. Help me to be more like you. Amen.
We know of the common phrase from example in scripture that David was a “man after God’s own heart.” Many individuals take this out of context as we assume it is discussing the overall character of David. Although this may be some of the reasons with his overall character being loyal. The historical theology we find in 1 Samuel chapter 13 is the Lord is seeking out a man who is actually willing to keep His commands.
I want to be so on fire for Christ my goal and desire is to follow His law. To be obedient all while following the commandments. (Exodus 20) We have laws here on earth with the majority of them having the purpose of protecting us. Jesus loves his children. He wants to protect his children. There is such deep love and purpose behind scripture the Gospel reveals to us. May we grow so close to Jesus in our daily walk we instill a passion to draw closer to scripture. To read it, process it, and apply to our daily life. I want to be so on fire for Christ as he watches my steps and decisions everyday he knows my goal is to get closer to his heart. To fall short and go to Him for help and guidance. This year I’m so past the phase of wanting and seeking perfection. This year I’m fully aware of how deeply I need the Father’s love. How badly I need his forgiveness. I’m such a mess up, in a world that messes up. This world is the opposite of the Gospel. We need Jesus! To be the mother, wife, sister, friend, and disciple encourager I desire to be requires me to be a woman after God’s own heart. What an honor that is. What a great goal to strive for.
”She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.“ Proverbs 31:26-30 NIV
Following Jesus gives life hope and purpose. Today, & everyday I pray I never lose the burning desire to be a woman after God’s own heart.
If you have never heard the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, download the Bible app, read Daniel chapter 3, then come back. It won’t take long it’s only 30 verses. 😊
This morning during my prayer time, my mind rested on this story, and something stuck out to me that never has before. These guys didn’t bow to the cultural pressures of their time and were sentenced to death by fire. Not only that, the king declared the furnace made 10x hotter! They declared, “God is able to rescue us, but even if He doesn’t we will not bow.”
If you read the story, you saw that the fire was so hot it killed the men who placed them in the furnace, but somehow they not only survived but came out untouched by the fire. The only thing burned was the rope that bound them.
Holy Spirit nudged my thinking…
“I never rescued them from the fire.”
“What?”
“I was WITH them in the fire, but I didn’t remove them from the fire.”
At first I didn’t understand what He was trying tell me, but during worship we sang a song called “All Consuming Fire” and a light bulb went off in my mind.
The saying goes, “You can’t fight fire with fire,” but that’s not totally true. There’s a term called “fire line” in the world of fire fighting, and sometimes a controlled burn is used to create a boundary to stop the fire that is out of control.
You see, fire cannot consume that which has already been consumed, and because these three were already consumed by the fire of God the fire the enemy meant to destroy could not touch them.
God didn’t have to rescue them from the furnace, because they were already on fire!
Know that no matter what fiery trial you may face or how hot that flame may be, let HIS fire consume you and draw the line. Fire cannot consume that which is already burned.
”Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.“
Isaiah 30:21 NKJV
It’s no secret to people I pray with that God’s faithfulness is my favorite attribute. He is amazing in every way, but when I think about His faithfulness it just wrecks me. Recently He has highlighted Isaiah 30 for me. What a chapter!
He tells how disobedient Judah is. How as a people they put their faith and trust in anything but God. How they will not listen to God speak through His law or through the mouths of the prophets. Stubborn, self-seeking, “we got this attitudes” are just about to do them in. (And will for a time)
But God can not be unfaithful. He tells them there will be a day. A day they turn back, a day He himself will bind up their wounds, a day they hear His voice and obey. A day He will defeat and punish their enemies.
Y’all!!! Because of Jesus that day can be today for us. If I surrender to the Holy Spirit He will tell me right or left. I’m never alone in any circumstance or decision I have to make. He says pray without ceasing because we never cease to need Him and He never ceases to be there 🙌🏻. Hallelujah!!!
He is Omni-everything. He can do exceedingly, abundantly more than I can dream. Why do I not rest in that and just let Him take complete control? Good question Tracy 🤔
Today I’m making that my prayer. Right or left Jesus. You lead and I will follow. Today is the day. How about you?
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about intimacy with the Lord and while scrolling through TikTok (hear me out), a video caught my ear. The girl was talking about how this was a year of “more” and she said, “if you want to receive more, you have to be willing to give more” and that “God wants more of us”. A picture came to mind of something needing to be filled but there was limited amount of space to fill due to a blockage. It wasn’t that this thing was completely full, it just only allowed a certain area to be filled. This is how we can be with the Lord sometimes. We limit Him access to us and by default limit ourselves access to the fullness He desires to give us of Himself. God can and will only fill us as much as we allow Him! He wants more of us so He can fill more of us with Himself!! Intimacy, spending time in His presence, His word, worship, prayer — the secret place — bringing EVERYTHING to Him is so important with the Lord to not only know Him more but to open ourselves up more to Him. The more we know His heart, the more we trust Him because we find Him to be exactly who He said He is so even in moments that aren’t as hunky-dory as that “baby Christian” phase, times we can’t trace His hand, in the midst of transition, we have a well of His love to draw from for strength.
”that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.“
Ephesians 3:16-19 NKJV
When we deny ourselves of His spirit or time in the secret place or being in His word, we are preventing ourselves from living in His fullness. Our everyday lives taking much of our energy, that we forget or simply ignore to spend time in His presence.
Yet the more we let Him in, the more we come to know that nothing could separate us from His love and strengthens us to continue on through hardship, trials, temptations, persecution, or even just the mundane but occasionally exhausting day-to-day life. Personally, for me (and I’m sure many could relate), the more I walk with Him the more I realize I can’t actually do any of life without Him! The more I also realize that nothing is nearly as satisfying as Him. So why do we, as people, deny ourselves from the fullness He wants to pour out to us? The measure of Himself he wants to give us?
May I suggest a challenge to you all — let yourself be more available to the Lord. Open yourself up more to Him, be filled with the Holy Spirit; set aside everything that vies for your attention – INTENTIONALLY – and seek Him. It’s not always going to be easy and you will fail at times but IT’S SO WORTH IT! Come to more knowledge of His love for you. Get to know the fullness of the Lord. Because again, if you want to receive more of Him, you have to be willing to give more of yourself, more of your time. And the Lord wants more of you for He LOVES you!
”For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.“
Rays of Sunshine inc 