#compassion #loveforothers #weeping

Who Does God Want You to Be?

Text:

1 Peter 2:9-10 (ESV)

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Observation:

This week I have been asking profound questions. I’m asking these questions because I want all of us to know and do the will and work of God in our lives each day that we are left in this world.

God has something to say to us, and I am looking and listening. When I hear from Him, it is my blessed privilege to share it with you.

Our focal passage gives us some insight and inspiration of who God wants us to be, and what He wants us to do.

First, God has chosen us to be His people. Notice how loving and compassionate God is toward us; we were not a people, but now we are God’s people. Oh yes, mercy suits our case, and God has given us mercy and His amazing grace.

Second, God tells us His purpose and our work plan. It is this, “That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us because of His love for us”. The God who loves you also loves the whole world.

John 3:16 (ESV)

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

His love for us should compel us to love one another as He has loved us. He wants us to love others with the love of our Lord.

John 13:34-35 (ESV)

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Prayer:

Father, hallowed be your name. Father, your love amazes me at so many levels.

Father, I have seen in recent days how your love amazes the world when they see it demonstrated by your people in the Market Place. I have seen it in the court house in Charleston, and on the streets across America; not just in the church house, but in the Market Place.

Father, help us by the presence of the Holy Spirit of God, who lives in the hearts of your people, to be love to others. In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

God wants you to be hopeful, and to be love because of this:

Romans 5:5 (HCSB)

5 This hope will not disappoint {us}, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

How to Test if Your Love is Genuine?

Text:

1 Timothy 1:5 (ESV)

5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

1 Peter 1:22 (ESV)

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

Observation:

Today the one word that I have on my heart is cooperation. The word comes from my prayer, which was the prayer of Jesus for His followers.

John 17:21 (ESV)

21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

If this was a need that Jesus saw in His people, and was moved to pray for us; then, certainly this is a need that I should be concerned about, and make a matter of prayer. This I know; God will answer the prayer of Jesus.

How can we be a part of God’s answer to prayer for God’s people of the first century, and God’s people today?

Galatians 5:6 (ESV)

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

Cooperation is birthed and grows in a relationship of loving one another. Here are some ways that we test if our love for one another is genuine.

Romans 12:9-19 (ESV)

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

Prayer:

Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I pray that You would give Your people a love like Peter and Paul described; please answer the prayer that Jesus prayed in John 17:21 in our hearts. In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

How Do You Know If Your Faith Is Real?

Text:

James 2:17 (KJV)

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

James 2:26 (KJV)

26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Observation:

The choice word for today is love. The seed for today’s focus on love is what I experienced yesterday, and was reminded of with the first prayer I prayed this morning.

I listened to a one minute prayer for mothers that was on my notification list of my phone. It cited this verse.

Proverbs 31:28 (ESV)

28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:

The text for today came from a weekly memory verse card that was on my night stand. I picked it up after I listen to the prayer for mothers on my phone app.

Then I picked up the sermon notes from yesterday, and read the verse that I am using for today’s text. I said, “Wow, God is speaking to me; this is what I’m going to write about today.

Quote from the message:

“Love is the tangible evidence of a genuine faith”.

Then I begin to sing this song in my spirit:

“Love is the theme, love is supreme;

Sweeter it grows, glory bestows;

Bright as the sun ever it glows!

Love is the theme, eternal theme!”

Truly love is supreme, and it is the evidence of genuine faith.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV)

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

For the children of God love is not a suggestion; it’s a command.

John 15:12 (ESV)

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Why not do yourself a favor by doing this:

2 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV)

5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Prayer:

Father God, I pray that each of us will examine ourselves to see if we have genuine faith.

Father God, if we pass the test, I pray that we will daily demonstrate it in our life by the way we love; because we realize it is not enough to trust in you, we must also obey. In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

John 13:35 (NLT)

35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Daily Bread

Title: Why do You Weep?

Text:

Psalm 137:1 (HCSB)
¹By the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion.

Observation:

There are some things that happen to us or to others that makes us cry. When reading this Psalm it got me to thinking about this topic.

In our focal verse for today the people of God were crying because their past had caught up with them; it was because their sins had caught up with them. I heard a sermon years ago on the subject, “Payday Some Day”.

Numbers 32:23 (HCSB)
²³But if you don’t do this, you will certainly sin against the LORD; be sure your sin will catch up with you.

Let’s look at some other instances in the Bible of why people weep.

Nehemiah 1:4 (HCSB)
⁴When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Job 2:13 (HCSB)
¹³Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.

Jeremiah 13:17 (HCSB)
¹⁷But if you will not listen, my innermost being will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, for the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.

It is profitable to set aside some time to take inventory of our spiritual life. There are times when crying is a sign of compassion and love. Let’s look at an occasion when Jesus wept.

Luke 19:41-44 (HCSB)
⁴¹As He approached and saw the city, He wept over it,
⁴²saying, “If you knew this day what [would bring] peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
⁴³For the days will come on you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side.
⁴⁴They will crush you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

God’s heart for His people is a heart of love; Jesus expressed that love with compassion for them, and He wept because they rejected Him. There can be no higher motive for weeping.

Prayer:

Father God, Sovereign Lord, my dear Father, I pray that my reason for weeping will not be over my past. Rather, I pray that I will weep because of compassion for those hurting people that You bring into my daily circumstances.

Father God, give me a heart of compassion that imitates the heart of Jesus for people. I ask this favor in the name of the one who taught us how to pray the “Our Father” pattern of prayer; our Lord Jesus, Amen.

John 11:35 (HCSB)
³⁵Jesus wept.