Good Morning Friends of God! Man, I've been catching up on sleep and actually oversleeping often, like . Was given great report from cardiology too (although I will need an ablation soon which will get me off some meds) Thanks for your continued prayers and encouragements! Any way, time is short! Time to leave for bread day.
Check out our three devos below for . Easy to find the thread there and they speak into our call to learn to live and love like Jesus! We are a loving caring church that helps those in need. These devos should help affirm that and call some of us to deeper service or agape (sacrificial) love and laying down ones life for another like Jesus did for you. And our praise and gratitude continue to grow as we allow God to love through us. See if you can see yourself or our church in these devos and praise God. Ask God how He may be calling you to join Him in caring ministry to our neighbors and fellow brothers and ssiters. he has a perfect plan for you and us to go live and love like Him and to lead others to His love. Ponder that and share with some friends to pray, plan and go love with. I'm praying for you!
Let's start with John 15:9-17 from Our Daily bread devo then flow to the devo, the Upper Room and The Word for You . What's God saying to you? What will you do about it? begin with praise, load up as you abide and then partner up and go live and love like Him. Amen!
John 15:9-17
New Living Translation
9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
ODB
A Friend at Midnight
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends. John 15:15
“Who can you call at midnight when everything has gone wrong?” This question shook me when I first heard it years ago. How many of my friendships were strong enough that I could impose on them in my hour of need? I wasn’t sure.
Scripture has much to say about friendship, describing a friend as someone who keeps confidences (Proverbs 11:13; 16:28), shares advice (27:9), and respects boundaries (25:17). But perhaps no one defined friendship more powerfully than Jesus. While to advertisers we are markets and to employers we are staff, to Him, the Master of all, we are “friends” (John 15:15). Jesus described His kind of friendship as being built on shared love of God and personal sacrifice (vv. 13, 15)—something He Himself modeled and called us to pass on (v. 12).
A couple of years after hearing that question, my wife and I suffered a significant loss. Darren, one of the few who knew what happened, traveled two hours to see me, listen to my anger and pain, and pray for me. Darren is a busy man who had plenty of other things to do with his day. But he followed Jesus’ example of sacrificial friendship. I really did have someone in my hour of need.
The question now is whether others have a “friend at midnight” in me. For there are few better ways to make more friends than to be one.
By Sheridan Voysey
REFLECT & PRAY
Who can you call at midnight when everything has gone wrong? Why is it important to be there for others in their hour of need?
Dear Jesus, please help me offer to others the kind of friendship You modeled.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
In the early days of creation, God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). These words reveal how foundational relationship and community are to the essence of being human. While the immediate context is the marriage relationship, we’re called throughout Scripture to be in relationship with those around us.
Jesus said in ’s text to “love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12). And Paul encourages believers in Christ to “bear with each other,” to be patient and forgive the shortcomings of others (Colossians 3:12-13). Being a “friend at midnight” means helping those who’ve been given a heavy burden to carry.
J.R. Hudberg
UR: An Abundant Catch
I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. - Matthew 25:35 (CEB)
Years ago I lived in Key West, Florida. One morning we were catching mahi-mahi almost as fast as we could bait the hooks. We realized we had more fish than we could eat, so we headed back to shore. The skipper gave us an address where we could take the extra fish.
Six nights a week, the Catholic Sisters served supper to people living in poverty. We gave them our fish and were invited back for dinner. As the Mother Superior blessed the meal, she said, “A Catholic, a Protestant, and a Jew provided our meal . Regardless of your heritage, all are welcome to eat at God’s table.”
Our gift was simple — indeed the fish would have spoiled if we hadn’t given them away. However, it transformed the rest of my time in Key West. Hardly a week went by when someone didn’t stop me on the street and ask, “Aren’t you the guy who brought us the fish? God bless you.”
Until then I had never seen those people who were struggling. People are still struggling. Look around at those who are cold, lonely, and hungry. There are countless ways to support them. The rewards of giving far exceed the value of the gift.
's Prayer
Dear God, thank you for opportunities to share what we have. Open our eyes to the people in need around us, and guide us to support them. Amen.
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