2023-12-10
LJC Devotional (watch the video)
LJC Welcome & Announcements
Prayer
- Do I love God enough to surrender all of my desires to Him?
- Do I love God enough to trust He will get me through any difficulty?
- Do I love God enough to pray for & forgive others in my life?
Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
1. Do I love God enough to surrender all of my desires to Him?
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Psalm 6:2-4
Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long? Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.
2. Do I love God enough to trust He will get me through any difficulty?
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1 Peter 4:7-9
The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
(Life Application Study Bible commentary on these verses: We should live expectantly because Christ is coming. Getting ready to meet Christ involves continually growing in love for God and for others. It is important to pray regularly, and it is also important to reach out to needy people. Your possessions, status, and power will mean nothing in God’s kingdom, but you will spend eternity with other people. Invest your time and talents where they will make an eternal difference.)
3. Do I love God enough to pray for & forgive others in my life?
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How do I follow Jesus?
- Love God with all of my heart, with all of my soul, with all of my mind and with all of my strength. Love myself rightly. Love my neighbor as myself.
- Be a messenger of love to others and speak the message in love.
- Receive the love that God has for me.
I Corinthians 13:4-13 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
(All scripture references are in NIV)