21 Days of Prayer: Day 3 (God Is Love)

DAY 3
Wednesday, October 16

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in them. – 1 John 4:16

GOD IS LOVE
In 2016 I graduated from college. At my college graduation our commencement speaker was a well-known theologian. His commencement speech has always stayed with me. He explained how he often observes two different ways people approach the Bible and scripture. One way is to apply the scientific method to scripture and break it down to its smallest pieces, dissect it, and isolate single scriptures for our use. The other method is to view scripture as the whole narrative story of God and understand that a story has themes. If we look at the themes of this story we see things like grace, redemption, and love.

At this point you’re probably thinking, I did not know this was a piece about theology and the study of scripture. You would be right. I tell you that story because his speech stayed with me and has to this day. It stayed with me because we quibble, argue and debate over how we live as followers of Christ in this unstable world. We often ask what it means for us to engage the world as people who desire to live like Jesus. I have come to realize that love truly is the measuring stick. It is the framework for how we live in this world. It is the primary way people we encounter see the face of God.

1 John even instructs us “Whoever lives in love, lives in God…”. As we walk through this world over the next month (especially as we near the election), I urge all of us to consider: Am I loving? Are people leaving experiences with me sensing that God is in me? Not being right, not having the last world, but how have I loved? I believe if we do this, people will leave us having seen the face of God.

PRAYER:
Christ Jesus, we need you right now. Our world so often feels confusing, frightening, and turbulent. We often do not know what to do and how to respond. We need love to surround us, to fill us up, and to inhabit all our interior landscape. We pray that you will reside in us as we go to work, spend time with our families, connect with our friends, go to church. Help us to view people as those who bear the image of God. Help us to thoughtfully and carefully take every step in love as we engage the difficult events of this world. Allow us to remember the words of St. Francis of Assisi from his prayer for peace:

“O divine master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life”.

Pray For Our Church: Take some time to pray for Pathway today—the people who make up our church, the staff, the ministries, etc. Ask God to work in and through us.

Pray For Our City: Pray for the people of our community and ask God to be at work in our hometown.

Pray For Our Nation: Pray for our nation—its people and its leaders. Boldly and specifically make your requests, then submit those desires to God’s will. Express your trust in Him.

REFLECT:

• How have you seen God’s faithfulness and his promises lived out today?
• Write 2-3 points of gratitude and thank Jesus for these things.
• Spend time praising God for who he is, what he has done, where he is at work, and what he has promised.

Aaron Crump, Licensed Mental Health Therapist