Day 14 - Choose to Accept, Choose to Sacrifice

A few questions I need to ask myself after reading today:

Are all my friends just like me or different?

When is the last time I made a sacrifice for:

 God? My church? My wife? My kids?

Am I patient?

Would people describe me as kind?

How am I doing fighting selfishness?

Day 13: Fellowship & Forgiveness

Fellowship....Is that something that is easy for you, maybe even a gift?  Not for me, but I am slowly starting to recognize its importance, especially if I want to be a Christ follower.  Reach out and befriend others, we are representing Christ.

Forgiveness.  Stop and ask yourself if there is anybody you need to forgive.  It is a sobering thought to think that God will not forgive us if we don't forgive others.  

Day 12

First...what was the first thing that came to your mind? Was it a relationship gone wrong as they said or was it something else? For me, I couldn't help but focus on the priorities. We talk about priorities a lot in relationships, but how often do we give our heart priority? Sure you may be thinking that it is easier for women to do this, but many times I put things in priority out of "wants" instead of a heart priority and action. If the action is not in place...the wants I mentioned before may be linked to a heart priority stalled. To think...no actions and our emotions fester and become destructive rather than instructive. More often than not my emotions fester...just think if I take my heart seriously and act radically then all the "solo acting debuts" (hence my festering inactive emotions) will become a production in itself.   Emily M.

Day 11: Feelings are Important!

I am one who has never showed much emotion.  It is probably the way I was raised, nobody in my family shows much emotion.  Today's chapter was a good reminder that emotion is okay.  Jesus felt emotion and showed emotion, he just wasn't controlled by it.
My prayer: God, help me to recognize and not deny my emotions.  God, help me to correctly express my emotions in a way that glorifies you in all that I do.  Amen

Day 10: The Power of New

My prayer after today's reading:  God, there are lots of old relationships and old routine in my life.  I get up, eat the same bowl of cereal, follow the same routine every morning, all day, every day.  I'm comfortable with the old, but I see the importance of "new."  I don't want to live life in a rut.  God, I pray that you inject a new love into my old.  I pray that your fresh, new love will become a part of my routine, and that I will look at my old relationships in a new, fresh way.

God, I also live a tremendous portion of my life with the "I think I can" mentality.  I put too much importance on me.  God, You know I'm selfish.  I pray that through your power, I can move to the "I know I can't, but I know God can" mentality where I walk thru life focusing on Jesus and Jesus alone. Amen.

Day 9: The Power of Jesus' Command

The author gave a great picture of "nevertheless love."  Remember what that is: honestly telling God your feelings, and then saying, "nevertheless not my will but yours God."  When is the last time you expressed "nevertheless love?"  Do something this week that you don't "feel" like doing, but you know it is God's will for you do it.  Does emptying the dishwasher count?

The One Person Assignment

Continue with your one person assignment this week.  Let us not merely say the we love each other, let us show the truth by our actions. (1 John 3:18)

This coming week, look for a person who needs your kindness or patience.  That individual may be injured emotionally, spiritually, relationally, physically, or financially.  Who do you know that needs a "Good Samaritan" in their life right now?  What do you have to give?  Rather than passing by, reach out to the person this week and do a specific act of kindness.  "Your hand is God's hand for that person" (Proverbs 3:27 MSG) 

Day 8

Similar theme to yesterday.... I want to try harder.  Love as Jesus loves us.  I cannot achieve that kind of love.  The author says I have to trust in God, but what does it look like to trust in God in this area?  I think the first step is to recognize and admit that I cannot do it on my own.  I can never achieve the kind of love that Jesus commands on my own.  I have to ask God daily to intervene in my life and my relationships, and fully trust in His power to change my heart and words so that I can reveal His love in my daily interactions with people.

Day 7

When Rick Warren said in the video last week that you couldn't try harder when it came to loving others, I wanted to disagree with him.  In anything else I've wanted to improve, I've always been taught just to work at it and I can improve.  Its always worked for me in tennis, running, school work, etc.  Why can't it work with loving others?  If I just give loving for others a little extra attention, I can improve on it. Day 7 taught me that I can only improve a certain amount by my own effort.  If I want to love people the way God loves people, I have to spend time away from people like Jesus did getting to know God, both who he is and how he loves.  Until I love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, I cannot love people the way God desires.

 

When I first read about the one person assignment that we talked about in ABF on Sunday, I spent a lot of time thinking about what person I choose.  Day 7 made it clear.  Love like Jesus did.  He loved the people wherever he happened to be and whoever he came in contact with.  What a novel concept.  I guess a ought to love the customers at the jewelry store, as well as the employees, and maybe even the waitress at the restaurant, and just maybe my wife and kids.

Day 6: Love Everyone as Your Neighbor

Love everyone.  I am a Christian, don't I automatically love everyone?....Just about everyone.  Who are the Samaritans to you?  Great question posed by the author.  One I didn't want to slow down long enough to answer.  I forced myself to really think about it, though.  I come across certain people in my job that are hard to love.  They think they are better than me because of the amount of money they have, how beautiful they are, or how in style they are.  I treat them the way my job requires me to, but I don't love them with God's kind of love.  This is where Holladay's point was really hammered home for me.  I can't love those people in my own power.  God wants me to depend on Him for the power to love, which for me requires a daily dependence on his power.  A big challenge, "God help me want to love my Samaritans, and God I depend on You to daily change my heart and give me the strength to love out of Your power not my own."

Day 5 - Love God with all Your Mind and Strength

I have always had a tough time memorizing scripture.  I know it is important, but I've just never made it a spiritual discipline in my life like I should.  Day 5 made it crystal clear that if I want to Love God with all my mind I must start memorizing scripture.  I figure no better time than the present, so I tried while I was driving to pick up lunch for Emily at Chick-Fil-A to memorize Philippians 4:8, "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworhty, think about such things."  As I was trying to remember what came first "right" or "pure", I came to the stoplight at the intersection at Chick-Fil-A and a homeless man was standing there holding a sign.  I was in my own little world saying this scripture to myself while at the same time I could have reached out and touched the guy, he was that close to my car.  Then, I was reminded that while I was focusing on loving God with all my mind, there is also the love God with all my strength component.  If heart, soul, mind, and strength don't work together for some visible action, then my faith, is worthless.  We all have different feelings about the people that stand at those intersections with signs.  I have given them money occasionally, but most of the time I pretend they don't exist and go on about my "busy" day. Before my chance had passed, I rolled down the window, told him I was buying lunch at Chick-Fil-A, took his order, and in a very small way loved God with all my mind and strength for that moment today. 

Day Four - Love God with all your soul

The question that this day hammered home to me was: Am I seeking God passionately with my life?  Do you see the same passion from me in church worshipping God on Sunday that you see from me on Saturday at a Wake Forest football game?  Obviously, I don't love Wake more than God.  I want to pursue God passionately in all areas of my life and I hope my life reflects that.  "not my will, but yours be done" in all areas of my life.

Day 3 - Love with all your Heart

Love God with all your heart,  soul, mind, and strength.  How important do you think the word "all" is?  Could it be the difference between having a fruitful, meaningful life and not one?

 The author made it clearer to me what this love looked like when he defined heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Love God with all your emotions, will, thoughts, and actions, and that if real change is going to happen in my life, I have to love God in all four of those ways.

Today's focus was on loving God with all my heart/emotions/feelings.  I have a one hour drive this morning, so I am going to try to do the suggested steps for praying more emotionally.  I have them written on a note card to walk through on my drive:

1.  Talk to God about feelings.

2.  Talk to God about my weaknesses.

3.  Talk to God about His strengths.

4.  Tell God my fears.

5.  Pour out to God the desires of my heart.

6.  Openly and emotionally admit my sins to God.

7.  Say out loud what I know to be true.

The question, "Do I tell God what I feel or do I tell him what I think He wants to hear?" hit me right between the eyes.  Tell God how you feel today.  

Day Two - The Attraction of Lesser Things

This chapter had way too much in it for me to process.  Here is the prayer I wrote for myself coming out of it:

God, I want to love you and I want to love others, but its just not that easy.  I naturally gravitate towards loving myself, besides, my family, friends, and coworkers are sometimes really hard to love.  Tasks and to do lists are easier for me than relationships.  I also try to manage my life and fit everything in.  God, I cannot do it on my own, in my own power, I need your help.  I turn the management of my life over to you.  I surrender my "schedule" to you.  Make your priorities, my priorities.  Help me to quit settling for good choices with my time, but to make the best choices with my time.  I know my family is more important than "24", tennis, running, watching basketball on tv, help me show it.  God, help the important win out in my life over the urgent, the good, the easy, and from an eternal perspective the unimportant.  Amen.

Read day 2 and tell me what make an impact on you.

The One Person Assignment

Turn talk into action by reaching out to one person in a loving unselfish way this week.

Action for week one.

Think of someone you haven't shown love to recently- a friend, family member, colleague, etc.  In what way can you apply this week's lesson to that relationship?

Choose a practical action step and post your experiences here.

Day One - Nothing is more important than relationships

When I think about it, I know that nothing is more important than relationships.  I just don't always live that way.  I let "stuff" get in the way.  For me, sometimes its exercise, tv shows, sports, or even work.  In my life, choosing relationships over things is not one big decision I need to make, but a series of smaller, moment by moment choices I need to make throughout the day.  What do you think?  Are you acting like relationships are the most important thing in your life?  What about your relationship with God?