Welcome to The Turnaround!
Introduction
Welcome to day fourteen of our 52 days of Prayer: As we, some of the remnants of our country, take up our position to rebuild the section of wall right in front of us, we need to remember that the building blocks of the Wall are Love.
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
Insight
Sounds simple, but is it? Many times, the most simple things are the hardest to do. So what makes it so hard to love people? Or should I ask what makes it so hard to love some people? We tend to judge others way harsher than we judge ourselves. When I look at how Jesus loves me with all my imperfection, I am blown away. I would say in the dark parts of my heart I am unlovable, but He loves me anyway. God loves us right where we are, covered in all the grime of our sin. His love can wash all the grime away. So, to love as Christ loves this means to love others right where they are. It doesn’t mean we need to accept the sin others might be engaged in, but we can be there ready to help get them cleaned up from the mess. I think many times we try to love from a distance, but Jesus left the comfort of heaven and made himself human to walk among us and invites us to a life with Him. We need to engage with others where they are and extend the invitation to walk with Christ. Each of us who has entered a relationship with Jesus understands that the more we lay down our lives and die to ourselves the richer and more fulfilling our lives become. The old has gone and the new has come. One of my favorite worship songs says, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full into his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His goodness and grace.” When we lay our lives down in love for others we are laying them down for Christ and the closer we come to Christ the less important our own interest is and we get to experience more of the richness of Christ’s love!
Turnaround Question
What keeps you from loving as Christ loved you?
Prayer
Father God, please help us today to pick up our cross and follow You. Please crush our selfishness and fill us with Your Holy Spirit. Help us to love as You love us. Help us to realize that our time on earth is fleeting. You have put us here, at this time, in all of history, and at this location to help reveal Your pure and perfect love to the world. Give us the ability to love everyone, especially those who are filled with hate. Lord, we want to honor You in all we do.
We praise you as the God of the universe and recognize that You have absolute power to move heaven and earth. We pray that we humble ourselves as a nation and put You first. We pray our leaders will do the same. Lord, give them wisdom to act in accordance to Your will.
We pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
