 Love Your Enemies
Matthew 5:43-48 Verse: "He takes my things without asking!" My son had cried. "Did you tell him you how you feel?" I asked. "Yes. He doesn't care. He hates me." How often do I grumble like this, or worse, presume upon someone else in the same way? As a young girl in Vacation Bible School, I memorized this passage about our attitude toward those who mistreat us. Now the words "pray for those who spitefully use you" convicted my heart. Might prayer help me see otherss as God does? God does not work to suit me, but has a plan far beyond my comprehension. For this reason, responsibility begins and ends with me. Prayer may help me act in a loving way, a way that God can use to meet needs, even of those who I believe might have hated me, spitefully used me, or persecuted me. "Let's pray for him," I suggested. Prayer: Lord, anoint me with a thoughtful attitude, and help me "love my enemies" too. Thought: Prayer changes my perspective first. |
| Tomorrow Before Breakfast
Matthew 25: 1-13 Verse: Early Saturday morning, the smell of homemade syrup called me to the kitchen. Daddy greeted me there with a pancake, fresh off the griddle. Gobbling my favorite breakfast, I eyed my father's worn Bible on the table. "Daddy, why is your Bible there?" I asked. "I just finished reading it," he replied. "Why?" "Well-" My father, the preacher, took a deep breath and delivered a lengthy discourse about the end times--how Jesus would come like a thief in the night. He caught my attention just as my nose dipped close to my leftover syrup. "If Jesus returns tomorrow before breakfast, I'd Him to find me on my knees," Daddy was saying. Now that I'm grown, I struggle to spend a moment of quiet time where I can listen for God's voice. I think of my father's words and wonder what Jesus would see me doing if he returned today. Prayer: Lord, remind me to greet each day by studying Your Word, and spend the day with my attitude on its knees. |
| In
Cadence
1 John 1:6-7, Proverbs 3:5-6 Verse But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7 (NKJV) As a military trainee, I learned a new way to walk. My unit took 30” steps and swang arms “9 to the front, 6 to the rear,” moved in time with the “cadence caller,” and in straight lines. Moving as one body was impossible unless each person listened and stepped to the cadence beat. I am a Christian, a soldier of the Light in whom there is no darknessl. I must measure my steps by faith, swing my arms with joy, and be guided by the Holy Spirit. Doing these things will keep me in step with Jesus Christ, my cadence caller, and in unity with fellow Christians. Prayer: Lord, remind me to listen for your cadence today.
Thought: Are you in step? |