Today's Reading:
Lamentations 3:1-66
Matthew 7:15-29
Proverbs 10:21-30
Click on Text Link to Read Online
Focus Verses: Matthew 7:7-8
7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Insight:
Giving and receiving are central to meaningful and loving relationships. The bonds of love are both demonstrated and deepened
when one has the freedom to make a request and another has the will to
grant it. Just as neighbors open their doors for each other, and just as
parents are ready to provide for their children, our Father in heaven
is ready to give us good gifts. He also calls us to be ready to treat
others with the same goodwill we would like to receive.
Response and Action:
God
has invited me to a relationship with him through Christ Jesus. He
wants me to seek him out, to knock on his door, and to ask him for help.
He promises I will find, the door to be opened, and my needs provided.
This is the way God demonstrates his love for me; it is also the way I
can demonstrate love for others. In the same way that I receive grace
and love in my relationship with God, I should extend grace and love in
my relationships with others.
O
God, help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength,
and to love others as myself. Thank you that I can come to you with my
requests and needs--that you can be found, your door is open, and you
are giving. Grant me a sensitivity toward the needs of others around me.
Help me to be available, approachable, and generous. In Jesus name, I
pray. Amen.
Spiritual Formation Verses: James 1:17-18
17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father
of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He
chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a
kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Resources:
The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God
Dallas Willard
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