18 Timothy, my son, here are my instructions for you, based on the prophetic words spoken about you earlier. May they help you fight well in the Lord’s battles. 19 Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked. 20 Hymenaeus and Alexander are two examples. I threw them out and handed them over to Satan so they might learn not to blaspheme God.
1 Timothy 1:18-20
Dear God, the actual verse of the day today was 1 Timothy 2:1-2 on Bible Gateway, but when I went back to chapter 1 to get the context for why Paul was telling Timothy that, I found this paragraph. Verse 19 is where my head it today. Cling to my faith in you. Keep my conscience clear. I feel like those are my marching orders today. This is one of those times in my life when my spirit and heart “pretty much” believe what I am saying, but not completely. I “pretty much” have faith that you are in control and you aren’t letting anything happen that is beyond your will. I “pretty much” believe that the outcomes I see around me are within your plan for the world. But I guess this path just makes me sad. I don’t like it. I don’t want to walk it. I know the path I wanted, and while it was far from perfect it was known to me and I felt like I knew my way through it. Now I’m in a situation where I am not sure how to go forward.
So what I’ve told people is that my only job is to wake up in the morning, worship you, pray, and then go about my day loving everyone around me as much as possible, all while testifying to the gospel of your grace. And I “pretty much” believe that. Maybe it’s just a little grief I’m experiencing. Maybe I’m just a little sad. Maybe that’s why I’m just “pretty much” there and not all there. Maybe in another week or two I will be less sad and really living out completely what I’m just “pretty much” living out now.
Father, I have a day ahead of me. I need to visit a friend in the hospital. I need to go to a training in another town. I need to lead the people with whom I work. I need to love everyone I see. I need to take you to the world and represent you to them. I need to pray for my coworkers, volunteers, donors, and clients who are in pain. Who are recovering from surgeries. Who are facing family problems. And I do. I lift them up to you now. For my those I know in mourning (I have two that lost loved ones in the last week), I pray for their comfort and provision. For those I know facing physical challenges, I pray for their healing and provision. For those I know who are facing financial, emotional, parenting, etc. challenges, I pray for their provision, peace, and guidance. I pray that all of us will move from “pretty much” to “completely.” And for those who have made an idol out of who won and who lost the election and looked to that outcome as a source of their love, joy, peace, etc. instead of you, I pray for repentance and a turning of our hearts towards you.
14 One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye. 2 When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me.”
3 His father and mother objected. “Isn’t there even one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry?” they asked. “Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?”
But Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She looks good to me.” 4 His father and mother didn’t realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.
5 As Samson and his parents were going down to Timnah, a young lion suddenly attacked Samson near the vineyards of Timnah. 6 At that moment the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion’s jaws apart with his bare hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat. But he didn’t tell his father or mother about it. 7 When Samson arrived in Timnah, he talked with the woman and was very pleased with her.
8 Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, he turned off the path to look at the carcass of the lion. And he found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass. 9 He scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it along the way. He also gave some to his father and mother, and they ate it. But he didn’t tell them he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.
10 As his father was making final arrangements for the marriage, Samson threw a party at Timnah, as was the custom for elite young men. 11 When the bride’s parents saw him, they selected thirty young men from the town to be his companions.
12 Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing. 13 But if you can’t solve it, then you must give me thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing.”
“All right,” they agreed, “let’s hear your riddle.”
14 So he said:
“Out of the one who eats came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet.”
Three days later they were still trying to figure it out. 15 On the fourth[b] day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle for us, or we will burn down your father’s house with you in it. Did you invite us to this party just to make us poor?”
16 So Samson’s wife came to him in tears and said, “You don’t love me; you hate me! You have given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”
“I haven’t even given the answer to my father or mother,” he replied. “Why should I tell you?” 17 So she cried whenever she was with him and kept it up for the rest of the celebration. At last, on the seventh day he told her the answer because she was tormenting him with her nagging. Then she explained the riddle to the young men.
18 So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer:
“What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?”
Samson replied, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle!”
19 Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had solved his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother. 20 So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson’s best man at the wedding.
Judges 14
Dear God, I find the Samson story interesting because it shows me that you sometimes do things that are completely counterintuitive to me. How could you use this profane, ungodly man? How could you condone so much pure awfulness in a leader? How could you select him? What are you doing? I like this description of his parents in verse 4 because it would have to be said of me a lot of times, including today: 4His father and mother didn’t realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.
There’s a Rich Mullins song called “Who God is Gonna Use.”
At the beginning of this video, Rich talks about how you used Balaam’s donkey to save him (Numbers 22:21-35), and that story inspired the rest of the song. You use all kinds of people and all kinds of things. And not necessarily the holy ones. And not necessarily to do holy things. You used Pilate and Herod to kill Jesus. But what the disciples couldn’t see at the time is that it was taking one step back to take five steps forward. They killed Stephen, which seemed like a huge setback, but you used it to spread the church throughout the world (Acts 8). Stephen’s death is one of the reasons I am here today.
I have a friend who lost her father last week, and then was in an unfortunate accident yesterday that sent her to the ER. She loves you. She worships you. It seems like awful timing. Why would this happen? Why would you let this happen? Well, maybe there are just things I cannot see. Please be with her and her mother today as she recovers and they mourn the loss of a great, godly man.
As I type this email this morning, we now know who won the election yesterday for POTUS. There are some Christians who are delighted. Some are devastated. If the winner had been different, the roles would have been reversed. I talked with both sides over the last few weeks, and I told them, “Whoever wins, I will not let it be my idol. I am not putting my faith in either candidate. I am putting my faith in God and the things he is doing that I cannot see. So the day after the election, regardless of who wins, I will wake up, worship God, pray, and then go about loving everyone I can that day.”
Father, use President-elect Trump to do your will in this world whether he even knows your doing it or not, and regardless of what your will is for our country or this world. And my prayer would be the same if Kamala Harris won. I don’t know what you have for our country. I don’t know what you have for the people within it and around the world. I don’t know what you have for me. I know that I have no demands on you. I know that I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task you’ve given me–the task of testifying to the gospel of your grace through Jesus. So help me to live into that today. For those who will be impacted materially by policies of a new administration, both foreign and domestic, I pray. Find your remnant and strongly support them. Use everything going on this world to draw us closer to you. I pray that the American church my find true faith in you and turn loose of the idols we look to for our certainty. I pray that I will do the same. I am here to offer you my worship, my life, and my service. Use me as you will.
God, we thank you for the inspiration of Jesus. Grant that we will love you with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves, even our enemy neighbors. And we ask you, God, in these days of emotional tension, when the problems of the world are gigantic in extent and chaotic in detail, to be with us in our going out and our coming in, in our rising up and in our lying down, in our moments of joy and in our moments of sorrow, until the day when there shall be no sunset and no dawn. Amen.”
Dear God, my wife read me this prayer last night, so I decided to find it and capture it for this morning. It seemed appropriate.
So, Father, I thank you for the inspiration of Jesus. I thank you for grace and mercy through Jesus. I thank you that you cannot see my sin through Jesus’s blood. Thank you that Jesus actually lived among us and taught us so much. Thank you that he showed us your way.
Help me to love you with everything I have today. My heart, that it will be healed and worship you through that healing. My mind, that it will be discerning and wise and look to see your direction for me in every moment. My strength, that I will take the body you’ve given me and use it as a blessing for others in your power. And my soul, that I will take the redeemed core you gave me and offer it to you as a living sacrifice that it might be shared with others.
Help me to love every person I come across today, both in-person and in my thoughts. Help me to love them with my words. Help me to love them with my actions. Help me to love sacrificially. Help me to love generously. That includes people who are at cross purposes with me. That includes people who frustrate me. Help me to be everything you want me to be for them. And of course, it includes my wife. Love her through me.
And walk with me today. Through every situation I encounter, be very present and there. Make me mindful of you and that I am taking you into the world. That you want to use me and your church that we might be your kingdom and will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let there be peace today. Let there be peace around our nation. Let there be peace in Ukraine. Let there be peace in the Middle East. Let there be peace in Africa and South America. Let there be peace in North and Central American countries that refugees are fleeing. Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.
Hello friends. This is not a prayer to God. I’m letting anyone who reads this blog know that I have taken the prayer journals I did a few years ago on Mothers of the Bible and Fathers of the Bible, and put them all in one place. You can find it here on Substack.
There are 82 prayer journals that will drop once a week for the next 82 weeks, starting with Eve. If you read any of these prayers at the time, you know it was my way of trying to consider what their lives must have been like as parents. I was trying to see what God could teach me about myself as a parent through the struggles I’ve had. I learned a lot. I hope it can be a source of encouragement for others.
The Substack is free, but if you should want to download a pdf of all 82 journals at once you can subscribe for a month for $5, download the pdf, and then cancel your subscription. Of course, you can also go to any of them as they were written at the time from clicking the links I provided in the first paragraph.
Thank you for the kind support many of you give me through this blog. I hope my journey with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit through these prayers is an encouragement in your own discipleship. Journaling my way through scripture in this way has changed my life.
Listen, children, to a story That was written long ago ‘Bout a kingdom on a mountain And the valley-folk below
On the mountain was a treasure Buried deep beneath the stone And the valley-people swore They’d have it for their very own
Go ahead and hate your neighbor Go ahead and cheat a friend Do it in the name of heaven You can justify it in the end There won’t be any trumpets blowing Come the judgment day On the bloody morning after One tin soldier rides away
So the people of the valley Sent a message up the hill Asking for the buried treasure Tons of gold for which they’d kill
Came an answer from the mountain With our brothers we will share All the secrets of our mountain All the riches buried there
Now the valley cried with anger “Mount your horses! Draw your sword!” And they killed the mountain-people So they won their just reward
Now they stood beside the treasure On the mountain, dark and red Turned the stone and looked beneath it “Peace on Earth” was all it said
Go ahead and hate your neighbor Go ahead and cheat a friend Do it in the name of heaven You can justify it in the end There won’t be any trumpets blowing Come the judgment day On the bloody morning after One tin soldier rides away
Go ahead and hate your neighbor Go ahead and cheat a friend Do it in the name of heaven You can justify it in the end There won’t be any trumpets blowing Come the judgment day On the bloody morning after One tin soldier rides away
Dear God, when I hit “shuffle” on my “Oldies” playlist this morning, this song was the first one that played. Somehow, it seemed fitting for the election tomorrow. I’ve seen a few of my Christian friends sacrifice a lot of their beliefs and make an idol out of who they want to win and lose tomorrow. I’ve seen some of my liberal friends make an idol out of who wins and who loses tomorrow. I guess the thing that has troubled me most are the Christians. The compromises made for power and influence astound me. And I’m not talking about my friends who legitimately want one person’s policy over the others. I get that. I get why anyone would vote for any of the candidates, whether the candidate is at the top of the ticket or at the bottom. But it’s the people who are preoccupied with power and influence that sadden me. The ones who want to vanquish the other side. Who demonize the other side. Everything they are doing is so incongruous with anything Jesus taught us while on earth. Absolutely incongruous.
I loved this song as a child. I even sang it in a talent show. I think it was third grade, but I’m not sure. Of course, this was 1978, so it was before you could easily buy instrumental versions of songs. I took my 45 rpm record to school and sand along with the original singers. I think a lot of the students thought I was lip-syncing because I don’t think I had a microphone. Regardless, it was one of my favorites.
Years later, we used to sing this song with the kids when I was a camp counselor. They loved it too. But I wonder how much the message is lost on us. It’s a little like watching the “be curious, not judgmental” scene in Ted Lasso, and then judging Rupert in that very same scene. We can all be very obtuse.
Which leads me to the natural place where you want me to be. How am I guilty of being what this song condemns? How do I reach for power in futility? Do I try to try to use mypower over my relationships, or do I strive for your power with others? Do I lead with love? You said blessed are the peacemakers. Am I a peacemaker?
Father, let these lyrics ring in my ears today as I go through my day. Love through me. Love through the work I do. Use my life, especially the failed parts of my life, as a way to glorify yourself in the eyes of the world. Let me decrease as you increase. And forgive me for the times I have been unmerciful, unloving, unpeaceful, and unjust.
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with th
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Romans 12:9-13:1
Dear God, the verse today was 13:1. I assume because we are closing in on the US election. It’s an interesting one. I’ve always thought it was interesting that Paul had this attitude since he committed a lot of civil disobedience to not the local church authority as well. He died for it. It made me want to go back and look at what he was talking about right before he said this. What was the context?
Wow, the way I have it above where I don’t do any paragraph breaks and just make it all part of one thought is fascinating. The whole tone becomes about just living out the fruits of your Spirit. Love others. Serve others. Obey the governing authorities. It’s all just part of me living out the two most important commands. It’s all just part of me living out Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount.
Father, help me to live out the Sermon on the Mount this week. That starts with me worshipping you. Then I will start loving others. Then I will start being a peacemaker and merciful. Then I will stop lusting and coveting. Then I will have faith that you will provide. I can go all of the way through the Sermon. But you get my point. I will find myself just living out the faith I have in you. And if worshipping you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving my neighbor as myself gets me into trouble (which it rarely will, but it might), then so be it. Help me to share this message with others in my very small sphere of influence this week as they start to get concerned about the election results, regardless of who their chosen candidates are. Basically, for what you’re calling me to do, the only thing that makes who the winner is matter is if I am in a position to love someone in my immediate sphere of influence who is directly affected by their policy as a result. Otherwise, I am simply called to both of these things. Oh, how I do, truly, love you.
3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:3-11
Dear God, I’m praying this prayer on All Souls Day, November 2. I believe the Catholic Church created this as a day after All Saints Day to pray for the souls still in purgatory. Since I’m not so much a believer in purgatory, I want to use this time to pray for some specific friends who are mourning this year. I have one friend who lost a mother fairly suddenly on Thursday (two days ago). Then I have a friend who died very suddenly yesterday while grocery shopping. He leaves behind family and friends who are grieving. I have a friend who lost his wife this spring after a battle with cancer. And there are others. There are many others. But that is who is on my heart this morning. The souls who are with you now and the holes in hearts their deaths leave behind.
I pray for my friends right now who are mourning. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4) Please raise up people to comfort them. Show me my role in comforting them. Help them to know how to reach out to you during this difficult time. Comfort me in this loss as well. I really loved the man who died yesterday. He was much older than I am, but we were in Rotary together and had lunch one-on-one at least five times. Each one was always so long because we just truly enjoyed each other. I will surely miss him. I do, even now.
Father, I have a day to live today. I have family to love. I’ll be spending a lot of time with one family member in particular. Help me to love them. Help me to be what you need them to have. But let it start with my worship of you. Help me to remember that you are my God. Help me to recognize idols in my life and sink into your presence. Help me to be the man you are ultimately forming me to be.
18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.
Ephesians 1:18
Dear God, I love the idea of praying this for people. When I don’t know what to pray, maybe I should just prat that their hearts will be flooded with light so that they can understand the confident hope he has give to those he called–his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. What a great thing.
I have a relative who texted my wife and me last night asking us to pray for her husband who is about to have a significant event today. We prayed together about it this morning, and, frankly, this isn’t too far off of what we prayed for all of them (her husband, her, and their families). Then we prayed for our children as we always do, and this was kind of the tone of that prayer well. Their joy. Their peace. But I like this: “That [their] hearts will be flooded with light.” YOUR light. The light of your grace and glory shining in them, through them, and out of them.
And then as I pray for my wife today. For myself. For my friends and coworkers. For the friend who lost her mother yesterday. “That [their] hearts will be flooded with light.” My wife has a hectic few days with different activities. Flood her heart with light. I have a lot going on in the next 24 hours. Flood my heart with light.
Father, the reason I know you are a good God is because the closer I get to you the “gooder” I get. I know you are a loving God because the closer I get to you the “lovinger” I get. I know you are a merciful God because the closer I get to you the “mercifuler” I get. So let your light shine in, through, and out of me today. You are a good God. You are a loving God. You are a merciful God. You are a just God. You are a compassionate God. I could go on and on. I am grateful that you are my God.
5 In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.
10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 11 All power to him forever! Amen.
1 Peter 5:5-11
Dear God, I’m certainly not an elder in the church, as Peter addressed in verses 1-4. I am under the authority of the elders. These verses are for me. So here is a bullet-point list of what Peter is calling me to:
Accept authority over me in the areas of church and work
Be humble in appearance and posture
Humble myself under your power and authority in my life
Bring my worries and cares to you
Stand firm against Satan
Be strong in my faith
Be encouraged that I am not alone as a believer in this world
Look forward to the day when the New Earth will be come and I will be perfected in you
Father, I suppose that starts with today. Help me to accept the authorities you put over me. Help me to be a good and wise authority over others. When it’s time to worry or solve a problem, help me to remember to bring it to you in prayer. And lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from Satan. Help me to consider my life worth nothing to me. I believe. Help my unbelief. And help me to not only be encouraged by other believers, but to also be a source of encouragement to them as well. I do look forward to a day when I will get to be with you, but that moment has not come. In this moment, I am glad to finish the race and complete the task you have given to me. The task of testifying to your grace.
25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”
27 The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”
29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.
31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.
33 “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’
36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.
37 The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”
Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”
Luke 10:25-37
Dear God, I have the opportunity to speak to a private school chapel this morning. The students will be ages 5-18. That can be a tough crowd to reach with one message. And I am supposed to be talking to them about the nonprofit where I work. How do you make an 8-year-old child care about healthcare for low-income people who are uninsured? The answer, of course, is stories. That’s what Jesus did for his crowds.
I asked the woman who scheduled me for this if there was a special spiritual theme they would like me to hit while I’m talking. She said (Not judging any grammar because it was a text and I think texts should be an edit-free zone.), “[Our model] emphasizes personhood, in that all are created in the image of God. Secondly, learning is a “coming to know” the mind of the Creator, and this coming to know is a mind-to-mind meeting. In this way, learning is a communion with God. To unite these ideas within your work: If learning is a way to better know God, and all persons are created in God’s image–when we learn about people, when we relate to anyone, when we see all as image-bearers, we are given the opportunity to draw closer to the Lord.”
Honestly, I was intimidated when I read that. I’m not even sure I fully understand some of it. But as I thought about Jesus and his lessons to us, the parable of the Good Samaritan came to mind. So as I pray to you this morning, I would like for your to finalize my thoughts on how to present to these children. And I understand that this is one of 30+ chapel talks they will hear this year. And I understand that the odds are good that none of them will remember what I said by the end of the day. However, there might be a seed that finds some fertile soil in one heart in the room. Maybe more. And maybe that seed will grow into something beautiful. So I want to take this seriously, if not expecting something grandiose for them in their experience with me this morning.
I think I will start by simply reading the first part of the passage above. Up to where Jesus says, “Right!” and point out that this expert in the law is unique in that Jesus is impressed with how he sees his faith. Usually, Jesus is frustrated by people who consider themselves experts in the law, but he seems pleased with this one.
Those commands will answer a lot of other questions about what they should do in any given situation.
Why does God want us to love Him with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength.
Why does God want us to love others? To be curious and not judgmental?
I will let their parents, pastors, and teachers talk with them about what loving God with all their hearts looks like. The man in the story seemed to have that down. What he didn’t understand was how to follow the second commandment, so let’s see what Jesus said.
Then read the rest of the parable.
Here is an example of a woman who walked in the way of the Good Samaritan.
What kinds of people does God put in your path on a daily basis?
Parent
Sibling
Another student
A teammate on a team
Someone at church
When we find that person who annoys us, be curious, not judgmental. Sometimes, if something is making us annoyed or upset, it’s a sign that it is someone or something we need to pray for.
Father this feels a little disjointed right now. I’m not sure I will be able to hit every point. But I want these children to feel your love for them this morning. I want them to feel love for you and for everyone else, whether they consider them a friend, enemy, or are indifferent about them. I want the same thing for myself. I want to love you with all my soul, heart, mind, and strength. I want to love my neighbors generously. Help me to do that in your power and for your glory alone.
Emails to God 