“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”  John 13:35 (NLT)

CHALLENGE

Start each day with a prayer, asking God to open doors and show opportunities where we can let Christ’s love shine through us.

PREPARATION

  • Praise God for who He is
  • Confess your sinfulness and need for cleansing
  • Allow His Spirit to draw you near
  • Listen as He speaks to you

REQUESTS

  • Help us to live in unity with fellow believers so that “the world” senses His love in us.
  • Help us show unconditional love.
  • Help our thoughts, words and actions always be such that we are representing Christ in all we say and do.

THANKSGIVING

  • Thank God for hearing you.
  • Trust that God is at work to accomplish His will.

OPTIONAL READINGS

  • Ephesians 4:13

QUOTATION

“Some people come into our lives and quickly go.  Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same .” – Flavia Weedn

LIFE STORY

As I read today’s verse I was reminded of an experience our family shared.  We had an opportunity to visit with friends that we hadn’t seen in years.  In fact our kids had never even met them. We were in Fort Meyers, Florida having lunch in a  restaurant.  We were renewing our acquaintance, catching up on each others lives, sharing what God had been doing, laughing, talking and having a great time.

Midway through our lunch our waitress stopped at our table.  ” I don’t know what it is about this table” she said.  ” There is such a great feeling of love here.  I can sense something very unique and special in your relationship.”  She told us she had even mentioned it to the other waitresses.

“Wow” – what she sensed was the love we shared as fellow believers!  We were able to share with her that we were part of God’s family and even though we hadn’t seen each other for years we still shared a very strong bond that His love gave us.

This is an experience we had years ago that continues to have a strong impact on us. We still remember and talk about it often.  Our family remembers that “the world” is always watching and listening and we need to let our love for each other show.

Contributed by:  Karen Lavery