DAILY STRENGTH DEVOTIONAL - 14 JUNE, 2016


BECAUSE HE LOVES ME
Scripture Reading: I Corinthians 13:4-8
The Scripture says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). This statement reveals the heart and purpose of God. First, God’s love is wide enough to embrace all persons (1 Tim. 2:4). God gave up His Son as an offering for sin on the Cross of Calvary. This atonement proceeds from the loving heart of God for He was not forced or caused to do it, but out of His loving disposition, for all that He created. (Romans. 8:32; 1 John 4:10). It is therefore almost impossible for man to fully comprehend the nature of God’s love for mankind. No wonder St. Augustine of Hippo says, “You (God) had pierced our hearts with the arrows of your love and our minds were pierced with the arrows of your words.” Based on this, St. Theresa of Avila then advised, “The act of our Maker ought always to be reverenced without examining for they can never be unjust.” Beloved, let us then consider today what God’s love does for us daily.
  • For the fact of His love for me, He is slow to lose patience with me.
  • For the fact of His love for me, He takes the circumstances of my life and uses them in a constructive way for my growth.
  • For the fact of His love for me, He does not treat me as an object to be possessed and manipulated.
  • For the fact of His love for me, He does not keep some of all my sins and beat me over the head with them whenever He gets the chance.
  • For the fact of His love for me, He keeps on walking patiently with me even when I feel like giving up and cannot see why He does not give up with me too.
  • For the fact of His love for me, He keeps on trusting me, when at times I don’t even trust myself.
  • For the fact of His love for me, He rejoices when I experience His power and strength and stand up under the pressure of life for His name’s sake.
  • For the fact of His love for me, He is deeply grieved when I do not walk in the way that pleases Him, because He sees this as  an evidence that I don’t love or trust Him as I should.
  • For the fact of His love for me, He has no need to impress me with how great or how powerful He is because He is God, nor does He belittle me as His child to show me how important He is.
  • For the fact of His love for me, He does not send down His wrath on every little mistake of which they are many.
  • For the fact of His love for me, He wants to see me mature and develop in His love
  • For the fact of His love for me, He never says there is no hope for me; rather He patiently works with me , loves me and discipline me in such a way that it is for me to understand the depth of His concern for me.
  • For the fact of His love for me, He never forsakes me, even though many of my friends will.
Beloved, consider these ways that God manifests His love for you and you would agree that you have a Father who is unimaginably compassionate and loving. He also expects you to apply same to your neigbours.
Prayer Points:
  1. Thank God for today’s reflection.
  2. Praise God for His love for you and members of your family.
  3. Ask the Lord to imbue you with love for your neighbour (take seriously)
  4. Reflect on all the areas and many times you failed to love your neighbour (repent of them)
  5. Pray for your Priests/Pastors that God imbues them with the grace to love their sheep and be prepared to lay their lives for them.
  6. Take the Prayer of Self Consecration to God in Section A.
  7. Pray for the Daily Strength National Prayer Network and the Daily Strength Charity Groups that God may use them to encourage love for one and another.
Exercise: Take some time today to be alone with the Lord, to appreciate Him. Just gaze at Him.
Memory Verse: 1 John 4:7

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