love

Encourager’s Devotional Series – February Wrap-up – Giving Your All to the God Who Gives His All to Love

/ Lisa Womble / Leave a comment
This is the beginning of the Shema, the Jewish confession of faith made up of Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 11:13–21 and Num 15:37–41.

This is the beginning of the Shema, the Jewish confession of faith made up of Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 11:13–21 and Num 15:37–41.

The Shema, named for the first word of the Hebrew text “hear” in Deuteronomy 6:4, is the most important of Jewish prayers and is to be repeated twice a day.

Phylacteries

Phylacteries (Image Source)

 

When the Scripture says to write God’s words on their hands and foreheads, they do – in the form of phylacteries. They also mount the words on their doorposts with mezuzahs.

Mezuzah

Mezuzah (Image Source)

 

 

 

When Jesus referred to this passage in Mark 12:29–31, He said loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength is the greatest commandment. He followed that with the second greatest commandment – to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said the entire law and all the words of the Old Testament prophets are summed up with these two mandates.

To illustrate the importance of the Shema to the Jewish faith, the following rituals are attached to the prayer:

  • When the Jewish people quote the passage, they often put their right hand in front of their eyes as a sign that they are removing all distractions and focusing on the words they are saying and on their faithful God and King.
  • At times, the last letter of the first and last words of the Shema verse are written in larger print. This is because these letters form the Hebrew word ed, which means witness. This serves to remind them of their duty to serve as witnesses to God’s sovereignty by leading exemplary lives.
  • Similarly, if reciting the Shema while standing, that position is used to remind one that they are testifying, or bearing witness to God.
  • Other times, sitting is the required posture for saying the Shema because sitting is the place of a student and implies a desire to study the Word.
  • When a person is praying alone, he begins the Shema with the Hebrew phrase for “God, Faithful King” to bring the number of words in the Shema up to 248, the number of parts in the human body. This indicates that the worshiper dedicates his or her whole body to serving God.

When God instructs us to love Him with the whole of our being, He is not requiring anything from us that He has not first modeled Himself. The Shema presents God as being “one.” That’s not a surprising description of God in the context of Deuteronomy where the point is being made that the Lord is their God and they are His people, and also that He’s the one true God. The word for “one” used in this passage is not the expected word for a simple numerical one. Instead, this word stresses a oneness that is a unity within diversity. Some might say it’s a foreshadowing of the concept of the Trinity that would be fleshed out more fully once Christ came.

All this got me to thinking of how true it is that God loves us and ministers to us with the fullness of His being.

  • He is a Father. He is a Saviour. He is a Friend.
  • He is a comforter, a teacher and a counselor.
  • He brings judgment when we need to see the devastation and ugliness of sin.
  • And He brings mercy because we can’t meet Him without it.
  • He rules in the heavens, but brings Himself to earth.
  • We are in His heart. We are on His mind. And his mighty arm is extended toward us.
  • The very essence of our being is wrapped up in His image –
  • in Him we live and move and have our being.
  • He knows us fully and intimately and that’s why He can minister to us in every way we need him to.
  • He left His throne in heaven and lived as a human in order to be a High Priest who knows what it is like to feel our pain, our temptation and our suffering. And He overcame all these things for us.
  • On the cross, He resisted temptation until His dying breath so that we might have life free from the power and consequences of sin.
  • He now offers to dwell with us continually through His Holy Spirit.

Talk about giving your all. Our God ministers to us from the fullness of His being. Does He not deserve for us to love Him with the whole of our being?

When God commands this level of devotion, He doesn’t just leave us to figure out how to accomplish that goal. Instead, He provides the means for it to happen. His word and the Holy Spirit are available to sanctify and renew our minds, to transform our hearts, and to give us strength for the tasks He calls us to do. The question we have to ask ourselves is whether we are fully surrendering to this process.

As we wrap up this month’s Encourager’s Devotional theme and press towards a more mature love walk with God and with others, let’s consider few additional questions:

  • What would my life look like if I was loving God with the whole of my being?
  • How would that love relationship with God overflow to others?
  • How would my life be a witness to the love of God for others?
  • How might my thinking be changed?
  • What issues would be burning in my heart?
  • What would it be like if the very depths of my soul and being were Christ-driven?
  • What Scriptures would I be meditating on … and living out?
  • What activities might I be applying my strength and energy to?
  • How can I give my all to the God who gives His all to me?

Encourager’s Devotional Series – February Bible Study Answer Guide

/ Lisa Womble / 1 Comment

A FEW PRELIMINARY NOTES FOR THIS MONTH’S STUDY:

  • This is the answer guide for February’s Encourager’s Devotional Bible Study.
  • Many of the questions allow for various, personal responses. For those, I’ll not list answers but feel free to leave your answers to any question in the comments section.
  • If you would like a leader’s guide to this study, email me (pullupachairwithlisa@gmail.com).
  • All prior posts for The Encourager’s Devotional Series can be accessed by clicking here.
  • There were two meditation sections in the study guide this month – one up front to prepare our hearts for the study, and the other in its usual place the study.

MEDITATION (1)

Choose a few of the following accounts from the Gospels to read (or any others that may be favorites of yours which demonstrate the love of God). Remember, these stories are found in the other Gospels too, so you might want to do some cross-referencing and read several accounts. When you are finished, take some time to meditate on the extent of God’s love and express your thankfulness to Him.

  • The prodigal son (Lk 15:11-32)
  • Thomas’ doubt (Jn 20:24-30)
  • The crucifixion (Jn 19)
  • The adulterous woman forgiven (Jn 8:3-11)
  • “Father forgive them” (Lk 23:33-34)
  • Peter’s denials and restoration (Lk 22:54-62; 24:34; Mk 16:6-7; 1 Cor 15:4-5)
  • Do you have another favorite passage which demonstrates the love of God? Feel free to share it in the comments.

For the following question, I do not request you list the answers in the comments (though you may). If, however, you are doing this study with a small group, you may want to discuss it. 

Can you identify with any of these sinners?

  • the rebellious/wasteful son
  • the doubter
  • the mockers and unbelievers,
  • the one afraid to speak for Christ
  • the one led to sin by fleshly desires

From Romans 5:8, answer the following questions:

How did God demonstrate His love for us? Christ died for us

When did God demonstrate His love for us? while we were still sinners

Read 1 John 1:9 and reflect on the extent of God’s mercy and love.

INFORMATION

What did Jesus say were the two greatest commandments? Mt 22:36-40

Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor as yourself.

List the five types of leaders Jesus gave as gifts to the church. (Eph 4:11)

apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers

What are these leaders supposed to do for the saints? (Eph 4:12)

to equip his people for works of service – That is, to empower the saints to DO ministry themselves. 

What is the purpose of our works of service to one another? (Eph 4:12) Continue reading →

Encourager’s Devotional Series – February Bible Study

/ Lisa Womble / 2 Comments

This Bible study correlates with February’s devotion for the Encourager’s Devotional Series.

Meditation

You will have two meditation sections in the study guide this month. I’m putting an extra one up front because I believe that before you can be truly loving to others you must “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Eph 3:18). Understanding how much He loves you, and how He demonstrates His love for you, should fill you with a sense of security, love and appreciation which will then just more naturally flow out to others. So, to help you think on the “length, width, height and depth” of His love …

Choose a few of the following accounts from the Gospels to read (or any others that may be favorites of yours which demonstrate the love of God). Remember, these stories are found in the other Gospels too, so you might want to do some cross-referencing and read several accounts. When you are finished, take some time to meditate on the extent of God’s love and express your thankfulness to Him.

Can you identify with any of these sinners?

  • the rebellious/wasteful son
  • the doubter
  • the mockers and unbelievers,
  • the one afraid to speak for Christ
  • the one led to sin by fleshly desires

From Romans 5:8, answer the following questions:

How did God demonstrate His love for us?

When did God demonstrate His love for us?

Read 1 John 1:9 and reflect on the extent of God’s mercy and love.

Information

What did Jesus say were the two greatest commandments? Mt 22:36-40

List the five types of leaders Jesus gave as gifts to the church. (Eph 4:11)

What are these leaders supposed to do for the saints? (Eph 4:12)

What is the purpose of our works of service to one another? (Eph 4:12) Continue reading →

Mature Love – February Encourager’s Devotion

/ Lisa Womble / 3 Comments

Encourager's Devotional Series - February

Just as love is the crux of the Gospel message, it is also the key to building a vital, effective, mature church body. Love is such a key factor that Matthew 22:36-40 says everything hangs on it. When I read that verse, I picture a door with two hinges. One hinge is our love for God and the other is our love for people. If either hinge is broken, the door simply does not work as it should. It may even become stuck and be totally inadequate at fulfilling its purpose.

God has designed us with purpose. We are called individually to serve God in different ways. And we are called as a body of believers to function in a certain way so as to complete the work that God, through Christ, began on this earth.

Ephesians has always been one of my favorite books of the Bible because in it I see how BIG God’s plan is for the church. It inspires me to see how a mature body of believers could really accomplish great things. If we are ever to fulfill that calling, we must get a grip on the love thing. We will never be the mature Christians we should be, or the effective church we could be, until love is firmly planted in our hearts. That’s why I’m so excited about The Encourager’s Devotional Series and the benefits of intentionally building an encouragement ministry. I think it’s the first, and perhaps biggest, step a congregation can take in becoming what God has planned.

You see, one of the biggest and most harmful myths that pervades the church is the idea that it is “THE” ministry’s job, or the job of a select few, to make everyone else become mature believers. But Ephesians 3:14-4:16 tells us differently. The ministry’s job is to prepare the saints to do ministry. The body is called to edify itself in love. We are all called to speak to each other in ways that promote maturity (4:15), to treat each other lovingly (4:2-3), and to do works of service together (4:12,16).

Like it or not, God has called us together to be a people – plural (Luke 1:17; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9-10). His plan is that we work in community (Eph 2:19-22). This community aspect of our faith is so important that unity was Jesus’ “last request” concerning His followers before His death (Jn 17:20-26). It is only when we work together with other believers in love that we are most effective as witnesses of God’s grace, power and love to the world (Phil 2:1-15).

When studying the life of Moses as he led God’s people, one thing is abundantly clear – God insisted that they stay together. They could not split up and say, “Ok, those with enough faith and maturity can go into the promised land now and the rest of you who aren’t quite ready yet must go wander in the wilderness.” No, they would either go in as a people or wander in the wilderness together as a people.

Studying Moses helps us answer the question of how you stick with a group of people when you see the promised land (in other words you see that things should be better than they are), but the people around you aren’t quite “there” yet. Continue reading →

Justice AND Mercy, Truth AND Love

/ Lisa Womble / Leave a comment

Justice AND Mercy, Truth AND Love

This video was a perfect backdrop to the prayer I shared earlier in regards to the issues we are facing here in North County, St. Louis in the aftermath of the death of Michael Brown. So often we want only one component of God’s plan. We separate out things that should go together – Justice AND Mercy, Truth AND Love. We also separate ourselves from others based on which end of the spectrum we want to align ourselves with, but the ultimate answer lies in alignment with the fullness of God’s commands. Micah 6:8 follows the instructions to “do justice and love mercy” with “walk humbly with your God.” It is difficult for us to find the balance between extremes. That is why we must humbly acknowledge that God’s ways are better than our ways and seek His guidance in these times. The two sides will only come together when both acknowledge the need for both justice and mercy, both truth and love.