by Roy Almasy

Deacon Justin Schaeffer focused our devotional this Wednesday on our Love for Jesus.  The love of the Spirit of God is why we come together striving in prayer.  Peter wrote to the church, though they had not seen Jesus, they loved him. But do we love Jesus?  Why do we love Jesus?

Our Purpose (Romans 15:30 paraphrased): I urge you brothers, by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in prayer to God the Father for the glory of the name of Jesus

We strive together in prayer “by the love of the Spirit”…

1 Peter 1:8-9

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1John 4:10-21
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Do you love Jesus?  Why?  What is it about Him that prompts your love?

Do you believe in Jesus?  Why?  What do you believe about him?

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

PRAYER REQUESTS

1. Thank Jesus for the $500k lead gift toward a building for the Shoreline Campus! Pray now that Jesus will bring much glory to His name as we seek to raise matching funds to reach our goal of 1 million dollars.
2. Continue to pray for Jesus’ perfect timing in finding and securing the right permanent facility for Shoreline in the right location.
3. Pray that the our body would be filled with a faith that produces rejoicing in the face of grievous trials and that our body would be marked by love for and belief in Jesus and by inexpressible joy, full of glory.  Pray that many lives would be transformed by the grace of God through the Trial sermon series.  Pray that many people would meet Jesus AND live for him through the trials of this life.
4. Pray for the Redemption Groups, both the leaders and participants, that God’s grace in repentance and healing would be experienced in many lives and relationships.  Pray that the leaders would be sensitive to the leading and moving of the Holy Spirit in each meeting.  Pray also for the open Redemption night participants.
5. Pray for Pastor Kerry as he leads the Redemption Ministry doing both the open teaching and oversight of the closed groups.
6. Pray for the midweek class participants in community groups studying “Biblical Compassion.”  Pray that we will actively do community together in such a way that God’s compassion and mercy flows out of our hearts to meet needs in our surrounding neighborhoods. Pray for Pastor Tim Quiring (our Community Groups pastor) and all the community group leaders as well.
7. Pray for Steve, Justin, and Mark as we prepare and teach the Biblical Compassion class each week.
8. Pray for Reagan as he leads our youth and teens through a transition from large group youth ministry into active community groups on mission for Jesus.
9. Pray for Matt as he leads our children through age 11 every Wednesday evening (beginning this week) in Children’s Ministry and the “45″ group.
10. Pray for those in our campus and the surrounding area with financial needs, and that God would move us forward with the Grace given to us to respond with Generosity to those we can help.
11. Pray for those on our campus who are looking for jobs right now in a tough economy. There is great need here.
12. Campus:  Pray that volunteers would step forward and meet needs.
13. Pray for Justin – Winter administration, Amy due in 3 weeks with their 3^rd boy.
14. Pray for those in our campus with health needs: A woman with rheumatoid arthritis, a woman recovering from surgery, a woman with painful arthritis and insomnia, a man addicted to alcohol.