In this Valentine month of February, our Sunday services and our WEDNESDAY PRAYERS TOGETHER will be focusing on places where we can recognize love in action. When we see love in action, then we can know that God is at work. Scripture from 1 John 3:16,18 asserts, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. Dear friends, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” The reality of love is demonstrated when it is more than words. We can know that carefully spoken words do convey love and genuine care for another person. However, Jesus demonstrates that love is more than words. When we find ways to put love into action, then we are following the example of Jesus and becoming more like Him. Love in action leads people to wonder why we are acting in loving ways. The answer is that we have received love from God and want to express that same kind of love to others. Where are we seeing love and how can we pray that God will guide us to love with actions and in truth? I saw love in action demonstrated last week when I visited with a couple who have been married for over 60 years. She is now living with dementia and requires extra help and support. The love that this man continues to have for his wife is obvious. He is attentive to her and really makes an effort to understand what she is trying to say to him. The family has made changes in the set up of the home and are arranging for the two of them to remain in their own home for as long as possible. Sometimes this requires a family member staying overnight with them. In most cases, we do not have to think long to determine what are the loving things to do in various situations for the people around us. We can pray and ask God to show us how we can best convey love in action. Then we can trust Him to enable us to follow through with His abundant love. This is what we will be committing to prayer tomorrow February 1st at 1 pm when we participate in WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER.
Praying for all the ways that God will inspire us through prayer to put love into action, Pastor Lola
Our God Who loves us so completely, we thank You for our experience of being loved by You. We find in Your expressed love for us the possibility of believing that we too can live lives characterized by love in action. It is because of the way that Your Son Jesus gave Himself for us that we can know what is love. We wonder what it will mean for us to lay down our lives for those You have given us to love. We want to love without resentment. Only You can bring about this kind of love in us. In the times when we carry a heavy burden in providing love and care, we pray that we will persist with loving. In the times that our love is not acknowledged or appreciated, we pray that we will love anyway. When we wonder how to best express love for others, we trust You to show us. And God please keep us from getting so caught up in our own concerns that we make the excuse that we do not have the time or capacity to love with actions and in truth. Today, we do pray for all those living with dementia. We trust You that they are deeply loved by You. When confusion and fear unsettles them, we pray that love in action will reassure and support them. We pray for people in their lives who will find ways to reach them with love and compassion. Our prayers also extend to those who are family and friends to those living with dementia. When they feel separated from their loved ones by this condition, we pray that Your love will cause them to find ways to hold them close. As we remember people we have had in our lives who lived with dementia, we thank you for the journey shared. We are grateful that they are now safely with You and that all their cares are washed away forever. Thank You for our memories of them and lessons learned in loving them. We also pray for those who are just beginning to see signs that their loved ones are entering dementia and are uncertain about what the future will hold. God, we recognize that loving in every context requires courage. Please fill us with the courage needed to keep on loving. Guard against the feelings of discouragement that might cause us to give up when we wonder if our love is enough. We know that Your love God is always enough for us and for those we need to love. This powerful force of love is only possible because of You. We want to always remember this. We invite Your love to continue to transform us and to fortify us to be people who love with determination and who give others reason to believe in You and to trust Your everlasting love. In the Name of Jesus Who loves us and gave Himself for us. AMEN.