LOVE gets highlighted at Christmas and this coming Sunday we will highlight LOVE when we light our 4th Advent Candle, the Candle of LOVE. Recently, I was gifted with a beautiful purple orchid. Those of you who have cared for orchids before, will know that it is recommended that they only receive a very small amount of water each week. It is an amount equivalent to about one ice cube. So each Sunday morning, I have been placing one small ice cube in the pot with this pretty purple plant. While an orchid can thrive with very little care, we as human beings are not like that. We need regular and constant assurance of LOVE. At Christmas, we celebrate the one time miraculous event of God entering our world and demonstrating His compelling LOVE by sending His Son Jesus. We read the affirmation of Scripture in I John 4:9, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. “ The truth of this event is meant to impact our lives every day. If we only give thought to God and His tremendous LOVE at Christmas time or even on a weekly basis, we are missing the daily demonstrations of God’s LOVE for us that He wants us to receive. We come to this Christmas ready to be reminded again that Jesus is the clear evidence for us that we are eternally LOVED by God. And as we are praying we can rekindle in our hearts that deep sense of God wanting to pour out His LOVE on each of us in ways that will cause us to grow deeper and stronger in our faith and in our awareness that we are LOVED and cherished by our God. We will come to our loving God in prayer tomorrow December 15th at 1 pm for our WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER. Please plan to join us.
Praying that we will receive a renewing of our assurance of God’s LOVE for us when we pray together, Pastor Lola
Thank You God that You never tire of telling us how much we are loved by You! We marvel at the intricacy of Your plan to enter our world in the wonder of a tiny baby who was Your one and only Son Jesus. Your careful and deliberate plan that would reveal Your love for us touches us deeply. We want to be taking time consistently to reflect on Your love for us. We never want to grow tired of hearing that we are loved by You. God You know how much we need the life transforming impact of Your love. We long to live through You and we trust You for Your promise that this is possible. Christmas is a time for us to consider all that is possible in us because of Jesus. We are no longer held by the power of sin because Your redeeming love has set us free. Our lives are not without meaning because Jesus Your Son has entered our world. You not only love us unconditionally our God, You call us to love each other. Forgive us we pray for getting caught up in the many aspects of our lives that cause us to overlook You. Forgive us for limiting our devotion to You and for disregarding the costly gift of Jesus Who did come into the world so that we might live through Him. We admit to You that sometimes Christmas becomes for us a sentimental time of memories that does not keep You at the centre of everything. God, we want to be held in Your love and care for us. We do not want to settle for less than the fullness of Who You are and what our lives can be when we welcome Your love to be poured out on us. We pray that You will guard us against Christmas being a selfish time of only considering ourselves and those closest to us. In being so loved by You, we want to show Your love to others. How can our lives make Your love real for someone we know? Please bring to each of our minds now someone for whom we can make Your love real. Show us how to take Your deliberate example of love in sending Jesus and to share that gift. We pray that our mistakes and regrets and falling short of Your example of love from our yesterdays will not keep us from stepping into the new days ahead of us ready to love as You love. All around us are people needing to believe that You love them and that assurance can only come through Jesus. We pray that the way we live our lives today and as we approach Christmas will confirm Your love for every person. We want much more than an occasional encounter with You Your love. We want to be much more than an occasional encounter with You and Your love for others. Please cause this to be so we pray as we listen for You to speak Your love to us and through us. In the name of Jesus our loving Lord and Saviour. AMEN.