The Upper Room Daily Devotional from Nashville, Tennessee, United States "NURTURING" for Wednesday, 22 June 2016 with Scripture 1 John 4:7-12

The Upper Room Daily Devotional from Nashville, Tennessee, United States "NURTURING" for Wednesday, 22 June 2016 with Scripture 1 John 4:7 Beloved friends, let us love one another; because love is from God; and everyone who loves has God as his Father and knows God. 8 Those who do not love, do not know God; because God is love. 9 Here is how God showed his love among us: God sent his only Son into the world, so that through him we might have life. 10 Here is what love is: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the kapparah for our sins.

11 Beloved friends, if this is how God loved us, we likewise ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains united with us, and our love for him has been brought to its goal in us.

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Paul wrote, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”[1 Corinthians 13:1 (NIV)]
As I looked down with satisfaction at my newly planted seedlings, I thought about how new believers need to be nurtured in a way similar to these young plants. Other Christians can do this by accepting new believers where they are on their Christian journeys, encouraging them through Bible study, and supporting them with loving actions.
At the same time, it is important to remember that our Christian formation is a lifelong journey so that we do not become impatient with each other. Each person has his or her own lessons to learn. With God’s help, we can develop a strong and deep root system and sturdy stems and branches to support the good fruit of faith. As we become firmly grounded in God’s word, we gain a deeper knowledge and experience of God’s faithful love. We can trust God no matter the circumstances.
Just as I care for and nurture my plants, we can be sensitive to the faith journeys of others, providing encouragement and support. We can do this by being attentive to God, who helps us grow, and by always acting in love.
Read more from the author, here."More from Elaine Chipps"

What an exciting time it’s been since I wrote this meditation! At age 63 I was recently married after 18 years on my own and that after 20 years of my previous marriage. I was also recently retired which gave me more time for ministry. This is a new season and one that is proving God is never finished with teaching us or using us!
I got involved in a ministry of our church, Jubilee Community Church, called Sunshades, based on Isaiah 4:6: “It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.” We aim to provide a place of shelter and safety for the many destitute women living on the streets and from the women’s prison halfway house run by our church. We love and help them by teaching life skills, arts and crafts, singing, laughing and dance, sharing the gospel, praying, and sorting out problems. We hug them and help them to know they are valuable. Alongside this we run a recycling swap shop, enabling the women to earn, thus giving them dignity and a way to provide for their families. What an amazing group of ladies they are, and it is a joy to help them understand how beautiful they are and how much God loves them. It is extremely challenging at times but so worthwhile. In an amazing way God has taught me so much during this time.
My husband and I have also taken up a part-time volunteer position as Prayer Co-Coordinators for The Message Trust SA, affiliated to our church. They have four aspects: teams moving into and living in difficult areas, prison ministry, enterprise, and creative mission. The aim is to break the cycle of gangs, drugs, and prison and enable young people to become urban heroes instead.
What an amazing journey this has been! In a small way we try to help and support as well. We have been in prison with the prison team as they minister to and run entrepreneurship programs for the men. When released they are mentored and enter into Message Trust set up businesses. What transformation we see! What amazing young men we’ve met and made friends with! We see God performing miracles as men from enormously difficult backgrounds are restored through Jesus Christ and become the ones to make a difference to others.
Just last night a lovely young lady from my church told me that the young ladies want to form a platform whereby they can interact more with the older women and learn from us and our experiences and have us pray for them. Would I be interested? Oh yes I would!
Then there are our wonderful precious grandchildren to love, to be a positive influence for, to speak to, and to pray over. As Psalm 145:4 says, “One generation commends [God's] works to another; they tell of [God's] mighty acts.”

I have come to realize how blessed we are as we grow older. All our experiences, the hard lessons learned, are never wasted. We are never too old for God to use and never too old to learn! Thank you God for new seasons, new beginnings, and new lessons to learn![Elaine Chipps]

The Author: Elaine Chipps (Western Province, South Africa)
Thought for the Day: Whom can I encourage on the journey of faith today?
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for placing loving people in our lives to help us grow in faith. Amen.
Prayer focus: MY SPIRITUAL MENTORS

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The Upper Room Daily Devotional from Nashville, Tennessee, United States "" for Tuesday, 21 June 2016 with Scripture Matthew 22:34 but when the P’rushim learned that he had silenced the Tz’dukim, they got together, 35 and one of them who was a Torah expert asked a sh’eilah to trap him: 36 “Rabbi, which of the mitzvot in the Torah is the most important?” 37 He told him, “‘You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’[Matthew 22:37 Deuteronomy 6:5] 38 This is the greatest and most important mitzvah. 39 And a second is similar to it, ‘You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’[Matthew 22:39 Leviticus 19:18] 40 All of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot.”

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Jesus said to [the lawyer], “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”[Matthew 22:37 (NRSV)]
Several years ago at Christmastime, I went with my son and his family to see the “Festival of Lights,” a beautiful display of Christmas decorations and lights. As my grandchildren were taking in all the sights, my grandson, who was about six at the time, came up with a question: “I wonder what Jesus wants for a birthday present?”
His twin sister quickly responded, “Jack, Jesus doesn’t want a present. He wants our love.”
My jaw dropped in amazement at this statement. I thought of all the scholarly books of theology I had read; nothing came close to the profound insight of this child’s simple statement.
It’s important that as Christians we know the doctrines essential to the history of our faith and that we are able to answer those who question the reason for our beliefs. But when it comes to devotion to our Lord Jesus, my granddaughter was right. Jesus just wants our love.
The Author: Dewitt Watson (Ohio, USA)
Thought for the Day: Love is the greatest gift we can offer to Jesus — or to anyone.
Prayer: God of love, thank you for the gift of your son. Help us to show our love for you and for him in the way we live our lives today. Amen.
Prayer focus: CHILDREN LEARNING ABOUT FAITH

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