Pray for All People: Day 25

Lately, I’ve been pondering what it means to be a disciple. Jesus talked about discipleship a lot, making it clear to those who were following him what a life of a faith should look like. I’ve been examining my own heart and my own life and asking if I measure up against what Jesus said. Am I taking up my cross and following him daily? Am I bearing much fruit? And the question that I keep coming back to the most often is:

Am I loving people?

It’s that simple and that complex. I can’t tell you how many tweets and posts I have started to compose and then deleted because they weren’t loving. How many text messages I wanted to send or phone calls I wanted to place but didn’t because they weren’t motivated by love.

Life is hard. This year, in particular, is extremely hard. We’re all at different places in grieving and mourning. We’re all processing through this particular year very differently. But I think there’s one thing that I think we can all agree that we all need more of: love.

We all know what it’s like to feel unloved—the sting of rejection, the voice of shame, the despair of loneliness—and I hope that we all know what being loved feels like. It saddens me that there are many out there who haven’t experienced love throughout their lives.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12-13 (ESV)

Today I am praying for:

• Unloved people to feel loved
• God’s people to experience his overwhelming love and take it to others
• Love and hope to win in areas of despair and hopelessness

How have you experienced love in this season?

What is God saying to you?