Week 3, Day 4
Read: Ephesians 2:19; Philippians 3:20; SOAP: Philippians 3:20
But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
Philippians 3:20 NLT
When we believe in Jesus as our Savior we are given new citizenship in heaven.
To understand what this means read today’s devotional
Reflection Questions: How does knowing your citizenship is in heaven give you peace today?
Week 3, Day 3
Read: Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 2:9; SOAP: 1 Peter 2:9
But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9 NLT
…Peter’s message was a reminder that all Christians, including Gentiles, were chosen by God.
Read the full devotional
Reflection Questions:
Your turn – What are your thoughts on today’s passage? Share your thoughts in the comment bar
Week 3, Day 1
Read: Ephesians 1:5-6; Colossians 1:12-13; SOAP: Ephesians 1:5
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
Ephesians 1:5 NLT
Reflection Questions:
In love and in accordance with God’s will, it was decided that we would be adopted into His family through Jesus Christ.
Read the full devotional
Ok, your turn – what are your thoughts on today’s passage? Share your comment below –
Week 2, Day 4
This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
1 John 4:10 NLT
Reflection Questions:
Love is simply and profoundly a gift from God –
You can read the full devotional
Your turn: What’s your take away from today’s reading?
Week 2, Day 2
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
Ephesians 2:4-5 NLT
Reflection Questions:
In Jesus we are saved, not only from the deserved punishment for our sins, but from our “before” identity …
Read the full devotional
Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.
The whole law can be summed up in a single commandment – want to understand how?
Read the LGG Devotional
Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
11 “No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
John 8:1-11 NLT
Jesus was a friend to people who hurt His reputation and did not deserve His friendship –
read the rest of today’s devotional
31 Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. 32 I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”
34 The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ 35 But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it.”
This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all.
1 Timothy 1:15, NLT
AND DON’T FORGET TODAY’S LGG BLOG HTTPS://LOVEGODGREATLY.COM/LGG-BLOG
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13 (NLT)
We all need to be reminded that if we truly love our friends – then we will treat them the way true love does.
Read the rest of today’s devotional
The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray. Proverbs 12:26 NLT
Personal Reflection Questions: What does it mean that love rejoices with the truth? How can you live this out in friendships?
An open rebuke
is better than hidden love!
6 Wounds from a sincere friend
are better than many kisses from an enemy.
In the end, people appreciate honest criticism
far more than flattery.
Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
What’s Your Take Away?
Feel free to share your thoughts in the reply box
In today’s reading, Paul encouraged the Ephesian Christians to practice truth in love – find out more from the LGG Devotional
https://lovegodgreatly.com/devotional-friendship-w3d2/
So far we have seen how God created us for relationships (wk.1) and we have learned the Biblicalness of Friendship (wk.2). This week we will see how our friendships can be a blessing and what the secret ingredient is.
Weekly Challenge: Make a commitment to be a completely trustworthy friend. Work intentionally to build habits that foster love and trust in friendship instead of dissension.
LGG Friendship Study Journal prompt
You can find week one and two under my previous blog post here at Mefromthensideout.com
Me From the Inside Out 