Weekly challenge to focus on and practice LOVE 

Sunday- God’s Love for Us 

Romans 5:6-10  ⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.   ⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Challenge: God loves us when we are powerless, unlovable and His enemy.  How great it is that our God Loves us beyond measure.  How can you better appreciate the depth of God’s Love?  Focus on God’s Love for you.  Think about the song- How Deep the Father’s Love.  Write a note to God telling Him how much you appreciate His Love.   

Monday – Our Love for God 

John 14:23-24  ²³ Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. ²⁴ Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 

Challenge: It sounds simple but at times it is so difficult to practice.  If you Love Jesus you will obey his teaching.  Pause for a moment and think about how well you obey Jesus’ teaching.  Would your obedience be strong evidence of your love for Jesus and God?  What can you do to strengthen your love for Jesus? Write down one thing that you want to focus on to deepen your love for Jesus and God.  

Tuesday- Our Love for our Family  

1 John 3:11-15  ¹¹ For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. ¹² Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. ¹³ Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,^[a] if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

Challenge: We all experience times that are difficult to practice love toward family members.  This passage is telling in that our difficulty in practicing love has to do with dying to self.  Focus on a family member that you find it difficult to love.  Choose to serve them in love today.  Write down what you did and the results. 

Wednesday- Our Love for our Friends  

Proverbs 17:17  A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

Challenge: Isn’t it great to have a true friend!  A true friend will love you with your faults and will help you through any situation. Focus on a friend and show them love.  Write down what you did and the results.   Thank God for the friendships that you have. 

Thursday- Our Love for our Neighbor  

Romans 13:9-10  ⁹ The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Challenge: God commands us to love our neighbor as yourself and show them no harm.  Examine your life with regard to how you treat others.  Ask someone close to you to be honest and help you find areas that you could improve on how you treat others.  Write down who you want to treat better and what you are going to do.  Focus today on doing one thing to show them love.

Friday- Our Love for our Enemies  

Luke 6:27-36  ²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you. ³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Challenge: This is one of the most challenging of Jesus’ commands.  Love your enemy.  Who would you consider to be your enemy?  Who hates you or mistreats you?  List those that come to your mind.  Focus on ways that you can show them love.  Pray for them.  Choose one way to show them love and write it down.  Put it into practice today.  How was your experience? 

Saturday- Our Love for the Lost  

2 Corinthians 5:14-21  ¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sinfor us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Challenge: Like Paul are you compelled by Christ’s love to search for and love those that are lost?  Name some individuals you are around daily that you are trying to reach and share Christ’s love?  List ways you can show them love.  Pray that God will give you opportunities and courage to love them.  Write down your experience.