Love One Another (Daily Devotional)

Shalom and thank you for joining us for a fresh new series of Living Supernaturally. This is a time where we look into God’s word, are encouraged by it and also learn from it. This week, we are going to be studying and learning about the ‘one another’ commands. This phrase ‘one another’ is derived from a Greek word ‘allelon’ which means each other, mutually, reciprocally and we will find a lot of references in the New Testament that bring about these specific commands and these ‘one another’ commands specifically look at how or how not to relate to one another. You and I were created to be in fellowship and to be in community, to be in relationships and that is something that we face on a day-to-day basis. By studying these two simple words, we can learn the requirements and the beauty of what scripture talks about- true Christian community. This phrase ‘one another’ it speaks to interpersonal relationships and how we are to be with one another. It is the desire for every one of us to be in healthy and good relationships. God created us with the intent of relating to us as well as we relating to others but because of sin, the relationship between us and God was marred but thanks be to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because of His sacrifice, He reconciled us back to God and Jesus gives us the power to restore our relationships with one another. So, today for the first ‘one another’ we are going to be looking at love one another. This is a very basic instruction for all of us who are Christian believers and scripture brings about the importance of this love. Let’s read from scripture, John chapter 13, verse 34, ‘so now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.’ More than anything else, solid relationships are characterized by love. In fact, it is one of the defining characteristics of a Christian believer. Christian love is not just a feeling, it is a sturdy kind of love that sticks through thick and thin. It is a sacrificial love, it is an unconditional love, it is a giving love and when our relationships are governed by this kind of a love, everything seems to be so much better, relationships thrive, people are happy. When we operate out of this love, we are able to work through our struggles and difficulties, we are able to extend mercy, we are able to extend forgiveness to one another. How are we able to love like this? Because we have experienced the love of God, the Father who sent His only Son, Jesus to die for our sins on our behalf so that we could spend an eternity with Him, we could spend a loving and an everlasting relationship with Him. As we talk about other ‘one another’ commands going forward, let’s remember that all of them flow from this one command- love one another. You can’t be patient, you can’t be accepting, you can’t be forgiving to another if you don’t first love them. If you want your relationships to be stronger, start to pray that you would be filled with this kind of a love. As you model this Christlike love, you will begin to see that your relationships with others begin to thrive and begin to grow strong. Let’s pray together, Heavenly Father, we thank you for the beauty of your word that teaches us how we can relate to one another. Lord, we pray that you will pour out your love into our hearts so that we can love one another with the same love that you poured out, that we would love one another like the Christ like love. We pray that our lives will be built on the love of Christ so that whatever we do and say with others is out of this sacrificial and unconditional love, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

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Daily devotions to strengthen your faith each day. Daily Devotional for Spirit filled living. Each daily devotion is about five minutes in duration. These daily devotionals are centered around a weekly theme. So there are seven daily devotions that focus on the theme and bring you insight, understanding and revelation from the Bible. Each week’s theme is listed as a series. So you can listen to the current week’s devotions or go to any previous theme/series that speaks to your present need (https://apcwo.org/resources/daily-devotions ). Also available free sermons (https://apcwo.org/sermons), and free Christian books (https://apcwo.org/books) to nourish and strengthen your faith.