Day 18: SPUR ON ONE ANOTHER
Father in Heaven, Your Word tells us to “consider HOW we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25). In this current environment where we have been encouraged by outside forces to isolate, please help us to listen to and have the courage to follow our inside force (the Holy Spirit) in how we should spur one another on. Help us to not give up meeting together, but to utilize the resources that we are given to reach out and encourage all of the people you have placed in our lives. Please weave in our spirits Lord the love of your apostle Paul, who wrote some of his letters to churches from his isolation on house arrest. Help us to love our church body and community as Paul loved his, longing to see them so that we may impart some spiritual gift to make them strong – “that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith” (Romans 1:11-12).
Jesus our Savior, your Word tells us to “carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, we will fulfill” your law (Galatians 6:2). We ask Jesus that you open our eyes to see the burdens of the Body of Christ, as a whole, as well as for individuals within our church and community. We ask Jesus that you open our ears to hear your guidance in How to help them – be it carrying their burden, standing with them in their hour of need and in prayer, or encouraging them and exhorting them. We ask Jesus that you open our hearts to do whatever is asked of us in love, even if it requires physically holding their arms up. “When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up – one on one side, one on the other – so that his hands remained steady till sunset” (Exodus 17:12). Please help us Jesus, to stand with each other, to help each other remain steady, to be a triple braided chord with our brothers and sisters in Christ, with you always at the center.
Holy Spirit, please help us to walk in true, sacrificial love, willing to give up convenience, comfort, time, and our very lives in love for others. Your Word is full of direction in this area, “in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4). “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act” (Proverbs 3:27). “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves” (Romans 15:1). Holy Spirit, we know that we can be generous with all that we have because all that we have was first freely given to us. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:17). Thank you, Lord, for not only freely giving to us, but also for rewarding us for doing so, “God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them” (Hebrews 6:10). Please lead us and help us Holy Spirit, in the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
