Category Archives: John

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Love Is Patient

Patience Takes The Courage Not To Be Disappointed

SYNOPSIS: In a season filled with division, anger, loss, confusion, and sadness, take a moment to reflect on John 3:16. This single verse reveals the whole Bible; a simple reminder that God transforming love is available to you through Jesus Christ: “God so loved the world” — God so loves you! Today, let God’s love lift you out of your sadness, flood your soul with inexhaustible joy, and set you on a path to the most amazing experience of life possible, which is being an uninterrupted, inextinguishable conduit of God’s love through you to those around you.

Love is patient

Making Love Work // John 3:16-17

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave[a] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

Someone has rightly said that love is the most powerful force for good in the universe. Since that is the case, shouldn’t there be a lot more of it floating around these days? Sadly, that is not the case. Oh, there is evidence of love here and there, but much of the world is not saturated in it. And frankly, that can be quite discouraging.

For that reason, I would encourage you to take some time this week to reflect on the highest, most dynamic force of love in existence: God’s love. In this season filled with division, anger, loss, confusion, and sadness, take a moment to reflect on the greatest proclamation of God’s love ever made—John 3:16-17,

This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. (The Message)

This single verse reveals the whole Bible; a simple reminder that God transforming love is available to you through Jesus Christ: “God so loved the world” — God so loves you!

Today, let God’s love lift you out of your sadness, flood your soul with inexhaustible joy, and set you on a path to the most amazing experience of life possible, which is being an uninterrupted and inextinguishable conduit of God’s love through you to those around you.

But let’s take it a step further and describe what the Bible says God’s love flowing through you to others ought to look like. Nowhere is there a clearer, more compelling description of what God expects His love to look like as it is translated through your life than in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7,

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Once a week over the next several weeks, I want to break Paul’s description of love down word-by-word, beginning with this: Love is patience.

Have you lost patience with difficult people in your life lately? Are you fed up with what’s become of your church in these exhausting days of Covid-19 regulations? Are you discouraged by godless and incompetent leaders ruining your nation? If you are, then join the very large and growing company of the impatient.

But listen, God’s plans for the people in your life, His purposes for your church, and His timing for dealing with this evil world are in His control—not yours. If for no other reason, that’s why you need to practice patience. It’s really a matter of your trust and obedience to God. Paulo Coelho notes, “The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.” Yes indeed—trust and obedience is the secret sauce to gaining and maintaining patience. Said another way, Luc de Clapiers observes,

Patience is the art of hoping.

So put your hope in God (Psalm 42:5) by making the deliberate choice to be a continual conduit or His patient love.

That will not be an easy assignment, but the God of love is counting on you to be patient love’s exemplar.

Take A Moment: With whom has your love grown impatient? You can begin to reclaim patience in that relationship by praying for them more than you gripe about them, and by specifically lifting up offerings of gratitude for them.

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Made For Another World

"I Will Come Back For You!" ~Jesus

SYNOPSIS: Jesus’s revelation of his Second Coming and the planned retrieval of his followers to a newly constructed eternal dwelling in John 14:3 – “When everything is ready, then I will come and get you, so that you can always be with me” – is the most comforting and motivating promise that he ever made. Allow his promise to both soothe and strengthen you today because it is yet another reminder that you were “made for another world.” This world is not your home; a better one is coming – and soon! And until that great day comes, your longing for the next world is to energize you for tireless kingdom work in this present world.

Project 52—Memorize:
John 14:2-3

“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Jesus knew that what he was about to say would upset his disciples; perhaps even cause them to panic. They had left everything to follow him, and now that public opinion had turned against his messianic ministry, their very lives were in danger along with his. Yet this small band of men had still thrown in with Jesus. And now he was telling them that he was about to leave them for another world.

But Jesus made two incredible promises to his disciples in John 14 as he revealed his exit plan that would shore up their courage and give them the confidence to carry on with his plans to transform the world through their witness. First, he revealed that the Holy Spirit would take his place and come alongside them, and unlike him, actually take up residence within them. (John 14:16-17) It would be the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit who would comfort, guide, and empower the disciples to accomplish even greater results than Jesus himself had achieved.

The second promise was that just as surely as he was going away, and just as surely as he had come a first time, he would come back a second time and get them. The next time, he would not come to live with them, he would come to take them to a place that he was now leaving to prepare especially for them.  He would be constructing a new home in a new place in another world just for them—that was his promise. And he asked them, as tough as the news of his departure was on them, to trust him on this and to not be troubled by his absence. (John 14:1).

It was this revelation of his Second Coming and the planned retrieval of his followers to a newly constructed eternal dwelling that was and still is to be the most comforting and motivating promise that Jesus made. It is to comfort because, as C.S. Lewis said, it is a powerful and ongoing reminder that we “made for another world”. This world is not your home; a better one is coming!

But Jesus’ promise was more than just wishful hoping for an escape hatch from this world to the next, it was also to be a powerful motivator that much was needed to be done before his return. Just as he would be working on our new dwellings while he is away, we are to be working to spread his fame in this world before he returns. It was precisely our longing for the next world that is to energize us for tireless kingdom work in this present world.

Jesus’ promise to return and retrieve us is still in effect. Just as it was to comfort his disciples then, it is to comfort us today. Just as it was to energize them for kingdom work back then, the fact that he could return at any moment, perhaps even the next moment, is to motivate us to tirelessly represent his cause today.

If you belong to Christ, you were made for another world. Don’t ever forget that. It will keep your heart strong and your hands active—which is exactly how I want him to find me when he comes to get me.

“If we really believe that home is elsewhere and that this life is a ‘wandering to find home,’ why should we not look forward to the arrival?” ~C.S. Lewis

Reflect and Apply: Spend some time today thinking about your eternal home. That is not a waste of time, by the way, it is what you were meant to do. In history, “you will find out that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.” (C.S. Lewis)

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For God So Loved…You!

The Bible In One Verse

SYNOPSIS: John 3:16—it’s the whole Bible in just one verse. The verse is so simple that any child can memorize it, yet it is so infinitely profound and irresistibly powerful that it can totally, radically transform your life. That’s right, this verse is not just an amazing statement about God’s universal love for all mankind, it is about God’s personal love for you! God so loved the world, but he didn’t just look at it as one big mass of nameless faces. When he looked at the world and loved it, he was looking at you. Max Lucado put it like this, “If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning.” Yep—God has a crazy love for you!

Project 52—Memorize:
John 3:16

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16—it’s the whole Bible in just one verse. The verse is so simple that any child can memorize it, yet it is so infinitely profound and irresistibly powerful that it can totally, radically transform your life. That’s right, this verse is not just an amazing statement about God’s universal love for all mankind, it is about God’s personal love for you!

God so loved the world, but he didn’t just look at it as one big mass of nameless faces. When he looked at the world and loved it, he was looking at you. Max Lucado, who wrote an entire book just on John 3:16, said, “If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning.”

God has a crazy love for you! He really does. St. Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, one of the most influential figures in church history, said: “God loves each and every one of us as if there were only one of us.” Think about that: If you were the only person on this planet, God would have loved you so much that he still would have given Jesus to die for your sins. There would still be John 3:16 if you were the sole human ever created.

One of my favorite authors, Brennan Manning, told the story of an Irish priest on a walking tour of his rural parish, and he happened upon an old peasant man kneeling by the roadside, praying. The priest was impressed: “You must be very close to God.”

The peasant looked up from his prayers, thought for a moment, and smiled, “Yes, he’s very fond of me.” This simple man had a profound sense that he was loved by God, and that was all that mattered!  From that story, Manning developed a personal declaration: “I am the one Jesus loves.”

That is in no way arrogant; it is actually quite Biblical. The Apostle John identified himself throughout his Gospel as  “the one Jesus loved.”  That came to be John’s primary identity in life. If you were to ask John, “Tell me about yourself,” he wouldn’t have said, ‘Well, I’m a disciple, an apostle, and the author of this incredible Gospel.” Rather, John would have simply said, “I’m the one Jesus loves.”

Now if John could think of himself that way, so can you. John 3:6 gives you permission. So I hope you’ll practice remembering that today: “You are the one Jesus loves!”

“We have a share in the special love of Jesus. We see evidences of that love…in the precious blood that He so freely shed for us…Behold how He loves us!” ~Charles Spurgeon

Reflect and Apply: Do you ever wonder if God really does love you? I do. The cross is a continual reminder for you and me that when he stretched out his arms on that wooden crossbeam, it was as if he were saying, “I love you this much!” Then he bowed His head, and died. And there is nothing today that can separate you from that love. Let the power of God’s love absolutely, profoundly change your life today!

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Direct Access

New House Rules for Coming To God

SYNOPSIS: Jesus is our access card to the very throne room of the Father, where we can boldly and confidently use the authority of his name to let God know our needs. And when we ask in his name, Jesus promises both answers to our requests and a complete sense of satisfaction in gaining the Father’s provision (“and your joy will be complete”). But asking in his name implies two interconnected things: First, it implies that we are living under his authority. By that I mean we are giving his rule first place in our lives. Second, it implies we are asking in his authority. That is, we are under his rule, we are serving his cause, and we are acting as agents of his Kingdom interests. Asking in that sense is both the believer’s highest privilege and most powerful resource. With that in mind, let’s start asking!

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // John 16:24

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

What Jesus revealed to his disciples about prayer was a completely new thing in Israel. Under the old “house rules,” people had to go through a priest to contact the Almighty. They had to bring a sacrifice—depending on the need, there were a variety of sacrifices required—which had to be offered in a proscribed way. There was no direct contact between God and people.

But a new day had dawned, and by Jesus’ once-for-all sacrificial death on the cross, complete, free, unlimited, direct and easy access had been opened up between people and God.  The writer of Hebrews so beautifully described it this way:

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-22)

Jesus is our access card to the very throne room of the Father, where we can boldly and confidently use the authority of Jesus’ name to let God know our needs.  And when we ask in his name, Jesus promises both answers to our requests (“ask and you will receive”) and a complete sense of satisfaction in gaining the Father’s provision (“your joy will be complete”).

Now asking in his name implies two interconnected things.  First, it implies that we are living under his authority. By that I mean we are giving his rule first place in our lives, we are learning to look at things through his perspective and we are considering our needs and wants in the light of their relationship to the Kingdom life. Truly living under his authority is the best guard against the selfish asking some would take this verse to legitimize.

Second, it implies we are asking in his authority. That is, we are under his rule, we are serving his cause and we are acting as agents of his Kingdom’s interests. We know who we are and who he is, which leads to a bold and unabashed confidence in coming before the Father to request the release of Divine resources to fulfill the needs of his ever-expanding Kingdom.

No wonder Jesus assured us that this kind of praying works, for in essence, as C.S. Lewis so cleverly wrote,

“Our prayers are really His prayers;
He speaks to himself through us.”

Asking in that sense is both the believer’s highest privilege and most powerful resource.  With that in mind, let’s start asking!

Reflect & Apply:  If you are like me, understanding prayer this way calls me to evaluate my life to see if I am living under his authority—and all that implies, and asking in his authority—that is, acting as an agent of his Kingdom’s interests. And, if you are like me, there is usually some realigning needed to bring my life—my thoughts, attitudes and practices—back into Kingdom alignment.

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Soul Happiness

Jesus’ Path to the Blessed Life

If we are going to be the kind of Christ-followers that God can bless, our behavior will have to align with our beliefs. What we “know” must become what we “do.” Specifically, we will have to live like Jesus lived, which means serving like Jesus served. Jesus made that perfectly clear when he said, “Since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.” (John 13:13-15) That is Jesus’ path to the blessed life!

The Journey: John 13:17

Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

If we are going to be the kind of Christ-followers that God can bless, our behavior will have to align with our beliefs. What we “know” must become what we “do.” Specifically, we will have to live like Jesus lived, which means serving like Jesus served. Jesus made that perfectly clear when he said,

“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. (John 13:13-15, NLT)

So why is serving such a big deal?

First, quite simply, we are called to serve! Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-7, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God…took on the very nature of a servant.” In Galatians 5:13, Paul urged us to “serve one another in love.” When we are serving, we are fulfilling our basic Christian calling, and taking a huge step toward the blessed life Jesus promised.

Second, we were created to serve! Christians serve! Like a fish swims and a bird flies, Christians serve! Ephesians 2:10 reminds us “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Think about it: Before you were even conceived, God laid out specific plans just for you. You are not just an after-thought; you don’t just exist; you are on this earth not just to be a potted plant, you were born not just to consume, but to contribute. God shaped you to serve him. That places a big responsibility on your shoulders. Who you are is not just a product of random combination of your parent’s DNA. No—God was there at the moment you were conceived, even before, according to Ephesians 2:10, deliberately shaping you to serve his purposes through your life.

Third, service is what we contribute to the Body of Christ. God has a very specific purpose in mind for our call to serve: Not just going around helping people out randomly—although that is not a bad idea—but he specifically created us, converted us and called us to contribute to the life, health and mission of the local church.

I Peter 4:10 says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” How is God’s grace distributed? Not just in our private times with God…not just in corporate worship as we experience his marvelous presence, but as we serve one another. After salvation, serving is the primary means of God’s grace coming into our lives.

Fourth, service is what captures the world’s attention. Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, “Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:16, NLT) Here in John 13, Jesus said, “By this will all men know that you are my disciples: That you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

It’s by authentic servanthood that we become living proof of a loving God.

Roy Hattersley, a columnist for the U.K. Guardian and an outspoken atheist laments, “It ought to be possible to live a Christian life without being a Christian.” But after watching the Salvation Army lead several other faith-based organizations in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, wrote,

“Notable by their absence were teams from rationalist societies, free thinkers’ clubs, and atheists’ associations—the sort of people who scoff at religion’s intellectual absurdity… [Christians] are the people most likely to take the risks and make the sacrifices involved in helping others. Civilized people do not believe that drug addiction and male prostitution offend against divine ordinance. But those who do are the men and women most willing to change the fetid bandages, replace the sodden sleeping bags, and—probably most difficult of all—argue, without a trace of impatience, that the time has come for some serious medical treatment. The only possible conclusion is that faith comes with a packet of moral imperatives that, while they do not condition the attitude of all believers, influence enough of them to make [Christians] morally superior to atheists like me.”

The spotlight never shines more brightly on Jesus than when Christians serve. “By this, all will know that you are my disciples.”

Fifth, service causes happiness in your soul. There is something ennobling about serving others. Paul tells us in Acts 20:35, “Remember that our Lord Jesus said, ‘More blessings come from giving than from receiving.’”

Do you want to live an incredibly blessed life? Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, I want to obey you in all things. Help me. I want that to be the essential characteristic of my life.
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Very Spiritual Devils

No Devil Is So Dangerous As The Religious Devil

Chronic criticism betrays a deeper agenda and uglier issues of character in the critic’s life. Don’t get me wrong—constructive criticism is not a bad thing, if offered in the right spirit. It is chronic criticizers that I am talking about. In truth, they suffer from the Judas Syndrome: not betrayal, not thievery, but destructive criticism is their sin. So here’s the deal: If you have to be around someone who suffers this sort of Judas Syndrome, lovingly confront them, as Jesus did. If they don’t see their sin and change their ways, establish some boundaries with them. Don’t let them poison you and cripple your church. And most of all, don’t be one! Just remember, no one has ever built a statue to a betrayer, a thief, or a critic.

The Journey: John 12:8

You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.

To call someone a “Judas” is to label them a betrayer of the worst kind. It is an accusation that is reserved only for the worst kind of relational offense, since to call another by that name usually implies an irreparable breach in the relationship. After all, who wants to have anything to do with a backstabbing betrayer?

Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, to co-opt Franklin Roosevelt’s famous phrase, is an act that will “forever live in infamy.” But what Judas did to Jesus didn’t make him evil, it only revealed the evil that had, like cancer, been eating away at his character for some time. The fact is, in Jesus’ own words, “one of you [disciples] is a devil!” (John 6:70). That is, Judas was a devil of the worst kind: he was one of them; a church-going one. As Joseph Hall has said, “No devil is so dangerous as the religious devil.”

As you might imagine of someone who would betray the Lord, this notorious disciple exhibited some other character flaws that mostly go unnoticed in light of his more famous sin. In this account here in John 12, we are told that Judas protested Mary’s act of anointing Jesus with expensive perfume because it could have fetched a handsome price at the market, and money from the sale could have been used to help the poor. Of course, Judas had a hidden motive. Since he was treasurer for this small band of disciples, he apparently dipped his hand in the till from time to time to fund his own needs. Judas was not only a betrayer, but according to John he was also a thief. (John 12:6)

Yet as the Gospels are prone to do, there is another side to Judas that is uncomfortably close to so many people who sit beside you every Sunday in the pews of your church. They are the ones who, like clockwork, criticize everything from the room temperature to the sound level to the length and content of the sermon to the unfriendliness of the people to the call for financial commitment, ad nauseam. No matter what, they are never satisfied; there is always a better alternative—and although they are quick to protest, their solutions are never quite clear or doable. In truth, rather than wanting change, they simply want to gripe. They may smile and sing and put a coin or two in the offering plate, yet they are unwitting tools of Satan. The great Swiss theologian Karl Bath was speaking of them when he said, “The devil may also make use of morality.” They are very spiritual devils!

It wasn’t only Judas that Jesus had in mind when he uttered this gentle but pointed rebuke, “for the poor you have always”, he was speaking to the legion of church folk who believe their gift to the church is the ministry of criticism. In truth, their chronic criticism betrays a deeper agenda and uglier issues of character.

Don’t get me wrong—constructive criticism is not a bad thing, if offered in the right spirit, and conflict that is resolved Biblically in a Christ-like spirit can actually strengthen the church. It is chronic criticizers that I am talking about. In truth, they suffer from the Judas Syndrome: not betrayal, not thievery, but destructive criticism is their sin.

So here’s the deal: If you have to be around someone who suffers this sort of Judas Syndrome, lovingly confront them, as Jesus did. If they don’t see their sin and change their ways, establish some boundaries with them. Don’t let them poison you and cripple your church.

And most of all, don’t be one! Just remember, no one has ever built a statue to a betrayer, a thief, or a critic. C.S. Lewi said, “The devil loves ‘curing’ a small fault by giving you a great one.” Are you guilty of covering your own character flaws and deflecting Holy Spirit conviction meant for you with destructive criticism of others? If so, you may be guilty of the Judas Syndrome. Ask the Lord to show you where you need personal reformation. Then ask him to give you the courage to deal with issues that are keeping you from greater obedience and usefulness to him.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, show me how chronic criticism of others may be my way of deflecting conviction the Holy Spirit is bringing into my own life. And fill me with courage on this day to deal with the junk in my own life so I might be fully pleasing and blessable before you.
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Jettison Your Agenda

Never Elevate The Status Quo Over God's Plan

A love affair with your comfort zone is the greatest barrier to the risky adventure of radical faith to which God is calling you. You see, sticking with the status quo of what you prefer is an agenda that is different than what God has in mind. I would encourage you on this day to make a spiritual determination that no longer permits personal preference and creature comfort to determine your steps of faith. Jettison your agenda and you will be on the cusp of the adventure of your life!

The Journey: John 11:47-48

Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”

This chapter is amazing on a couple of levels. First of all, the raising of Lazarus from the dead has to be one of the most dramatic miracles in the entire Bible, outside of Christ’s own resurrection.

This is a perfect set up for the authentication of Jesus’ messianic ministry—and he knows it. He knows Lazarus’ sickness will lead to death, yet he waits until the man dies to come and pray for him. He knows that God the Father has given him authority and power over death, yet he prays anyway in front of the crowd that God will release resurrection power through him to bring forth this man from death. He knows that the Jews are criticizing his inability to prevent this death. In their minds, he is just another so-called messiah—all hat and no cattle. He knows that everyone in this scene is thinking that after four days in the tomb, death has done its nasty business on the body of Lazarus—as the King James says, “He stinketh!”—and it is well beyond resurrection.

This is the perfect set up for one of the outstanding acts of God ever. God seems to operate at his best in these situations. Yes, Jesus could have gone to Bethany much earlier and healed Lazarus before it got to this point, but that miracle would not have even come close to the glory this miracle would bring. God had an agenda—he always does: To glorify himself.

The Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus had an agenda too. They loved the status quo—their positions of power, the religious monopoly they held over the people, the spiritual racket that kept them in their places of wealth and honor. They had come to despise Jesus because he was threatening their way of life. His radical message and rising popularity were making their cozy way of life vulnerable to a Roman crackdown, and the potential loss of that prevented them from seeing and accepting even an outstanding act of God like Lazarus’ resurrection.

That is the second amazing thing about this story. It is almost as amazing as Lazarus’ resurrection. The Jews had witnessed this incredible, undeniable miracle with their own eyes, yet rejected it because, at least in their minds, it threatened their way of life.

That is the problem with personal agendas. They keep us from seeing how far superior God’s agenda is to our own. We do everything in our power to resist and avoid the short-term discomfort God may be allowing in our lives in order to preserve the comfort that we have come to prefer—even at the expense of a resurrection.

How do we do this? Just think about it—you will probably come up with plenty of examples. Have you ever stayed home from church because you had a headache? You didn’t feel well enough to go to the very place that prays for the sick to be healed. Have you withheld a financial gift from God because that money was dedicated to something you wanted to do? Have you ever sat in your pew when the pastor called people forward for prayer because you were uncomfortable and worried about what people might think? Have you ever held back on an adventure of faith because you felt unqualified and ill-equipped for the challenge?

It is most likely that you have an agenda that is different than God’s—perhaps more than a few. I know that I do.

What do you say we make a spiritual determination today that our agenda will no longer control our lives? If you will reject the status quo for the risky adventure of following God’s agenda, you will be on the cusp of the adventure of your life—maybe even a resurrection!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, show me where my love affair with the status quo is keeping me from a personal resurrection to radical faith. Help me to tap into the gift of courage you have given me to jettison my comfort zone for the risky adventure of faith.