Scripture: Matthew 22:37-40; John 15:5, Galatians 4:6
Focus: Prayer
Have you ever asked yourself, "what is the greatest thing that God asks us to do?" Or, "what is the greatest thing that I could do to please Him?" In a discussion with some of the religious leaders of His day, Jesus answers both questions with one response. He says in Matthew 22:37-40 that we are to love God with all that we are (heart, mind, soul) and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. According to Jesus, that is the greatest thing that God asks us to do, and to obey the Great Commandment is what will please Him the most.
Here is the deal, though. Have you ever asked the question, "Can I really do this?" My question to you is, what is the first step in seeking to love God and to love others the way that Jesus tells us to? In my experience, many of us seek to live out the commandment, but we don't take the first step. The problem is, though, that this first step is the most important step to take and if we miss it, we'll miss all the others to.
I am talking about prayer. Some of us have been trying to love God and to love others on our own. For some reason, we think that we can love without spending time in prayer. Let me, though, remind you of what Jesus said to His disciples in John 15:5:
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
a) Apart from Jesus we can do what? "NOTHING."
b) How can we live lives apart from Jesus? By not spending time in prayer.
c) What happens if we remain in Him (through prayer)? We will bear much fruit, which includes love.
What does this mean, then? It means that there is no way that we can truly love God if we are not spending time with Him in prayer. How can you love someone that you never talk or listen to? Galatians 4:6 tells us that God gives us His Spirit so that we can cry out "Abba." "Abba" is translated as "poppa" or "daddy." God gives us His Spirit so that we can cry out to Him in a personal way during our prayer time. God desires relationship with us and He has proven this by giving us His Spirit.
The plain truth is that we cannot in our own power love the way that we ought to, we need to spend time in the Lord's presence allowing Him to pour His love out into us. Without this prayer time in our lives, it will be impossible for us to love God and to love others. Again, apart from Jesus we can do nothing...no fruit and no love.
Whenever we make it a habit, though, to make time for prayer each day, we'll notice a change in ourselves...that is, if we are truly seeking God in those prayer times because God will change us. Remember that prayer is not about you changing yourself but about giving God the opportunity to change you. It's about allowing God's heart to rub off onto yours. It is about spending time with the One who is named "Love" by the apostle John and not just taking John's word for it. We understand that if God is Love, than all of our efforts to love outside of prayer will always fall short because we aren't seeking the source of love.
A lot of people think of prayer as another obligation or duty that we need to perform for God. Let me just say this, though. Why do you spend time with the people closest to you? Because you feel obligated or because you feel as though it is your duty? No! Of course not. You spend time with the people closest to you because you love them, right? Whenever we truly love someone, we want to spend time with them, don't we? The same is true of God...if we love Him, we'll want to spend time with Him in prayer and seek to love as He has loved us.
Do you feel like you love God as you should?
Do you think you love others as you should?
Do you ever pray for God's help in loving Him and loving others?
Whenever the reward for spending time in prayer is so great, why do we neglect it so much?
This is a video of Dr. Tony Campolo talking about prayer. Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_876273&v=udppFyvJD74&feature=iv
