20-20 Blog

Scripture Focus:

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 2:4–7 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.

Observation:

God has not given me a spirit of fear. Instead, he gives me a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. Armed with such a spirit from God himself, I can focus on the job God has given ME to do. As I focus, God will give me understanding in ALL things.

Application:

There isn’t room for worry or fear in my life today. Worry and fear are paralyzing. Power, love, and a sound mind are energizing. That’s what God gives to me as I start my day, but I must focus. God doesn’t promise an easy, self indulgent life. Just the opposite. But the rewards are great. “The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops.”

Prayer:

May I walk in the power and love of God today. I know I have a sound mind, for I have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), so God, please help me focus today on the things that matter.

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Scripture Focus:

I Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

Observation:

One can be a great speaker, or one can say all the right words—beautiful words, even—and lack love for the ones being spoken to. This kind of talk—talk without love—is as worthless or hollow as metal striking against metal.

Application:

It’s not so much what I say, but my motivation behind the words, that counts. People can feel the difference. When I talk to my family, or the Scrapper’s Guide team, or people in the church, or strangers, can they sense the love I have for them? If I don’t have love, can I ask God to channel his love through me so they see the love of God?

Prayer:

Father, God. You’ve said love trumps everything. It’s impossible to have that kind of love without you. May your love flow through my words today in such a way that the people I speak to feel loved.

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Scripture Focus:

2 John 1:5–6 Love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His commandments.

Observation:

Biblical love is not some sort of gushy feeling. It’s doing the right thing, the sacrificial thing, for our fellow Christians and for those who are enemies of Christ.

Application:

I’m essentially a selfish creature. It takes time and effort and giving up my own rights and comforts to love others with this kind of love. I can’t, however, wait around to feel like loving someone. I must do the loving thing for someone and be the extension of Jesus’ sacrificial love.

Prayer:

Father God, you know this doesn’t come easily or naturally to me. This kind of love can only come from you.

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Scripture Focus:

1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

Observation:

This is the classic way of saying, “Your actions speak so loud that I can’t hear what you’re saying.”

Application:

It’s a good pause to ask myself, “How will love the people I come into contact with today? That would be my family primarily today.

Prayer:

Father God, give me ideas for how I can best love my family today!

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Scripture Focus:

1 John 2:28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

Observation:

When Jesus returns the Bible says we will all give an account of our lives. John urges us to abide in Jesus now, so that when Jesus returns, we will stand before him confidently without shame for how we’ve lived our lives.

Application:

I have to admit I’ve mulled over this issue a bit lately. I’m not a spring chicken anymore. I see my parent’s generation declining rapidly and saying good-bye to this world. If God wills, I may have another 30 years of life left—but what is that? It will pass more quickly than my first 55 years have.

Soon I will stand before Him, and how will I feel? Will I feel confident, or ashamed?

John gives us a clue about what will matter on that day.
1 John 2:10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

So here’s the question: Did I love people or things? And how does my life show that I either love people or things?

Prayer:

Father God, thanks for this reminder again today about what matters to you. May I be one who always choose people over things!

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Scripture Focus:

John 15:12–13 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Observation:

This commandment is at once simple and hard. To love someone is the greatest act of self sacrifice, because you do what’s best for them. We don’t like to give up our rights, our comfort, to do something for someone, but that is the greatest test of our love.

Application:

I’m not very good at self sacrifice, I’m afraid, but I can start by asking God who I can show love to and how.

Prayer:

Father God, you have shown me unbridled love! Teach me how to love others as you have loved me.

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Philippians 1:9–11 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Observation:

Love is the major characteristic of a Christian. John 13:35 says, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Here Paul is praying that the Philippians’ love will abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment. I don’t usually put knowledge and discernment together with the concept of love, but here’s why Paul says it’s necessary:
It helps you approve the things that are excellent
It helps you be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ
It causes you to be filled with the fruits of righteousness
A love like this glorifies and praises God.

Application:

I don’t think I’ve even begun to plumb the depths of love. My love is often superficial. Paul is talking about a deep love that is well thought through and offered from a discerning heart. I would like the fruit of this kind of love. I would like to approve the things that are excellent. (Why waste time on anything less than the best?) I would like to be sincere and without offense. I would like to be filled with the fruits of righteousness. And I would like God to be glorified and praised because of my love.

Prayer:

Father God, only you can give me a heart that exudes this kind of love for others. I pray you’ll give me knowledge and discernment so I will have a love that truly honors you.

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Scripture Focus:

Song of Solomon 4:16 Awake, O north wind,
And come, O south!
Blow upon my garden,
That its spices may flow out.
Let my beloved come to his garden
And eat its pleasant fruits.

Observation:

It’s always so refreshing to read the Song of Solomon because the Beloved and the Shulamite model a rare kind of love—one where the words spoken to each other and to others about each other are uplifting and life-giving. So many times I hear words from married couples that tear each other down, and it is so rare (with the exception of my dear husband) to actually hear a married couple speak words of praise and adoration about each other.

In the verse I picked from today’s reading I loved the imagery of the Shulamite’s intimate life being a garden filled with precious spices and pleasant fruit. She refers to this garden as “my garden” and “his garden.” It is a part of her she shares with her beloved. The imagery suggests that she tends this garden to make sure it is filled with pleasant fruits.

Application:

I have a choice to tend my garden and fill it with pleasant fruit or to neglect it and have little to offer my beloved. My garden should be a place he longs to come, a place he finds pleasant and satisfying.

Two other thoughts: my intimate garden is only to be shared with my husband and no other, and I must make time to share this part of me with my husband. A garden is to be enjoyed and savored, not neglected.

Prayer:

Father God, I’ve been refreshed by your Word today and given a fresh vision of what it means to be in the covenant relationship called marriage. May my beloved delight in my garden—his garden—and find only pleasant fruit!

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Scripture Focus:

Matthew 22:35–40 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Observation:

The Bible is full of things we should do and things we should not do, but Jesus lets us know that if we exercise the right kind of love for God and for our neighbors, we will have fulfilled whatever the laws intend.

Application:

I find it very easy to love what I want to love—my family and friends, the activities I want to do, even the things I have or want—but it doesn’t come naturally to love God with all my heart, so that I care about him more than anything, nor does it come naturally to love my neighbor as myself.

So perhaps I should start out by desiring to love God and my neighbor in this way and asking God to help me grow in this area.

Prayer:

Abba Father, I want to love you with all my heart, soul, and mind today, and to also love my neighbor as myself. That’s a tall order. Only your Spirit can bring that about in me today.

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Scripture Focus:

Psalm 49: 16 –17 Do not be afraid when one becomes rich . . . for when he dies he shall carry nothing away.
1 Corinthians 16:14 Let all that you do be done with love.

Observation:

I’ve heard the saying all my life: “You can’t take it with you.” How true, yet more often than not we focus on accumulating stuff.

In contrast 1 Corinthians 16:14 says “Let all that you do be done with love.” Now there’s something that will last! When I do something with love it has a lasting effect in the lives of the people that are affected AND it is counted for eternity as something that will last. Talk about real riches!

Application:

Focus less on the “get ahead” strategy and look for ways to give away love, which has far greater rewards for myself and others in the long run.

Prayer:

Father God, you have said you will provide for my needs. I don’t have to worry and fret about stuff, so show me instead how I can spread your love today!

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