“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22.36-40 NIV 

Pray

“We love because he first loved us.”

1 John 4.19

It’s important to remember that we can’t follow any of the instructions in the Bible without God empowering us to do so. Our human nature won’t allow us to “love our neighbor as ourselves” without knowing deeply that God loves us. The best place to start is prayer. Talk to God about who you need to show love to. Ask Him to help you and to be secure in your relationship with Him. If you’re having trouble loving someone, talk to Him about it. There’s nothing you can say that will surprise or offend Him. He wants to help you and give you the ability to obey Him. 

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Study

Reading what the Bible has to say about people may help change your perspective. Especially if you realize those verses aren’t just talking about you, but also about the people that annoy you. 

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

Ephesians 2.10 NLT 

“Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.”

1 Peter 4.8 NLT

“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.”

Romans 12.9-17 NLT

Practice

The next time you’re confronted with a difficult person, stop and pray for help. Think about how that person was created in God’s image; how Jesus died for them; how they may be going through the hardest time in their life, or they may have been deeply affected by trauma earlier in their life. Practice showing grace and love even when it’s hard. God will be there to help you. 

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God bless you. Stay hopeful!

The post How Can We Love Our Neighbor As Ourselves? appeared first on Hope 100.7.

“I was just pondering something…you know, sometimes when we pray for something we get the answer quickly, but sometimes we have to wait and wait and wait. And I don’t know about you, but patience is not exactly my strong suit. It’s not a very pleasant thing to wait, is it? But you know what? That waiting is all part of God’s process. He’s working out that situation to perfection. So instead of asking, ‘why is this taking so long?’ Maybe our attitude should be ‘God, I thank you for working this out perfectly. And I thank you that what you promised is on the way.’” ~CJ McKay

Have you had the experience yet of having to wait on an answer to a prayer, and when you get that answer you see the reason it needed to take so long? If you haven’t, keep praying and trusting that God sees the whole picture and understands what is best for you. God is so faithful to show us how He works sometimes to build our faith and trust in Him. Today we’re going to talk about 2 different kinds of waiting on God. 

It All Starts with Prayer

The key to effective waiting is prayer. First, you need to hand over control of the situation, and then wait to hear what God’s perfect direction is. We need to be a people who stop and ask God’s will before we jump to try to solve our own problems. You might be thinking, that’s easier said than done! I agree. How many times have I come up against a problem and started panicking and scrambling for a solution before it occurs to me to pray? We must train ourselves to pray first, and then listen to God as He leads us. 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Proverbs 3.5-6 ESV

“But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”

Micah 7.7 ESV

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Wait and Be Still

When you ask the Lord for help or direction, there will be times you feel Him leading you to be still- to not do anything but watch Him work. (Or you might not be feeling Him saying anything.) To our American sensibilities, this might feel lazy or irresponsible, or even downright maddening when we think we’ve got a great plan all worked out, but it comes down to trust. Do we really trust that God knows best, or do we trust our own understanding above all else? 

I’m reminded of the story of Elijah in 1 Kings. He was obedient to what God told him to do and as a result he had to go into hiding. God could have provided Elijah with food and water in any number of ways, but He ordained for ravens to bring him food twice a day. 

“So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.”

1 Kings 17.5-6 NIV

Do Something and Wait

Then there will be times that God leads you to do something in response to your prayers. God works in such interesting ways and many times either the thing you feel led to do isn’t what you expected, or the outcome is not what you thought it would be. The situations we face in our everyday lives are rarely as simple and straightforward as we wish they would be, but we can rest assured that God has a plan and it’s for our good. 

In the book of Acts, God called Ananais to go to Saul, who was well known as a persecutor of Christians. God had a plan to redeem Saul that involved Ananais. Seeing God work through the stories of the Bible shows us we can’t just follow a pattern or do what someone else has done. We have to trust God and obey what He says, because we never know what He has planned.

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.”

Acts 9.10-15

If you’re in a season of waiting, I hope this blog has given you hope and comfort. Try to focus on what you’re learning in this season and knowing that God is working it all out according to His good plan for your future. 

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God bless you. Stay hopeful!

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