Love God’s People

Posted on October 1, 2024 by Shirlee Abbott

Matthew 22:37-39 (NLT)
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

A religious leader tried to make trouble for Jesus with a gotcha question: which commandment is most important? Christ responded with a) Scripture the questioner knew well and b) the subtle implication that tricking others is not OK. Gotta love it.

 

Good morning, Lord. I think of times I’ve failed to love others: when I manipulated them to get my own way, or set them up for trouble, or secretly rejoiced when they tripped up. Forgive me. And the times I failed to love myself: when I mentally beat myself up over a mistake, when I hate the way I look, when I tell myself I’ll never get it right. Forgive me.

Teach me to grant others and myself mercy and grace. Teach me to love others and myself.

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Love God with Words

Posted on September 30, 2024 by Shirlee Abbott


Matthew 22:37 (NIV)
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. [also Deuteronomy 6:5]

 

For me (a talker and a writer): love the Lord my God with all my written words, all my spoken words, all my unvoiced words. 

 

Good morning, Lord. You are great, You are good. And I so often take You for granted. I assume the sun will rise on time. I don’t notice how well my body works — until it doesn’t. I take personal credit for the food I cook and the roof over my head. When I stop and think, I am in awe of Your goodness to me. Who am I that You should love me so much?

Thank You, Lord. I love You back.

 

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Pruning God’s Family Tree

Posted on September 27, 2024 by Shirlee Abbott


John 15:1-2 (NIV)
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener … every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

Sometimes my Master Gardener prunes fruitful branches to make room for more and better fruit. When God cuts back one of my fruitful branches, it feels like a mistake.

Some plants don’t bear fruit on first-year growth. When new fruit doesn’t grow right after pruning, it feels like a bigger mistake. 

God doesn’t make mistakes, and pruning is part of His master plan.

 


Good morning, Lord. Sometimes You want me to let go of what’s good and familiar to embrace something different and better. Grant me a heart willing to trust You and a mind able to give up control. Stop me when I start to complain. Fill my mouth with gracious and grateful words.

 

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Deadwood on God’s Family Tree

Posted on September 26, 2024 by Shirlee Abbott

 

John 15:1-2 (NIV)
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit …

 

I picture the heavenly Father, pruning saw in hand, cutting off the parts of me that don’t bear fruit. He cuts off my bad habits, worldly wisdom and old ideas that don’t match biblical values. It’s quite the brush pile, ready for a bonfire.

 

Good morning, Lord. I know there are values, habits and thoughts I need to let go. But when You come close with Your pruning saw, I plead, “Don’t do it!” Forgive me for hanging on to thoughts and habits that don’t honor You. Thank You for Your patience, grace and mercy — I deserve to be cut off all together.

I want to bear more good fruit, really I do. Teach me to accept Your pruning. Enable me to actually welcome it. 

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Fruit on God’s Family Tree

Posted on September 25, 2024 by Shirlee Abbott

 

We tend to think people are the fruit on God’s family tree. Not so. This is a spiritual tree with spiritual fruit.

 

Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

The good fruit on Christ’s family tree isn’t a person. It’s the person’s character.

 

 

Good morning, Lord. Let’s be honest. I can be hard-hearted, bitter, quick-tempered, judgmental, rude, sarcastic, forgetful, nasty and self-centered. I can put on a good face and still be rotten at the core. Forgive me.

I want to bear good fruit and honor You from the inside out. Holy Spirit, fill me with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

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The Family Tree of Christ

Posted on September 24, 2024 by Shirlee Abbott


No, I’m not talking about the lineage of Jesus as told in the books of Matthew and Luke.

This is all about the words of Jesus as recorded in the book of John.


John 15:5 (NLT)
Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches.

Yes, I’m a branch growing out of Jesus, the trunk or stem — that is, I’m a branch on the family tree of Christ. As are you, if you put your faith in Him.

 

 

Good morning, Lord. As the song says, “I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God,” joint heirs of Your glory (Romans 8:17). I’m a branch on Christ’s family tree — alongside all the other believers.


Sometimes I’m short-tempered with my brothers and sisters in Christ, forgive me. I can be quick to think the worst about them, grant me patience and discernment. I’m apt to look away when they’re in need, give me a heart to serve. Let me love them, Lord, like You do (John 13:34).

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A Branch on the Family Tree

Posted on September 23, 2024 by Shirlee Abbott


I learned last week that two of my ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War. That’s going back in time.

From God’s perspective, those folks and everyone after them leading up to me — all recent history.

My family tree goes back to Creation and Adam. 

Genesis 2:7 (NLT)
 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

I’m a branch from Adam’s tree.

 

Good morning, Lord. You’ve watched over every living person on earth, from Adam to today’s 8 million. Even so, You pay attention to my every movement, my every thought — how amazing!  I’m blessed by the ancestors who made it possible for me to exist. Make me a blessing to those who follow after me. May I leave a trail of steppingstones that guide them to You.

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My Time

Posted on September 20, 2024 by Shirlee Abbott

 

Psalm 31:14-15 (ESV)
But I trust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand.

 

Envision an old-timey pocket watch. The seconds, days and years of my life, ticking away … in God’s hands.

 


Good morning, Lord. I cannot hold on to a single second, I can’t add a single day to my life — and yet, You hold my entire lifetime in Your hands. Not a moment slips away without Your notice. You know every hour I waste, every hour I sleep, every hour I pray, every hour I work.

What do You want me to do with my time today? Teach me to use it wisely.  

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The End of Time

Posted on September 19, 2024 by Shirlee Abbott

Mark 13:26, 32 (ESV)
And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory … But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Jesus tells us how it will end, but not when. The Father knows, and He’s not telling. It could be at any moment, or not in my lifetime.

 


Good morning, Lord. You created me, and You know how I like to plan and be ready ahead of time. But every day is an unknown … it could be the end of my time on earth or the end of time as we all know it. We live with the knowledge that our next breath could be our last.

Teach me to obey and honor You with every breath, ready to meet You at any moment. 

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Right on Time

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Shirlee Abbott


Isaiah 49:8 (NLT)
This is what the Lord says: “At just the right time, I will respond to you. On the day of salvation I will help you.
[also 2 Corinthians 6:2]

Take God’s word for it … when the time is just right, big things will happen.

 

Good morning, Lord. I pray “Your kingdom come.” Mostly, I picture the day of Your coming in the far distant future, well beyond my time. And yet, I look at the world around me and think it can’t come soon enough. It will happen, I know, when the time is just right. In the meantime, I trust You to guide and help me, today and every day.

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