NEW TESTAMENT READING PLAN: Philippians 1-2
SCRIPTURE READING
Proverbs 23:24-25 (NIV); The father of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise
son delights in him. May your father and mother be glad; may she who gave you birth
rejoice!
Even in His final hours, as He hung on the cross, Jesus’ thoughts went towards His mother.
He looked at her and said, “Woman, this is your son” and to His dear friend John He said,
“Here is your mother.” Even the Son of God held love and affection for those dearest to Him.
As the proverb says, we have the potential to bring great joy and gladness to our
families through the right choices that we make. God made us for community and loving
relationships. He created people to respond to each other with senses and likes and dislikes.
Love may be spoken through gentle touch, gifts and tokens of appreciation, thoughtful acts
of service, and words of affirmation and encouragement. Our close-knit friends and family
must be knitted together with love and kindness.
God enables us to love our enemies, so He can surely enable us to show love and
appreciation to our close friends and family! It is easy to overlook those closest to us. We
often assume that there is some unspoken understanding between us that we love each
other. But it is never a wise thing to go on assumptions! People actually need to HEAR
and EXPERIENCE our love! But God wants to give us strategy for this, too! He is a well of
creativity, and can pour that creativity out onto us.
PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Who are your closest friends? Ask the Lord to show you why He brought you together with
these people? What was the purpose, and what is the purpose of your friendship?
2. Ask God to give you the specific names of a few close friends who you need to show love
to this week. In prayer, consider how they best like to receive love, and ask God to give you
applicable ways to bless them.
3. How can you honour your family today? How can you bring joy to parents or grandparents,
spouses or children? Are there any relationships that need to be reconciled? Choose to do
that, and bless those people this week.
