More Love
Of all of the ideas presented, I leave you with the main one. The one that Jesus could not stop talking about. The one that is above all. The one that identifies us with a new way and a new life. The one that is a movement maker. The one that sets us apart from the rest of the world –
Love – Love – Love.
And since love is the core of Christianity, let me break it down a bit for you with a rather detailed Who-What-How-When and Where?
A Love Breakdown –
Category one: WHO ARE WE SUPPOSED TO LOVE?
People we know
Under this sub-category, there are four breakdowns: People we like, People we don’t like, People who don’t like you and People we hate.
A. People we like – these are people who we feel a natural connection to, either due to common interests, common missions and/or basic human attractions. This group of people might include friends, regular acquaintances, close family members, certain colleagues, etc. (They could really be anyone as long as we ‘like’ them.)
Who do we tend to like?
--People from the same or higher social class.
--People who share the same political stances, religious affiliations, ideological claims, educational levels, racial makeups, theological understandings, movie genres, sports teams, musical tastes, etc. (those who are similar to us – those who we can easily agree with)
--People who will at least function under the ‘tit for tat’ system, meaning that if you do for them, they will do back for you. You are not the only one doing favors. It is a back and forth relationship.
--People who like to do what we want. They want us to be happy and entertained. They do not drag us to do that which we do not enjoy and desire for us to be having a good time. In other words, we like those who feed our selfish wants without us having to be overtly manipulative to achieve those wants.
--People who listen to us. We love to talk about our lives and loves and pains and we like to have people around who at least feign some sort of interest in hearing us ramble on and on. We do not like to be around those who claim an unreasonable amount of talk time. We will listen, but we want to be listened to as well. It needs to be close to equal minutes or an inequality favoring us.
--People who think we are great. We like to surround ourselves with people who view us in a bright and shiny light. We like people who respect us, compliment us and basically see us as mini-heroes. We like people who place us on some sort of pedestal with their words and actions. They remember our birthdays and overall make us feel special. They make us feel good about ourselves.
--People who have moderate to excellent hygiene practices. We like people who smell reasonably good on most occasions. Those who use deodorants and colognes as well as tongue spoons and Scope rank fairly high. We like people who shower often and who will not make us hold our breath when in tight conversation.
--People who have enough money to pay their own way. We like people who are not always borrowing money or expecting us to pick up the tab. Friendship is based on the dutch system.
--People who are low maintenance. We like those who do not need very much from us or from the world around them. They do not complain when they do not have what they want. They just go with the flow.
--People with overall good emotional and physical attributes. We like people who are funny and handsome/pretty. Not like we need Jessica Simpson with a Whoopee cushion, but Reese Witherspoon with a well-timed knock-knock joke is nice to have around.
‘People we like’are easy to love. We want to love them. We want to bless those who we are close to and we typically do show them Christian love. But, they are not the only ones who we are to share our love with.
B. People we do not like– these are people who do not fit into enough of the requirements above. They are the disliked. They are the ones for whom the Caller ID was created. We see their names pop up on the first ring and conveniently miss their calls and accidentally erase their messages. A lot of Christians do not want to admit that these people exist for them, but they do exist. We all have many people in our lives that for one reason or another, we do not like.
Who do we tend to dislike?
--People who are the opposite of the people talked about above –
--The high-maintenance complainers who never have enough to be thankful.
--Those who constantly need a ride across town because they have no transportation.
--Those who need your help moving their furniture from one house to another for the fourth time this year.
--Those who borrow and never even attempt to pay back/give back even though they swear they will.
--Those who pick on the things you do.
--Those who avoid showers, bathtubs, soap and/or toothpaste and who don’t seem to be too worried about your senses.
--Those who not only see the glass as half empty but the glass as about to break and send tiny broken pieces of shrapnel onto the carpet for future victims to painfully experience – (the extremely negative).
--Those who expect all tit and give no tat.
--Those who have an offensive personality and/or disgusting humor.
--Those who do not understand the pleasantries of personal space/personal property.
--Those who regularly send back their food at restaurants.
--Those from a much lower or much higher social and educational class.
--Those who talk more than they listen.
--Those who think the world revolves around them.
--Those who always demand what they want.
--Those who do not appreciate your infinite value.
‘People who you do not like’are much harder to show love to because they drive you crazy. It is usually all you can do not to want to hurt them, much less desire to offer them love. But, they are included in the mix. They too must be loved.
C. People who do not like you– For some insane reason, there are people who just do not like you. It is true. Some people on this earth dislike you. They do not want you around. They avoid you. They screen your calls. They do not invite you to places. They do not include you in their plans. It may or may not be malicious. It might be just that there is a human disconnection between you and them – there is little in common. Or maybe they notice in you some of the things mentioned from Part B – you should do a little self-evaluation to find out if you are easily disliked.
Anyway, I think if you look hard enough, you will see that there are some people who do not appreciate your existence.
You will not want to love these people because it is not fun to offer oneself as a sacrificial servant to those who might reject you. But, you will have to overcome this chasm and love them as well.
D. People we hate –This category goes beyond dislike or disconnection. These are the people who you kind of wish did not exist on the same planet as you. If they died, you would not cry at their funeral. (In fact, you might lead a Macarena line dance over their freshly shoveled gravesite.)
These hated ones could range from a national enemy like Osama Bin Laden who has slaughtered your country people to a family member or ex-friend who has abused you in various ways over the years.
A hated one could basically be anyone who did you wrong. It might be a boss or an ex-lover or a minister or a politician. Maybe even a father or mother.
And they might have insulted you, betrayed you, stolen what is yours, abandoned you or sold you out. Hate arises from all sorts of circumstances and for all sorts of people. Whoever it is for you and whatever it was they did, it made your life so hard to deal with that you want to see that person punished.
They are your enemy.
‘Enemies’are really hard to love because hate is present. It is extremely difficult to display love when it is the opposite of how we feel. But still, regardless of the struggle involved in it, our enemies must as well be shown active and sincere love.
Category Two: WHOELSE ARE WE SUPPOSED TO LOVE?
2. People we don’t know
Under this sub-category, there are three breakdowns: Regular Machinery Strangers, Irregular Scenery Strangers and Unwanted Strangers.
A. The Regular Machinery Strangers –
Regular Machinery Strangers are those people who we see regularly but who we do not know that well. They are known as machinery because that is how we basically view them. They are the human automatons who sell us goods and provide us services on a daily basis. They include the following people for me:
--The grocery store sacker who double bags and presents me with the famous ‘paper or plastic’ conundrum.
--The Taco Bell Drive-Thru and McDonalds counter workers who make sure I get my daily dosages of Grade D meats and odd special sauces.
--The bank teller girl who patiently waits for me to rewrite the deposit slip that I butchered once again.
--The video store lady who always accurately tells me that I have a late fee for the last 8 movies I rented.
I could go on and on with the machinery strangers who exist in my regular world. There are so many of them who serve me or provide me with the things I need to live. But they remain strangers. Yes, I nod at them and maybe do a bit of a small talk thing about the weather or the Lakers, but I do not know their names or their stories.
I do not know them. And I definitely do not love them. But I and we will from now on, won’t we? They are included on our list for a good reason.
B. The Irregular Scenery Strangers –
Irregular Scenery Strangers are those people who we see once in a while as scenic human backdrops for our journeys through life. They are people like us. They are on their way somewhere to do something completely apart from us. They do not exist to complete machine services for us. They just happen to cross paths with us. They are the passersby who do not actually affect us, but who are nice little additions to our own moving picture and we are the same for them. We see them and they see us and we might both decide to exchange some kind of pleasantries if the sun is shining just right, but we do not know them and probably never will.
We might see these scenery strangers on an airplane, jogging down the sidewalk outside of our houses, eating at a nearby booth in a restaurant we frequent or really wherever life goes on.
We might see them, but we must also seek to love them too. I am not suggesting a bear hug here, but I will suggest some things you can try in a little bit to spread the love of Jesus with these irregulars.
C. The Unwanted Strangers –
Unwanted Strangers are those people who we do not know and who we do not want to know. We really would rather not even see the Unwanted Strangers because they like to invade our space without permission and without a warning. They seemingly approach us out of the blue to get something from us. We are their targets. They need us for something but we do not need them (no matter how much they insist that we do).
Unwanted Strangers make us feel awkward and bothered. Their ranks include the telemarketer, the door-to-door salesperson, various cult members (knocking Mormons, ringing Jehovah’s Witnesses and the airport Hare Krishnas) and cardboard box living beggars/homeless people who just want our change.
Most Christians do whatever they can to avoid the Unwanted Strangers. But if we avoid them, how can we love them? They are now included on the love list too and so get ready to love the unwanted as well.
So that is it for the WHO of the breakdown. Here is the summary:
As Christians we are to love those we like, those we dislike, those who dislike us, those we hate, machinery strangers, scenery strangers and unwanted strangers.
Got that?
Good – because you are going to have to put it into practice pretty soon. I will tell you more about that in a little while. But first, let’s move on to the next category –
Category Two: WHAT KIND OF LOVE ARE WE CALLED TO?
If you read the New Testament you see that we are called to make use of Jesus’ love.
What kind of love is Jesus’ love?
Jesus’ love is a love that is higher. It is self-sacrificing. It goes beyond the normal and onto the maximum. It meets felt needs. It lifts up and encourages. It makes peace. It brings life and forgiveness. It is undeserved and goes unrewarded. It accepts pain and misunderstanding. It does not wait but instead looks for opportunities to grab onto someone who is hurting or lonely.
That is some good general stuff there. But let’s not stop with general descriptions of Jesus’ love – Let’s apply them.
Category Three: HOW CAN WE PRACTICALLY APPLY THIS SORT OF LOVE?
Let me give you some ideas that you can try out in the real world.
Creative ways to show Jesus’ love to the world
Give it up–
Give up some thing or some event that you were going to purchase or participate in and take the money that you would have used and use it to bless someone. Here are a couple of examples: Say you have a hankering to go play golf, but then you remember that you as well want to show love as Jesus would. Well, then in the ‘Give it up’ scheme, you would give up the golf, add up the cost of green fees, cart and any other accessories that would have come into play for the day and set it aside as a gift for someone else in your life. Where I live, that means I would take about $40 bucks out of my checking account and instead of using it to buy the addictive torture of a 27 over par heat stroke, I would use the cash in some way that would benefit someone in need. You could apply this to almost anything from giving up a $5 Big Mac combo meal to sacrificing a day at the movies which would run you about $20 dollars after tickets, popcorn tub and overpriced cola. The point is to die to self in small ways so that someone else can be blessed. It is not the same as dying on a cross so that all people can be given eternal life, but it does say something about your willingness to snub personal desire for the sake of others’ joy.
Sell it off –
The valuable version- take some thing(s) that you own which has/have value, sell them and use the money to bless someone. That’s right. Look around your house and locate some things of relative value and figure out a way to sell them. Take your VCR and head to the pawnshop. Take your baseball card collection and go find a buyer. Put those comic books up for auction on EBAY. Sell the third car on Autobytel. It doesn’t matter really. Just find something valuable that you own and figure out a way to sell it. Then, like with the ‘Give it up’ idea, use the money to bless someone else. This is a good way to show your love for people by denying your love for possessions. This will help loosen the grip of materialism in your heart and help change someone’s life.
The worthless trinket version – Take the useless trinkets that you own – the broken etch-a-sketches, torn stuffed animals, old clothes, stinky shoes, Monopoly game sets with half of the money missing, etc. – and hold a big garage sale. There are plenty of people who will gladly come and spend their hard earned dimes and nickels on that which you should have trashed years ago. In a day, you will have earned some paper money and can then use what you have earned to bless someone else.
Hand it over –
If someone you are with shows genuine interest in something that you own, hand it over to them. Now I am not saying if a visitor to your house mentions to you that they like your residence, that you should hand over the keys to the front door and move out the next day. But, I am saying that if you are wearing a jacket that they admire, pull it off and hand it over to them. If they like your shoes, hand them over. If they love the way that your three wood strikes the ball, hand it over no matter how hard it is to say goodbye to that lovely 3 wood (yes, this one happened to me once -).
Go to the maximum –
For this one, I always like to refer back to the part of Jesus’ sermon where He says, ‘if someone wants to take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.’ Jesus is saying here that when asked for something, we should be looking to not only meet their demands with the minimum, but instead to go to the maximum in our giving. So, when attempting to love, we must attempt to love all the way to the maximum. If someone asks us to help them move for a couple of hours, give them your whole day. If someone asks if they can have $5 dollars, give them $10. Show them the kind of love that Jesus showed when he died for us. I did this one time and it taxed me to the limit. A beggar kept asking me favors upon favors. He wanted a coke. I gave him a six-pack. He asked me for a coffee cup, I gave him two and an extra gift. He asked for a ride to one place and I obliged without complaint. He asked for food and it was granted. He needed to go somewhere else across town and I took him. Then he asked for a hotel room and I helped to take care of that as well. Even as he was leaving, he asked me if he could have a one of a kind bag that I had been using for storage in the back of my Explorer and I gave it to him as well. By the end of the night, I was worn out and frustrated from this kind of maximum love. It was harder than I thought it would be. But maximum love was and is still required. So, ask God to bring someone to you who needs a favor and then do all that you can to meet their needs in the maximum way.
Celebrate the uncelebrated –
There are plenty of people who have not been celebrated in some time. Grab someone who you know to be lonely or cast aside and make them the focus of a nice dinner, a movie and a kind of mini-party which lets them know that they are special to more than themselves and God.
Tip the Machinery –
After a Machinery Stranger takes care of you, give them a 20% tip on top of what you paid and tell them that they deserve it. They will not expect to be blessed like this because it is not typical. It will make their day and show them that God notices their effort.
Write an encouragement letter or e-mail –
This is self-explanatory. Pray about someone who could use an emotional lift and then shoot them a letter letting them know just how great they are. Even if it is to someone who you do not particularly like, you can find something to say that is uplifting. This is a powerful way to offer love.
Send an anonymous gift –
Find out what it is that someone in your life really loves and send it to them as a God-gift from anonymous.
Complete a felt-needs task –
Think about the felt needs of the people around you and then go out and meet those needs. You might have an elderly neighbor down the block who has trouble keeping their grass looking nice – Take a mower down there and clean it up. Vacuum their house. Change their light bulbs. Wash their car. Whatever. There are a million ways to do this one. Just use your skills to bless others where they have need.
Make peace with someone –
Forgive an enemy or make an apology so that a relationship can restart.
Offer a compliment –
Look for something nice about someone in your vicinity and let them know that you noticed.
Pick up a tab –
When you are going through a line to pay for something, give an extra $10 to $20 dollars to the cashier and tell them to use it to cover part of the next customer’s bill. Or if you are at a restaurant, call the waiter from another section over and tell him/her to privately bring you the bill of someone he/she is waiting on. Then pay the bill anonymously, send a note over reading ‘God bless’ and watch the effect of Jesus’ version of love.
I could continue for pages with this HOW, but I would rather allow you to consider the possibilities for yourselves. There are many ways to apply Jesus’ version of love. Make sure you are open to God’s voice and then put this love into practice.
Category Four: WHEN AND WHERE SHOULD WE PUT THIS LOVE INTO PRACTICE?
Initially, I am asking you to be open to putting this love into practice at least once a day in one location for 7 days. But, I am hoping that as practical love becomes habitual you will attempt the following:
With every situation you enter into, ask God to show you who in the room you should actively love and how you should love them. Then just obey what you sense that God is saying to do.
What might this mean for you?
This might mean you loving different kinds of people in all kinds of different ways in all sorts of different settings on a daily basis. Your love would be a constant and consistent love applied at all times and in all places and with all people. That is how it should be.
Okay, that is the love breakdown.
But what are we going to do with it?
Well, I want you to try something for me.
Here is a final experiment I am calling on you to try out. One that will prepare you to receive love from God and then to turn it outward on a daily basis. It is an old experiment that I have remixed for today. It is called The Love Experiment. I am including it as Part 2 of this article and I hope that you will try it out.
What is it?
Basically, it is waking up thirty minutes earlier than usual, spending time in solitude and in the Word and then planning out one Act of Love that you are going to commit during your day. The prayer and Bible study time is set out for you pretty clearly. But here is how the Act of Love part will work:
--Choosing WHO you will love –
After you read, pray and receive love from God in the early morning, you will then move on to choosing WHO you are going to actively love for the day. As you probably noticed in the earlier breakdown, there are 7 different groups of WHO’s to choose from. So this makes it easy. On Mondays, you get to plan and complete an act of love for someone who fits into the ‘People I like’ category. On Tuesdays, you get to plan and complete an act of love for someone who fits into the ‘People I dislike’ category. On Wednesdays, you get to plan and complete an act of love for someone who fits into the ‘People who dislike me’ category. On Thursdays, you get to plan and complete an act of love for someone who fits into the ‘Enemy’ category. On Fridays, you get to plan and complete an act of love for someone who fits into the ‘Regular Machinery Stranger’ category. On Saturdays, you get to plan and complete an act of love for someone who fits into the ‘Irregular Scenery Stranger’ category. And on Sunday, you get to plan and complete an act of love for someone who fits into the ‘Unwanted Stranger’ category. (The Love Experiment is set up like this so that you will have to branch out in your love offerings. As Jesus points out, it is easy to love your friends, but not so easy to love beyond that comfortable sphere.) Now, if you are not able to think of anyone for a certain category (for example, if you do not have any enemies), then just do another act of love for any of the other categories other than ‘People I like’.
--Choosing HOW you will love –
Now that you have the schedule set for you as to WHO you will love, the question now arises as to HOW you will love them. I suggest that you look over the HOW suggestions I have listed above and try several of them out.
Here is a sample week
Monday: People I like – my mom – Send her a letter and some flowers telling her how much she means to me.
Tuesday: People I don’t like – unnamed person – Offer this person a ride home because I know how long it takes for the bus to arrive.
Wednesday: People who don’t like me – Matt – Sell my old Mad magazine collection and use the money to buy Matt a gift card to his favorite restaurant.
Thursday: An enemy – Osama Bin Laden – Send him one of his favorite romance novels and let him know that God can forgive even him.
Friday: A Regular Machinery Stranger – Girl at Denny’s – Tip her $10 dollars over 20% when she hands off my bill and tell her what a good job I think she is doing.
Saturday: An Irregular Scenery Stranger – Guy that does his laundry at my apartment complex – Hand him a roll of quarters and wish him, “Happy Washing.”
Sunday: An Unwanted Stranger – The homeless guy that digs through my trashcan for food and cans – Save up cans for him, give him my portable CD player so that he can have something to listen to and ask him if he wants to join me for lunch at a nearby restaurant.
Then on Monday, you will begin again.
It is a simple plan that will revolutionize your life and the lives of those you reach out to. Try it for 7 days.
With that, I leave you with my Last, Last thought:
Rise up Christians, Unite and Love. The world is waiting for our movement. Don’t make them wait any longer.
This Is The End -- And May The Reformation Begin…
The Love Experiment
(7 Days of Love)
Welcome to The Love Experiment!
I am glad that you have chosen to open yourself up to God and live out His Word in this radical way.
What do I have to do?
Wake-up
Each day for 7 days, you must awaken 30 minutes earlier than usual to make sure that you can complete the day’s necessary spiritual preparation (which lasts 30 minutes).
Follow the Format
--For the first ten minutes of the day, you will spend time connecting with God through a time of quiet solitude and silent meditation. This is a time (done outside of the bed sheets and in a place where you will not be tempted to sleep/pray) where you are to simply ‘be clay’ that can be molded by your heavenly Potter. You do not have to say anything during this time. Your job is just to put yourself in God’s presence and allow Him to search you and clean you out. Take some deep breaths and re-submit to God’s movement in your life.
--For the second ten minutes of the day, you will read some assigned Biblical passages and ask God to teach you. As you are searching the Word of God, allow them to search you. Ask God to apply these Scriptures to your life and to your current situations. Then use the space provided to journal any thoughts you might have.
--For the third ten minutes of the day, you will plan out your act of love. You will prayerfully choose a WHO that fits under the category assigned for that day and then write out HOW you plan to show them active love during the day. After you do this, you will ask God to pour out His love into you. You can simply pray: “God, love me” over and over again until the time ends.
This 30-minute process will connect you to God in solitude, in the Word and in intimacy and prepare you to carry out a surprising and not-so-random act of love for someone who needs it. It is a revolution within, which leads to a revolution without. It is suggested that at the end of each day you keep track of this ever-growing revolution with a journal entry. At the end of your 7 days, I am betting that your words will reflect a changed person who has helped to create a changed world. When it’s over, send me a copy.
So that’s it!
Now all you have to do is:
--Keep your hands off of the snooze button
--Open the booklet to Day 1
--Be of the Kingdom.
May your Love Experiment be blessed.
The C.M. Love Experiment – Day 1
Date: ________________
Connection: Sit quietly with God and allow Him to work within you, to quieten you and to overall prepare you for your day. During this time of meditation, you can prayerfully consider your life (where you are, where you are going, how you hope to develop) and then offer it all to God to transform. If you feel that God reveals anything to you that you want to remember, take a minute to jot it down below. (1st 10 minutes)
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Direction: Read the following verses and allow them to be your focus during a time of directional learning with God as He applies His Word to your life. In the space provided, make sure to take down any notes or insights you get from this Bible Study time. (2nd10 minutes)
Scripture: John 15:4-8
Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; itmust remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up; thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
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Revolution: Target a WHO and then prayerfully determine HOW you will ‘love’ them today with one completely unselfish and unexpected act of kindness. After you make your decision and write it down, spend the rest of your time simply asking God to love you. (3rd10 minutes)
WHO: Person I Like: _______________________________
HOW: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the evening, briefly journal about the person’s reaction to your ‘love’ and how this affected you.
Evening Journal:
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The C.M. Love Experiment – Day 2
Date: ________________
Connection: Sit quietly with God and allow Him to work within you, to quieten you and to overall prepare you for your day. During this time of meditation, you can prayerfully consider your life (where you are, where you are going, how you hope to develop) and then offer it all to God to transform. If you feel that God reveals anything to you that you want to remember, take a minute to jot it down below. (1st10 minutes)
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Direction: Read the following verses and allow them to be your focus during a time of directional learning with God as He applies His Word to your life. In the space provided, make sure to take down any notes or insights you get from this Bible Study time. (2nd10 minutes)
Scripture: Galatians 5:22-26
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.
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Revolution: Target a WHO and then prayerfully determine HOW you will ‘love’ them today with one completely unselfish and unexpected act of kindness. After you make your decision and write it down, spend the rest of your time simply asking God to love you. (3rd10 minutes)
WHO: Person I Dislike: _______________________________
HOW: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the evening, briefly journal about the person’s reaction to your ‘love’ and how this affected you.
Evening Journal:
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The C.M. Love Experiment – Day 3
Date: ________________
Connection: Sit quietly with God and allow Him to work within you, to quieten you and to overall prepare you for your day. During this time of meditation, you can prayerfully consider your life (where you are, where you are going, how you hope to develop) and then offer it all to God to transform. If you feel that God reveals anything to you that you want to remember, take a minute to jot it down below. (1st10 minutes)
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Direction: Read the following verses and allow them to be your focus during a time of directional learning with God as He applies His Word to your life. In the space provided, make sure to take down any notes or insights you get from this Bible Study time. (2nd10 minutes)
Scripture: Psalm 139 – Part I (selected verses)
O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
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Revolution: Target a WHO and then prayerfully determine HOW you will ‘love’ them today with one completely unselfish and unexpected act of kindness. After you make your decision and write it down, spend the rest of your time simply asking God to love you. (3rd10 minutes)
WHO: Person Who Dislikes Me: _________________________
HOW: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the evening, briefly journal about the person’s reaction to your ‘love’ and how this affected you.
Evening Journal:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The C.M. Love Experiment – Day 4
Date: ________________
Connection: Sit quietly with God and allow Him to work within you, to quieten you and to overall prepare you for your day. During this time of meditation, you can prayerfully consider your life (where you are, where you are going, how you hope to develop) and then offer it all to God to transform. If you feel that God reveals anything to you that you want to remember, take a minute to jot it down below. (1st10 minutes)
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Direction: Read the following verses and allow them to be your focus during a time of directional learning with God as He applies His Word to your life. In the space provided, make sure to take down any notes or insights you get from this Bible Study time. (2nd10 minutes)
Scripture: Psalm 139 – Part II (selected verses)
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
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Revolution: Target a WHO and then prayerfully determine HOW you will ‘love’ them today with one completely unselfish and unexpected act of kindness. After you make your decision and write it down, spend the rest of your time simply asking God to love you. (3rd10 minutes)
WHO: An Enemy: _______________________________
HOW: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the evening, briefly journal about the person’s reaction to your ‘love’ and how this affected you.
Evening Journal:
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The C.M. Love Experiment – Day 5
Date: ________________
Connection: Sit quietly with God and allow Him to work within you, to quieten you and to overall prepare you for your day. During this time of meditation, you can prayerfully consider your life (where you are, where you are going, how you hope to develop) and then offer it all to God to transform. If you feel that God reveals anything to you that you want to remember, take a minute to jot it down below. (1st10 minutes)
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Direction: Read the following verses and allow them to be your focus during a time of directional learning with God as He applies His Word to your life. In the space provided, make sure to take down any notes or insights you get from this Bible Study time. (2nd10 minutes)
Scripture: Psalm 139 – Part III (selected verses)
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well…Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
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Revolution: Target a WHO and then prayerfully determine HOW you will ‘love’ them today with one completely unselfish and unexpected act of kindness. After you make your decision and write it down, spend the rest of your time simply asking God to love you. (3rd10 minutes)
WHO: A Regular Machinery Stranger: ___________________
HOW: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the evening, briefly journal about the person’s reaction to your ‘love’ and how this affected you.
Evening Journal:
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The C.M. Love Experiment – Day 6
Date: ________________
Connection: Sit quietly with God and allow Him to work within you, to quieten you and to overall prepare you for your day. During this time of meditation, you can prayerfully consider your life (where you are, where you are going, how you hope to develop) and then offer it all to God to transform. If you feel that God reveals anything to you that you want to remember, take a minute to jot it down below. (1st10 minutes)
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Direction: Read the following verses and allow them to be your focus during a time of directional learning with God as He applies His Word to your life. In the space provided, make sure to take down any notes or insights you get from this Bible Study time. (2nd10 minutes)
Scripture: Proverbs 3:5-10
Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
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Revolution: Target a WHO and then prayerfully determine HOW you will ‘love’ them today with one completely unselfish and unexpected act of kindness. After you make your decision and write it down, spend the rest of your time simply asking God to love you. (3rd10 minutes)
WHO: An Irregular Scenery Stranger: ___________________
HOW: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the evening, briefly journal about the person’s reaction to your ‘love’ and how this affected you.
Evening Journal:
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The C.M. Love Experiment – Day 7
Date: ________________
Connection: Sit quietly with God and allow Him to work within you, to quieten you and
