I was at church the other Sunday. Hungry. Thirsty. Dying for a little living water and bread of life, when the pastor did something life changing. He told us the people sitting next to us needed a little encouragement from the Word of God. Open your Bible, find a verse, and turn and share it with your neighbors. Can you believe it? The nerve of him. My pastor expected the church to turn and feed each other.

I loved it.

Scripture ringing off the walls, filling the church to the rafters as it filled the souls of the people. Word upon word, precept upon precept. Life changing words from one thirsty soul to another. People filled to full of the life-giving Word.

I talked about it for days.

I’m still talking about it to anyone who will listen. I was moved by this request from my pastor to share the Word of God. Instead of just consuming, we became active conduits of the Word. From one heart to another. Because of this experience something new is born:

Word to Go!

Jane and I are taking Only By Prayer “on the road” to Instagram (find us at @onlybyprayer). Inspired by my sharing experience at Harvest Bible Chapel, in Granger IN, Word to Go is a simple one week daily post based on a theme. Followers are invited to post a Bible verse based on our theme for the day.

Need more info?

Our Only By Prayer Instagram Feed

1. Go to your Instagram account (or create an Instagram account at Instagram.) See photo from our feed on the right.
2. Follow us @onlybyprayer.
3. Watch for the daily post styled after the meme connected with this post.
4. Add your Bible verse based on the theme of the day in the comment section.
5. Read and pray through verses posted by other people.
6. Feel free to add encouraging comments to others.
7. Repeat each day for one week!

Jane and I pray you will join us for Word to Go starting Monday, August 13 on Instagram!

Come and follow us as we follow God.

Questions or Comments? Please leave a message in the chat section below!

Day 2

Since we started our series with God’s Greatest Commandment: Love God, it is fitting that we move on to His second greatest commandment: to love others as we love ourselves. Ouch! That is a tall order. In my opinion, it is easier to love God than to love other people. Other people can be annoying. They can let us down. And quite often they don’t love us back. How can we love somebody who does not love us? How can we love others?

Fortunately, loving others is a choice we make, which does not depend on their attitude towards us.

Loving is a choice, not a feeling.

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Identifying others.

Today’s verse uses the word neighbors. Love my neighbors … I don’t even know some of my neighbors. In the Greek, others/neighbors transliterates as plesion, which means “neighbor, friend, any member of the Hebrew nation and commonwealth; according to Christ, any other man irrespective of nation or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet.” Did you notice the spatial/geographical progression of the definition? Neighbor … friends … Americans … any person in the world. So others refers to everybody in the whole world. Wow! While it is impossible for me to tangibly love everyone, I can love others whom I chance to meet.

Loving others as you love yourself.

How do I love me, let me count the ways. Start by thinking about how you treat yourself. You take the best piece of cake for yourself (the one with the frosting flower). You sit in the chair, which affords the best view of the TV screen. You order first (always) at Panera. You ride in the front seat of the car. When with your friends, everyone eats at your favorite restaurant and shops at your preferred stores. Loving others calls for a 180 attitude adjustment.

Do you want others to pray for you? Pray for them. Do you desire mercy? Show mercy. Do you like encouragement? Encourage others. Do you want others to love you? Love others.

Love others as you love yourself.

For Today:

Before you start your planning for today, take a moment to pray for God’s guidance and power as you seek to love others. Today, as situations arise which involve others, think of how you’d wish to be treated and treat them accordingly. Be especially aware of people who:

• cut you off in traffic (you and I have NEVER done this).
• are slow in the checkout lane.
• bring you food you did not order (or forgot to leave off the onions-again).
• are late for an appointment, meeting, or dinner.

Use the To-Doers List Study Guide or a journaling app to plan and journal your day.

• To Do-ers List Study Guide PDF The study guide is very essential to your learning!
  
• Days Lite: My Wonderful Life App free app from App Store.

For ideas on how to love others, please check the resources below.

• Love Like Jesus
• Love By Faith

Don’t forget to leave a comment in the comment section below. Have a blessed day. Remember to love others!

In case you missed day 1, click on the link below:

To Do-ers List, Day 1: Love God

By Mary Kane

all rights reserved.

copyright 2015

Welcome to our first podcast in the How To Pray series. Today we discuss the topic of how to go about praying God’s word. Jane VanOsdol and Mary Kane discuss several ideas that will help you to develop the powerful habit of incorporating God’s word into your daily prayers. Whether you’ve tried this before or you’re new to the idea, you’ll want to listen in for a few pointers on how to enrich your prayer life.

Thanks for joining us and please be sure to leave any ideas or suggestions you may have on praying God’s word in the comment section below.

Listen here for an older, mp3 version of Praying God’s Word:

Or watch the video below:

“Take two tablets and call me in the morning.” We’ve all heard that bit of wisdom from a doctor before. Medicine can heal the body, but will it heal our soul? To do the Bible study, Scripture Prescriptions: True Identity, please click on the link!

Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“Take two tablets and call me in the morning.” We’ve all heard that bit of wisdom from a doctor before. Medicine can heal the body, but will it heal our soul? To do the Bible study, Scripture Prescriptions, please click on the link!

Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net