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Devotions with Pastor Bob, Middlebury, VT (2026)

09/05/2026

DEVOTIONS WITH PASTOR BOB
BECAUSE HE LISTENS

Psalm 116:2 (NLT) says,
“Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!”

Psalm 66:19 (NLT) says,
“But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer.”

Psalm 18:6 says,
“But in my distress, I cried out to the LORD; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears.”

1 John 5:14 (NIV) says,
"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us."

I don’t know about you, but I have wondered at times if God hears my prayers.

- Sometimes I feel like I'm speaking to the air.
- Sometimes I forget His promises that He hears my prayers
- Sometimes my failures get in the way and keep me from prayer.
- Sometimes my motives are not right.

The truth is that God hears all our prayers, and he answers all our prayers

But we do not always receive what we ask for because God is not unwise in answering our prayers.

When we ask God for something, His response will be 'YES' or 'NO' or 'WAIT.'

Looking back, I am grateful God left some of my prayers unanswered.

1 Peter 3:12 says,
“The eyes of the LORD watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the LORD turns his face against those who do evil.”

1 John 5:15 says,
"And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for."

It is when we come to God in prayer, with confidence, because we are washed clean from our sin through faith in Jesus' finished work on the cross and know his will (which is his Word), that we will be amazed by how God hears and answers our prayers.

I was part of a mid-week prayer group for many years.

We decided to keep a list of prayer requests in a notebook to track how they were answered for a year.

After a year, we went through the journal and were amazed by how many of the prayers were answered.

As I said, God always answers our prayers; yes, no, or wait.

When we know that he hears our prayers, we will become more confident in our prayer life.

True confidence comes when our requests align with what pleases God and match His heart

1John 5:14
And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.

Praying with this mindset transforms prayer from a routine habit into an active, trusting conversation with a Creator who cares.

Maybe you have prayed for years and have not seen any signs of an answer. Take a new look at the prayer and see if God has answered: yes, no, or wait.

PRAYER
Dear Father, we come to you once again in prayer. We are told that because of Jesus we can come boldly to the throne of grace to find help in our time of need. We thank you for hearing our feeble prayers and answering them according to your will. Teach us to pray with confidence and assurance, in Jesus' name, amen.

09/04/2026

DEVOTIONS WITH PASTOR BOB
GOD WILL FINISH HIS GOOD WORK IN US

Philippians 1:3-6 (NIRV)
3 Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.
4-5 Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now.
6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.“

The Apostle Paul and Timothy who was Paul’s son in the faith wrote this letter to the Christians at Philippi (Philippians 1:2).

Paul says that every time he thought about them, that he gave thanks to God. I know some precious brothers and sisters in the faith that I can’t help but thank God for too.

Paul also says that his heart was full of joy when he prayed for them. He also expresses that his joy came from their partnership in spreading the Good News about Christ.

Paul then makes a wonderful statement that the God who had begun a good work in them would complete and finish that work when Christ Jesus returned.

As we look back over our spiritual walks, we all have satisfaction about some periods of our lives where we made spiritual advancements, and disappointments about other periods of our lives where we seemed to fall off the wagon.

The encouragement that Paul gives to the Philippian Christians (and us) is that even if our efforts seem like they have failed, that we should not trust in our own efforts, but in God, who alone can complete His work for us and in us that he started in the first place.

It is easy for us to think that it is all up to us, but we need to remember that it is God who is at work in us by the power of the Holy Spirit who is creating the Character qualities of Christ in our hearts and lives. This is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

Even when we may feel like we’re in a battle that we can’t win, we have assurance that God’s purposes will be accomplished in our lives no matter what.

Philippians 4:13 (NIRV)
"I can do all this by the power of Christ. He gives me strength."

Ephesians 3:16
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being."

PRAYER
Dear Father, thank you for always finishing what you start. Your work in us will be completed when Christ returns. We can be filled with joy because, no matter what is happening in our lives we are in your care, and you will cause all things to work together for the good, and we will discover we are becoming more and more like your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen.

09/03/2026

DEVOTIONS WITH PASTOR BOB
RELIGION VS. RELATIONSHIP

I have a friend who always talks about being religious vs having a relationship with God. He would tell you that he was a very religious person, but that he had no relationship with God.

You see, being religious is all about rule-keeping and believing that it is what God wants of you.

The Apostle Paul was a very religious man before he became a Christian.

He wrote in Philippians 3:5-6 (NLT),
“I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.”

You will notice that Paul’s religion was all about “I”. Religiosity is always about what “I” have accomplished.

Now listen to what Paul himself says about being religious once he had been born again.

Philippians 3:7-9 (NLT)
“I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of KNOWING Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.”

You will notice that Paul says that he values KNOWING Jesus Christ his Lord above everything else. This is a radical change for Paul whose religion was all about me, myself and I.

You can read all about how Paul’s transformation took place on the road to Damascus where he was knocked to the ground and came face to face with the resurrected Christ in Acts chapter nine.

Paul’s conversion from religiosity to relationship was radical.

He writes in Philippians 3:10-11 (NLT)
I want to KNOW Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

God is relational, and Jesus has made a way through the cross for all of us to have a relationship with God.

God welcomes us through Christ's work upon the cross.

Come just as you are and He will receive you as His own.

Through your relationship with Him you will know what true love is all about.

PRAYER
Dear God we are so glad that knowing you is not conditional to how religious or non-religious we are. We come in simple faith and enter into a relationship with you through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord, amen.

09/02/2026

DEVOTIONS WITH PASTOR BOB
“A Mature Believer in Christ” (Part #2)

In the second Part of Ephesians chapter 3:14-21, Paul prays for the Ephesian Christians.

In verses 14-15, Paul says,
“For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.”

Paul is saying that prayer is a family activity in Christ’s Church.

In this prayer, the Apostle Paul reveals some steps that will lead to spiritual maturity in the life of the Believers.

First, Paul says that he kneels in prayer before God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as he considers God’s eternal purpose that he just wrote about. His heart is humbled as he considers that he is a part of God’s glorious plans.

Throughout Scripture, there are many examples of God’s people kneeling in prayer as Paul does. (See King Solomon; 1 Kings 8:54; Daniel: Daniel 6:10; Jesus: Luke 22:4).

Kneeling is an act of worship, reverence, adoration and praise.

There are other postures of prayer also: standing (Mark 11:25), lying prostrate (2 Samuel 12:16), lifting of hands (1 Timothy 2:8).

Paul says that the family of God is not just here on the Earth, but is in Heaven also. God is the Heavenly Father of the whole family. God is the Father of all believers who have ever believed and trusted his promise, both past and present.

This includes all those who have gone on to Heaven and the believers living upon the earth when Paul wrote the book of Ephesians, and all of those who would come to know God in Christ in the future.

In verses 16-17, Paul begins to pray for the maturing of the Believers. He asks God to give them spiritual wisdom and insight so that they might not only grow in their knowledge of God, but that they would come to know Him more.

He prayed a very similar prayer in Colossians 1:9, where he asks God to “fill them with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”

It is God’s will and his desire that his children would grow up into spiritual maturity.

Hebrews 5:11-14 (NLT)
11-There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.
12-You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.
13-For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right.
14-Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT)
16 – All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
17 – God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

2 Peter 1:3-8 (NLT)
3 – By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
4 – And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
5-7 – In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
8 – The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We will continue with the second part of Paul’s prayer.

PRAYER
Dear Father, we all need to grow in Spiritual wisdom. We need to not only grow in knowledge, but in spiritual wisdom. Spiritual wisdom will come as we come to know you more. We rejoice in our glorious relationship with you, in Jesus' name. Amen.

09/01/2026

Devotions with pastor bob
“A Mature Believer in Christ”

In Ephesians chapter 3:14-21 (NLT)
14-15 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.
17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.
18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

Paul is saying that prayer is a family activity in Christ’s Church.

He details the pathway to spiritual maturity for believers.

First, Paul says that he kneels in prayer before God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as he considers God’s eternal purpose that he just wrote about in Ephesians.

His heart is humbled as he considers that he is a part of God’s glorious plans.

Throughout Scripture, there are many examples of God’s people kneeling in prayer as Paul does: King Solomon (1 Kings 8:54), Daniel (Daniel 6:10), and even Jesus (Luke 22:41). Kneeling is an act of worship, reverence, adoration, and praise.

There are other postures of prayer also: standing (Mark 11:25), lying prostrate (2 Samuel 12:16), lifting of hands (1 Timothy 2:8).

Paul says that the family of God is not just here on the Earth, but is in Heaven also. God is the Heavenly Father of the whole family. God is the Father of all believers who have ever believed and trusted his promise, both past and present.

This includes all those who have gone on to Heaven and the believers living upon the earth when Paul wrote the book of Ephesians, and all of those who would come to know God in Christ in the future.

GROWING IN SPIRITUAL WISDOM (EPHESIANS 3:16-19)

Paul begins to pray for the maturing of the Believers. He asks God to give them spiritual wisdom and insight so that they might not only grow in their knowledge of God, but that they would come to know Him more.

He prayed a very similar prayer in Colossians 1:9, where he asks God to “fill them with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”

It is God’s will and his desire that his children would grow up into spiritual maturity.

Hebrews 5:11-14 (NLT)
11-There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.
12-You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.
13-For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right.
14-Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT)
16 – All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
17 – God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

2 Peter 1:3-8 (NLT)
3 – By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
4 – And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
5-7 – In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
8 – The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We will continue with the second part of Paul’s prayer in our next lesson.

PRAYER
Dear Father, we all need to grow in Spiritual wisdom. We need to not only grow in knowledge, but in spiritual wisdom. Spiritual wisdom will come as we come to know you more. We rejoice in our glorious relationship with you, in Jesus' name. Amen

08/30/2026

Devotions With Pastor Bob
LOVING UNTIL IT HURTS

We need to remind ourselves that God’s love calls us to give until it hurts.

Jesus loved us until it hurt by giving up his life for us.

Love that gives until it hurts, leaves behind the fragile comfort of what we want for ourselves.

Redefining love as an act of absolute selflessness contrasts sharply with contemporary, self-gratifying interpretations of love.

Jesus showed us that he loved us and then stretched his arms out and died for us upon a cross.

God showed us how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Loving like God means that we love until it hurts.

Robertson McQuilkin, stepped down from the presidency of Columbia Bible College and Seminary (now Columbia International University) in 1990 to care full-time for his ailing wife, Muriel, with Alzheimer’s. Many thought his sacrifice was too much.

Mother Theresa said, “I have found the paradox that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”

I knew a lady who was in her 70's whose husband had a serious stroke, and the doctors told her to place her husband in a nursing home because he was not going to live for much longer. She told them no, and brought him home and cared for him like she was caring for Jesus himself. He lived for 12 more years.

This lady taught me a thing or two about what love and devotion are all about. Sometimes love is hard and requires sacrifice and devotion for the long haul.

What if God decided that enough was enough when they were whipping Jesus? What if he said that this hurts too much?

But God’s love always goes the distance. Jesus endured the cross, disregarding its shame because he knew the Joy that would come from his sacrifice (Hebrews 12:2).

I really believe that much of the turmoil in our world would stop if we loved as Jesus loved.

We are all in the same boat.

It is like God is screaming out to the world that we need to start loving one another and thinking about how we can be instruments of change.

The love I am talking about is poured out in the human heart by the Holy Spirit.

God has not only paid the full price of sin; he has made a way for us to be a partaker of his very nature, which is to love as he does.

2 Peter 1:3-4 (NLT)
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son, Jesus, to show us the depth of your great love. Thank you for the ultimate sacrifice on the cross, which offers us forgiveness and eternal life. Help us to remember this incredible gift every day. Fill our hearts with your love so we can share it with the people around us. Guide our steps and give us peace. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

08/29/2026

Devotions With Pastor Bob
BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND

In Romans 12:1-2, the Apostle Paul encourages the Roman Christians to do three things.

1 - First, offer (present, give) their bodies to God as living, holy, and acceptable sacrifices because of all that He has done for them.

2 - Second, not to conform, or copy the pattern of this world (age).

3 - But they were to let God transform them into new people by renewing the way they think.

The result of doing these 3 things would be that they would be able to test and approve what the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God is.

Human beings are plagued by stinking thinking, and that is why our thinking needs to be renewed.

God has a goal for us, which is expressed in the Scriptures; we need to root out stinking thinking from our lives.

Paul writes in Philippians 1:9-11 (NIRV),
9 I pray that your love will grow more and more. And let it be based on knowledge and understanding.
10 Then you will be able to know what is best. Then you will be pure and without blame for the day that Christ returns.
11 You will be filled with the fruit of right living produced by Jesus Christ. All these things bring glory and praise to God.

Sometimes, God’s purpose and His will for us seem to be like a big puzzle or a complex mystery.

If you’re like me, you want it to be a neat outline, a step-by-step process, but God leads us through a process with many detours, disappointments, and often he gives no explanations.

Our biggest hurdle to transformation is that our thinking needs to be changed.

Why is God so concerned about our thinking?

Because our thinking is what determines our attitudes and our behavior.

We are changed by letting God transform our thinking.

Transformed thinking - Transformed Behavior - Transformed Emotions and Attitudes.

Without this change, the equation reads:

My Feelings - Create Thinking - Which creates Negative Behaviors and Attitudes.

Paul lays it out for us in Romans 8:5-6 (NLT),
“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So, letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

The Holy Spirit is the transformer of our lives.
He is the power source that will help accomplish God’s plan of transformation in us.

Face it, we can’t change ourselves, so God puts Himself (HOLY SPIRIT) in us to bring about the change that is needed.

Everyone of us has a choice whether we will identify more with our old life (old nature) before Christ, or our new nature with Christ.

We get to choose which one controls our thinking.

If we allow our old nature to control our thinking, the result is death.

Now, this doesn’t mean that we physically die because we had wrong thoughts.

But wrong thinking takes and robs life from us. Wrong thinking steals the life that God wants to impart to us.

“But when we allow the Spirit of God to control our thinking, the result is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6).

What does it mean by life?

Don't we already have life (I am referring to the transformed life that God wants to impart to us)?

It is a life that cannot be experienced apart from Him and His work in our life. Jesus called it “life to the fullest”.

Sometimes we forget as believers that the Spirit who lives in us is the same Spirit that raised up Jesus Christ from the grave.

Luke wrote in Acts 1:8 (AMP),
“But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”

That power is the ability to change the way we think and act so we will become living witnesses for Christ on earth.

PRAYER
Dear Father, we need You to come and root out all stinking thinking from us because we desire to live lives that are pleasing to you. We thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives that enables us to be changed in the image of Jesus our Savior and Lord. Amen!

08/28/2026

Devotions with Pastor Bob
ARE YOU WASHED?

Jesus said in Matthew 26:28 (NIRV)
“This is my blood of the covenant. It is poured out to forgive the sins of many people.”

Hebrews 10:19-22 (NLT),
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts, fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”

1 John 1:7 (NLT),
“But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

1 Peter 1:18-19 (NLT)
For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

Blood is mentioned over 300 times in the Bible, and it is essential to the doctrine of Jesus’ blood as an atonement for our sin. The shed blood of the Son of God is the heart of the Gospel, for it is through that blood that we have hope today.

If we quit speaking about the blood; if we fail to talk about the blood; or if we take the blood of Jesus for granted, then we have lost the true purpose of the church, and we have become nothing more than sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.

Only Jesus and His blood, sacrificed on the cross, can redeem a soul from destruction.

It’s like the old hymn says, “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood; Lose all their guilty stains.”

The precious blood of Christ is a profound blessing, working in our lives in ways that completely surpass human understanding.

His blood allows us to enter into the very presence of God just as the High Priest was able to enter the Holy of Holies only by the blood of the sacrificial lamb.

It consecrates us, cleanses us, and makes us worthy to stand before God.

The blood of Jesus is our bridge to Heaven.

We are made close to God by the blood of God’s Son.

His blood bridged the gap, and now we can commune with God just as Adam & Eve did in the beginning.

Thankfully, that wall of sin that separated us from God is broken down, flattened by the power of the blood.

Ephesians 2:13-14 says,
"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us."

God’s holiness and glory require perfection, and nothing less than perfection can stand before him.

That perfect sacrifice could only be found in the shed blood of the perfect Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. His blood cleanses the heart and the soul so that we are made perfect in the sight of God.

Jesus paid our sin debt in full with His own blood.

We were bought with a price—the precious blood of Christ, given as a perfect sacrifice for our sin.

Only by that blood will we stand in Heaven one day. No good works of the flesh, no blood of sacrificial animals will get us there; only the blood of Jesus Christ.

In our times, the world doesn’t want to hear about the blood of Jesus. It’s not enough to see a suffering Jesus, a buried Jesus, or even a Resurrected Christ, if we cannot understand that it was all done for our sake.

"We need to make it personal."

The Holy Spirit helps us to understand that Jesus took our place so that we would not have to suffer pain and death forever.

Are you washed in the Blood of the Lamb?

To the world, the sight of the cross is a terrible thing, but to those of us who are washed in that blood, it is a wonder to behold. It has become a Statue of Liberty for us.

Washed - ELEVATION RHYTHM
https://youtu.be/TXG-5Do-hGg?si=lLNx6xH3As_oeo0K

Come to Jesus today, and let His sacrifice wash away all your sins.

PRAYER
Dear Father, thank you for all that you have done for us. We celebrate and remember the shed blood of Jesus, our Savior and Lord, who has liberated us. His shed blood has also brought to us forgiveness, redemption, and eternal life. We rejoice that we are welcomed into Your presence and that we can come boldly to the throne of grace to find help in our time of need. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

08/27/2026

DEVOTIONS WITH PASTOR BOB
“GOD’S LOVE IN ACTION”

John 3:16 (NLT)
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

If there is one certainty, it is that a God kind of love gives.

The Bible also tells us that we too have the capability to love because God loved us first (1 John 4:19).

Romans 5:5 (NLT)
And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

So, as we get to know who God is and align our lives with Him, his love should be expressed in and through our lives more and more as His presence takes up residence in our hearts,

In Romans 12:1-2, the Apostle Paul speaks of offering ourselves to God.
Part of offering ourselves to God means putting others before ourselves.
Paul gives the call for his readers to offer themselves entirely to God.
Then he points out the variety of gifts that God gives to his people to use.
Paul then takes the rest of Romans chapter twelve to give practical advice about what it looks like to love God and to love others.

He talks about real love. He calls it sincere love. If love is insincere, then it carries ulterior motives and is still all about me, myself, and I!

Insincere love or selfish love is all about what will benefit me or mine. Those with insincere love try to act graciously toward others, but in their heart, they are more concerned about themselves than anyone else. Paul says, “Keep it real! Don’t fake it!”

OUR LOVE MUST BE REAL: 1 Corinthians 13 is known as the love chapter in the Bible.
It describes what true love looks like when it is lived out in the life of a Believer;
Love is patient, love is kind, love is not rude
Love is not self-seeking or puffed up with pride
Love does not envy, is not easily angered
Love keeps no record of wrongs
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth
Love always protects, always trusts
Love always hopes, always perseveres
Love never fails.

Romans chapter 12 is another great love chapter, just like 1 Corinthians 13.
We are to love each other as brothers and sisters and honor others more than ourselves. Each of Paul’s exhortations here in this chapter is really ways of expressing love to God and to our fellow human beings.

1- WE LOVE GOD BY:
By staying excited about our faith as we serve the Lord.
By working for the Lord with hearts full of love for Him.
By working hard and not being lazy.
By serving the Lord with a heart full of devotion.
By letting our hope keep us joyful.
By being patient in our troubles and praying at all times.
By avoiding a lackluster Christian life, one that is lacking liveliness, vitality, or enthusiasm.

Our friendship with God and our commitment to following Jesus Christ should never be dull, boring, or halfhearted!

In Jeremiah 29:13, God says,
“You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart.”

We are to be passionate about our faith and about the one whom we serve!

Illustration
Have you ever been waited on by someone at a restaurant and it seemed like the last thing in the world they wanted to do was to wait on you? Maybe they were tired or having a bad day, but they were being completely disconnected from you and just wanted to be done with you. No passion for their job, no concern for their customer, no customer satisfaction.

God wants us to be passionate about our faith and our service of Him!

One reason that he wants us to be passionate is that His love is not a placid thing!
He is zealous for us; His love is active, devoted, and diligent toward us. And this kind of love calls for a like response!

What drives this zeal or spiritual fervor to serve is the joy of the Lord. Joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit, and it should be evident in every Christian’s life.

This kind of joy is more than just feeling good and being happy.
It is rooted in the hope that we have in Jesus Christ!

A well-known triad of Christian virtues consists of faith, hope, and love.
We have hope because we love and trust the God who loves us!

So how do we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength?

We love God by being passionate about loving and serving Jesus! This passion both feeds and is fed by being joyful in the hope we have through Jesus.

God’s promises are certain and trustworthy, which fuels our hope!
We can also express our love to God by being patient in hard times.

Whenever there is a lack of patience in our lives, it reveals a lack of trust.

This leads to murmuring and complaining during hard times. It can also lead us to try to take matters into our own hands and force a solution to our difficult situation.

It is hard to follow Christ if we are running out ahead of Him.
He may allow us to go through a time of affliction or trouble to accomplish something lasting in us or through us.

If we become impatient and resist Him, we may miss out on or delay what He is trying to accomplish in us.

So, we show God our love by patiently trusting in God when we face hard times. Don’t run away from Him! Run to Him! The best way to do this on a consistent basis is through prayer. Being faithful in prayer keeps us connected with God. As we communicate with Him and worship Him, our trust will grow.

God is looking for people who will love Him sincerely, worshiping Him in Spirit and in truth.

So far in this message, we have been talking primarily about the vertical relationship between God and us. But the Bible tells us that loving one another is one of the best ways we can love God.

2 - LOVE ONE ANOTHER
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good (Romans 12:9)

Let’s take a look at what sincere love looks like:
Sincere love hates that which destroys relationships. Being devoted to one another in Godly love means caring enough about the other person to step up beside them and walk with them, leading them toward what is good.
Honoring one another above ourselves means caring more for the spiritual well-being of others than our own emotional and physical comforts.

Sincere love is courageous and always does the right thing. Sincere love is devoted.

Paul said, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.”
This speaks of commitment; it is not about what we can get out of it, but it speaks about others and our commitment to love sincerely.

If I am devoted to my Church family, therefore, I will do everything I can to support, strengthen, encourage, and bless the members of my church family.

Sincere love is unselfish. We are not to seek honor for ourselves, but rather genuinely to rejoice when others receive honor, and we don’t.

We need to be clear that Paul is not saying that we should set aside our gifts or our knowledge and practice a kind of mock humility where we say, “I’m nothing! I'm nobody! Don’t regard what I say.”

That would contradict what Paul said: we are “to think with sound judgment as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

Sincere love is generous.
Love shares with God's people who are in need.

John Bunyan said,
“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”

Sincere love shows hospitality.
In the New Testament, the Greek word for hospitality is made up of the word philos, which means “loving”, and the word xenos, which means “a stranger or a guest”. So the biblical definition of hospitality is showing love to strangers and guests.

Biblical hospitality is concerned with more than a beautifully presented meal and engaging after-dinner entertainment. It is concerned with seeking to love others by serving them.

Hebrews 13:2,
Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!

Sincere love responds kindly to mistreatment.
Love blesses those who persecute them; love blesses and does not curse.
Love does not repay anyone evil for evil.
Love is careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.
Love does not take revenge on anyone.
Love leaves room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.

Love does just the opposite of what the world does.
If our enemy is hungry, we feed him; if they are thirsty, we give him something to drink. Love cannot be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

H-Sincere love shows empathy.
Love rejoices with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
Sincere love values peaceful relationships. Love lives in harmony with one another, and as much as is possible, as far as it depends on us, we live at peace with everyone no matter who they are.

Sincere love is humble.
Love is never proud or conceited, but is willing to associate with people no matter if they are upper, middle, or lower-class people. (No one is excluded)

Sincere love comes from the heart.
As believers, we are to love from the center of who we are in Christ.
The love of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Love does not let evil conquer it, but conquers evil by doing good.

Sincere love does the right thing for the right reason!
I follow three rules: Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care.

Sincere love will show the world that you are a follower of Jesus.
In John 13:35, Jesus said,
“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."

PRAYER,
Holy Spirit, will you pour out the love of God and fill our whole being today? We desire a God-kind of love to flow in and through our lives continually. May the love that proceeds from our lives be the same as described in your Word. Let the God who is love impart to everyone of us his love so we can be his people in this present world. Fill us with passion, and fill us with joy, so we can be your vessels to distribute your unfailing love to our world, in Jesus' name, amen.

Devotions with Pastor Bob

09/05/2026

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