Loving Others When It's Hard - Your Nightly Prayer - March 14th

Carbonatix Pre-Player Loader

Audio By Carbonatix

Your Nightly Prayer

Loving Others When It’s Hard
Your Nightly Prayer
By Lynette Kittle

TONIGHT'S SCRIPTURE

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” -Ephesians 4:32

SOMETHING TO PONDER

For as long as we live on earth, God assures us that He will love and forgive us now and forevermore. It’s almost too much for us to comprehend that even the sins we haven’t committed yet are already forgiven, washed by the blood of the Lamb. As Christians, forgiveness of our sins through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross comes with no expiration date, meaning the sins we have committed in the past, present, and future are forgiven, even before we commit them.

Yet, in our relationships with people, most of us limit how much sin our love will forgive others for,  thinking and saying in our hearts and minds, if they do this or that, then our love stops for them, and it’s over, ending with no room for forgiveness and restoration of our relationship. Still, God extends immeasurable love and forgiveness to us, as 1 John 1:9 explains, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Although we often set rigid and unrealistic limitations on how much we’ll love and forgive others, God doesn’t limit His love and forgiveness for us, saying if you do this or that, it’s the end of our relationship, it’s over, and He won’t love us any longer or ever speak to us again.

Rather, God separates our sin from us because of His great love for us. As Psalm 103:11-12 describes, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

We receive His love and forgiveness without limits, as a standard for our own lives, believing He is willing to love and forgive us without limitations. As Isaiah 43:25 assures, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” Yet many of us face scenarios in life where we think God doesn’t call us to love and forgive others in the same way, creating our own double standard by receiving God’s love and forgiveness for ourselves while withholding it from others. As God loves us and forgives our sins for His own sake, He calls us to love and forgive for our own sakes, too. Jesus explains to us in John 20:23, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Remember, God calls us, even commands us, to extend the grace of His love and forgiveness to others, just like we receive it for ourselves. As Jesus said in John 13:34, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER

Dear Father,
My heart is deeply grateful to You for the grace You extend to me on a moment-by-moment, hour-by-hour, week-by-week, and year-by-year basis, never-endingly. Help me tonight and every night to extend this same grace you’ve given me to others by loving others when it’s hard and forgiving those who have hurt and wounded me, disappointed me, and sinned against me. Fill my heart with Your love and compassion, so that I might pray and forgive them for my own sake, as You do for me. Strengthen me to keep Your commandment to love them as You love me. In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON

1. Are there individuals you’re having difficulty loving and forgiving tonight? If so, ask God to lead you in knowing how to love and forgive them as He loves you.

2. In considering how you have dealt with other people in life, are there times when you have been hard to love and forgive because of your actions and attitudes? Were there people who loved and forgave you? If so, how did they reach out to you with love and forgiveness?

3. Why not ask God to help you this week, to extend His grace especially to those whom you find hard to love and forgive?


Reflect on tonight’s prayer and share how God met you there. Join the Your Nightly Prayer discussion on the Crosswalk Forum.

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/sam thomas

Lynette Kittle is married with four daughters. She enjoys writing about faith, marriage, parenting, relationships, and life. Her writing has been published by Focus on the Family, Decision, Today’s Christian Woman, kirkcameron.com, Ungrind.org, StartMarriageRight.com, and more. She has a M.A. in Communication from Regent University and serves as associate producer for Soul Check TV.


Now that you've prayed, are you in need of someone to pray for YOU? Click the button below!

prayer submit button

 

Salem News Channel Today

Sponsored Links


September 26 - Phoenix, AZ
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts


November 2 - Detroit, MI
Zion Christian Church in Troy


October 6 - Los Angeles, CA
Pasadena Convention Center


November 5 - San Antonio, TX
Norris Centers – The Grand Red Oak Ballroom


October 8 - Sacramento, CA
William Jessup University


November 7 - Tampa, FL
The Palladium at St. Pete College


October 22 - Minneapolis, MN
Crowne Plaza AiRE


November 15 - San Francisco, CA
Fremont Marriott Silicon Valley


October 23 - Philadelphia, PA
Green Valley Country Club


November 16 - Denver, CO
CU South Denver - Formerly Wildlife Experience


November 2 - Chicago, IL
Chicago Westin Northwest in Itasca


November 21 - Cleveland, OH
Holiday Inn Rockside in Independence



Salem Radio Network Speakers

Larry Elder is an American lawyer, writer, and radio and television personality who calls himself the "Sage of South Central" a district of Los Angeles, Larry says his philosophy is to entertain, inform, provoke and to hopefully uplift. His calling card is "we have a country to save" and to him this means returning to the bedrock Constitutional principles of limited government and maximum personal responsibility. Elder's iconoclastic wit and intellectual agility makes him a particularly attractive voice in a nation that seems weary of traditional racial dialogue.” – Los Angeles Times.

Mike Gallagher Mike Gallagher began his broadcasting career in 1978 in Dayton, Ohio. Today, he is one of the most listened-to talk radio show hosts in America, recently having been ranked in the Talkers Magazine “Heavy Hundred” list – the 100 most important talk radio hosts in America. Prior to being launched into national syndication in 1998, Mike hosted the morning show on WABC-AM in New York City. Today, Talkers Magazine reports that his show is heard by over 3.75 million weekly listeners. Besides his radio work, Mike is seen on Fox News Channel as an on-air contributor, frequently appearing on the cable news giant.

Hugh Hewitt is one of the nation’s leading bloggers and a genuine media revolutionary. He brings that expertise, his wit and what The New Yorker magazine calls his “amiable but relentless manner” to his nationally syndicated show each day.

When Dr. Sebastian Gorka was growing up, he listened to talk radio under his pillow with a transistor radio, dreaming that one day he would be behind the microphone. Beginning New Year’s Day 2019, he got his wish. Gorka now hosts America First every weekday afternoon 3 to 6pm ET. Gorka’s unique story works well on the radio. He is national security analyst for the Fox News Channel and author of two books: "Why We Fight" and "Defeating Jihad." His latest book releasing this fall is “War For America’s Soul.” He is uniquely qualified to fight the culture war and stand up for what is great about America, his adopted home country.

Broadcasting from his home station of KRLA in Los Angeles, the Dennis Prager Show is heard across the country. Everything in life – from politics to religion to relationships – is grist for Dennis’ mill. If it’s interesting, if it affects your life, then Dennis will be talking about it – with passion, humor, insight and wisdom.

Sean Hannity is a conservative radio and television host, and one of the original primetime hosts on the Fox News Channel, where he has appeared since 1996. Sean Hannity began his radio career at a college station in California, before moving on to markets in the Southeast and New York. Today, he’s one of the most listened to on-air voices. Hannity’s radio program went into national syndication on September 10, 2001, and airs on more than 500 stations. Talkers Magazine estimates Hannity’s weekly radio audience at 13.5 million. In 1996 he was hired as one of the original hosts on Fox News Channel. As host of several popular Fox programs, Hannity has become the highest-paid news anchor on television.

Michelle Malkin is a mother, wife, blogger, conservative syndicated columnist, longtime cable TV news commentator, and best-selling author of six books. She started her newspaper journalism career at the Los Angeles Daily News in 1992, moved to the Seattle Times in 1995, and has been penning nationally syndicated newspaper columns for Creators Syndicate since 1999. She is founder of conservative Internet start-ups Hot Air and Twitchy.com. Malkin has received numerous awards for her investigative journalism, including the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL) national award for outstanding service for the cause of governmental ethics and leadership (1998), the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award for Investigative Journalism (2006), the Heritage Foundation and Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity's Breitbart Award for Excellence in Journalism (2013), the Center for Immigration Studies' Eugene Katz Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Immigration Award (2016), and the Manhattan Film Festival's Film Heals Award (2018). Married for 26 years and the mother of two teenage children, she lives with her family in Colorado. Follow her at michellemalkin.com. (Photo reprinted with kind permission from Peter Duke Photography.)

Sponsored by:

Loving Others When It's Hard - Your Nightly Prayer - March 14th

Carbonatix Pre-Player Loader

Audio By Carbonatix

Your Nightly Prayer

Loving Others When It’s Hard
Your Nightly Prayer
By Lynette Kittle

TONIGHT'S SCRIPTURE

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” -Ephesians 4:32

SOMETHING TO PONDER

For as long as we live on earth, God assures us that He will love and forgive us now and forevermore. It’s almost too much for us to comprehend that even the sins we haven’t committed yet are already forgiven, washed by the blood of the Lamb. As Christians, forgiveness of our sins through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross comes with no expiration date, meaning the sins we have committed in the past, present, and future are forgiven, even before we commit them.

Yet, in our relationships with people, most of us limit how much sin our love will forgive others for,  thinking and saying in our hearts and minds, if they do this or that, then our love stops for them, and it’s over, ending with no room for forgiveness and restoration of our relationship. Still, God extends immeasurable love and forgiveness to us, as 1 John 1:9 explains, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Although we often set rigid and unrealistic limitations on how much we’ll love and forgive others, God doesn’t limit His love and forgiveness for us, saying if you do this or that, it’s the end of our relationship, it’s over, and He won’t love us any longer or ever speak to us again.

Rather, God separates our sin from us because of His great love for us. As Psalm 103:11-12 describes, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

We receive His love and forgiveness without limits, as a standard for our own lives, believing He is willing to love and forgive us without limitations. As Isaiah 43:25 assures, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” Yet many of us face scenarios in life where we think God doesn’t call us to love and forgive others in the same way, creating our own double standard by receiving God’s love and forgiveness for ourselves while withholding it from others. As God loves us and forgives our sins for His own sake, He calls us to love and forgive for our own sakes, too. Jesus explains to us in John 20:23, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Remember, God calls us, even commands us, to extend the grace of His love and forgiveness to others, just like we receive it for ourselves. As Jesus said in John 13:34, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER

Dear Father,
My heart is deeply grateful to You for the grace You extend to me on a moment-by-moment, hour-by-hour, week-by-week, and year-by-year basis, never-endingly. Help me tonight and every night to extend this same grace you’ve given me to others by loving others when it’s hard and forgiving those who have hurt and wounded me, disappointed me, and sinned against me. Fill my heart with Your love and compassion, so that I might pray and forgive them for my own sake, as You do for me. Strengthen me to keep Your commandment to love them as You love me. In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON

1. Are there individuals you’re having difficulty loving and forgiving tonight? If so, ask God to lead you in knowing how to love and forgive them as He loves you.

2. In considering how you have dealt with other people in life, are there times when you have been hard to love and forgive because of your actions and attitudes? Were there people who loved and forgave you? If so, how did they reach out to you with love and forgiveness?

3. Why not ask God to help you this week, to extend His grace especially to those whom you find hard to love and forgive?


Reflect on tonight’s prayer and share how God met you there. Join the Your Nightly Prayer discussion on the Crosswalk Forum.

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/sam thomas

Lynette Kittle is married with four daughters. She enjoys writing about faith, marriage, parenting, relationships, and life. Her writing has been published by Focus on the Family, Decision, Today’s Christian Woman, kirkcameron.com, Ungrind.org, StartMarriageRight.com, and more. She has a M.A. in Communication from Regent University and serves as associate producer for Soul Check TV.


Now that you've prayed, are you in need of someone to pray for YOU? Click the button below!

prayer submit button

 

Salem News Channel Today

Sponsored Links

On Air & Up Next

See the Full Program Guide