31 Days of Prayer
Day 24
February 19, 2019
John Wesley said that we were made for happiness and that happiness came from holiness. At the deepest level of our lives, we seek to be one with creation and one another. It is in that oneness we experience happiness, joy, and peace as signs of holiness. Wesley understood loving God and loving neighbor as the root of holiness. He taught that happiness was best understood as a by-product of loving others, especially loving enemies.
If happiness comes from holiness, and holiness is all about living a life of self-giving love, then we need not worry about seeking out the feelings of happiness. Happiness is rooted in being in alignment with God’s love for us and for others.
When our attention is primarily on our feelings, we lose sight of the source of our happiness, and sight of the people God has given to us to love: both our neighbors and our enemies. It is in our holiness that we live the life that we were created to live. Happiness is a by-product of our paying attention to that which we are called to pay attention to: God and our neighbor.
Prayer for Today:
O God, we want to be holy in our hearts and in our living. We place ourselves into your hands to become more who you created us to be. We truly pray, finish in us your new creation. Make us pure and spotless, for it is the pure in heart who truly see you.
We pray for holiness for Amy, Chris, Roger, Mike, Karen, Dee, Curnell, Doug, Wade, Greg, Caleb, George, Phil, Kathy, Joy, Bill, Chris, Harris, Lyndsey, and Marilyn. Help them be so close to you that all that say and do at the General Conference will bring you glory and work for the happiness of all of us in the West Ohio Conference.
We offer them to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
A Few Reminders
Thank you for participating in this 31-day prayer journey. Our journey will include opportunities to read and reflect on the scriptures as we pray specifically for the special General Conference, for the leaders of our denomination, and for the delegates who have represented us. As we pray together, we will become more who God has created us to be.
You can find the delegates from the West Ohio Conference here. Let us pray for each of them every day. It will be through our prayers that they become more who God created them to be.
Thank you for taking this journey with us.
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