Prioritize Love

Table of Contents Part 1 – Making Time for God’s Extravagant Love Chapter 1 How to Prioritize Chapter 2 Learning to See God’s Extravagant Love Chapter 3 Prodigal Love? Chapter 4 Chosen for a Purpose Chapter 5 The Gift of a Meal Chapter 6 The Rest We Need Chapter 7 Our Protector Part 2- Prioritize Loving God Chapter 8 Surrender Chapter 9 Gratitude Chapter 10 Devoted to Prayer Chapter 11 What Pleases God? Chapter 12 Loving God When All Is Lost Chapter 13 Lose Your Life Gain a Legacy Part 3- Prioritize Loving Others Chapter 14 Love Matters Most Chapter 15 You Can’t Love God If You Don’t Love Others Chapter 16 New Creation Chapter 17 Love is Generous Chapter 18 Love Listens Chapter 19 Love has Healthy Boundaries Chapter 20 Too Good Not to Share Introduction 15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity. Ephesians 5:15-16 Life moves fast. In the busyness, we need practices that help us return to what matters most: loving God and loving others. We also need God’s power and love to fill us so we can love extravagantly. This book invites you to explore—and experience—God’s incredible love: extravagant, costly, and beyond what we can imagine. It is a love strong enough to empower us to live out Jesus’ greatest commandments (Matthew 22:37–39). First John 3:1 says. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” God’s love for us is so great that He lavishes it on us. That love is astonishing—beyond what we expect— costly: extravagant. Some hear “extravagant” and think wasteful or excessive, but God’s love came at a costly price: the life of His Son. As we explore and receive God’s incredible love, we find the peace and joy our hearts have been longing for. And as we see how deeply we are loved, we find strength to love God and others. Included with this book, at the end of each chapter, are prompts to help you reflect on Scripture, pray and experiencing God’s incredible love. There is also a place to write things you are thankful for to help you learn to see God’s extravagant love all around. Finally, the end of the book includes a Bible Study guide. You can use all of the book or choose certain sections to go deeper and apply what you are learning. Part 1 Making Time for God’s Extravagant Love Why is it so important to know God’s extravagant love in our lives? 1 John 4 says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God… 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him… 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another… 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.” Love comes from God. How do we know how to love? We look at God’s extravagant love for us. Chapter 1 How to Prioritize One of the best-selling time-management books of all time is Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey explored what makes people effective. One key principle, drawn from a Harvard professor, is that to use our time well we must think about our long-term purpose. We can’t only live day to day. If we want to master time, we need to “begin with the end in mind.” How can we be effective if we don’t know our purpose or our goals? And yet, we’re often so focused on getting through the day that we rarely stop to think about them. Most of the time I’m not asking, “What kind of person do I want to be?” as I rush to get my kids to school, make dinner, pay bills, or sweep the floor. The truth is, we’re often so busy and distracted that we don’t intentionally reflect on these important questions. But prioritizing our time means stepping back to consider our greatest purpose. How can we prioritize God’s love: 1. Examine our lives to get time back. 15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Verse 15 says, “Be very careful how you live.” The Greek phrase translated “very careful” carries the idea of “diligently watching” or carefully examining how you live and what you do with your time. Verse 16 can be translated “making the most of every opportunity,” or, in the NKJV, “redeeming the time.” The word redeem means to buy back or rescue—securing something for your own use and saving it from loss or misapplication. In other words, we are called to watch closely how we are living and to use our time wisely. And if we do this, we can even redeem time or “buy it back” we can get MORE time! Today we are surrounded by more noise than ever—phones that constantly demand attention, endless news and media, and the running commentary in our own thoughts. With so much competing for our focus, it becomes easy to lose the quiet space needed to draw near to God and to remember His love for us. That challenge only grows as several trends continue to increase.