Love Does Challenge Day 3: Audacious Love

I used to think you had to be special for God to use you, but now I know you simply need to say yes. – @BobGoff #LoveDoes

Read the story of Jacob from Genesis 28:10-17

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel: Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

Your invitation today is to seek the presence of God in a place “by the side of the road.” This could be either a place you go often and don’t think to look for God (the grocery story, your daughter’s dance class, a work staff meeting, the drop-off line at school, etc.) or a place you wonder if God might not be at all (an abortion clinic, the mall, your town’s red-light district).

Go to the place you’ve selected and then walk through and/or around the area, praying this prayer:

“God, show me where Your kingdom and love are already on display in this place and with these people.” As you go, take care to look everyone you pass in the eye and be friendly. If the temptation to judge creeps up, pray, “God, help me to think Your thoughts and feel Your feelings for this place and these people.”

Reflection Questions:

• Where did you find God during this activity?
• Were you surprised?
• What did you learn about love through the process?

Content adapted with permission from Love Does Study Guide: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World (Thomas Nelson, 2014), by Bob Goff with Dixon Kinser, copyright Bob Goff.

How did it go?

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