A quick lesson from my first leader, Phil Hutchinson

Romans 12:10- Be devoted to one another in brotherly love….’’

He does not say ‘in view of God’s mercy, tolerate each other…put up with each other’- he commands us to do much more than that.

1 Peter 1:22-23- Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

So, the will of God for his children is not just to do good things for each other, and not just to pray for each other or speak decently of each other or to tolerate each other- but to love each other from the heart.

Some of you will be thinking; ‘’I see that God wants to me love my brothers and sisters in Christ, but there are some that I honestly don’t love. I want to be obedient to God in loving them but I know that God sees my heart and I don’t want to be a hypocrite. What do I do?’’

First and foremost, pray.

Pray that God, the Holy Spirit would move in power on your heart and work the miracle that neither you nor I can work on our own. Pray that God would change your heart. Pray that you would see your brother or your sister through your Father’s eyes.

I still remember this lesson that I learnt from my first leader; Phil Hutchinson. I had just become a Christian and He discipled me early on. He had his work cut out for him.

I remember I had a major problem with a girl in the church. I hated her. To me, she was the problem with the church- the reason that it wasn’t growing. I told Phil about my feelings and I was sure that he was going to agree and expel her from the church. To my surprise and to my disappointment, he instructed me to ‘pray for her’.

Pray for her??

Not pray about her??

Not pray against her??

Not to pray that she would change, but to pray for her good??

So I did and the most miraculous thing happened; she didn’t change at all, but my heart towards her did.

Prayer works- if there is somebody who you are struggling to love, particularly if they are your brother or your sister in Christ, pray for them and pray for the Holy Spirit to help you to love them in the way God calls you to.