Nobody said loving was easy

Body of Christ, let’s get to work now. too many people slipping through the cracks and hurting and feeling alone, but we’re too damn comfortable laughing and playing games and sulking in our own misery. don’t think we won’t be held accountable for the people in front of us that we didn’t look after. we can’t save people, but we’re called to so much more than sitting still. you don’t need to be okay to be there for people. you don’t need to be happy or healed or level 10, A+ Christian. take a leap of faith and tell your hurting brother that he’s loved. keep your eyes open for people who sit alone. if you don’t talk to them or approach them, at least pray for them. but don’t you dare close your eyes and forget. remember their names. keep a list. family doesn’t forget family, or neglect it. you don’t have to be anything. do your best. trying is enough. you’ll probably have days when you think you hurt more than you heal, but don’t give up and keep trying. we need each other. get up and move. -VP

And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. - 1 Thessalonians 5:13

Pray

Pray for those who cannot make it out to LG, or cell group, or PM because of intensity of work, that they can be comforted and reminded that the body is still there for them w/o condemnation.

Pray for people who are slipping away and feeling alone, that we are supposed to be there for one another in Love against this vast and cruel and evil world.

“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”― Mother Teresa

Pray for those coming from a Christian background to find God by faith through grace, since 9 of 10 freshmen who grew up in church no longer believe in Christ.

Pray that we aren't afraid to rebuke and teach our brothers and sisters in a gentle loving manner when we see sin. No condemnation. This is the point of accountability and discipleship. This is the point of church.

http://jspark3000.tumblr.com/post/100581583340/what-breaks-my-heart-is-when-you-dont-hear-mine

Pray we love one another in the Body no matter the cost. The difference between a Christian and a nonbeliever is nonbelievers don't have to love when it is hard to love. We are called to love, both when it is easy or when it is hard. As Christians, we do not live in single-serving world. People are not tools to be used but souls that need saving and we have the answer in Hope. We are commanded by Jesus to love one another even more so in the Body, because if we can't love our family, how will we love our neighbor? That means loving and forgiving the stubborn, aloof, hard-to-relate brother or sister because God has already forgiven the unforgivable in you, and loved you when there was nothing at all worth loving in you. We love because it humbles us and makes us become more like Jesus.

To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless. — G.K. Chesterton

"Being loved by Jesus makes you love like Jesus" - Brent Campbell

“The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he 'likes' them: the Christian, trying to treat every one kindly, finds him liking more and more people as he goes on - including people he could not even have imagined himself liking at the beginning.” - C.S. Lewis

Pray that Christians be concerned about holiness and serving and being separate from the world and the gospel is being preached to everyone (God is working towards your holiness more than your happiness).