Selflessness Devotion
Over the summer, CSF studied prayer — different ways to pray as well as different things we should bring to the Lord in prayer. I led two of the devotions; this is the second.
7/26/2022
Phil 2
1 Therefore if you have encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
These verses show that not only should we not be selfish but also we should be “one in spirit and of one mind” with other believers. If you take both of these ideas together, you get the concept of corporate prayer, which is not something that any church I’ve been to has tried on a big scale, as far as I know. Think: prayer meetings with a singular focus. I’ve read up a lot about it, and it seems really cool, if a bit uncomfortable. I’d like for us to try it on a smaller scale together.
Take 5 or so minutes by yourself to pray for the Big C Church to put off selfishness and to strive to love others well, both inside and outside the church, and also for you personally to become more selfless. Follow the model of Philippians 2:1-4. (Play worship music).
Then, we’ll come together for just a few minutes to talk about what it means to be selfless.
[To be selfless is not to think less of yourself, but to think of yourself less.]
What should your prayers be focused on? {hint: it’s not you and your needs, though you can ask for what you need}.
What do you think it says about God that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love others?
What are some practical ways to practice selflessness?
How can we be selfless in our prayers?
pray for others more than ourselves
ask for God’s will to be done in the world
ask God to show you who to love well and how
And then, we’re going to take 5 more minutes to pray by ourselves for each other. I’ll assign you one person in the room, so your prayer should be about them learning what it means to be selfless and love others well. (Play worship music).
And lastly, we’re going to come back together and each of us is going to pray out loud for those of us in this room to become imitators of Christ’s selflessness. Pray for each person by name. Follow the model of Philippians 2:1-4 if you need/want to. (Leah starts).
