Day 1: You Are Not Left Out
John 3:16a For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son…
There’s a feeling that I know that I bet you know too.The feeling like you’re standing on the outside looking in, watching everyone else get what you wish you had. Maybe it was the team you didn’t make, the promotion that went to someone else, or the dinner party invitation that never came. And somewhere along the way, that feeling leaked into your relationship with God. You’ve started to believe that His love is like that crowded room where everyone else got in and you’re still waiting outside.
Here’s the stunning truth of the Gospel: God loved the world. Not just the put-together people. Not just the spiritually impressive. The world– that rebellious, wandering, God-rejecting humanity that includes you on your very worst day. When Scripture says “the world,” it’s pointing at sinners. It’s pointing at people who have failed and fallen and run the other direction. It’s pointing at you.
Do you see what this means? You haven’t been left on the platform while everyone else boarded the train. You haven’t barely squeaked into God’s affection like some kind of afterthought. God doesn’t merely tolerate you while He delights in others. No. He loves you fully and intentionally, without reservation.
And there’s something else about this love: it isn’t based on your lovability. God doesn’t love you because you’ve finally gotten your act together. He loves you because He is love (1 John 4:8). Your failures don’t disqualify you and your wandering doesn’t exhaust Him. His love isn’t a response to your goodness, but an overflow of His character.
So today, stop wondering if you’ve done too much bad to be loved. The Creator of the universe looks at you (yes, you!) and loves you.
Prayer: Loving Father, I admit to You that there are times I don’t feel like I’m loved by You. Sometimes, I feel like maybe You just tolerate me, but You don’t really love me. Help me to fight those feelings with Your truth. Help me remember that I am loved by You. I ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Pray for the Hadrami People of Yemen: Pray for peace in Yemen, pray for a stable and effective government that will rule with justice, pray the Lord will arrange for encounters between Christian believers and Hadrami Arabs, and pray for additional believers in other tribes to share the gospel with the Hadrami of Yemen.
Day 2: Love That Will Not Let You Go
John 3:16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
There are things we desperately want to last forever and things we definitely don’t want to last forever. You don’t want the stomach flu to last forever, or the awkward silence at Thanksgiving dinner, or that song that’s been stuck in your head for three days. But the love of someone who truly knows you and chooses you anyway– that’s the kind of thing you want to be eternal.
John 3:16, this old, familiar verse, shows us God’s love isn’t temporary. It’s not seasonal like eggnog. The Greek word used here is agape– a love that persists, that sticks, that refuses to walk away. Friend, this is the kind of love God has for you!
Think about that for a moment: When you make that decision you know you shouldn’t make, He still loves you. Or when you sin the same sin for the hundredth time, He still loves you. Or when your faith feels as fragile as wet paper, He still loves you. God’s love doesn’t appear and disappear based on your performance. It’s anchored in His eternal, loving character.
Maybe you’ve felt like that child who whispers in shame, “No one loves me anymore because I did something bad.” The enemy wants you to believe that your failures have finally used up God’s affection. But that’s a lie from the pit of hell. God’s love for you is eternal– stretching backward before you were born and forward past your final breath. Nothing you do today can make Him stop loving you.
So, today, remember God loves you, and delight in that.
Prayer: Lord, I struggle to believe that any good thing can last forever. But Your Word shows me that Your love is eternal. Thank You that Your love for me will never run out! Amen.
Pray for the Sylheti People of Bangladesh: Pray for this people group to recognize their own spiritual bankruptcy and come to Christ for the riches of his forgiveness, pray that there will soon be a thriving community of believers that will multiply into a movement to Christ, and pray for the Lord to provide the Sylhet with good schools and medical facilities, and for the Sylhet to become quick to listen to the word of the Lord and respond with joyful faith.
Day 3: The Love That Rescues
John 3:16-17 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Think about the person you love most in this world, maybe your spouse, your child, and your closest friend. Now imagine they’re in a life-threatening situation– something terrible is coming that will destroy them unless someone intervenes. How far would you go to save them? You know the answer: you’d give anything– your money, your comfort, your plans, your very life if it came to that. Why? Because you love them.
Now multiply that impulse by infinity and you’re beginning to glimpse the heart of God. His love isn’t a feeling that wishes you well from a distance. It’s a rescuing love. A love that gave everything– His own Son– to save you from something far worse than physical death.
You see, we were created for a relationship with God, but we’ve spent our lives rejecting Him, running from Him, pretending we don’t need Him. That’s called sin, and it carries a devastating price. We deserve death and separation from the God who made us. There’s nothing we could ever do to fix this, no amount of good behavior that could cancel the debt we owe.
But God didn’t send His Son to condemn you. He sent Jesus to save you. The incarnation, which is when Jesus added humanity to His Divinity, wasn’t an accident or an afterthought. It was a rescue mission driven by unbelievable love. Jesus walked into suffering, absorbed the wrath you deserved, and died in your place. Why? Because He loves you.
This is the heart of Christmas: God’s love doesn’t just feel; it saves. Let that saving love move you to grateful worship today.
Prayer: Father, it’s amazing that You love me so much that You sent Jesus to die for me! Help me to live in Your love today. In my Savior’s name I pray, amen.
Pray for the Bahelia People of India: Pray that God will send workers to the Bahelia who will show them the way to Jesus Christ, pray for the Holy Spirit to work on the hearts and minds of Bahelia leaders to make them open to the gospel, pray for a movement to Christ among the Bahelia in the coming years, and pray that the Lord will move the Bahelia to have access and receive the truth from hearing gospel radio programs in their native languages.
Day 4: Rest In What He Has Done
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Be honest with yourself for a moment. How much of your spiritual life is spent trying to earn what God has already given? You pray more hoping He’ll love you more. You serve harder thinking it might tip the scales in your favor. You measure your standing with God by how well you performed this week– and when you fail, you spiral into shame, wondering if He’s finally given up on you.
But look at John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. God didn’t send Jesus to condemn you. He sent Jesus to save you. Not to help you save yourself or to give you a fighting chance if you just work hard enough. To save you, completely and finally, through His Son.
This changes everything. You can stop trying to earn God’s love through your good behavior– you already have it. You can stop believing He merely tolerates you because of your failures– He delights in you because of Jesus. You can stop measuring your relationship with God by your recent performance– your salvation isn’t fragile; it’s secured by His grace.
The invitation of Christmas isn’t “try harder.” It’s “believe.” Believe that Jesus came for you. Believe that He paid your debt in full. Believe that the resurrection means death couldn’t hold Him and sin can’t hold you. You’re not saved by what you do for God. You’re saved by what God has done for you through Jesus.
So confess sin without hiding. Obey without pressure. Rest without guilt. Your security isn’t found in your grip on God but in His unrelenting grip on you. That’s the gift of love. Receive it today and worship the One who gave it.
Prayer: Holy Father, sometimes I feel like Your love for me is based on what I do for You. Help me, by Your Holy Spirit, to see how wrong I am. Remind me that You save me and bless me because You love me. Amen.
Pray for the Chhipa People of India: Pray for improved employment opportunities, and for good schools to be made available for the children of this Hindu community, pray for loving ambassadors of Christ to share with this people group, discipling them in his ways, and pray for those who will soon commit themselves to follow Christ to live holy lives and be united around truth.
Day 5: More Than A Favorite
John 3:16a For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son…
Have you ever seen a teacher who clearly favors certain students. Or a boss who promotes the same personality type every time. Or a parent at the Little League game who only cheers when their kid is up to bat. We live in a world of favorites, and if we’re honest, we’ve spent a lot of energy trying to figure out where we rank.
It’s easy for us to carry that thinking into our relationship with God. You look at other Christians— the ones who seem to have it all together, who pray with eloquence, who never seem to struggle with the sins that keep tripping you up— and you assume they must be God’s favorites. You though? You’re somewhere further down the list. You think God tolerates you, but He doesn’t really love you.
But that’s not how God’s love works. When He says He loved the world, He doesn’t mean He ranked it. He doesn’t have a favorites list where some get His full affection and others get the leftovers. The same love that sent Jesus covers the missionary and the new believer, the lifelong churchgoer and the one who wandered for decades.
Friend, God’s love isn’t distributed based on your spiritual performance. You can’t climb higher on a list that doesn’t exist. The seasoned saint doesn’t get more of God’s love than you do. The person with the impressive testimony isn’t closer to His heart than you are. His love comes to you full and complete– not because you’ve earned a higher rank, but because that’s simply who He is.
So stop competing for a position you already have. Stop wondering if God loves someone else more. He gave His Son for the world– and that world includes you. Not as an afterthought or a backup plan, but as someone fully and equally loved.
Prayer: Father, help me understand that You don’t play favorites. I know You love me. So, settle my heart today. In Jesus name, I ask this, amen.
Pray for the Momna People of India: Pray for young Momna to discover Christian content online, may they gain spiritual understanding and put their faith in Christ, pray for hidden believers among the Momna to experience protection and joy in the Holy Spirit and to share their faith journey to encourage non-believers, and pray for peaceful relationships between Sunni, Shia and Wahabi groups within the Momna Muslim community.
Day 6: The God Who Came Close
John 3:16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Have you ever thought about this: Love from a distance is easy. You can claim to love the hurting without getting involved in their mess. You can feel compassion for the struggling without getting your hands dirty. Distance protects us; it lets us love without cost.
But God’s love refused to stay distant.
When Scripture says God “gave” His Son, it’s describing something better than a transaction. It’s describing an invasion of grace. The eternal God, who is infinite, holy, and perfect, didn’t just feel affection for a broken world from the safety of heaven. He came, entered the mess, and took on human flesh with all its limitations. Our God walked dusty roads, felt hunger and exhaustion, and moved into the neighborhood.
This is what Christmas celebrates: Emmanuel, God with us. Not God above us, judging from afar. Not God beside us in theory. God with us– in the dirt, in the struggle, in the ordinariness of human existence. He came close enough to touch lepers, close enough to weep at graves, close enough to let nails pierce His hands.
As you struggle, God is not wishing You well from Heaven’s balcony. He has put the Holy Spirit (the third Person of the Trinity) in you, so that you are never alone.
Friend, no matter how you feel or what you face, God is near.
Prayer: Lord, thank You for loving me so much that You came close. Thank You that You are with me now, in whatever I am facing today. Help me remember and experience Your love today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Pray for the Sargara People of India: Pray for the Lord to draw Christian members of the Sargara community to himself, granting them an understanding of Jesus’ sacrificial love and forgiveness, pray they will experience the depth of Christ’s love and be empowered to live in his grace, not their works, and pray for community leaders to encounter God’s blessings and the community toward Christ’s provision.
Day 7: Love That Chose You First
1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.
Think about the last time you felt truly chosen. Maybe it was being picked for a team, selected for a job, or asked to be part of something meaningful. There’s a particular kind of joy that comes from being wanted, from knowing that someone looked at you and said, “Yes. That one.”
Now think about this: before you ever turned your heart toward God, He had already turned His heart toward you. Before you prayed your first prayer, He loved you. Before you believed, before you obeyed, before you even knew His name– He chose you. His love didn’t wait for you to become lovable. It came first.
We think love is a response. Someone does something lovely, and we love them back. Someone proves their worth, and we offer our affection. But God’s love operates on a completely different logic. He loved first. That means He initiated, He pursued. While you were still running the other direction, His love was already chasing you down.
Today, you can stop trying to get God to love you. He already has.
Every act of love you show today— to your spouse, your children, your coworker, your enemy— is possible because you were loved first. You’re not creating love from scratch. You’re passing along what you’ve already received.
Prayer: Father, I believe You first loved me. How amazing! THank You for loving me when I was not lovely, when I was still dead in my sin. Help me now, Holy Spirit, to show Your love to others. Amen.
Pray for the Brahmin Purohit People of India: Pray for the eyes of Purohit Brahmin hearts to be open to Jesus Christ, pray for Holy Spirit directed Christ followers to go to Purohit Brahmin communities, pray for a movement to Christ to emerge among every Brahmin community, and pray that the few Brahmin-background believers will exhibit the fruit of the Holy Spirit with those they meet so that Christ will be honored and held in high esteem by the Purohit Brahmins.