The Long Stretch

I Peter 4:8 - ". . . keep fervent in your love for one another"

Acts 12:5 - "So Peter was kept in prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God."

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."


fervent - ektenes - (em-ten-ace) - intense, stretch out, without ceasing

love - agape (ag-ah'-pay) - an unselfish kind of love that can only be done in it's fullness by God; it prizes the recipient above the giver; it is God's willful direction toward man

The image of fervent love looks like a continuous stretching beyond the easy point of surface concerns. When God gave His Son for us, there was such intensity in His heart. The writer of Hebrews explains Jesus' fervent love this way - "who for the joy set before Him endured the Cross". Talk about stretching!

We get a little nervous to get out of our comfort zone. When God is trying to grow us into new places of His Kingdom, sometimes we shrink back or become almost paralyzed in fear. The thought of our loving Father continuously stretching out His love for us should be the foundation from which we do some stretching.

During my years of piano practicing, I remember my teacher looking at my really small hands. She was a little shocked when I couldn't reach the eight note stretch that, in music, we call an octave. My hands were as large as they were going to get when I reached about 10 years old. So, she suggested I do some stretching exercises. I sat at the piano day in and day out doing what she told me to do. Now, I have to tell you that I don't honestly think my fingers got longer nor the span of my hand larger. But guess what? Today, I can reach octaves!

What are some opportunities for intense stretching? The passages above mention prayer and relationships. Both of these situations involve getting outside the easy path and pressing on into more of something. Fervent love for one another doesn't allow for pettiness. It prizes the other's well being above our own. That stretched out kind of love goes on beyond the norm until results are seen in the life of another. It's that same kind of intensity with prayer. We might know of a situation that must be brought to the Father. We do whatever it takes to pray until that situation changes. When the church prayed for Peter during his imprisonment, I don't think it was a three minute event on Sunday morning! It's the intensity that comes over you when you know a friend is in need of God's hand in their situation. You just won't quit bringing it before the Father. It's called fervent prayer!

Father,
Open the eyes of my heart to stretch beyond the easy and the routine. May Your picture of love ever press me on to stretch for another whether it's in relationships or in prayer.I want to be a person who unceasingly presses on for all Your heart desires. Thank you Father, for helping me reach the octaves in fervency of prayer and deepening relationships. Abiding . . . pruning . . . stretching . . .