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DAy 5 Challenge – Honor One Another

1. Read the Excerpt 
   Let this content remind you that God will always turn His people from counterfeit love toward genuine love.
2. Love Like Family
   Love requires proximity, especially with those who differ from us.
3. Be Generous
   Your time, talent, and treasure are meant to help you show hospitality and be generous to one another.

MARKS OF A TRUE MOVE OF GOD – SPIRITUAL OPENNESS
AND THE GOSPEL

written by Justin Jeppesen

“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor”
–Romans 12:9-10

God is moving powerfully in the next generation. Studies show younger generations are the most spiritually open, and we’re seeing the proof of it in the droves of college students filling campus squares, beaches, chapels, and stadiums seeking a genuine encounter with the living God. Yet, despite all of this, many remain skeptical— and often rightly so.

How can we, as Christians, rightly discern a true move of God? That question has echoed across centuries of church history. Each generation faces moments of renewal and revival, and with them, the challenge of discerning the genuine from the artificial. Thankfully, Scripture provides us with a trustworthy rubric.

Romans 12 marks a turning point in Paul’s letter. Following the rich theological truths of the first eleven chapters, Paul pivots to application to reveal what the gospel looks like embodied in God’s people. In Romans 12:9–21, we’re ushered into a blueprint for Christian community—a portrait of who God wants us to be and what He desires us to do, especially as we pray for the next generation.

Paul opens with this powerful exhortation: “Let love be genuine.” Literally, “Let love be without hypocrisy.” Here is the dividing line between what is real and what is fake. The word Paul uses refers to a love that is sincere, supernatural, and self-giving, without pretense or performance.

The litmus test of genuine Christianity, and every true move of God, is love.

A true move of God will always turn His people from counterfeit love toward genuine love.

The Right Ingredients

At first glance, Romans 12:9–21 can feel like a rapid-fire list of commands, almost a “ragbag” of unrelated instructions. Yet each imperative adds a fresh ingredient to Paul’s recipe for genuine love.

I’ve come to appreciate this through my recent hobby of baking bread. When I was learning to bake, I made all sorts of mistakes—forgetting the leaven, leaving out the oil, or skipping the salt. Each ingredient seemed small, but without them, the loaf never turned out right.

In the same way, Paul lists several “ingredients” of love, many of which are “one another” statements found throughout the New Testament. These commands function like spiritual arteries that carry the life of Christ through His body. And among them, three stand out as key ingredients:

1. Love one another with familial affection.
2. Outdo one another in showing honor.
3. Live in harmony with one another.

Each one moves us deeper into the heart of genuine love, and together, they form the character of a true move of God and a pathway of praying for a genuine move of God in the next generation.

1. A True Move of God Restores the Church to Love One Another with Familial Affection

Here we move from distance to devoted discernment. Like leaven in bread, this ingredient causes all the others to rise. Without it, everything falls flat.

It might seem strange that the command to love genuinely is followed by a command to hate —“Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.” But true love is discerning. It’s not blind sentimentality or emotional indulgence. It’s a love so devoted to the beloved that it hates whatever threatens their flourishing. Genuine love refuses to tolerate what destroys.

We live in a time when distance has dulled our discernment. The past several years of pandemic, polarization, and digital detachment have left many of us distant from one another. We’ve criticized, assumed, or ignored each other, rather than loving each other with family-like affection. But you cannot discern from a distance. Love requires proximity, especially with those who differ from us.

Jesus declared that the world would know we are His disciples by our love for one another ( John 13:34-35). When the next generation sees this kind of love—not political allegiance, not polished programs, but family-like affection— they will know the gospel is real.

2. A True Move of God Restores Honor in Our Relationships

Next, we move from validating our opinions to valuing others above ourselves.

This ingredient is like oil in the bread; it binds everything together into a cohesive whole.

The word honor literally means “to assign value.” In our culture, we assign value by price tags and status, but in God’s economy, value is defined by creation and redemption. Every person is made in God’s image and purchased by the blood of Christ. That’s the ultimate price tag of worth.

So how do we “outdo one another” in showing honor, as Paul commands? He gives us a few ways to pray into:

– By generosity: “Contribute to the needs of the saints” (Romans 12:13). Love shares life and possessions so that none are left in need.
– By hospitality: “Seek to show hospitality.” Generosity cares for those we know; hospitality welcomes those we don’t. It makes space for strangers, and even enemies, to become friends and family.
 – By sympathy: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” Love doesn’t stay aloof. It draws near. It suffers and sings in solidarity.

When a generation sees a church that honors rather than devalues, that welcomes rather than excludes, that celebrates others’ victories rather than envies them, then they begin to see Jesus. So may we pray for a renewal of honor among the generations within the Church!

3. A True Move of God Restores Relational Harmony

We move from haughtiness to humility.

This ingredient is like the salt in bread; it’s subtle, yet vital. It preserves freshness and brings flavor. Without humility, love grows stale.

Paul writes, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.” Harmony and humility are inseparable. To be humble is to know your place in relation to others and to rejoice in your part in God’s divine symphony.

The problem is that we often compare our voices to those of others. We treat the body of Christ like a competition rather than a collaboration. We want to sing lead when only Jesus can carry the melody. The Spirit calls us instead to harmonize, to align our lives with the melody of the gospel.

In a world filled with noise, outrage, and division, spiritual openness begins with humility. It’s the openness to listen to God and to one another. Romans 12:16 literally reads, “Think the same thing toward one another.” May we pray diligently for the next generation to experience harmony in the Church and to find their voice within the body so that the Church will further become a “house of prayer for the nations” (Mark 11:17).

Participating in a True Move of God

A true move of God, then, is marked not by hype, but by holiness; not by emotion alone, but by transformation; not by crowds, but by compassion. It is repentance from our failure to love and a return to our first love, Jesus.

Beloved, the Christian life is not a hard life to live; it’s an impossible one. These marks cannot be produced by human effort. They are born of the enabling grace of the indwelling Spirit of Christ.

What is impossible with man is always possible with God!

So as we long for a move of God in our day, especially for the next generation, may we seek not just the manifestations of revival, but the marks of love. May we depend on God’s grace to live Romans 12, becoming a people whose genuine love points the world to a genuine Savior.

When love is real, the gospel becomes irresistible. When love is genuine, the next generation sees Jesus.

And that, dear friends, is the truest mark of a move of God.

Click HERE for an audio prayer made to accompany this content.