The theme for the upcoming 24/7 Word and Prayer in July is “Winning the Respect of Others Every Day”, and the key Scripture verse is taken from the first part of 1 Thessalonians 4:12 – “so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders”.

When I look at word “respect”, I remember someone defining it this way, “respect is to add value to”.

In today’s face paced society, we can get too distracted and too busy to fully give or add value to the things we do. Some of these things that we may be guilty of include:

Enjoying fast food and processed food which gives little nutritional value to the body, and relying too much on additives instead of extracting flavour from our foods.

Being occupied with our phones and gadgets when we are in a meeting. Yes, sometimes we may be taking notes or looking for information, but other times we could be distracted by other messages or things that pop up on screen;

At times, when we are with friends or family, someone in the group would be obsessed with “letting their phones eat first” (taking food pics), or taking the perfect Instagram-able pictures, or filming Tik-Tok worthy videos – all to gain online attention. When this happens, we may fail to give value to those physically around, then deep conversations and connections may be missed.

Amidst our busyness and distractions, we may also fail to add value to our time with God too. I have found myself focusing on the quality of sound and musicianship instead of adoring our Lord during times of worship; picking up grammatical and pronunciation errors during sermons instead of processing and reflecting upon the contents; drifting away to dream world when I am praying and reading the Bible.

This week of 24/7 Word and Prayer focuses on one of the Territorial values – respect. Join the Territory as we read the Word and pray through the week, and consider what it means to respect and to add value to God, to others and to ourselves.

Let us keep reading the Word and keep praying so that we can keep in step with the Spirit!