"When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God." Ephesians 3:14-19 (New Living Translation).
Paul the Apostle prayed that the Ephesian believers would understand the kind of love we are called to extend to others: the God kind of love. God' s love is wider, higher and deeper than we can ever truly comprehend, and it is critical to our daily lives.
In his letter to the believers at Corinth, the apostle tried to define what this love looks like and how it is supposed to operate through our lives:
"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." I Corinthians 13:4-7 (New Living Translation).
Now, if you personalize this scripture, you may want to pray:
"Dear Lord, please help me to become more patient and kind. Please help me to not be jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Help me to not demand my own way and help me to not be irritable. Please help me to not keep a record of being wronged by others! Help me to rejoice whenever the truth wins out and never to rejoice over injustice. Please help me to never give up, never lose faith and to be always hopeful, enduring through every circumstance that may come my way!"
Ask the Lord to make you more loving. This is the kind of prayer God loves to answer!
Action Step:
- Looking at our scriptures today, would you agree that you may need to mature into the kind of love God wants to release through you?
- Or, do you think you have "arrived?"
- Do you agree that the Lord of love will have to help you to become a more loving person?
- Be sure to regularly ask the Lord to make you more loving.
Review:
1. Prayer Is Simply Talking And Listening To God.
2. Prayer Should Flow From A Contrite Heart.
3. Your Prayers Should Be Confident.
4. Your Prayers Should Be Concise And To The Point.
5. Your Prayers Should Be Consistent And Constant.
6. Pray In Jesus' Name.
7. Pray About Everything!
8. You Do Not Have Because You Don't Ask God.
9. Asking God With The Wrong Motive Doesn't Work.
10. Ask Expecting To Receive From God.
11. Ask God To Bless Your Enemies As You Pray.
12. Ask The Lord To Make You More Loving As You Pray.
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