iPray: Day 14

A Prayer for Love

.."Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"....He answered: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" and love your neighbour as yourself Luke 10:25-27

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God 1st John 3:1

Yes Lord, today I lift up my hands to say that I love you. Lord, I love you, I would like to say with all my being but I know it's only by your grace. Lord, I love you not because I know how to but because you demonstrated your love, you gave me your best so that I could be your best. I'm so grateful unto you for who would I have been, where would I be, what would I be doing if not for you. If I run to the highest heavens, your love is there, in the valley your love is with me. Thank you for your unconditional love towards me, thank you Father. There is nothing, there is noone that compares with you. No use searching.

Father today I pray that you rekindle a spirit of love in the hearts of your children. The greatest commandment you left for us is that we love you, with all our hearts, with all our souls and with all our mind, therefore with everything that we are, with everything that we have. How do we love you Lord? By obeying your commandments. Forgive us Lord for allowing the love we have for you to grow cold. Teach us how to love you, how to fall in love with you, how to cultivate a relationship with you. Lord, ignite a passion within me, that as the deer panteth for the water so my soul shall pant for you. Father, you are love and I have been regenerated into your likeness therefore I choose to love.

Daddy your word says that we are able to love our neighbours to the level we have loved ourselves. Not a narcissitic self-love that results in pride but a godly love that reinforces our worth. Father, enable us to realise that we were worth the Ultimate price, the blood of your precious and only son and therefore we are precious in your sight. We were created in your image, we are citizens of the Kingdom that has no beginning and knows no end and we carry ourselves like the royalty that we are. Teach us to forgive ourselves of the mistakes of the past, to cast our burdens upon you because you care for us.

Daddy, your word says that anyone that does not do what is right is not a child of God, neither is anyone that does not love his brother and that the message we have heard from the beginning is that we love one another. Paul reminds us in 1st Corinthians 13 about love being much more than what we do and he tells us what love is. Father, love can be hard work sometimes because it calls upon us to walk from our spirits and not our flesh. We can't choose who we love for even Jesus said to love our enemies, this is impossible without your grace. Teach us how to love O Lord.

Teach us to be patient, teach us to be kind, teach us not to envy or boast or exalt ourselves. Help us to love by not being rude, not looking out for ourselves first, not easily angered, help us (especially me!) to forgive and throw away our records of the wrong done to us. Let us love by rejoicing in the truth and turning our backs from evil. Let the love that we share always protect, always trust, always hope, always persevere. Father, your words says that by their fruit you shall know them, it doesn't matter how much we use the word love, our love shows through our actions. The evidence that your Spirit abides in us is shown by the fruit we exhibit and the fruit of the Spirit is love.

I come against the spirit of Cain, where the seed of jealousy pervets brotherly love and the fruit of hatred becomes a killer of destiny. Dear lord, we don't always have to agree on every point but we can love each other because what binds us together is the love of Christ. This is a prayer because no one can truly love without your help. Through Scriptures you have modelled for us what love is, help us to grow in love for each other in Jesus name for a threefold cord is not easily broken. Let our love be pure and without hypocrisy, let us love the people you have brought into our lives not by always saying yes but also saying no when necessary. Let our love enable us to speak the truth even when it isn't always the easiest thing to hear. Let love be the foundation for our actions because your word says we love because you first loved us and if we love you we must also love our brothers.

Today, all over the world people celebrate 'love' in its different forms. I pray especially for those who feel unloved, that no one loves them, that no one is there for them. Daddy, help them realise that there is a Love that knows no bounds, there is a Love that holds them in an embrace so tight, there is a Love that takes away the pain of the past, there is a Love that cannot be reproduced in any human relationship. Also open their eyes to see someone who they can love as well because the truth is the world is full of people who we can love, we are never alone.

Daddy, I love you, teach me how to love even more, with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my mind. Thank you Father in Jesus name I ask, Amen.