Love

Love Like You

Lord,

would you teach me how to love,

to peer into a soul

and see what you see,

having compassion,

unconditional acceptance

for a history I don’t see,

suffering I can’t understand,

to let go of my judgement

and lean my head on your heartbeat,

to be patient, kind, and gentle,

soft against harsh edges,

gracious toward prickly spines,

can you give me a new grace

to interact with others,

an anointing to speak words

that bring life and healing,

an empowerment and strengthening

a fresh infusion of your Spirit

to wait, give space, choice, freedom,

the honoring and dignifying,

that you have done for me

in my shame,

believing, hoping

for your best in others,

trusting that your love

is more powerful than anything in the world.

Let me love like you Lord,

remembering your love

has transformed me.

I bless you Lord.

Amen.

Love Like You

Abba,

holy and righteous,

powerful and awesome,

I remember love

that you loved us

and sent your Son,

crushed Him to be the satisfying offering

for all the sins of the world.

Without you Lord, I’m nothing,

a skeleton of failures, brokenness, and selfishnes

resurrected to spirit and life only by your power.

Empower me by your Spirit and life,

bring your strength to the end of my strength

let me walk in your light,

decreeing my righteousness bought by your blood,

shaming the enemy’s whispers and lies,

exalting you, all that you’ve done

by my being and words

that I may be a faithful witness unto you —

let your heartbeat and life beat through mine,

enable me to arise,

a force of your grace

ablaze in holiness and righteousness,

to be different and other,

salt and light,

that you would draw many to you,

imbue me with your supernatural love

to love as you do,

loving my brother and sister,

loving my enemies

that the world would see you.

Lord, you alone are worthy,

and I pray that my life would glorify you.

Amen.

Settled In Love

Lord,

I quiet my busy mind

calm my antsy soul,

why is there such unrest within me?

When I gaze upon you in faith

with the eyes of my heart,

sensing your presence

the substance of what my faith longs for,

te weight of your Spirit

quenches my soul thirst,

heals my mind,

and settles my heart.

Lord, strengthen my inner man with your Spirit

that you would dwell in my heart as I trust in you.

Let my roots go down deep in your love

and make me unshakable, unmovable, magnanimous.

May I grasp how high, long, wide, and deep

your love is,

embracing and trusting the mystery

that all eternity will not be enough

to understand fully.

Let me be whole, complete, perfect as you are,

in the abundance of life and strength that comes from you,

that I may decrease and you would increase.

I praise you Lord

that you answer above and beyond

anything that I can ask, think, or imagine.

I praise you for your love.

Amen.

To Love

Lord,

I praise you, thank you for opening my eyes to your love,

reaching down into the deepest crevices,

cleansing, healing, renewing, and bringing life.

Teach me, help me to love like you,

enduring with patience and serenity.

Forgive me for how quickly I fall short each day,

and infuse me again and again with your Spirit.

Soften my heart, open my eyes to be kind, thoughtful, aware,

and let me always be aware of your presence,

your heart for others,

not being jealous or envious,

coveting what’s not mine,

being content exactly in my place.

Lord, please help me to keep myself humble

before you and others,

not bragging, not proud, not arrogant,

let the spirit of the fear of the Lord be heavy upon me always,

that I may blessed with humility, wisdom, and mercy.

Cleanse my heart of rudeness, self-seeking, selfishness,

to have a generous, considerate heart towards others,

and let me not be offended and provoked easily,

nor overly sensitive and easily angered.

Grant me understanding and discernment to see other’s hearts,

not necessarily their words or actions,

and grant grace to my own heart to be warm, embracing, accepting,

as you have been of me.

Help me to forgive and let go quickly,

wash away pain and hurt caused by others,

and replace it with your understanding, peace, and joy.

Let me hate injustice as you do,

and help me to discern truth

and rejoice when rightness and truth prevail.

Grant me the strength of an ox

to bear the trials and tribulations to come,

to believe all things,

seeking out and sifting up the best in others like hidden treasure,

to hope all things,

standing firm, strong through challenging times,

and to endure all things without faltering.

I’m utterly unable to do any of this without you Lord.

So I surrender my heart, thoughts, desires, plans, will, and ways,

let me decrease, so you may increase in me,

and use me

Shine your precious love and light through me Lord.

Thank you Lord, I praise you and love you.

Amen.

Love Hears

Photo by Kai Brune on Unsplash.

Abba,

Thank you for your love,

that you bend down from heaven and incline your ear,

to hear my feeble cries.

I praise you for your loving kindness and humility,

for your Spirit that comes into the middle of my fractured mess,

accepting my heart, frailty, and fragility with mercy.

I bless you for your presence,

your answers, solutions, and divine coincidences,

that speed healing, life, and restoration within me

that I could never conjure or figure out for myself.

I repent to you Lord,

for all the ways I control and fix on my own

leading to so much more heartache and pain.

Thank you for your patience and kindness,

always receiving me back,

gently comforting and healing,

loving me into wholeness and truth,

cleansing and washing my feet once more,

so I can rest and wholly abide in you again,

safe and secure as your child.

I bless you Abba,

Amen.

Abba’s Love

Photo by Tommy Lucena Villar on Unsplash.

Abba,

thank you that you’ve adopted me,

receiving me as one of your own.

You’ve welcomed me into your household of light,

put your robe over my shoulders,

your ring on my finger,

and prepared a celebration feast to honor me

when I came to you as an orphan.

To know you had prepared this place,

waiting with heart open, long suffering,

so patiently for me

as I wandered adrift, bitter, and lost.

I’m amazed you never gave up,

that your love has proved most powerful.

Abba you endure with steadfast love and patience,

you are kind and thoughtful,

you are not prideful or boastful,

you don’t take into account all the wrongs you’ve endured by me,

you rejoice when right and truth prevail in my life,

You bear all things, believe all things,

hope all things, and endure all things —

for me.

And you never change.

Your love is amazing Lord.

Amen.