15 Prayers For A Heart To Be Focused On Love As Found In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (Choose to read them all or go to those that you need to be your prayer. You could read one a day for the next 15 days. It's too easy to read through this list and use it as a nice passage in weddings without really thinking about how they should or need to be applied to our everyday lives)
If I have faith, spiritual gifts, knowledge, am able to give to those in need, if my outward expressions appear morally noble but in my heart I have not love then I am nothing and all my worldly actions are temporal (1 Cor 13:1-3). Lord your word tells me what love is and I now lift up prayers seeking to be filled with you, to be filled with love so that my life may count for something in building your kingdom today and every day.
Love is Patient; Lord I need patience and I know in order to have it I will be given circumstances and people placed in my life in which to practice it with. Help me to have a heart of loving patience today knowing that patience ushers in peace for me and gives you room to work in the one with whom I have been called to display it towards. Lord You Are patient with me as I stumble through my day to day routines. Help me to remember your patience for me and to use that knowledge and grace shown me to spur me on to do the same to others who need it as much as I need it from you.
Love is Kind; Lord I know that kindness is easy to give when I feel people are deserving of it. It is easy to be considerate and helpful with those whom I feel have earned it. But, Lord, you show me kindness even when my actions and attitudes are in opposition to you, when my actions are in defiance. This tells me that the love I need to have, that allows kindness to be poured out, needs to be for all not just those that make it easy or that I deem worthy. Only you lord can help me to display this aspect of your love. There will be people in my day today and every day with whom I don't feel deserve my kindness therefore my love and with whom I don't want to give it. Lord to withhold kindness means I withhold love and I nullify any other act of kindness I try to show because it is not drawn from love but from a place of earning it. It isn't always easy for me for show this kind of loving kindness but you have shown through the cross that displaying love is not always easy acts but the benefits to others can be eternal.
Love Does Not Envy; Oh Lord, I live in a country of plenty. I am bombarded daily with advertisements for things. Daily I see FaceBook posts, instagram pictures and snapchats about other peoples perfect looking lives. In the grocery aisle magazines try and lure me with all the new trends everyone has to have and I am pushed to want what I don't have. There seems no escape from the draw to see and want what others have. But you call me to not envy, to not desire what is fleeting and temporal. Lord I know that gratitude is what I need to have. I need a heart and eyes to see and know and Love the blessings you have giving me, to see the ultimate blessing I have in you. I ask you Lord to quiet and still the voice of envy that tries to drown out my gratitude and love for what I have and I ask you to help me to remember that I posses the greatest gifts anyone can ever have, your loving salvation Lord. What I have above all earthly possessions is your eternal hope and joy of eternal life. Thank you for that precious gift of love. Help me to remember that in envy I can lack love for others and sometimes envy prevents us from being able to love others who seem to have more. Guard my heart and mind so that I may be a vessel of love toward all.
Love Does Not Boast; Lord I believe that there are times when boasting can stem from lacking self worth or a need to feel valued. Lord when I boast about things of myself my focus is on myself and my accomplishments and my needs. How can I display love for others and lift them up and validate them and encourage them if I am too busy boasting about myself? Lord I need you to be my encouragement when perhaps I feel discouraged. I need to look to the unconditional, selfless, non boasting Love you have always shown me. Romans 12:3 tells me "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment". Help me to have sober judgement Lord, and not allow my thoughts to inflate myself over you or over others. Your word also tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:31 "Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord." Lord my "boasting" should be about who you are and your love for me which is available to all who seek it. I should have a heart that Loves others so much that I do not boast about my earthly accomplishments but your eternal ones. Fill my heart with Love of who you are so I may display it to all I encounter today.
Love is not Proud; Pride is one of mankind's greatest downfalls and the root of sin, Lord. I know pride is often when I look at myself more highly than I ought. Pride comes when I think all my accomplishments and good things are of my doing and mine alone. Lord my heart needs to be humbled. I need to make sure that I give you the glory and honor in my life so that others may see your loving selfless goodness and be drawn to you. Like boasting, Lord, pride is a focus on me and a neglect of others needs. My pride doesn't leave room or the proper room for a fully loving heart toward those you put in my path. Teach me to be humble and for my humbleness to be a sign of love to those in my life.
Love is not Rude; Lord you created me to be a reflection of you and your loving gracious character. When I am rude I am detracting from that character, I am creating a poor reputation for you as your child. I am not lovingly leading others to experience your good and perfect character. Again Lord, much like kindness, there are times when I can feel justified in being rude if others are being rude to me. But lord you clearly tell us that Love is not rude. You were offended and slandered throughout your life here right up to your crucifixion and you never ceased to display your Father's character in full, you never once counted it a right to be rude. Your love was constant and consistent. Help me lord to reflect on your life and love toward all remembering Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Help me to love and not be rude to those who may be deserving but to put aside my sinful desires to misrepresent you and to love those who are a challenge to love.
Love is not Self Seeking; I ask Lord that you would make it clear to me when my actions or attitudes are set towards selfish gain and not the interests of you or of others. I want others to feel loved by me and ultimately to experience your love in their lives through how I live mine with them. I want to live out Philippians 2:1-4 "Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." Lord I can do this when I make you and your love the center of my life, the foundation for what I do in my life. Give me the strength to live a life of love as you did and to put others needs and interests above my own and live a selfless life for you.
Love is not Easily Angered; Oh Lord this is a hard one. I realize that if I have not sought to have a heart of patience, kindness, contentment, proper personal perspective, humility, and selflessness I will stumble in anger as I try to live a life of love towards others. Lord I need you to help me understand what easily triggers my anger and hinders your love being displayed through me. I know that anger can hurt and scar those I love and even those who I may not know but are watching my life. I know that often times my anger is ignited when plans or people don't go or live according to my expectations. I need to remember that you are ultimately in control and that I always need to surrender my will and my agenda to you and your will. I need to trust what you are doing in the lives of others and I need to seek you daily in order for me to be in line and following your plans and protecting my heart with your love so that when an opportunity to be angry arises I am able to meet it with patience, humility, and kindness from you and shower love not anger on those who need it.
Love Keep No Record of Wrong; I am guilty Lord of bringing up the past in defensive against others. It is often leverage I use in an argument in which I feel gives validity to my point. I know Lord that I hate when others use the past against me. It doesn't make me feel forgiven but it keeps me chained to mistakes and regrets and it stirs anger, not love in me. Because I know how it feels to be on the receiving end I know that I should know better but I still do it Lord. I know in Ps.103:12 it says "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Lord you remove our wrongs from us, you forgive and promise to never use it against us again. What an ultimate display of selfless love you have shown me. I need to surrender my right to be right, my right and want to win an argument, and I need to learn to truly forgive others without holding on to those hurts in order to use them against others in the future. It truly isn't loving to throw the past at those we need to love in the present. Let me truly experience your forgiving love that keeps no record and to share that love with others.
Love does not Delight in Evil but Rejoices with the Truth; Lord this is one that I read and quickly pass over because I say quickly, "I don't delight in evil and I love truth." But I know Lord that if you word says something I need to pause and reflect on how this might be an issue with me. I understand that I don't delight in many evils or what I think of as evil but anything apart from you and your truth is evil Lord. Therefore, I need you to help me to see what things I might delight in that are essentially evil. I know gossip is evil lord but it can be easy to not see it as that but simply as having conversations with others out of concern about others. But if I gossip I am not loving the person I might be speaking about and therefore I am not spending my time rejoicing in truth and I am being a bad witness of Christ love to others. Lord help me to see any and all evil that I may be delighting in and that prevents me from rejoicing in truth and therefore being a beckon of love to others.
Love Always Protects; Lord I need to know what areas of others lives I can lovingly protect and I need the strength and ability to provide that love. For some it may be their life stories that I need to protect from gossip. Others it may be a sensitive heart from being crushed. Perhaps I need to protect someone's hopes and dream from an uncertain future. It could be one's time, or faith, or fears (protecting them from their fears with encouragement), or any number of things. Lord this is where being a person who loves with a love that is not self-seeking is vital. I need to make sure to spend time with others and to pray for Godly wisdom to help me to know how my love can be used to help protect others and allow them to feel safe and loved by me.
Love Always Trusts; This is one of the most challenge aspect of love Lord. We live in a fallen world where people wrong others all the time. Sometimes we wrong others on purpose and often times without intent. To trust is a challenge. But Lord, here your word tells us that Love ALWAYS trusts. Rather than enter into relationships expecting the worse or assuming we know the intent help us to trust what others tell us. Lord we need discernment with this. I know that trust is not always meant to be blind and love does not mean that we say yes to every single thing a person asks of us. But Lord, there are many occassions where I don't trust the words of others when perhaps you call me to. I know that you lived your life in completely trust of The Father's will even though sometimes it meant pain suffering for you. Help me Lord, in my love for you to learn to trust you more and more because you are trust worthy. When I am trusting you I will be better equipped to loving trust others when you call me too.
Love Always Hopes; It is easy Lord for the difficulties and circumstances of life to cloud our hope and leave us questioning your love for us and plans for us. Help me to be encouraged and always remembers the words of 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." Lord may my hope always be in the eternal promises you have made for us. May I live a life of hope during the afflictions and may I learn to be there in love for others who are going through difficult times. May I have a love for them that comes from my love from you and may it fill them with a hope for so much more that this life has to offer. Help me to hold onto the hope found in your love for me always and to lean on it and let it anchor my life.
Love Always Perseveres; Lord perseverance in love can take many forms. It can simply be that we are there for those in need and helping others through their difficult times. It can also mean to persist in a relationship that is challenging. Sometimes people have been hurt or disappointed by others and expect to be again. When relationships get tough we need your strength even more. I am reminded Lord of your disciple Peter who denied you three times but you didn't abandon your love for him, you held no record of wrong and loved him according to his need at that moment. Lord help me to remember your persistent persevering love for me and let that be my strength in showing the same kind of love to others when it might not be so easy.
Love Never Fails; Lord I fail people all the time which means I lack in my holding onto and displaying love to others. 1 John 4:8 says, "...God is love." You are love Lord and you are the ultimate example of all of these things I have prayed about. Your love for me will never fail, it will never lack in what I need from it, it will never loose it's authority, it will never be defeated, it will never be overcome, it will never be lost or ever cease. Your love for me is always there for me anytime of day, in any and all circumstances. May I learn to recognize your love, to experience your love without hindrance, and let your love fill my heart and life so that I may love others with your unfailing love for them.
Lord your word says that I can have faith, I can have hope and I can have love but the greatest of these is love. In your love I find faith. In your love I find hope. Help me to make your love in my life more important than anything else. I know that when your love fills my heart and I experience it daily I am then equipped to love others according to 1 Corinthians 13. Fill my heart today lord and let me live a life of loving others the way you love me.
AMEN
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