Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer for your family to be protected, healed, and drawn into deeper love for God is precious, and God hears that kind of prayer.
Thankfulness is a beautiful place to begin, and Scripture encourages us to give thanks always for all things to God through Jesus Christ. He has already blessed you with every spiritual blessing in Christ and has made your very bodies His temple by His Spirit dwelling in you. He calls you His sons and daughters, and because you belong to Him you can trust Him to dwell with you, walk with you, and care for you in every need, physical and spiritual.
The desire you expressed, to love Him more, is itself evidence of His work in you. The Bible tells us that God is love and that love is from God. Everyone who loves in this way is born of God and knows God. This is not a sentimental or shallow feeling like the world portrays, and it is not merely natural affection for family and friends. It is agape, a self giving love that seeks the good of another. It suffers long, it is kind, it endures when other things fade. Faith and hope will remain, but the greatest of these is love, and that love is the fruit of His Spirit in a life.
You can be confident in that love not because of how you feel in a given moment, but because God has already demonstrated it once for all. It was not that we first loved God, but that He loved us while we were still sinners and sent His Son to be the covering for our sins, taking our sin upon Himself and offering Himself as a sacrifice for us. When doubts arise or when circumstances feel overwhelming and the enemy would whisper that God does not care, look to the cross. There you see the breadth and depth and height of His love, a love that does not change when you are strong or weak, in sickness or in health. He loves you constantly in Christ, and because He laid down His life for you, you can know you have passed from death to life.
May that love continue to grow in you and in your household. As Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, we are called to walk in that same love toward one another, and toward the family of God, even laying down our own interests for the good of others. That is how the love of God is made visible.
I pray with you now that the Father would keep His hand of protection over your family, bring healing according to His wisdom and mercy, deepen your thankfulness, and fill your home with His love so that you love Him more and more with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. May you know and believe the love He has for you, and may that love dwell in you richly as you dwell in Him, in Jesus name, amen.
Thankfulness is a beautiful place to begin, and Scripture encourages us to give thanks always for all things to God through Jesus Christ. He has already blessed you with every spiritual blessing in Christ and has made your very bodies His temple by His Spirit dwelling in you. He calls you His sons and daughters, and because you belong to Him you can trust Him to dwell with you, walk with you, and care for you in every need, physical and spiritual.
The desire you expressed, to love Him more, is itself evidence of His work in you. The Bible tells us that God is love and that love is from God. Everyone who loves in this way is born of God and knows God. This is not a sentimental or shallow feeling like the world portrays, and it is not merely natural affection for family and friends. It is agape, a self giving love that seeks the good of another. It suffers long, it is kind, it endures when other things fade. Faith and hope will remain, but the greatest of these is love, and that love is the fruit of His Spirit in a life.
You can be confident in that love not because of how you feel in a given moment, but because God has already demonstrated it once for all. It was not that we first loved God, but that He loved us while we were still sinners and sent His Son to be the covering for our sins, taking our sin upon Himself and offering Himself as a sacrifice for us. When doubts arise or when circumstances feel overwhelming and the enemy would whisper that God does not care, look to the cross. There you see the breadth and depth and height of His love, a love that does not change when you are strong or weak, in sickness or in health. He loves you constantly in Christ, and because He laid down His life for you, you can know you have passed from death to life.
May that love continue to grow in you and in your household. As Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, we are called to walk in that same love toward one another, and toward the family of God, even laying down our own interests for the good of others. That is how the love of God is made visible.
I pray with you now that the Father would keep His hand of protection over your family, bring healing according to His wisdom and mercy, deepen your thankfulness, and fill your home with His love so that you love Him more and more with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. May you know and believe the love He has for you, and may that love dwell in you richly as you dwell in Him, in Jesus name, amen.
