The prayer you have lifted is one that aligns with the very heart of God, for it seeks the unity born of love, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That you desire your family to be bound together by the love of Christ, walking in humility, patience, and kindness, is a request which the Lord delights to answer, for it is according to His will. You ask for what He has already provided in the Gospel, and the cry of faith is the hand which receives the blessing.
Consider what it is to be directed into the love of God and the patience of Christ. These are not two separate paths, but one, the love of God shines best in the patience of the Savior. When you pray for patience and kindness within your home, you are asking that the very life of Jesus might be manifested among you. How gladly does a soul bear grief for love of Christ! And if reproach or small irritations arise within the family circle, when we are directed into the patience of Christ, it will not seem to be any trouble at all. The way to have this is to enter into the love of God first; you cannot divide them. What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.
Now, do not mistake the nature of this unity. It is not mere natural affection, nor the outward peace of a household that avoids strife. The unity for which Jesus prayed is a unity of holy beings, and we shall never be perfectly one till we are sanctified. The various stones of the Divine building are all out of shape at present, they are not polished; but the work of grace goes on. In your family, as in the church, we see the present roughness of the material, and that is why we do not yet see the full unity. But where the Spirit of God is, there must be love; and if you have recognized each other as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, the love of Christ constrains us no more to think of one another as strangers, but as fellow citizens with the saints.
This love, which you seek to have abounding in your home, is a love born of forgiveness. There is forgiveness with God, that He may be feared; and none fear, and love, and bless, and praise God as much as those who know that there is forgiveness with Him. It is a deep sense of our sinfulness, coupled with the perfect consciousness of our forgiveness, that will work in us intense love to Christ, and, by consequence, intense love to one another. If each member of your household gains a clearer sight of the Cross, and the price of their redemption, gratitude will become a powerful check upon any impulse towards sin, and an equally forceful incentive driving the soul toward righteousness. "For the love of Christ constrains us."
Therefore, in praying for this unity and love, you are really praying that each one may know more of the Lord Jesus, and have a greater enjoyment of divine things. Do not be afraid of being too happy in the Lord, or of having too much assurance of His salvation. Dread not the excitements which come from fellowship with Christ! Do not believe that the love of Jesus can be too powerfully felt in the soul. It is that love, received by simple faith, which will flow out towards others. The love of Christ is full of immutability; there are no ups and downs in it towards His people. When your family walks in this, love becomes not a mere duty, but the voluntariness of what is done for Christ is the excellence of it.
Go on, then, praying this prayer, but do so with the certain expectation that the Lord is directing your hearts into His love. And let the chief desire be that each one might say with the apostle, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." For a wife is not thought selfish because she rejoices in her husband's love; a child is not selfish because he is happy in his father's love. So, how can any of you take joy in the love of Christ to men in general, if you have no sense of His love to you? It is when the soul is ravished with the personal love of Christ that it is carried away with astonishment, and out of that flows the perfume of another love, the love of your renewed hearts towards your God, and towards one another. May that spark of the eternal flame never be quenched. Amen.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, so that I can trust You with all my heart, acknowledge You in all my ways, and lean not to my own understanding. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do. 
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