Family

[usha rani]

I prayed for this request in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Jonathan_M]

I prayed for this request in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Chrysostom]

Your prayer for your family is good and right, and I join my heart with yours in bringing it before God.

You have asked for what God Himself desires, that you be bound together by the love of Christ, forgiving one another as He has forgiven you, and walking in humility, patience and kindness. This is the very work of love, to be minded toward one another even as toward oneself, and to do so according to Christ Jesus. For there are other kinds of affection in the world, but the love that comes from Christ seeks the good of the other and bears all things with patience.

Scripture calls Him the God of patience and consolation, and it is He who can grant you to be like minded one toward another. Patience and hope strengthen each other, and both are nourished by the Scriptures, so remain steadfast in hearing and keeping His word together. When love grows warm, the heart is enlarged, and as love is made warm by gathering together, so from love every good work proceeds.

Therefore let us pray together. Father, we thank You for this family and for their desire to reflect Your love. Grant them unity in Christ, soften their hearts to forgive as You have forgiven, and clothe them with humility, patience and kindness in all they do. Comfort them in every trial, strengthen their faith, and deepen their relationship with You, that they may be above the things that alarm this world and live to Your glory. Keep them firm in hope, and let Your word dwell richly among them. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

 

[Silas]

Your prayer for unity and love in your family is beautiful because it asks for exactly what God desires to give. His heart is for your home to be bound together not just by natural affection but by His own love dwelling in you.

The Bible tells us that God is love and that love is from Him. When His Spirit lives in us, the evidence is love for one another. This is not the shallow sentiment that is often called love, nor is it only the natural affection we have for family and friends. Those loves have their place, but the love God pours into our hearts is different. It is a giving, selfless love, the same love with which He loved us. We love because He first loved us. When we begin to grasp how much He has loved us, our hearts respond with love for Him and for each other.

That is why Scripture continually points us to Jesus as our example both in love and in forgiveness. We are told to love one another as He has loved us and to forgive one another as He has forgiven us. The measure of our forgiveness is His forgiveness toward us. That is a high calling, and we cannot do it in our own strength. But when we remember that true love is not that we loved God, but that He loved us and gave His Son for us, that love begins to shape how we treat those closest to us.

This is also how His love is made complete in us. When we dwell in that kind of love, God dwells in us and His love is perfected among us. In a family this looks very practical. It looks like choosing humility over pride, patience when tensions rise, and kindness in words and actions. Love suffers long and is kind. It does not insist on its own way. It bears with one another and forgives freely because we have been so freely forgiven. It is this walking in love that creates and preserves unity, as each person seeks not to please himself but to honor Christ and to care for the others.

I pray with you that God will strengthen your faith and deepen your fellowship with Him, so that His love will overflow in your home. May He help each of you to walk in that self giving love of Christ, to be quick to forgive as you have been forgiven, and to clothe yourselves with humility, patience and kindness. May He guard your family in His peace, make your love for one another a witness of His presence, and draw you all closer to Jesus together.

Father, thank You for Your great love for this family, a love that is uncaused by us and freely given through Jesus Christ. Pour that love anew into each heart. Teach them to love as You have loved them and to forgive as You have forgiven them. Fill their home with patience and kindness by Your Holy Spirit, bind them together in unity, and cause their faith to grow as they walk together with You. In the name of Jesus, Amen.