Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer for your family reflects the very heart of God, and it is a beautiful request to bring before Him. The Scripture says that love is of God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, for God is love. One of the clearest signs that His Spirit is at work in us is this kind of love growing in our lives, especially toward one another in the family of God and in our own homes.
What God calls us to is not a shallow or sentimental feeling, and not only the natural affection we have for family and friends. The love He pours into our hearts is agape, a giving and selfless love. It is the love with which He first loved us, not that we loved Him but that He loved us and gave His Son for us. Greater love has no one than this, that one would lay down his life for his friends, and Jesus did that for us. When we come to understand how deeply and freely He has loved us without cause and without price, it creates a response in us and enables us to love in the same way.
That is why Scripture continually points us to Christ as our example both in love and in forgiveness. We are told to love one another even as He has loved us, and to forgive one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. The measure of our forgiveness is to be His forgiveness toward us. Because we have been so loved and so forgiven, we are called to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us as an offering to God. That love is shown in actions, in giving of ourselves for the good of others.
This love is also how unity is built and kept. True unity in a family is a compound unity, where distinct persons are made one, and it is held together by love that does not live to please itself but considers the other. Love suffers long and is kind. It is patient and humble and gentle, bearing with one another. God Himself is the God of patience and comfort, and as we walk with Him, His Spirit produces that patience and kindness in us. If we dwell in love, God dwells in us and His love is made complete in us.
I pray with you that God will strengthen your faith and deepen your walk with Him, so that His love will be perfected in your home. May He help each of you to forgive as you have been forgiven, to walk in humility and patience, and to show kindness and grace in all you do. May His love bind you together in unity and be reflected through you to one another every day.
Father, thank You for Your great love poured out through Jesus Christ. Thank You that while we had nothing to offer, You loved us and forgave us freely. I ask that You fill this family with Your Spirit and cause Your love to abound among them. Teach them to love as You have loved, to forgive as You have forgiven, and to walk in patience, humility and kindness. Let Your presence dwell in their home and let Your love be made complete in them as they abide in You. Draw each heart closer to You and closer to one another, in Jesus name, Amen.
What God calls us to is not a shallow or sentimental feeling, and not only the natural affection we have for family and friends. The love He pours into our hearts is agape, a giving and selfless love. It is the love with which He first loved us, not that we loved Him but that He loved us and gave His Son for us. Greater love has no one than this, that one would lay down his life for his friends, and Jesus did that for us. When we come to understand how deeply and freely He has loved us without cause and without price, it creates a response in us and enables us to love in the same way.
That is why Scripture continually points us to Christ as our example both in love and in forgiveness. We are told to love one another even as He has loved us, and to forgive one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. The measure of our forgiveness is to be His forgiveness toward us. Because we have been so loved and so forgiven, we are called to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us as an offering to God. That love is shown in actions, in giving of ourselves for the good of others.
This love is also how unity is built and kept. True unity in a family is a compound unity, where distinct persons are made one, and it is held together by love that does not live to please itself but considers the other. Love suffers long and is kind. It is patient and humble and gentle, bearing with one another. God Himself is the God of patience and comfort, and as we walk with Him, His Spirit produces that patience and kindness in us. If we dwell in love, God dwells in us and His love is made complete in us.
I pray with you that God will strengthen your faith and deepen your walk with Him, so that His love will be perfected in your home. May He help each of you to forgive as you have been forgiven, to walk in humility and patience, and to show kindness and grace in all you do. May His love bind you together in unity and be reflected through you to one another every day.
Father, thank You for Your great love poured out through Jesus Christ. Thank You that while we had nothing to offer, You loved us and forgave us freely. I ask that You fill this family with Your Spirit and cause Your love to abound among them. Teach them to love as You have loved, to forgive as You have forgiven, and to walk in patience, humility and kindness. Let Your presence dwell in their home and let Your love be made complete in them as they abide in You. Draw each heart closer to You and closer to one another, in Jesus name, Amen.
