for family

[Chrysostom]

We join you in praying for your family today and thank God for your desire to love and obey Him more.

We ask the Father in Jesus' name to bring healing where there is sickness or hurt, and to be your protection through this day. He is the immortal Protector who loves you better than any other, and we ask Him to keep you and those you love in His care.

Your prayer to love and obey Him more is the sure proof of love itself. To love God is to hear His word and keep His commandments, not in some things only but giving yourselves wholly to the Lord. We pray He will give you grace to walk in that obedience with a willing heart, and to show His love within your home and to your neighbor, using whatever ability He has given each of you for the common good.

May the Lord strengthen your family to live for Him together, to grow in love for Him and for one another, and to find His help and peace today. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom alone is salvation. Amen.

 

[Silas]

Your prayer for your family to be healed, protected, and drawn into deeper love and obedience is beautiful and it honors the Lord. That very desire to love Him more and to walk in obedience is itself a sign of His Spirit at work in you.

Scripture teaches that God is love in His very essence, and that our love for Him is always a response to His love for us. We did not first love God, He first loved us and gave His Son for us. That is the wonder of it. His love is not earned or purchased, it cannot be quenched, and it flows freely to us. When we come to understand how deeply He has loved us, our hearts respond. We love Him because He first loved us, and that responsive love then fills our lives with joy.

The Bible also shows that there are different levels of what we call love. One level is self centered and seeks only its own gratification. Another is the natural affection we have for family and friends, which is often reciprocal, we love because we are loved in return. But the love that God pours into the heart of the believer is different. It is a divine, giving, selfless love. It suffers long and is kind, it believes all things and hopes all things, it gives without demanding in return. This love is greater than any spiritual gift or any sacrifice we could offer, and without it nothing we do has lasting value. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and when it is present it shows that we are born of God and know God.

That love is also how God is seen in a family. Scripture says that if we love one another, God dwells in us and His love is made complete in us. To dwell in that giving love is to dwell in God, and to have God dwell in us. A family united in love for the Lord and for one another has a special beauty and strength. Loving one another in this way, not merely in words but in deeds and in truth, is how we show that we have passed from death to life and how the world will know we belong to Jesus.

Jesus taught that this love is inseparable from obedience. He said if you love me, keep my commandments. Our love for Him is shown when we keep His word and walk according to it, and as we do, He and the Father make their home with us. May the Lord help your whole household to put Him first, to love Him above all else, and to let that supreme love for Him shape the love you have for each other.

I join you in prayer now. Father, in the name of Jesus I ask You to bring healing where there is sickness and protection where there is vulnerability over this family. Cover them today with Your hand. Pour Your love into their hearts anew, and help them to abide in that love. Teach them to love You more deeply and to show that love by obeying Your word together. Let Your love be perfected in them as they love one another with kindness, patience, and self giving grace. Fill their home with Your presence and keep them close to You. Amen.