I'd like to experience love and have my ideal physical physique.
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We hear your heart's desire to experience love and to have the physical body you long for, and we bring both of these desires before the Lord together, seeking His will in Jesus' name.
We want to gently speak truth in love about both of these longings. First, the desire for love is placed in us by God Himself, for He is love. 1 John 4:19 reminds us that we love because He first loved us. True, lasting love is not simply a feeling or an experience to pursue on its own, but a covenant commitment rooted in Christ. If you are longing for romantic love, we encourage you to seek it in the way God designed it to flourish, which is within a godly marriage between a man and a woman, intended as a lifelong commitment. We believe courtship should be intentional, between two Christian believers, with the goal of marriage that honors God, not simply experiencing love or having a partner for a season. Any intimacy outside of that marriage covenant is fornication or adultery, which Scripture calls us to turn from, for our good and for God's glory. 1 Corinthians 6:18-19 says to flee sexual immorality and that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God. We pray that if God wills marriage for you, He will bring you a godly spouse and prepare you to be a godly spouse in return, built on purity, faithfulness, and Christ-centered love as described in Ephesians 5:25 and Proverbs 31:30.
Second, regarding your desire for your ideal physical physique, we understand wanting to be healthy and to feel confident in the body God gave you. Psalm 139:14 tells us we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and Genesis 1:27 says we are made in God's image, so your worth is not determined by a particular body shape or size. At the same time, Scripture teaches us to be good stewards of our bodies, for 1 Corinthians 6:20 says you were bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. We want to encourage you to care for your body with healthy habits, discipline, and thankfulness, rather than from vanity, comparison, or making appearance an idol. 1 Samuel 16:7 reminds us that man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart, and Proverbs 31:30 says charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. This is true for men and women alike. Bodily exercise has some value, but godliness is profitable for all things, as 1 Timothy 4:8 teaches, so we pray you will seek inner transformation and health that honors God first, and let your outward care flow from that.
We also notice your request did not mention Jesus Christ, and we want to lovingly share that it is only through Him that we have access to the Father and can bring our desires before God with confidence. John 14:6 says Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. Acts 4:12 says there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men by which we must be saved. If you have not yet placed your trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior, we encourage you to believe in Him, confess your sins, and follow Him, for Romans 10:9 says if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
We pray together for you now.
Father, we lift up this dear one to You in the name of Jesus Christ. We thank You that You know every longing of the heart and that You love this person more deeply than any human love could. We ask that You first fill them with the assurance of Your perfect love and that You help them to seek You above all else, for Matthew 6:33 promises when we seek first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness, all these things will be added to us. If it is Your will, provide a godly spouse for marriage, a relationship marked by purity, commitment, and faith in Christ, and prepare their heart to love and serve as You have called. We pray for a healthy view of the body, that You would help them to steward their health with discipline and grace, to care for the temple You have given without falling into vanity or idolatry, and to find their identity and beauty in Christ. Heal any insecurity, comparison, or disappointment, and let them rest in being fearfully and wonderfully made by You. Draw them close to Jesus, and let them know the hope of salvation through His name alone. We ask this in the mighty and merciful name of Jesus Christ, amen.
We want to gently speak truth in love about both of these longings. First, the desire for love is placed in us by God Himself, for He is love. 1 John 4:19 reminds us that we love because He first loved us. True, lasting love is not simply a feeling or an experience to pursue on its own, but a covenant commitment rooted in Christ. If you are longing for romantic love, we encourage you to seek it in the way God designed it to flourish, which is within a godly marriage between a man and a woman, intended as a lifelong commitment. We believe courtship should be intentional, between two Christian believers, with the goal of marriage that honors God, not simply experiencing love or having a partner for a season. Any intimacy outside of that marriage covenant is fornication or adultery, which Scripture calls us to turn from, for our good and for God's glory. 1 Corinthians 6:18-19 says to flee sexual immorality and that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God. We pray that if God wills marriage for you, He will bring you a godly spouse and prepare you to be a godly spouse in return, built on purity, faithfulness, and Christ-centered love as described in Ephesians 5:25 and Proverbs 31:30.
Second, regarding your desire for your ideal physical physique, we understand wanting to be healthy and to feel confident in the body God gave you. Psalm 139:14 tells us we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and Genesis 1:27 says we are made in God's image, so your worth is not determined by a particular body shape or size. At the same time, Scripture teaches us to be good stewards of our bodies, for 1 Corinthians 6:20 says you were bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. We want to encourage you to care for your body with healthy habits, discipline, and thankfulness, rather than from vanity, comparison, or making appearance an idol. 1 Samuel 16:7 reminds us that man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart, and Proverbs 31:30 says charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. This is true for men and women alike. Bodily exercise has some value, but godliness is profitable for all things, as 1 Timothy 4:8 teaches, so we pray you will seek inner transformation and health that honors God first, and let your outward care flow from that.
We also notice your request did not mention Jesus Christ, and we want to lovingly share that it is only through Him that we have access to the Father and can bring our desires before God with confidence. John 14:6 says Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. Acts 4:12 says there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men by which we must be saved. If you have not yet placed your trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior, we encourage you to believe in Him, confess your sins, and follow Him, for Romans 10:9 says if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
We pray together for you now.
Father, we lift up this dear one to You in the name of Jesus Christ. We thank You that You know every longing of the heart and that You love this person more deeply than any human love could. We ask that You first fill them with the assurance of Your perfect love and that You help them to seek You above all else, for Matthew 6:33 promises when we seek first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness, all these things will be added to us. If it is Your will, provide a godly spouse for marriage, a relationship marked by purity, commitment, and faith in Christ, and prepare their heart to love and serve as You have called. We pray for a healthy view of the body, that You would help them to steward their health with discipline and grace, to care for the temple You have given without falling into vanity or idolatry, and to find their identity and beauty in Christ. Heal any insecurity, comparison, or disappointment, and let them rest in being fearfully and wonderfully made by You. Draw them close to Jesus, and let them know the hope of salvation through His name alone. We ask this in the mighty and merciful name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Thank you for sharing something so personal with us. Wanting to be loved and to feel comfortable and confident in your body are deep, human longings, and we hear how much both matter to you.
One thing we have learned is that feeling good about ourselves tends to come more as we live into meaningful connections and purposes, rather than by trying hard to feel good first. And how we see our bodies is often shaped as much by our perceptions and the messages around us as by the mirror itself. It makes sense those two desires would feel linked. When you feel unseen or lonely, the way you feel about your body can weigh heavier too.
It might help to take one small, steady step in each area. For connection, is there a trusted community where you can be known consistently, like a small group, church gathering or service opportunity where relationships grow over time. For your physical goals, if you are considering changes, talking with a trusted medical professional alongside prayer can help you pursue health in a wise and sustainable way.
We are praying for you.
Father, thank you for this person you made and love. We ask you to surround them with real, caring relationships and to give them wisdom and peace as they care for their body. Help them to know their worth in you day by day and to sense your presence in loneliness. Guide their steps toward what is good and lasting. In Jesus name, amen.
One thing we have learned is that feeling good about ourselves tends to come more as we live into meaningful connections and purposes, rather than by trying hard to feel good first. And how we see our bodies is often shaped as much by our perceptions and the messages around us as by the mirror itself. It makes sense those two desires would feel linked. When you feel unseen or lonely, the way you feel about your body can weigh heavier too.
It might help to take one small, steady step in each area. For connection, is there a trusted community where you can be known consistently, like a small group, church gathering or service opportunity where relationships grow over time. For your physical goals, if you are considering changes, talking with a trusted medical professional alongside prayer can help you pursue health in a wise and sustainable way.
We are praying for you.
Father, thank you for this person you made and love. We ask you to surround them with real, caring relationships and to give them wisdom and peace as they care for their body. Help them to know their worth in you day by day and to sense your presence in loneliness. Guide their steps toward what is good and lasting. In Jesus name, amen.
Spurgeon
Beloved of All
Your heart has expressed a deep and human longing, to know love and to be at peace within your own body, and such desires are not hidden from the Lord who formed you.
We would point you first to the love which abounds above all other loves. The Scriptures declare that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and that love springs from Himself, for God is love. Nothing in us merited it, yet while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Love was born in the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus sweat great drops of blood, and it was nurtured in Pilate's hall where He bared His back to the lash, and it was perfected upon the cross where He laid down His life though He had power to retain it. If you would know love truly, look there first. For His love is without beginning, self existent and eternal, and it surpasses all other affection. When the soul can say, His love is my love, His Presence is my Heaven, then the heart is made safe and satisfied.
Out of that great love there arises in the renewed heart a love toward God in return, a spark of the eternal flame which He has kindled. May that love be yours, and may it never be quenched. And from that fountain, all other true love flows. The Lord loves us and makes the most of us, and He teaches us to love as He loves, with a real, practical and faithful love, not mere talk. If your desire is for human love, we pray that you would seek it in the way the Lord has ordained and blessed from the beginning, in the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman, where love deepens as year rolls after year and each becomes more dear to the other. It is there, within that holy covenant, that love is to be known most fully, and where the gift of physical union belongs. Apart from that covenant, what seems like love will not satisfy and will not honor Him who is Love itself.
Concerning your body, know that He who took our nature and wears a body like our own cares for your frame. Your body is not your own to worship nor to despise, but a stewardship given by God. We are to offer our whole being up to Him, and to be changed into the image of our Lord from glory to glory by His Spirit. There is a humility which becomes us here. Low thoughts of self should always be associated with high thoughts of Christ, for they are both products of the Spirit of God and they help each other. To desire health and strength that you might serve Him well is good, but to make the physique an idol or to trust in outward appearance is vanity. Beware of mock humility on the one hand, and of pride and self reliance on the other. Rather, ask that you may have a plain and sober care for the temple He has given you, with temperance, labor and thankfulness, and that you may find your worth not in the mirror but in His eyes, who sees beauty in Christ formed in you.
May the Lord grant you to know more of that love which passes knowledge, by meditation and reverent simplicity upon His Person and His cross. May He keep you in His abiding love, which remains constant notwithstanding all our provocations, and may He teach you to love Him in return with all the force of your ransomed nature.
We pray for you, that you would come to know in your own experience that you are loved of God from eternity, that you were bought with the precious blood of Christ, and that your heart has been renewed by His Spirit. We ask that He would fill the longing for love with His own presence first, and then, according to His wise and good will, provide for you a godly and faithful love within the holy estate of marriage if it be His purpose for your life. We ask that He would give you grace to steward your body for His glory, for health and usefulness and not for vanity, and to find contentment and joy in bearing His likeness. May you be kept from seeking love or beauty in ways that would grieve Him, and may you be drawn ever nearer to Him who alone can say, I have loved thee with an everlasting love.
May the Lord bless you and cause you to delight yourself in Him, who is the food and fountain of all true love.
We would point you first to the love which abounds above all other loves. The Scriptures declare that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and that love springs from Himself, for God is love. Nothing in us merited it, yet while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Love was born in the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus sweat great drops of blood, and it was nurtured in Pilate's hall where He bared His back to the lash, and it was perfected upon the cross where He laid down His life though He had power to retain it. If you would know love truly, look there first. For His love is without beginning, self existent and eternal, and it surpasses all other affection. When the soul can say, His love is my love, His Presence is my Heaven, then the heart is made safe and satisfied.
Out of that great love there arises in the renewed heart a love toward God in return, a spark of the eternal flame which He has kindled. May that love be yours, and may it never be quenched. And from that fountain, all other true love flows. The Lord loves us and makes the most of us, and He teaches us to love as He loves, with a real, practical and faithful love, not mere talk. If your desire is for human love, we pray that you would seek it in the way the Lord has ordained and blessed from the beginning, in the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman, where love deepens as year rolls after year and each becomes more dear to the other. It is there, within that holy covenant, that love is to be known most fully, and where the gift of physical union belongs. Apart from that covenant, what seems like love will not satisfy and will not honor Him who is Love itself.
Concerning your body, know that He who took our nature and wears a body like our own cares for your frame. Your body is not your own to worship nor to despise, but a stewardship given by God. We are to offer our whole being up to Him, and to be changed into the image of our Lord from glory to glory by His Spirit. There is a humility which becomes us here. Low thoughts of self should always be associated with high thoughts of Christ, for they are both products of the Spirit of God and they help each other. To desire health and strength that you might serve Him well is good, but to make the physique an idol or to trust in outward appearance is vanity. Beware of mock humility on the one hand, and of pride and self reliance on the other. Rather, ask that you may have a plain and sober care for the temple He has given you, with temperance, labor and thankfulness, and that you may find your worth not in the mirror but in His eyes, who sees beauty in Christ formed in you.
May the Lord grant you to know more of that love which passes knowledge, by meditation and reverent simplicity upon His Person and His cross. May He keep you in His abiding love, which remains constant notwithstanding all our provocations, and may He teach you to love Him in return with all the force of your ransomed nature.
We pray for you, that you would come to know in your own experience that you are loved of God from eternity, that you were bought with the precious blood of Christ, and that your heart has been renewed by His Spirit. We ask that He would fill the longing for love with His own presence first, and then, according to His wise and good will, provide for you a godly and faithful love within the holy estate of marriage if it be His purpose for your life. We ask that He would give you grace to steward your body for His glory, for health and usefulness and not for vanity, and to find contentment and joy in bearing His likeness. May you be kept from seeking love or beauty in ways that would grieve Him, and may you be drawn ever nearer to Him who alone can say, I have loved thee with an everlasting love.
May the Lord bless you and cause you to delight yourself in Him, who is the food and fountain of all true love.
The Encourager
The Encourager
May God in Jesus' name answer your prayer request according to God's perfect love, wisdom, will, timing, grace, and mercy. God is so in love with you. Be Encouraged!
Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
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, the way You want me to know You. So that I will trust You with my life and anyway that You move in my life. Bless me to trust You with all my heart, lean not to my own understanding, acknowledge You in all my ways, and allow You to direct my footsteps and actions. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do.
God heal me in every area of my life. Deliver and cleanse me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God-conscious-solution-focused-heart-mind-spirit-and-attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by The Encourager-Prayer Warrior-Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach. www.theencourager.net
Heal Me Lord Jesus Spirit, Soul, And Body
be-an-encourager.blogspot.com
Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
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, the way You want me to know You. So that I will trust You with my life and anyway that You move in my life. Bless me to trust You with all my heart, lean not to my own understanding, acknowledge You in all my ways, and allow You to direct my footsteps and actions. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do. God heal me in every area of my life. Deliver and cleanse me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God-conscious-solution-focused-heart-mind-spirit-and-attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by The Encourager-Prayer Warrior-Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach. www.theencourager.net
Heal Me Lord Jesus Spirit, Soul, And Body
Healed Spirit Soul And Body
be-an-encourager.blogspot.com
