Expressing My Faith Through Love

Love never fails.

     —1 Corinthians 13:8a (NIV)

And without faith it is impossible to please God…

     —Hebrews 11:6a (NIV)

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

     —Galatians 5:6b (NIV)

Heavenly Father,

With a grateful heart and in response to Your love for me, help me to keep my focus on doing that which pleases You—expressing my faith through love.

Fill me with Your love for others, so I might learn how to love everyone with the same sacrificial love with which You first loved me—not with some less-than-adequate human love which self-centeredly picks and chooses when to love and who to love.

Help me to love in obedience to Your command, when I don’t really want to love—when I’m just not feeling it—and when I can’t see any apparent return for my efforts.

Help me to love sacrificially those who I may think don’t deserve my love—who may be oblivious to my actions of love—and to whom my love seems to make no difference.

Help me love in faith, having faith that my expression of the God-kind of love always accomplishes the purpose for which You have ordained it—whether by changing the other person, or by bringing about a change in myself—and that it never falls uselessly to the ground.

With a grateful heart and in response to Your love for me, help me to keep my focus on doing that which pleases You—expressing my faith through love.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Perfectly Suited And Divinely Marked

But now, O LORD, You are our Father,
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all of us are the work of Your hand.

—Isaiah 64:8 (NASB)

Heavenly Father,

Like a skilled potter patiently fashions his lump of clay according to his plans, so continue to make me into that uniquely original vessel which is perfectly suited for Your purposes and divinely marked for all to see—a product of Your gentle, loving hand and a living testimony to Your amazing craftsmanship.

It is You, O LORD, who has created me and given me life—and it is to You that I owe my life and my existence—so mold me as You will and make me Your very own!

With gentleness and patience, remove from me that which does not reflect Your long-planned purposes for my life—and smooth away any rough edges, that I would become all that You intend for me  to become, according to Your perfect design.

To those areas where I am vulnerable to failure, those places where I am weak, add the strength of Your grace—helping me to seek out and more fully depend on Your presence in my life to carry me through.

Let others forever see Your hand at work in me and through me, reflected in the daily testimony of my life as I live it out before them, so they might give You all of the glory, honor, and praise for the marvelous work You have done—and continue to do—in me.

And may I see Your hand at work in others and give You the glory, honor and praise for the marvelous work You are doing in each and every one of us—and see that You are extending to each of them that same grace that You so freely pour out on me.

Like a skilled potter patiently fashions his lump of clay according to his plans, so continue to make me into that uniquely original vessel which is perfectly suited for Your purposes and divinely marked for all to see—a product of Your gentle, loving hand and a living testimony to Your amazing craftsmanship.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

To Come Like A Child

“I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

—Mark 10:15 (NLT)

Heavenly Father,

Teach me how to come to You like a child, that I might enter into all that You have for me—both in the here-and-now, and for eternity to come.

Teach me how to come to You with childlike humility—knowing that I have nothing but my heart to bring to You, and yet have everything to gain from You.

Teach me how to come to You with childlike dependence—knowing I am helpless and hopeless without You, but still can find help and hope in You.

Teach me how to come to You with childlike inquisitiveness—that I might gain knowledge and grow in wisdom, and leave behind my foolish ways.

Teach me how to come to You with childlike faith—asking You for what You have promised and confident that I will receive everything I need by Your hand.

Teach me how to come to You with childlike obedience—willingly going and doing that which You require of me, knowing You always have my best interests at heart.

Teach me how to come to You with childlike gratefulness—giving thanks in all situations for all of Your goodness, knowing You work all things together for my good.

Teach me how to come to You with childlike love—purely motivated and freely offered, just because of who You are.

Teach me how to come to You like a child—that I might enter into all that You have for me, both in the here-and-now, and for eternity to come.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.