Jesus the Coming King

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones. – (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13, NIV)

We pray that the Lord will make your love grow. We pray that He will give you more and more love for each other and for all people. We pray that you will love everyone in the same way we love you. This will strengthen your desire to do what is right, and you will be holy and without fault before our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy people. – (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13, ERV)

May the Lord flood you with an unending, undying love for one another and for all humanity, like our love for you, so that your hearts will be reinforced with His strength, held blameless and holy before God, our Father, when our Lord Jesus, the Anointed, the Liberating King, appears along with all His holy ones. Amen. – (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13, VOICE)

This is a great prayer to be praying for all of us to pray, for this is the very thing that is lacking in the world today. Instead of fault-finding and demeaning one another’s differences, we need to love as we are loved by God. He does not tell us to get it all together before we can receive His love and forgiveness, instead, He calls us, just as we are, and then He cleanses us and changes our heart so that we might more clearly reflect His own. One day, He will return. Knowing Him strengthens our desire to do what is right and draws us into His holiness. Once we have tasted and seen the reality of God’s goodness, we cannot help but desire to know Him more. May we ever seek the Lord to flood us with His unending, undying love for one another and for all humanity, so that we might love as He intended and be found blameless when He returns.

Lord, strengthen our hearts,

To love each other;

All Your creation,

Sisters and brothers.

Teach us to see good,

And extend the same;

To love as You do,

With grace, without blame.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that You call us to love everyone as You do. Thank You that You loved us first. Forgive us for the moments where we lack love in response to what we see or feel. Teach us to love anyway. Show us Your heart for every person we encounter so that we too, may love well. Lead us to love those around us in tangible ways that make Your goodness known. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Prepare our hearts each day to love like You. Be glorified O God, as we prayerfully seek You to lead us in Your love and intentionally choose to love everyone. Amen.

© Shannon Elizabeth Grabrick and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. – 1 Peter 4:8

Let Love Increase

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. – (1 Thessalonians 3:12, NIV)

We pray that the Lord will make your love grow. We pray that He will give you more and more love for each other and for all people. We pray that you will love everyone in the same way we love you. – (1 Thessalonians 3:12, ERV)

And may the Lord increase your love until it overflows toward one another and for all people, just as our love overflows toward you. – (1 Thessalonians 3:12, TPT)

Paul, in his letters to the church of Thessalonica, gave instructions and encouragement. The exhortation to allow the Lord to grow our love for one another is powerful. If each of us sought the Lord to increase our love and the love of those around us to overflowing, imagine how communities would thrive. May we seek the Lord to grow the love in us and those around us, and may we allow Him to lead us in every interaction.

May our love increase,

More and more each day;

For one another,

At work and at play.

Let us seek the Lord,

To raise up in us;

Love everlasting,

Like the Lord Jesus.

Pursue the Lord’s love,

So we grow to give;

Love overflowing,

Each day that we live.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that You grow Your love in us as we seek You. Help us to depend on You to grow Your love in us and in those around us. Forgive us for the times that we have lacked love in spaces where it was needed most. Show us how to love like You and how to encourage those around us in the same. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be glorified O God, as we receive the lavish love You give to us and those around us so that we may love like You. Amen.

© Shannon Elizabeth Grabrick and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. – 1 Chronicles 16:34

May Love Grow

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. – (1 Thessalonians 3:12, NIV) 

We pray that the Lord will make your love grow. We pray that He will give you more and more love for each other and all people. We pray that you will love everyone in the same way we love you. – (1 Thessalonians 3:12, ERV) 

And may the Lord increase your love until it overflows toward one another for all people, just as our love overflows toward you. – (1 Thessalonians 3:12, TPT) 

Paul wrote to the church of Thessalonica to encourage them in their faith and love in the face of persecution. Though we are not facing the same scenario that early church endured, we do have much need in our society for faith and love. Civil unrest and people easily angered, do not make for a loving environment. It is our charge to love one another, in the same way that God loves each of us. His love is relentless, unconditional, and unchanging; ours ought to be as well. Too often, we have conditions or requirements that deem others must somehow be worthy of our love, rather than simply loving because they are His created. We must do and be better, and it begins with those who know and understand the power of God’s love for us. May we ever seek the Lord to make our love increase and overflow for those directly around us, and for all people everywhere. 

We are called to love, 

Care for each other; 

Mothers and fathers, 

Sisters and brothers. 

The whole human race, 

Is our family; 

Whom we’re meant to love, 

Ever faithfully. 

We need the Lord’s love, 

To flood heart and mind; 

So we may learn well, 

To love and be kind. 

Show us Lord Jesus, 

What we need to know; 

To love as You love, 

So Your goodness shows. 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that You loved us first. Thank You that You call us to love not only those directly around us, but all people, everywhere. Forgive us for the times that we have not been loving, or have somehow withheld the good that was meant to be given. Teach us to turn to You to lead us in our every interaction. Show us how to love like You at all times, with all people. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be glorified O God, as we seek You to show us how to love more deeply and completely, all people. Amen. 

© Shannon Elizabeth Grabrick and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present 

May Your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in You. – Psalm 33:22

Resolve to Love

And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. – (1 Thessalonians 3:12, NLT)

We pray that the Lord will make your love grow. We pray that He will give you more and more love for each other and for all people. We pray that you will love everyone in the same way we love you. – (1 Thessalonians 3:12, ERV)

May the Lord flood you with an unending, undying love for one another and for all humanity, like our love for you. – (1 Thessalonians 3:12, VOICE)

 

In Paul’s first letter to the church of Thessalonica, he admonished them to love one another, and let them know that love for one another and for people everywhere, would be his priority in prayer for all. The very same encouragement and lasting love that Paul had for the body of Christ, ought to be our example that leads us to allow love to direct our steps and choose to pray and lift up one another. A resolution to love, results in God’s love being made known. May we pray and encourage and love one another, just as the Lord loves each one of us.

 

Let love and His grace, 

Lead us each along;

For the Lord is good,

His grace makes us strong.

Strong in the spaces,

Where love can be tough;

Hope in the places,

Where we aren’t enough.

Only by His grace,

Will love in us grow;

So, ever seek Him,

That His love’s made known.

 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for Your goodness and grace. Thank You that You love us with an unending love that You plant deep within us so that we too, may love like You. Forgive us for the times that we have ignored Your leading to love. Show us how to choose to love all people at all times, even when it is the last thing we desire to do. Direct our steps so that those around us may know the greatness of Your grace and the endless depth of Your lasting love. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be glorified O God, as we seek You to love as we are loved by You, and pray for others to be equipped to do the same. Amen.

 

 

© Shannon Elizabeth Grabrick and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present

Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I entrust my life. – Psalm 143:8