“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” – 1 John 4:7-11 NASB1995

Father, fill me with Your abiding love first for You, and then for those around me, for love is from God. Everyone who truly loves is born of God and knows God. Being unloving proves one does not know You, for You, O God, are love, and You bear the fruit of Your image through us who abide in Christ. I pray for Your love to pour to me and through me for the glory of Your name, and for the fulfillment of Your Kingdom purpose.

You manifest Your love in us in that You sent Your only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved You, but that You loved us and sent Your Son to be the propitiation for our – my – sins. Father, since You so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Empower us to die to self and self-will so that others may know You. This heart is my desire and request.

Thank You, Father, that through Christ I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I pray You grant me the faith to live in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Let this truth be seen in me through the giving and receiving of encouragement in Christ, the consolation of love, the fellowship of the Spirit, and the giving of affection and compassion.

Make my joy complete by making me to be of the same mind with You and Your true people, maintaining the same love; and being united in spirit. Fill us with Your love so that we may be one with You, intent on one purpose. May we do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind grant us to regard one another as more important than self. May we not merely look out for our own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Fill us with this attitude in ourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. He existed in the form of God, but did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped – He did not count Himself too good to get in the mud and lift us out of it. Emptying Himself, and taking the form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of men – found in appearance as a man, Jesus humbled Himself by becoming obedient to Your will and desire, even to the point of death, the death on a cross that paid my due penalty.

My desire, Lord, is to love so as to lay down my life for others, not only in dying for them, if need be, but in the opportunities to give myself to the simple acts of intentional selflessness that come to us almost daily. Increase my faithfulness in putting my desires aside to meet the need of another. This is my heart cry. True love is revealed in us as in Christ when we willingly give ourselves to the practice of intentional selflessness for the cause of Christ. May I be found faithful at Your coming. In Jesus name, amen.