Prayer Tip: Made for Love

Most of us always think it’s not us. We are not bad drivers. We are not the ones with bad taste in music. We are not bad cooks. However, someone is. So, the likelihood that it’s NEVER us is slim. When I was doing some real hard work on loving myself, I was focusing on saying, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. How lovely it made me feel. Then someone cut me off in traffic and I thought, they are fearfully and wonderfully made. The person in your office who listens to awful music but doesn’t wear headphones? You got it, wonderfully made.

That is why it is so hard to love our neighbors. Sometimes our neighbors leave their Christmas decorations up through February and have loud parties. Sometimes they shoot off fireworks every time the Chiefs win a game and scare your dogs. Those, especially the last one, may not be hypothetical.

Humans are difficult and challenging. Even when we think we are not, that we are the exception, there is something we do that irks someone and makes us difficult for them to love. The only way to love ourselves and each other well is with God’s help. Let’s use prayer time this week to focus on loving our neighbors.

A Prayer for Loving your Physical Neighbors:
Dear God, thank you for the gift of community. Thank you for the people in my neighborhood that I know and those that I do not know. Bless their families. Bless their homes. Help them to love each other well and help me be an example of your love and light to them.

A Prayer for Loving Strangers:
Dear God, I don’t know the people around me, but you do, and you love them. Bless their lives. Bless their relationships and their health. If they have concerns, please be with them. If they have grief, please comfort them. Please make yourself known to them and make your light in me shine brightly so they can get some comfort from it.

A Prayer for Loving Your Enemies:
Dear God, this person is hard for me to love. There is something in me that makes it difficult and causes a blockage where the love should flow. I know you love them. I turn this relationship over to you. Please help my heart. Please bless this person in all they do.

A Prayer for your Coworkers: (I like to pick two a week to pray for)
Please bless these two people. Help them feel your love this week and bless our department as we all try to work together.

A Prayer for your Friends:
Thank you for the gift of friendship. We were not meant to go through this world alone. Thanks to this person I have someone who adds laughter and fun to the journey. Please help me to cherish it and not take it for granted. Friendship is a gift from you. Help me to love my friend well and be a good friend in return.

I hope these prayers help you as you seek to love your friends and neighbors this week. Let me pray for you right now.