Warrior Prayers: Day Nine "Love"

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” ~Galatians 5:22

This has been one of my favorite verses for many years now.  My dining room is decorated with the fruit theme and this scripture adorns plaques in my dining room and in other areas of my home.  It is a scripture that I need to remember all throughout my day, and it is one I do not attain on many occasions, but it the benchmark for my life and how I desire to be.  

I have used this scripture with my boys in the last several months when talking with them about their behavior.  I ask them what the "fruit of the spirit" is and they usually will recite it stubbornly, and then if I have them recite it again, as they are reciting it, it is amazing to see their spirit start to calm. The power of God's Word is truly amazing! 

Encouragement from Brooke

Today we take our first step into one of my favorite verses to pray for my sons. I pray it most every day, if not in its entirety, at least in part. If I could only choose one verse to pray for my boys for the rest of their lives this one would be my second choice (behind Ezekiel 36:26), because having a heart full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control just about sums up everything I want for them.

I've thought for years that love can't really be all that it should be apart from God. The Bible says that God IS love. For us mathematicians, using the word "IS" is the same as using the word "EQUALS." In other words, God and love are one and the same. There is no real love apart from God, and God is behind all real and genuinen acts of love.

"Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." ~1 John 4:8


Goal for today:

1. Commit to praying the ten prayers on love  in the chapter on the fruit of the Spirit during day nine.
2. Consider how you can make changes in your life and your vocabulary to help our sons understand the true meaning of the word.

Love

May__________ not love the world or the things in the world (1 John 2:15).

May our sons love one another, for love is from God, andwhoever loves has been born of God and knows God (1 John 4:7).

May our sons love one another earnestly from a pure heart (1 Peter 1:22).

May our sons, when they become husbands, love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself (Ephesians 5:28).

May the Lord make__________increase and abound in love (1 Thessalonians 3:12).

May__________know that this is love, that we walk according to His commandments (2 John 1:6).

May__________not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth (1 John 3:18).

May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to __________ (Jude 1:2).

May __________ love the LORD his God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might (Deuteronomy 6:5).

May__________know that this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10).