February, the month of love.
Our earthly
traditions recognize this time as a time to celebrate love. This month we thank God for the true love
that He showed to us, and pray that we can show that same love to everyone we
meet.
Loving, Heavenly Father, the full picture of love is
painted for us in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 which, when stripped to its core, is
pure unselfishness. We pray this month
not only a prayer of thanksgiving for Your endless love for us, but we also
lift up to You the ones we love here on Earth.
We pray this month for husbands, Father, to help them to
treat their wives as princesses. Their
Father is a King, and husbands are to love them as Jesus loved the church (Eph.
5:25). Jesus was faithful to His church
to the point of death (Acts 20:28), and we ask that you give husbands the same
loyalty. Let him see in her the beauty
of Christ that shines in her.
We pray also this month for wives. A gift from God (Proverbs 19:14), we ask that
you give them the strength and power to instruct her children in your
ways. We pray that she loves her husband
as much as he loves her, and that she helps her husband keep his fire burning
for You (Ecclesiastes 4:11).
Loving God, we know that there is no greater gift to
husbands and wives than the blessing of children. During this month of love, we ask your
blessings on children and on parents. We
ask that you give parents the wisdom to raise their children in your ways (Proverbs
22:6), and we pray that you open the eyes of the youth to recognize Godly wisdom
as their parents teach them (Proverbs 4:1-5).
Even as we’re instructed to leave our parents and cling
to our marriage partners (Mark 10:7), we know that we’re still to honor our
Father and Mother. We pray that You open
our eyes to see our parents, not only as parents, but to see them as Brothers
and Sisters in Christ (Gal. 3:28).
Father, we know that even with their best efforts, they may not always
be perfect parents like You are. If
hurts linger, we ask that you allow Christian forgiveness to be found in
families in order for all involved to be closer to You.
Holy God, the closest example to Your love that we see on
earth may very well be grandparents.
They love as only grandparents can, and if ever there are people that
only see the good in others, it would be grandparents’ love for grandchildren. Yet sometimes we dismiss them as old and
confused. We ask that you help us to
accept the wisdom of our elders who have already made the mistakes we’re
currently making both in parenting and in life (1 Timothy 5:1). They have the wisdom of years and can reflect
on their own mistakes or things they should have done differently. We pray that we respect the knowledge and counsel
they offer, and, by doing so, give honor to You (Leviticus 19:32). We also pray that we learn to love others in
Your world with the same forgiving love of grandparents.
In 1 Corinthians 13:8-13, You tell us the things that
will pass away: prophecies, speaking in tongues, and knowledge. These will remain: faith, hope and love. The greatest, of course, is Love. God, You are Love. Whoever does not love, does not know You (1
John 4:8). Grant us love. Grant us greater love for You. Bless us with the ability to love not just
those in our family, but those in God’s family.
We ask that you help us to see all of mankind as worthy of being in Your
family. As Christians we owe only one
debt: the continual debt to love others
(Romans 13:8). Our bold request to You
this month is to please fill our cups with enough love to be able to give it in
abundance to all who need it.
And we ask this and all else in Jesus’ name,
Amen
