Topical Bible: Love to God: Pray For

◄ Love to God: Pray For ►

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Topical Encyclopedia

In the Christian faith, love for God is considered the greatest commandment and the foundation of a believer's relationship with the Divine. The Bible emphasizes the importance of loving God with all one's heart, soul, and mind. This love is not only a command but also a gift that believers are encouraged to seek and cultivate through prayer.

Biblical Foundation

The call to love God is rooted in the Shema, a central declaration of faith in Judaism, which is echoed in the New Testament. In Deuteronomy 6:5, the command is clear: "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Jesus reiterates this commandment in the Gospels, highlighting its preeminence. In Matthew 22:37-38 , Jesus states, "‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment."

Praying for Love to God

Prayer is a vital means through which believers can seek to deepen their love for God. The Apostle Paul, in his epistles, often prays for the spiritual growth and love of the believers. In Philippians 1:9 , Paul writes, "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight." This prayer reflects the desire for a love that is not static but continually growing and maturing.

The Role of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit plays a crucial role in nurturing love for God within the believer's heart. Romans 5:5 states, "And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." Through the Spirit, believers are empowered to love God more fully and genuinely.

Examples of Prayers for Love to God

The Psalms provide numerous examples of prayers that express a deep love for God and a desire for a closer relationship with Him. Psalm 42:1-2 beautifully captures this longing: "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?"

Encouragement to Pray for Love

Believers are encouraged to pray for an increased love for God, recognizing that such love is both a command and a divine gift. In Ephesians 3:17-19 , Paul prays for the believers, "so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love, will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth of His love, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

Conclusion

While a conclusion is not provided, the entry highlights the importance of praying for love to God as a central aspect of Christian devotion. Through prayer, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the example of biblical prayers, believers are encouraged to seek a deeper, more profound love for their Creator.

Torrey's Topical Textbook

2 Thessalonians 3:5
And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
Torrey's Topical Textbook

Greek

4102. pistis -- faith, faithfulness
... 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace ... end (glorification) – indeed each
time we pray about () you for the purpose () of our God counting you ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4102.htm - 18k

Library

Pray to Thy Father which is in Secret or Alone with God.
... fresh air from heaven with which Jesus would have filled the atmosphere in which
I am to breathe and pray, is: God's Father-love, God's infinite Fatherliness. ...
/.../murray/lord teach us to pray/pray to thy father which.htm

Letter xxi. --Different Attractions of Grace.
... Or, in other words it is to pray by a simple but actual ... tending to God; the prayer
of surrender and abandonment to God, arising from the love of God, and ...
/.../abandonment to divine providence/letter xxi different attractions of grace.htm

That Love in this Life Takes Its Origin but not Its Excellence ...
... as if contact forced each to strive to outdo the rest, so the taste of good strengthens
our love of it ... [280] Which of the two I pray you loved God more, the ...
/.../francis/treatise on the love of god/chapter iv that love in.htm

Of Certain Other Means by which we May Apply Our Works More ...
... And how could it be, I pray you, that a soul ... goodness, and who incessantly breathes
words of love, in order to ... be considered to do all her works in God and for ...
/.../francis/treatise on the love of god/chapter ix of certain other.htm

How the Eternal Love of God Prevents Our Hearts with his ...
... as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, [92] who did not only love us
before we ... See, I pray you, Theotimus, the prince of the Apostles, stupefied ...
/.../francis/treatise on the love of god/chapter ix how the eternal.htm

Of the Supreme Effect of Affective Love, which is the Death of the ...
... in sin, so of the elect it is, that they die in the love and grace of God. ... For this
cause the all-wise Church does not make us pray in her Litanies that we ...
/.../francis/treatise on the love of god/chapter ix of the supreme.htm

"Love and I" --A Mystery
... You murmur and repine at providence because the fire of your love is burning low.
Come, get the ashes together; pray the Spirit of God to blow upon them: beg ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 28 1882/love and ia mystery.htm

Of the Incomparable Love which the Mother of God, Our Blessed Lady ...
... Ah! do not say, I pray you, that this virgin was ... this heavenly Queen never slept
but with love, since she ... it, the better afterwards to serve her God, which is ...
/.../francis/treatise on the love of god/chapter viii of the incomparable.htm

"The Fruit of the Spirit is Love"
... for ourselves, or the power to do so will soon be lost; but give ourselves up to
the ministry and the love of intercession, and pray more for God's people, for ...
//christianbookshelf.org/murray/absolute surrender/the fruit of the spirit.htm

That we have not Naturally the Power to Love God Above all Things.
... For what a pity it is, I pray you, to see this excellent philosopher ... For so our human
heart naturally produces certain beginnings of God's love, but to proceed ...
/.../francis/treatise on the love of god/chapter xvii that we have.htm