Inspired by Rick Renner’s thoughts on 1 Corinthians 13 in Sparkling Gems from the Greek:

O God,

Please give us the wisdom and strength to function in your agape love for others, even when they hurt us.

Clear our minds to see them through your eyes so we won’t take up an offence at anyone.

Give us a love that covers the flaws of others rather than seeking to expose them -- love that shields and safeguards them.

Keep us loyal and faithful, never surrendering, prepared to “work it out” with those who offend us no matter how much time or energy is required.

Guide us to stay by the side of those who need your help, bearing their burdens with them. Keep us from throwing up our hands in despair over actions or attitudes that distress us.

Teach us to hope for and expect the best in them. Instead of assuming failure or a bad result in someone’s life, help us anticipate everything good for them.

We ask this in the name of your Son Jesus, amen.

Supporting verses . . . 

“Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.” Proverbs 10:12

 

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” I Corinthians 13:4 -7

O LORD!

Help me! I’m feeling frightened and desperate today. I want answers. I need hope. I need more faith. I know you promised that if I ask, you’ll answer.

Period.

You promised! And I'm asking.

And you will do what’s best for me and my loved ones.

I know your Holy Spirit prays for me when I don’t know how. I need you to pray for me today, Jesus. I long for your ineffable groanings to rise to the Father on my behalf, requesting what I don’t know how to ask.
Help me believe the Truth that

•         You are working and answering even when things look bleak.  Even when I can’t see it.

•         You love me even when I don’t feel your love.

•         You never leave me.

•         I can trust you completely.

Help me rest in you, knowing you are there. Believing you are answering. I will wait for you in Jesus name. Amen.

Supporting verses: from the ESV version of the Bible

“The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ And the Lord said, ‘If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you’”Luke 17:5,6

“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name I will do it.” John 14:13,14

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. . . For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be ale to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:26 - 28,38

“For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15

“But I  have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.” Psalm 131:2