Pray for Love

Sometimes people just drive me crazy.  It seems like the ones closest to me have the greatest ability to just push my buttons and send me into a tailspin.  I don't share this because I'm proud of it.  I share it because it's true.  My love for some people does not come easily.  It is a purposeful choice.  And it is worth the prayer.

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. (Jude 1:17-20 NIV)

Prayer not only aligns us with God's will.  It also encourages us when people fight against God's will for our lives.  I get torn down by people all the time because of choices God calls me to live out.  I won't go out drinking with friends.  I won't bash my wife behind her back when other men want someone to "wife bash" with them.  I fight hard to create a safe environment for people to draw near to God and regularly have my choices in that area called into question.  (Some think I should let more people in.  Others think I should kick certain people out.)  I'm especially attacked when I teach the truth from God's Word, even though I work hard to teach it in love.  When people don't like what God says in Scripture, I am the face and voice that gets attacked.

Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. (Jude 1:21-23 NIV)

None of this changes God's Mission, though.  So, I pray.  I pray to remind myself to love God with everything.  I pray to remind myself that God wants me to love people, whether Christian brothers and sisters, other neighbors, or enemies.  I am called to love and pray for them.  So I pray.  When I do, I stay in God's love.  When I do, God gives me the fruit of God's Spirit.  When I do, I live out my part of God's plan.

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 1:24-25 NIV)

How about you?  Do you pray for love?