A prayer for love has to be something you do no a regular basis. Love and relationships are one of the most important aspects of our lives, because our relationships will either lift us up, or tear us down.
Yet praying for love tends to be something that we don’t often do. Maybe we’re afraid to go to God with our love life. Maybe we’re getting discouraged that our prayers aren’t being answered. Or maybe, just maybe, we don’t know how to pray for love.
Prayers to God for protection from evil
I’m quick to analyze, figure out, and try to put the pieces together. But it takes me a while to turn to prayer.
Prayer For Love Vs. Worry About Love
It took me a while to grasp how to pray for love. Because I’ve always had a tendency to think about love, and worry about love, rather than pray about it.
I’m realizing that my tendency to over-analyze is the opposite of what God’s word tells me to do. All through Scripture Jesus is challenging us: Don’t just dwell on things, pray about them.
Prayer is the act by which we mentally hand over our problems, concerns, fears, desires, and dreams to someone who actually has the power to control.
And it makes so much sense, because if we’re going to allow these things to fill our brain, we are better off doing it in a way that has the power to impact the things that are weighing us down, rather than simply allowing them to consume us.
If you find yourself consumed by your love life – or lackthereof, here are some ways to mentally and prayerfully hand those things to the One who can actually do something about it. Here are 8 ways to pray for love.
Pray Like This: 6 Prayers For Love
#1: Pray that God would give you a relationship (Matthew 7:7)!
God’s word challenges us to ask and bring our needs before God. Anything and everything. As long as our hearts are aligned with His, there are no limits on what we can ask. What are your deepest needs and desires when it comes to a relationship? What do you need God to do in your relationship? Let Him know.
#2: Pray that He would grant you patience and insight to wait for a good one (Isaiah 40:31).
Waiting on God is never easy, because once again, it is a reminder that we are not in control. But through the time of waiting, ask God to change you, nourish you, and fill you so that you are empowered and prepared to take the next steps when the timing is right.
#3: Pray that He would be working out anything unhealthy in your life (Jeremiah 33:8).
Some of our baggage and sin we can recognize, and some we can’t. As you seek to enhance your love life, be sure to ask God to help you recognize and heal all the things in your life that aren’t lining up with His best. Seek to get to the bottom of your sins, and ask for His healing power to be at work in your life.
#4: Pray that He would shape your heart for nourishing interactions with others (Colossians 3:12-14).
It’s important to learn how to love, rather than simply longing to be loved. When your heart is open to loving and edifying others the way it was meant to, your relationships will be enriched and empowered.
#5: Pray that He would bring healing into your past so that you are free to embrace the present (Philippians 3:13-14).
We are called to move forward, and forget what is behind. Sometimes, it’s easy to get stuck on our past and be paralyzed from living in the present. No matter what kinds of things your past may hold, ask God to be at work in your past so that you are free to live in the moment and embrace your present.
#6: Pray that He would protect your emotional world and give you wisdom of how to set healthy boundaries (Proverbs 4:23).
I talk a lot about guarding our hearts and how to practically do that, but how often do we actually pray about our hearts and emotional worlds? God longs to be a part of our emotions just as much as our spiritual life. He is a holistic God, who longs to interact with our mind, body, and soul. Give Him a chance by opening your emotional life to Him through prayer.
A Prayer to Overcome Anxiety
Heavenly Father, thank You for being an overcoming God! I know I can take heart because You have overcome the world. Empower me to rise above my circumstances. Help me cast my anxiety on You because You care for me. Give me Your power to overcome. Thank You for giving me the victory! In Jesus’ Name, Amen. (Esther Fleece Allen)
A Prayer to Calm Your Anxiety
Lord, you know me. You made me. You love me. Meet me where I am in this moment. You knew I’d be here. Do what You want with my churning insides and my spinning mind and my blown-up fear. Don’t waste a minute of my anxiety. Heal it. Use it. Change it. Instead of begging for something specific, I give myself to You. What do you want from me and for me? Thank you for understanding me when no one else does and loving me anyway. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. (Lori Freeland)
To Feel God’s Love and Care
Dear God, help me know You love me. Help me feel Your caring arms around me today, even in the dark. Help me hear Your voice singing over me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen (Emily T. Wierenga)
Finding Calm to Quiet Your Soul
Dear Lord, thank You for the calm and quiet you promise is accessible to me even in the middle of the chaos. God, it often feels impossible to find when life is spinning out of control. Help me to remember that when I feel overwhelmed by what I can’t predict or plan, that You already know what will play out and are with me through the process. Help me, Lord, to trust You as I steady my mind and heart on Your promises. Help me to care for my body in the way it needs so that my mind can embrace Your Truth more easily.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen. (Elisa Pulliam)
A Prayer to Focus on God, Not the Anxious Thoughts
Father, in the midst of my stress and panic, please open my eyes. Show me what You are doing. Remind me that You are greater than all those who are against me. Help me see where You are at work and give me Your joy and encouragement. In the Name of Jesus, who is for me, I make this prayer,
Amen. (Mary Southerland)
Quiet My Anxious Heart
Dear Lord, Would You please quiet my anxious heart? Give me courage to step out in faith, beyond what I can see or attempt to control. I bring You these burdens now: ______________.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen. (Gwen Smith)
A Morning Prayer
Lord, may nothing separate me from You today. Teach me how to choose only Your way today so each step will lead me closer to You. Help me walk by the Word and not my feelings. Help me to keep my heart pure and undivided. Protect me from my own careless thoughts, words, and actions. And keep me from being distracted by MY wants, MY desires, MY thoughts on how things should be.
Help me to embrace what comes my way as an opportunity…rather than a personal inconvenience.
And finally, help me to live in the truth of Psalm 86:13, “Great is your love toward me.” Amen. ~ by Lysa Terkeurst
For Light to Follow You: Morning Prayer from 440 AD
O Lord, direct our steps this day into the way of peace and strengthen our hearts to obey your commandments. May the Dayspring visit us from on high, and give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, that they may adore you for your mercy, follow you for your truth, desire you for your sweetness, for you are the blessed Lord God of Earth, now and forever. Amen.
Source: Ed. Wilbur Patterson Thirkield, Methodist Book Concern, 1918
Morning Thanksgiving
God, we give you sincere thanks for the rest of the past night and for the gift of a new day, with its opportunities to serve you. Grant that we may so pass its hours in the perfect freedom of your service, that at evening, we may again give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
A Prayer for the Financially Challenged
Father, praise You for saving us by Your indisputable grace. Nothing trumps Your just and loving hand. No poor decision we make, irresponsible purchase, or insurmountable debt can separate us from Your love.
Paul reminds us in Ephesians that there isn’t anything we can do to gain or lose our salvation. The freedom Christ won us on the cross is what it is. Nothing we do or say can add or subtract from His sacrifice… or from who He is.
Without a concrete Rock to stand on, we would drift along thinking that we somehow have the power to trump Your authority. Thank You for reminding us, through Your Word, that we do not. That You love us indisputably and always, whether we are precise accountants or frivolous spenders. You know who we are, and You know our heart’s intentions and our struggles. You are the only one equipped to balance and judge where we are at. You consistently say that we are Yours and remind us, through Your Word, of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
Father, we confess our financial challenges. In a society that lifts money up to such high importance, it’s extremely hard to battle our mind’s eye each day. Thank You for blessing us with money to spend, and help us to honor You with our choices. Forgive us for mindlessly buying things in dollar sections and store end-caps. Sometimes, there are things that we never knew we needed until the bright discount sticker catches our eye. Strengthen us in those moments to fight our impulses by yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit within us.
Help us to see our finances through Your eyes. You have a purpose and plan for our lives, and every cent we’re blessed with to manage. Stir our hearts to seek Your counsel on everything from buying dessert to a brand new car. Urge us to seek You in Your Word, and prayerfully consider Jesus’ example on this earth. We confess that we don’t often stop to think about what You want for our wallet over what we want. When new trends are just a swipe of the credit card away, stir in our hearts to fight temptation.
Jesus walked the earth simply, as a carpenter… without a flashy lifestyle. His miracles were something money couldn’t buy. Not then, and not now. God’s love and God’s plan look different for all of us, but His love does not rise and fall on a scale. He is everlasting, omnipotent, and sovereign. And He has chosen us. Created us. And called us good.
Our purpose on this earth is to help others. Whether we struggle to part with our money, or have trouble accepting God’s generous blessing, help us to be laser-focused on our conversation with You. When we look around to compare our finances with others, it will always cause our hearts unrest. We don’t have the privilege of knowing people inside and out and from the moment of their creation like You do. We assume wealthy equals satisfied. But only Christ holds the key to all happiness.
Whether we seek careers or possessions to heighten our visibility in society, none will ever satisfy or compare to Jesus’ love. Help us to follow Christ in our daily lives. Prayer is life changing, that You promise us. We lift up the bills that puzzle and scare us to You. Guide us, direct us, and equip us to trust You more and more in the daily direction of our financial lives.
Thank You for providing for us, Father. Just the fact that we are skimming over these words is prove that You’ve provided for another day for us. Bless our finances, and help us to seek You first in everything, each day. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
How to Pray for Healing
The following is a transcript from a video by Max Lucado: How Should I Pray to God for Healing?
We can come to our heavenly father and ask him to heal us because he wants us be whole. He wants us to be whole, not just in our spirit and soul but also in our body. Remember, the big idea of the Bible is to reestablish the Garden of Eden, to take us back to the way we were, and Adam and Eve they didn’t struggle with bursitis or spinal issues or crick in the neck. So wherever there is a sickness, there is an opportunity for God to display his glory.
Now, where we get tangled up is that when is God going to display his glory? And to what degree are we going to be healed? But in the book I talk about, we’ve got to begin by remembering that sickness is under the domain of God. He didn’t create it, but he still has authority over it. So in the book I say you can expect to be healed. Will you be healed immediately? I hope so. Will you be healed gradually? That happens quite often. But all of us will be healed ultimately, and it’s not a cop-out to say that our healing with happen on the other side of death. That’s the ultimate healing.
But we can take absolutely assurance that healing will come. If he heals you gradually, that means that this particular affliction is being used for his glory, for the development of your character, maybe as a sermon. You know, one of the men in our church has struggled with a muscular issue for many, many years. But boy, he is such an example. All of us have met people who inspire us through their affliction. So that could be part of their testimony, but God is still healing them. And then all of us will be healed ultimately.
So it’s essential during prayer to talk to God about what hurts us physically. It really is. And to let God speak to that and to comfort us, to bring wisdom into that part of our lives.
Here are some of our favorite prayers for healing that we would like to share with you. Whether for yourself, a loved one, or a friend, we can turn to God for physical, emotional, and spiritual healing.