Prayer is an Act of Love

Foundation of prayer: God’s Love

Look at I John 4:8. It states: “God is love.” The greatest two commandments found in Matt 22:36-40 are:

• To love the Lord our God.
• To love our neighbor as ourselves.

These commandments are relational and show us how God wants us to live. Our life should reflect His love. – God’s Love is a sacrificial love that sent Christ to sacrifice His life for us. That demonstration of God’s love shown by Christ, shows that we should love others with a love that is willing to make significant sacrifices for others. Christ said ‘By this shall all men know you are my disciples if you have ‘love one to another’ John 13:35. When we show that love, we are also lifting up Jesus. Lifting up Jesus, is lifting up God’s love, and there is a wonderful thing that will happen when we lift Jesus up. John 12:32 says ‘And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.’ That is a wonderful promise. Christ gave us an example of this love by his demonstrating sacrificial love coming from the heart of God, by dying for us on the Cross. The source of that sacrificial love is God, Who is love.

How does that Love relate to prayer? If we want to see God’s love in action when we pray, then we must let God’s love must be a motivating factor behind each prayer we pray, which may involve action -- sacrificial action as part of our prayer. When we do, prayer becomes an act of love.

God wants us to depend on Him for His power which operates through love for others, whom we come across in our lives. God’s power is in His love that shed Christ’s blood for us a Calvary. That love has made a relationship with God possible and it can direct our prayers in the way of love.

We should ask ourselves when we pray, do we want to see the Love of God encourage and work in others?

copyright 2006 Lewis Turner