Prayers to Keep You in Overflowing Love
David W Palmer
Through the apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit gives us several prayers to help keep us in love:
(Philippians 1:9–11 ESV) ”And it is my prayer that your love may abound (keep on overflowing) more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, {10} so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, {11} filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Parenthesis added by author)
I would find it impossible not to note the Holy Spirit’s motive in this prayer: [overflowing] “love … with knowledge and discernment” … which approves what is excellent, leads to being] “pure and blameless” on “the day of Christ,” and “filled with the fruit of righteousness”—“to the glory and praise of God.” Isn’t that our objective too? I certainly dream of Jesus assessing me as pure and blameless when he returns. And we see that, not only is hot love a prerequisite for this, but also that using this and other scriptural prayers is vital for achieving the hot love that doesn't grow cold. Here is another one:
(1 Thessalonians 3:10–13 NLT) “Night and day we pray earnestly for you … may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. {13} May he, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen.”
In this Holy Spirit-inspired prayer for love, we see the apostle Paul confirming that it is the Lord who can “make your love … grow and overflow.” Let’s imitate what we see here; let’s pray this same prayer over our loved ones and ourselves. The “result” will be a strong, blameless and holy heart—ready to stand before “God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen.”
In another of his prayers, Paul asked the Lord to do the same supernatural intervention for his friends at Philippi:
(Philippians 1:9 NLT) “I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding.”
This Holy Spirit-inspired prayer is one that we can also imitate. We too should pray that love will abound in, and overflow from, our lives. Paul goes on to give us an impressive list of the outcomes and benefits he expects from this prayer:
(Philippians 1:10–11 NLT) “For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. {11} May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.”
Let’s not wait any longer; let’s pray these prayers for others and ourselves today. First we will pray it for ourselves:
“Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask today that my love may abound and overflow more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that I may approve the things that are excellent, that I may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ—being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to your glory and praise. Amen. And I thank and praise you that according to Mark 11:24, I believe I receive this answered now as I pray, and according to your word, I ‘will have it.’ Thank you.”
(Mark 11:24 AKJV) “Therefore I say to you, what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.”
Now you can pray this prayer for others—your family, friends, church, enemies, etc.
Always remember; to get through all of this and safely home to heaven without your love growing cold, you will certainly need God’s grace: it is received by your faith, in response to praying these prayers; plus, you will need his grace to forgive—as release to you through the following and other passages from his word:
(Ephesians 4:32 NKJV) And be kind to one another, tend
