Tag Archives: steadfast love

You Cannot Love Me More, a prayer affirming God’s unconditional love

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An Undivided Heart by Gillian Ross

You cannot love me more
You will not love me less
You love me fully
Now and always

Help me accept the gift of your love
Help me trust it
Help me accept it fully

There’s no need to earn your love
No need for anxious striving
No fear of misstep or failure

You release me from falsehood
You free me from shame
You make me alive with promise

You cannot love me more
You will not love me less
You love me fully
Now and always

Hallelujah!

You Cannot Love Me More © 2023 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Prayers Inspired by 1 John

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Inspired by 1 John 1:7
If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Hallelujah!
Blessing and honor to God, the Beautiful and Holy One!
You are helping us walk together
Helping us walk together in fellowship and light

Hallelujah! You are
Drawing us together in the journey of faith
Cleansing us
Redeeming us
Fulfilling your goodness and hope through us
Making us light as you are light

Hallelujah!
Blessing and honor to God
Blessing and honor to the Beautiful and Holy One!

Inspired by 1 John 2:6
Whoever says, “I abide in him” ought to walk in the same way as he walked.

Welcoming One,
You abide in me, I abide in you
a mystery, a grace, a belonging
May this belonging bear fruit
May this belonging be seen by all
An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace

Make me a sign,
written in your hand, written on your palm

Make me a sign
Aglow in the shadows, lighting the way to you
Lighting the way home to you

Inspired by 1 John 3:14b
Whoever does not love abides in death

Love one another, as Christ commanded
As Christ demonstrated through deed and truth
As Christ made possible through death and resurrection
As Christ sustains through the gift of Holy Spirit

Love is life, choose life over death
Love is truth, choose truth over death
Love is righteousness, right relationship with one and all
Creator and creation, Sovereign and self
Choose righteousness over death

We love in word and speech, deed and truth
We love and abide
We love and live

Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ
Glory to you, the Way, the Truth, the Life
Glory to you, the Resurrection and the Life
Love and Life are made possible through you

Inspired by 1 John 4:16a
So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

You love me
You love first
You are Love

You make it possible for me to love and be loved
For me to be born of your love, born again
For me to abide in you, and you in me
For me to abide in your love

Perfectionism is twisted and harmful
It’s not about being perfect for you
Your love for me is already perfect
It’s about you perfecting your love in me
Your love through me

You’re perfecting your love and perfecting my trust of your love
My trust of you, Love
Help me trust you
Help me accept the gift of you and your love

Inspired by 1 John 5:7-8
There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree.

Testify, Brother Water
You who witness
creation from chaos
freedom of slaves
the bearing and birthing of Word Made Flesh

Testify, Sister Blood
You who witness
death pass over
genocide and sacrifice
the bearing and birthing of resurrection and life

Testify, Holy Spirit
You who witness
the way in the wilderness
the fire of Pentecost
the bearing and birthing of courage and call

May your truth and our truth speak the same story
of God’s grace, power, and transforming love

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Reading through 1 John is part of the 2023 Bible Reading Plan for the New Year. Consider this your invitation to join us. Click here for more information and the plan. 

Prayers Inspired by 1 John © 2023 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Strong, Fierce Love – a St. Valentine’s Day reflection and prayer based on Song of Solomon 8.5-7

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matches-heart-2

Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning upon her beloved?

The strong, fierce love of God in Christ Jesus
leads us out of the dry, barren places
bears weight, we can lean on it

Under the apple tree, I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
there she who bore you was in labor.

The strong, fierce love of God in Christ Jesus
opens, quickens
is more intimate than our first breath

Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;

The strong, fierce love of God in Christ Jesus
makes a lasting impression
a tattoo of everlasting grace

for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.

The strong, fierce love of God in Christ Jesus
comes for us all
an unrelenting longing for our good

Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a raging flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.

The strong, fierce love of God in Christ Jesus
is unchanging
unquenchable
unstoppable

If one offered for love
all the wealth of one’s house,
it would be utterly scorned.

The strong, fierce love of God in Christ Jesus
is precious
priceless

Will you accept the gift of God’s love?

Rabbi Jesus
Promised Messiah
Son of the One, True, Living God
Fill me with your Spirit
Make me your love

It is your command
It is your way
It is your gift
It is You and your work

Yes, make me your witness
And yes, make me your will
But first and always, make me your love

Pause in silence to receive

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Strong, Fierce Love © 2019 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution. (by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, revlisad.com) Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Tell Me, Dear Tree: A Lenten Hymn of Sacrifice

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Crucifixion Tree outside the walled city of Mdina. Photo by Antoine Pace via TrekEarth.com

Jesus’ suffering on the cross was a correct diagnosis and revelation of the human dilemma. It was an invitation to enter into solidarity with the pain of the world, and our own pain, instead of always resisting it, avoiding it, or denying it. Lady Julian of Norwich, my favorite Christian mystic, understood it so well, and she taught, in effect, that “There is only one suffering and we all share in it.” – Richard Rohr

Tell me, Dear Tree
A Lenten hymn of sacrifice
Meter- 86.86 double (CMD)
Suggested tune: KINGSFOLD (United Methodist Hymnal #179)

Tell me dear tree on which my Lord, my blessed Lord did hang,
How could you hold the spotless Lamb, be party with the gang?
That cheerless day, that shadowy hour, my blessed Savior died,
to free my soul for heavenly things, O tree, you must have cried.

Yes all your fibers must have screamed for you one time did live
a green and growing tree, alive, but your whole self did give
to be the instrument of death, to be the very tree
to be the place for Christ to die upon dark Calvary

Wait! Do I hear a shout of joy from somewhere deep within?
Your duty done; the battle won so all the world might win.
How beautiful your love for Him. He sewed it long ago
You bore the weight. You took the stain, and now the world must know

The tree of death felt every wound, felt all the pain and loss.
She loved her maker through it all, was glad to be His cross.
Teach me dear tree on which my Lord, My precious Lord did die
To treasure grueling duties done so Christ is lifted high

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BONUS- Steve Garnaas Holmes offers a simple, powerful reflection and prayer on John 3:14-15 entitled Lifted Up on his blog, Unfolding Light.

© 1992, revised 2009 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution. Please contact Lisa for information and permission to publish this work in any form. Lisa is especially interested in collaborating with someone to set this text to original music.

Midweek Reflection- The Cup of Our Life

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Inspired by this prayer by Joy Rupp from her wonderful book The Cup of our Life 

Generous God
so many times I’ve come
with my empty cup
a beggar of the heart
devoid of nourishment
depleted of energy

and you have filled

Generous God
so many times I’ve come
afraid of unknowns
full of negatives and no’s
fighting the challenges
closed and resistant to growth

and you have opened

Generous God
so many times I’ve come
a stranger to my spirit
crammed with cultural noise
caught in endless clutter
crowding my inner space

and you have emptied

Generous God
I come to you again
holding out my waiting cup
begging that it first be emptied
of all that blocks the way
then ask for its filling
with love that tastes like you

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Midweek Reflection- The Cup of Our Life © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia