Tag Archives: unconditional 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.

Prayers based on Matthew 22.34-46

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week 7Prayers Based on Matthew 22:34-46

Prayer: Make Me Your 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

Prayer: Strong, Fierce Love
Heavenly One,
Your reach extends to every neighbor, every nation
Offering grace, forgiveness, wholeness, and hope
A saving embrace of unconditional love
Drawing us to you and each other and our true self

Make us holy and whole with your strong, fierce love
Your children, grateful for a place in your family
Your glory, humble before your mercy and generosity
Your faithful, honoring and welcoming all
Your testimony, joyful in sharing what we have found in you
Amen.

Prayer: We Will Love and Obey
This prayer was inspired by a prayer in the Walk to Emmaus Worship Booklet for Pilgrims
Loving God, you love us, all of us, and ask in return that we love you with all our hearts and souls and minds. By your grace we will love and obey. Let it be so, now and forever.

Loving God, you love us, all of us, and ask in return that we love our neighbors as we love ourselves. By your grace we will love and obey. Let it be so, now and forever.

Loving God, you love us, all of us, and ask in return that we forgive and not hold grudges. By your grace we will love and obey. Let it be so, now and forever.

Loving God, you love us, all of us, and ask in return that we take up our cross and follow you. By your grace we will love and obey. Let it be so, now and forever.

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For the next few months, I’ll be posting prayers to accompany Bishop Ken Carter’s Bible Study on Facebook. Each week, Bishop Carter will bring in a guest to speak about the passage. We’ll be walking through the last chapters of the Gospel of Matthew. 

You’re most welcome to read along and to join this Facebook discussion group. You don’t need to be a Methodist or attend a Methodist church. All are welcome and all means all.

May the grace of God’s word, the challenge, and the call, inspire us to great faith and great good works in Jesus’ name. – Lisa <

Make Me Your Love © 2019 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Strong, Fierce, Love © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
We Will Love and Obey © 2016 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Reflection: The Arms of Christ (Psalm 36)

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I am grateful for the writer of Psalm 36, one of my favorite bands- Third Day, and Daniel Bonnell for his powerful work The Baptism of the Christ, for helping me home to Christ today.

Psalm 36:5-7 (NRSV)
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
Your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
Your judgments are like the great deep;
You save humans and animals alike, O Lord.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

Your Love, oh Lord by Third Day
Your love, oh Lord, reaches to the heavens
Your faithfulness stretches to the sky
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains
Your justice flows like the ocean’s tide
I will lift my voice to worship You, my King
I will find my strength in the shadow of your wings

baptism of the christ by daniel bonnell

Baptism of the Christ by Daniel Bonnell

In Bonnell’s piece, Christ’s arms are extended in an explosion of color and welcome. One is raised in victory over sin and death. One is lowered in suffering, the price of our salvation. Christ’s body mirrors the shape of the Holy Spirit Dove, for he is the very image of God, the grace and truth of God made flesh. Christ’s body mirrors the shape of his crucifixion. His arms take the shape of wings because it is only within Christ’s embrace that we can find lasting shelter and safety.

What do you see in the painting? Leave a comment below.

Christ is bathed in light; let us also be bathed in light.
Christ is baptized; let us also go down with him, and rise with him.
-Gregory of Nazianzus

Psalm 33:11 (NRSV)
But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,
the purposes of his heart through all generations.

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For more information on the scripture translation, art and the use of this resource in other settings, please leave a comment.

Make Me Your Love (John 13)

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Sacred Heart 3John 13:33-35
Jesus said, “Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Son of God
Savior
Sacrifice

Your love is Fierce and Forever
Abounding and Intimate
Generous, Goodness, and Grace

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
Amen

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Make Me Your Love © 2019 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.