“Be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. Above all, maintain constant love for one another.” 1 Peter 4:7,8

Are you waiting for the answer to your prayers? Do lives depend on the answers to those prayers? Many times we have heard people say that it’s God that is waiting to answer. Well, according to Peter, I am the one that can be holding back the answer to my own prayers; my ability to walk in constant love for others is the litmus test for answered prayer.

Maintaining constant love truly requires discipline and daily practice. Thank God, Paul told us to, “Put on love,” meaning, I don’t have to drum it up myself. I can simply apply it to myself, putting it on like a garment loaned to me by God Himself, who is love. Before we get to the prayers we so desperately need to lay before our Father, let’s check our love tank, making sure that we keep it constantly full and flowing for everyone we meet, friend or foe.

Father,

You have promised to pour out your love in my heart through your Holy Spirit. I receive that love today. Please let it flow in, on, and over me. Then, Lord, help me to discipline myself to walk in love and to talk in loving tones to everyone I encounter in person, on the phone, and throughout my social media platforms. May I love from your source of perfect love! May I have mercy on those I don’t understand or agree with. Help me to see that I am so very often wrong in my assessments and perspectives. Please change my heart and make it like Yours. I will take this call to love seriously today, and I will make it my highest aim in life.

In Jesus’ Name Amen.