Prayers

#581 - Living Together Before Marriage
Volume 2 - Prayers to Love Our Neighbor

Dear Father, genuine love is not about the person who is loved. Genuine love loves devotion, faithfulness, trustworthiness, commitment, and perseverance. With genuine love, the butterflies are not for a person. The butterflies are for the opportunity to love unconditionally. I love you because I love being devoted to you. It's my devotion to you that excites me. Father, genuine love is about our love for You. We love devotion, faithfulness, trustworthiness, commitment, and perseverance because those are the traits You love. We love committed love because it is an opportunity to demonstrate our deep love for You. We love somebody no matter what happens or what they do or say to us because we know You cherish love that never gives up, never abandons, and never walks away. When we live together outside of marriage we dangle uncertainty in the air. We will see what happens. Maybe I'll be committed, maybe I won't. I'm not sure if I'll stick around if it turns out I don't like living with you. It depends upon how I feel at any given moment. That is not genuine love. It is self-centered and that is not love at all. It is the kind of attitude that leads to breakups. It is the kind of attitude that leads to divorce. Bitter divorce. Feelings go up and down. However, genuine love doesn't walk away when the person has annoyed or disappointed us. Father, help me to make a genuine lifelong commitment to the man or woman You have asked me to love. If I live with that person today and we are not married, give us the courage to make the commitment to marry. Give us a love that is faithful no matter what circumstances come into our lives. Give us a love that honors You. Amen.

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