Verses to Pray When You Need Help to Love God More
Do you ever feel frustrated with yourself when you read…
Jesus said, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.”
Mark 12:29–30
I don’t know about you, but I fall so far short of the “all” part.
All my heart, all my soul, all my mind, and all my strength … that’s 100% intentional love and focus 24/7. That’s ALWAYS!
And that’s where I fall short. It’s what I want! I want to obey Him. I want to show Him how much I love Him by trusting and obeying His will consistently but like Paul, I miss that mark way too often.
I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
Romans 7:18–19
And even when what I do is right, I’m often guilty of doing it with the wrong motives. And I know the loving Him with my “all” falls short!
I’m not telling you this so we can both sit around and wallow in the guilt of our failures. I don’t believe that’s what God wants for us. I believe this realization is supposed to do two things in us.
- Send us running to Jesus.
Look what Paul said next…
Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 7:24b–25a
And 2. Ask God for the Holy Spirit to help us change.
Jesus promised…
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.”
John 14:15–16
Isn’t that awesome!
When you and I recognize our sins and run to Jesus in repentance … He not only forgives us but He gives us the Holy Spirit to help us in the future.
And although we will never trust and obey Him perfectly this side of heaven … He will never stop forgiving us and giving us what we need through His Spirit.
And that’s why we don’t have to wallow in guilt … Jesus carried it all to the cross. You and I can surrender it all to Him and rejoice because…
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:17
So, I’m praying today and asking God to:
- Help me quickly run to Jesus each time I fail.
- Fill me with the Spirit, my Helper, that I might more faithfully love Him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength.
Verses to Pray When You Need Help to Love God More
Those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love Him. That is how we know we are living in Him.
1 John 2:5
Oh, Father, this is a hard word. It’s easy to say we trust You for salvation but harder to live in obedience. And it’s impossible to perfectly obey because I don’t perfectly love.
The 10 Commandments can be summed up in … loving You and loving others. Jesus said that to love is the “Greatest Commandment.” And I know I don’t love perfectly. I don’t show You my love through obedience and I don’t show others my love … I can so easily become selfish and prideful. I’m sorry. Please forgive me and help me. I want to love You with every part of me all the time. I want to love like Jesus.
“Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Luke 7:48, Luke 15:10
“In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
Father, Thank you! You are faithful to forgive. Always!
And what a wonderful word! The angels rejoice when I repent! You forgive me and the angels rejoice. It simply doesn’t get any better than that! There are no words to fully express my gratitude. And this is why my heart’s desire is to trust and obey You faithfully. Please help me!
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever … for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
John 14:15–16, 17b
Father, I do love you and I want to keep your commands. I want to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and I want to love people like Jesus loved them. It makes me sad when I realize how far short I fall of my own goal … I know I’m not even close to Yours.
So, I run to You. I lay my failures at the foot of the cross and ask that You will forgive me through Jesus. I’m so sorry! And Lord, I want to do better in the future. Will you please fill me with Your Spirit and give me all I need to love, trust, and obey as You want. Help me keep my heart and mind focused on You and trust that if You ask anything of me … You will give me everything I need to obey You in love.
I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed. I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands.
Ezekiel 36:26–27
Father, what an amazing promise! You take my stubborn prideful selfish heart of stone and replace it with a heart that loves You and wants to live by Your commands.
I am so well aware that I can’t love and obey You well in my own strength. But with Your Sprit’s help … everything changes. You give me everything I need to live in Your love each day. Help me faithfully SEEK to KNOW Your TRUTH. Help me walk in Your love. Help me love You and show Your love to others in ways that will give You glory.
The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
Romans 8:26–27
This promise gives me hope, Father! Thank you!
Thank you for your Spirit who not only guides and directs me according to Your will but He goes to You on my behalf and tells You my needs. Your Spirit knows my every need and the intentions of my heart. Good and yes, even the not so good. And He pleads for me … telling You what I need to grow closer to You. He knows exactly what I need to be able to love You with all my heart and soul, my mind and my strength.
There really are no appropriate words to fully express my gratitude. Thank you for hearing my prayers. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for Your Holy Spirit to help me. Thank you for Your grace and mercy to help me focus my heart and mind on You. Thank you for helping me love You more and more each day. You are my greatest blessings! Thanks and praise now and forever. Amen.
We need help to love God more.
And when you and I reach that place where we recognize that we want to love God more we typically also come to the realization that we can’t do it on our own. The Good News is we don’t have to.
Our past is forgiven through Jesus. And our future is blessed through the gift of His Spirit to help us.
So, stop today and give it all to the Lord in prayer … all your faults and failures, humbling admitting that you aren’t capable of loving perfectly on your own. Then rest in the truth that when you want to love God more … He is perfectly able to give you everything you need.
May you be blessed today by His grace as you live for His glory!
Thank you so much. I needed this today! Sometimes when things get to me in a disgruntled way my heart does feel like a stone. But God know what is in my heart and softens this heart and is always there for me. I come to him when knowing His presence is always there!
Isn’t it a wonderful blessing to know that God is willing and able to do the softening of our hearts for us? All we have to do is surrender ourselves to Him. What an awesome God we love and serve! God bless you!
We can never love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength without the intervention of His Holy Spirit. What a blessing it is to know He is here to help us at every turn, even when we mess up (and for me, that happens a lot!).
Blessings, Deb!
That is so true, Martha! I need His help and His gracious forgiveness every single day. Thanks for letting me know I’m not the only one. Blessings, my friend!
God’s grace is a beautiful gift! Thank you for these encouraging words, Deb. I needed them this morning.
Blessings,
Tammy
Thank you, Tammy! God bless you!
How often we forget to run to our Father! I get in the rut of trying to figure things out on my own and do everything in my own power—which just takes my focus and devotion away from God.
Me too, Anita! It’s so easy to get busy doing that I fail to pause and redirect my focus back to Jesus. I can’t imagine trying to do a moment without His forgiveness and prompting of His Holy Spirit. God bless you!
Thank you! Loving perfectly is so hard and I also struggle every day with this. But thank you for the beautiful reminder that God is always there ready to forgive us And comfort us. What a beautiful blessing we have in Forgiveness and our Father.
I need a reminder, too, Julie! I can be so guilty of trying to do it all on my own. But we live and love by His grace alone. Thanks so much for visiting and for letting me know this blessed you! May you be surrounded by His love!
Today’s message is just beautiful and so reassuring. I’ll be refering back to it many times. Thanks very much. Diane in NC
Thank you so much for letting me know, Diane! I am so glad it blessed you! May God be with you and bless you each day!
Yes, that little word “all” is a big one, one that shows up our failures. I’m thankful God is so loving and gracious toward us even though we fail Him so much. And our failures should send us running to Him in dependence all the more.
AMEN ????????♥️!! He IS faithful EVEN when we ARE NOT! Beautiful Inspiration Deb And SO THANKFUL for articles of inspiration! I KNOW He Speaks Through Others, And Nature Too. I DOKnow I fall SO Short AND DO LOVE Him And Just HAVE to KEEP asking For Obedience!!! BC I CANT keep the Law, But I CAN LOVE ???? THANK You Deb????G-d♥️Bless
Thank you, Cheri! God bless you as well! His grace, mercy, and abundant love overwhelm me every day. Only by His grace can I say, “It is well with my soul.”
Amen, Barbara! What an amazing blessing to know we can run to Him with our flaws and failures. It reminds me of the old hymn that says, “I need Thee, how I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee!” Thanks for visiting! God bless you!