"And this is my prayer:that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ- to the glory and praise of God." Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV)

This prayer of the Apostle Paul here really is a great call to love. As we pursue the path to walk in Christ's love: day by day, hour by hour and even moment by moment- we know that the more we grow in our application of the knowledge and insight God gives us, the more we can love others.

And, the more we love others, the more they will see Jesus in us.

It's a tall order, loving others like Jesus does. Requires our surrender to what Jesus wants for us. Requires laying down our lives for others. Requires seeing others through Jesus' eyes, not ours. And yet, the benefits are great: fruit of righteousness that comes through Christ- to the glory and praise of God.

As we grow in our awareness presence of God's deep love for us more and more in our own lives, we become vessels overflowing with it- and then others will see God's love in us. Jesus gave us a new commandment: to love one another as He loves us (John 13:34-35).

This week, let's write out and pray this prayer, almost as Paul wrote it (with a little help from the New Living Translation or The Message and some personalization from us):

God, you are the One who loves me, even beyond my understanding of how much. Help me to know and walk in that knowledge and overflow of Your love.

I pray that my love will overflow more and more, and that I will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want to understand what really matters, so that I may live a pure and blameless life until the day of Christ’s return. May I always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in my life by you, Jesus,—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.