When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
-Ephesians 3:14-21
Paul prayed that prayer for his dear friends, and now I'm praying his prayer over you. May you understand God's love in greater depth in the coming year. I also pray that God will empower you and use you to be His hands and feet around the world. God has placed you where you are right now for a reason to accomplish His purposes. I pray that you will be willing and open to God's will and purpose for your life, and that you will allow Him to use you to fulfill his purposes in 2013.
As for me, I pray that in 2013 God would fill me up with his love, and may his love flow through me to reach others. I want to be so filled up with God's love that it cannot be contained in my heart. In everything I say and do, I pray that Christ is glorified and that I do it out of love. In the weeks and months ahead I will be studying 1 Corinthians 13 in depth and adjusting my life in accordance. I want to love my enemies and bless them, instead of cursing or hating them, as the world and my own selfish desires would tell me to do. True Love showed us what real love is: when we were utterly hopeless and stuck in sin, and before we ever loved God, He sent his one and only Son into the world to die for us. My desire is to have love like that, love that willingly surrenders to God's will and gives of itself freely.
And now, in closing, I'm sharing with you a passage that God has laid on my heart recently. Let us live in love and be God's ambassadors to this world in 2013.
I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.
-2 John 1:5-6
God bless,
Jess
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