O God, Who have prepared for those who love You good things which no eye can see, fill our hearts, we pray, with the warmth of Your love, so that, loving You in all things and above all things, we may attain Your promises, which surpass every human desire. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
those who love You – Why do we find it so hard to love God as we should? Perhaps we don't know Him. Perhaps He seems distant to us. Perhaps we don't understand how wonderful He is or how perfect or how merciful. Perhaps we don't realize how much He loves us. Yes, God loves us more than we can imagine. How can we respond to that kind of love with anything less than all our love?
prepared...good things which no eye can see – In 1 Corinthians 2:9, Paul remarks, “But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him.'” Yet, he continues, “these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (2:10). Right now we see “in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face” (13:12). Right now we know in part. We cannot see God or Heaven. But “then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known” (13:12). We walk by faith now, but someday we will see God face to face.
fill our hearts, we pray, with the warmth of Your love – God's love can indeed warm us from the inside out. We should pray to feel that warmth, to feel His love. Even if He doesn't give us that grace right now (for good reasons of His own), we should pray for greater faith that we can be sure of His love and for greater hope that we can trust Him to bring us home to Heaven and for greater love that we can love others as He loves us.
loving You in all things and above all things – God must take first place in our lives. Always. Everyone else and everything else must be loved in Him and for His sake. This does not mean we love others less. In fact, loving them in God, we love them more, for He loves them in us.
we may attain Your promises – What does God promise? Our salvation. Eternal life. His perfect love. Himself. What more could we want?
surpass every human desire – God has so much more in store for us than we can ever imagine. Right now, we are caught up in time and in our limited human perspective. We can't escape those, but God is infinitely greater, and He will fulfill every one of our hopes and then keep right on going. He will surpass our wildest dreams, for He will give us Himself.
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