A Prayer About Faith, Hope, and Love

In one of the epistles of the Apostle Paul, specifically in 1 Corinthians 12-13, he was reprimanding the church in Corinth regarding their misunderstanding of Christian priorities. There was disunity among the believers. They had placed too much emphasis on the superiority of certain spiritual gifts over others and had lost the true purpose and mission of why these gifts even existed. Paul taught about the importance of faith, hope, and love in the Christian life.

According to 1 Corinthians 13, it is summarized in the understanding that the things we must seek the most in our walk as disciples of Christ include faith, hope, and love. These three essential virtues should be the motivation behind everything we do for God and other people, especially love.

Life is made up of choices. Every decision we make affects or influences both the present and the future. How we make those decisions will also have different consequences. Having a better grasp of the cause and effect of every decision helps us build better opportunities. It’s all about choosing the right priorities. Sadly, the reality of life is that you simply can’t have everything. Every decision has a cost to pay. The question is, which cost are we willing to pay? What are your most important priorities?

A Christian husband and father of two kids was financially struggling and having a hard time finding ways to pay the bills. No matter how hard he worked, he was just not earning enough. However, despite the situation, His family was happy and content. Most of all, they had strong faith and were deeply involved in their local church. One day, a friend offered the husband a very favorable business proposal. Due to their situation, he did not hesitate and took the offer immediately, seeing it as a blessing. It didn’t take long for the business to prosper, and his life got busier. He got so busy, in fact, that he had less time to spend with his family, stopped going to church, and no longer maintained his personal devotion to God. He always convinced himself that things would go back to how they were once the business improved. True enough, the business grew bigger and busier, but His faith, church life, and family time were still being neglected. It came to the point where he lost his marriage, lost his kids, and his life became dissatisfying and meaningless. What happened in this story was that the man was consumed by the wrong priorities and lost sight of the most important things in life—his family, his church community, and his relationship with God. 

Just like the church in Corinth, choosing to prioritize things that are not essential and compromising what truly matters is a grave mistake. We reap what we sow. When we sow our lives in material things, we reap shallow and endless dissatisfaction in life, leading to misery. The Apostle Paul showed us that even if you’re able to do supernatural things for God and yet break apart the unity in church relationships, it’s all for nothing. An important part of our life as Christians is the journey of growth and maturity when it comes to our priorities. You should be able to reach the point where you become wiser in discerning what is most important. Paul tells us that things will change and end, but what will remain, the most important things to God (that also affect His people) are faith, hope, and love. 

1. Faith

The Bible tells us that without faith, we cannot please God (But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6). Faith is a basic element of Christian life. Faith pleases God, as it makes us rely upon Him in everything, acknowledging that apart from Him we are weak and powerless. As we have a lifestyle of reliance upon God, it draws us closer to Him. There are many things in life that we have no control or power over, but if we trust in the Lord with all our hearts, submit to His will, and not rely on our own understanding, God will lead us to the right path (Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6). In the story above, the man prioritized what was temporary in exchange for his faith and avenues where his faith could grow. Nothing is worth compromising one’s faith in the one true God. We must first seek the kingdom of God above all things and live according to what is right before God, and the Lord will provide everything else that we need ( But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33). It takes faith to believe in this promise. Scripture teaches us that faith is the assurance of the things we are hoping for and the proof that even though we cannot always see God’s provision, we know that He has something good in store for us (Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1). Thus, we must take every opportunity to develop our faith and please God as we walk in faith with Him.

 

 

 

• Hebrews 12:2 KJV –  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

We look to Jesus, as He is the one who initiates our life of faith, who sustains it, and He is the one who will bring it to completion.

2. Hope

In this world, we face different forms of adversity, many of which can easily take away a person’s hope, especially when a tragic death or loss occurs. People live for what is valued on earth, and when these things are gone, they can lose hope as everything seems to fall apart. Fortunately, as Christians, we know that our hope goes beyond our life here on earth. Christ is our living hope, who gave us the unfailing and unchanging assurance of eternal life with Him. 

For believers, this blessed hope is a game changer for everything that transpires here on earth, whether good or bad. Our perspective must go beyond the temporal as we live for the eternal. Every decision and response to every circumstance is filled with the hope of Christ, even in the face of death. This hope sustains us in all our troubles. Circumstances may bring us to our darkest moments, but in Christ, we are not given into discouragement or despair; instead, we have hope knowing that every trial will have its end. Victory is always sure, as we trust in God’s goodness, for we are called to be more than conquerors. As long as we abide in Christ, no matter how painful the present is or how bleak the future may seem, there is always hope.

Through the death of Christ, we have gained the hope of redemption, forgiveness, and freedom from the deathly grip of sin. In His resurrection, we have the hope that death has been defeated and no longer has a hold over us. That is why the Apostle Paul could say that to live is Christ and to die is gain (For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21). Death is no longer the end, but when the time comes for us, it becomes gain due to the hope that we will finally live in our true home with God for all eternity. For every believer, this hope is what defines how our past affects us, how we live in the present, and how we look at the future.

• Jeremiah 29:10-11 KJV

When God allowed the Israelites to be captured and exiled in Babylon for seventy years because of their constant rebellion, He still gave them hope through His promises that He would bring them home again. He told His people that even though they had been disobedient to God and He was disciplining them, He still had great plans for His people. He had plans to prosper them and not harm them, plans to give them a good future and real hope. This has always been the heart of God for those whom He loves.

3. Love

Paul tells us that in everything, what truly remains is faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. Unlike faith and hope, love is drawn directly from the character of God. After all, God is love, and if we abide in love, we abide in God,  and God abides in us (And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:16). God does not need faith, for He is self-sufficient and all-sufficient. He does not need to rely on anything, as He can speak all of creation into existence from nothing. He also does not need hope since nothing can push God into desperation, nor is He uncertain of the future. For us, when our time on earth is done, and we are joined in eternal bliss with God, there is no more need for faith and hope, for we will be with God face to face, eternally. So, in the end, it is love that ultimately remains. Above all, our love for God and our love for people will remain. 

Jesus tells us that the first and greatest commandment from God is to love God with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength. The second is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). Paul tells us that we may be able to speak in tongues or offer prophecy, but without love, we are nothing but a noisy clanging cymbal. Even if we have the faith to move mountains, without love, we are nothing, and even if we sacrifice everything but do not have love, we gain nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

The Bible tells us of four types of love based on ancient Greek definitions; eros, phileo, storge, and agape. Eros is a romantic kind of love, phileo is brotherly love, and storge is familial love. The kind of love described in 1 Corinthians 13 is agape. Agape is unconditional love, and we find it in God. 

• 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 KJV 

This agape love is patient and it is kind. It does not envy, it does brag, and it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not selfish, it does not burst into anger easily, and it does not hold past sins against people. It does not condone evil but rejoices with the truth. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. The agape love of God never fails.

Ultimately, the key to understanding true love is encountering agape love through Christ. When we were powerless against sin, Jesus came at precisely the right time to die for all us sinners. While most people are not willing to die for others, God demonstrated His agape love for us by sending His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die a shameful, painful, and horrible death on the cross for us, even though we were undeserving sinners (Romans 5:6-8).

This is our confidence when we pray, that when we trust God, everything He does and allows makes our faith grow, makes our hope firm and secure, and thus we know and have experienced that His unconditional love seals it all. Let faith, hope, and the love of God saturate our whole being, and let it be demonstrated in our thoughts, words, and deeds. We reflect the character of God because God is love, and we can love because He first loved us.

• Hebrews 10:22-24 KJV 

Let us come near to the presence of God with a sincere heart, fully trusting Him in faith. We must hold tightly to the hope that we have and not hesitate, knowing that we can trust God to keep His promises. We must think about how we can motivate one another to show love and act upon it by doing good works.

How to pray for faith, hope, and Love

The Bible tells us that when we pray, we must be confident that God hears our prayers. When we ask according to His will, He gives us what we ask for (1 John 5:14-15). It is always God’s will that we have faith and hope, holding on to His love.

In every circumstance we face, we must learn to respond in faith and hope, acknowledging that we always need God and cannot do it on our own. We must show His love at every opportunity and trust in Him. We should earnestly pray for faith, hope, and love to abound as we live for God.

To live by these three essential Christian virtues, we must seek to experience them. Our greatest aim should be to draw closer to God and worship Him here and forevermore. Daily meditating on God’s word and communing with Him through constant prayer facilitates a life in submission to His will, and as we consistently do that, our character and faith gets developed. Thus, we must live not a self-sufficient life but one dependent on His wisdom, power, and love.

• Ephesians 3:16-20 KJV

Our prayer is that by God’s glory and honor, He will strengthen us through His Spirit, and we will trust in Him as Christ dwells in our hearts, digging deeper into our soul. We must also pray that our life will be strong and built solidly upon the love of Christ. May the Holy Spirit give us the power to have a grasp of how wide, how long, and how deep the love of God truly is. As we pray, we should hope to experience it and find completeness in Christ, with all of His fullness and power in our lives. With God working in us, we know that He does so much more than we can ask or think of.

“O Lord, thank You for the life and the love that You gave us. This is the life that You have sown with Your blood because You loved us, and may I live it for Your glory and honor. Thank You for loving me unconditionally, despite the fact that I am never worthy of Your sacrifice. Lord, help me to respond in faith, hope, and love as I face the trials of life. Train me to grow steadily and move in faith as I continue to trust in You. Help me to always fix my eyes on You and look towards Your hope, despite the times that seem to be hopeless. Let my heart be filled with Your love so that I may overflow in expressions of love for You and for others. May I always be teachable and grateful as I trust in Your love, mercy, and grace. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen!”