"Light is sown like seed for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart.”

Psalm 97:11

    A gardener plants the seeds of the food he wishes to eat. Once he plants them, they don’t bear fruit overnight but at some point in the future. So sowing fosters hope. Just as we have been saved in hope and eagerly wait for what we do not yet see, so we sow our spiritual seed in hope and eagerly anticipate the fruit to come. The scripture above says that gladness, or joy, is sown like seed for the upright. If you want to lead people to experience freedom and joy in their relationships, it makes sense to plant a seed that will produce such fruit.

The “Live to Love Seed”

    There is a seed that when planted in your heart will yield a spiritually satisfying crop. The “spiritual DNA” for producing freedom and joy in relationships resides in its core. I’m calling it the “Live to Love seed.” It is a simple prayer that you plant in your heart and then water and nourish it every day of your life, beginning today. This prayer will change things!

    Father in heaven, thank You for another day of life to live to know and love You and to love with Jesus. Anoint and fill me with the Holy Spirit, the presence and power of Christ, so that I can love and trust You and love those You put in my path today, for Your glory.

    Like any other seed that is cared for and that God causes to grow, the “Live to Love seed,” if nurtured with prayer, will bear fruit. God helps prepare hearts to receive it, to keep it before you daily, and to cherish and meditate on it until its fruit gloriously sprouts forth. When these things occur, you will be ready to share the seed with others who also long to experience freedom and joy in their relationships. What an exciting and satisfying experience that will be! When you have the seed growing in your own heart, you will easily be able to give it to others by simply asking, “May I share a prayer with you that God is using in my life to bring me greater freedom, joy, and satisfaction in my relationships?” If someone is hungry or thirsty for their relationships to be more loving, satisfying, and glorifying to God, then they will be eager to hear what you have to share.

Plant the seed in good soil

    I live in the Texas hill country. We grow rocks on our land! It’s useless to sow seeds on the soil we have because it’s so rocky. Our hearts can be like the Texas hill country. They might be hard and rocky, needing good soil to be imported so that good crops can grow in them. The parable of the soils explained in the introduction shows us our need to plant this prayer in our hearts and nurture it so it grows strong. We need to make it a daily devotional practice until God brings forth fruit a hundredfold, as He promised. The honest and good-hearted person understands that if anything is to be fruitful, God must do the work, so he cooperates with the Holy Spirit. God promises to give grace to do what He requires. The apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (2:12-13). You will not be disappointed if you’ll humble yourself now and ask God to give you an honest and good heart to receive the Live to Love seed and the grace to make the prayer a daily practice. When the seed begins to bear fruit, you’ll live to love with Jesus and be ready to make disciples of love.

    If you haven’t already begun to make this prayer a daily habit in your life, would you consider this? Doesn’t it make sense that if someone is serious about living to love with Jesus, that they would intentionally make it a prayer focus? Don’t you pray about the things that matter to you? How important do you think it was for Jesus to love with His Father? Don’t you think that loving is still the way He glorifies His Father here on earth as He expresses His life in those who are His? 

    I hope you will begin today, praying the Live to Love prayer or at least pray your own version of it. When we live to love with Jesus, we are living and praying in Jesus’ name. Because we are concerned for the reputation of His name, we make our appeal to our Father in heaven for His grace and wisdom to love for His glory. 

    Next month, we will look more closely at each part of the Live to Love prayer. I hope you’ll think about each phrase and ask the Holy Spirit to make each one a living part of your prayer life.