This is a daily prayer for love, written for the mornings when you want your heart to be softened toward the people in your life and your own capacity to give and receive love to be renewed. Pray it first thing, over coffee or before the house wakes up, or in the car before you walk into a difficult day. You can read it aloud exactly as written, or use it as a starting point and speak in your own words.
Daily Prayer for Love
Lord, you are love, and every good kind of love I have ever known has come from you. I come to you this morning aware of how often I fall short. I want to love my spouse with patience when I am tired, love my children when they are loud and unreasonable, and love the coworker who keeps getting under my skin. Some days I want to love well and simply do not have the energy for it. Meet me in that place and give me what I cannot manufacture on my own.
Fill the people I am closest to with your kindness, and help me notice where they need me to show up today. Soften the hard places in my heart, especially toward anyone I am holding a grudge against or quietly keeping at a distance. Teach me to speak gently, to listen before I correct, and to forgive quickly when I have been hurt. Let my love be steady rather than dependent on how I feel or how others treat me.
Help me to receive love as well as give it. When someone reaches out to me, let me accept it without suspicion or shame. Remind me that I am loved by you, not because I have earned it but because you choose me. Let that truth flow out of me into the rest of my day. Amen.
A Shorter Version to Pray in a Moment
Father, you are love, and I need it today. Show me where to give it, help me be patient with the people who test me, and soften anything in my heart that has grown cold. Let me feel your love for me so that I can pass it on. Thank you that it never runs out. Amen.
Scriptures to Pray Alongside
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
4 Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, 5 doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil…
(WEB)
Use this passage to ask God to shape your everyday behavior. Pray through each line and name the situations where you most need patience, kindness, or humility in the coming day.
1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.
(WEB)
Pray this verse as a reminder that your love begins with God’s love for you. Thank him for loving you first, and ask him to let that truth steady you when you feel empty.
Romans 12:10
In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor preferring one another…
(WEB)
Bring this verse before God for the relationships where you find it hard to show honor. Ask him to help you prefer others, especially in moments when you would rather be right or be served.
John 13:34-35
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
(WEB)
Read this slowly and pray for the people in your church and home who need to see Christ’s love in you. Ask Jesus to make your love for others visible in ordinary, unglamorous ways.
Ephesians 3:17-19
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, 19 and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
(WEB)
Pray this passage for yourself and for those you love, asking God to root you deeply in his love. Ask that you would grow in understanding how wide and deep that love reaches.
How to Pray This Prayer
Choose a consistent time, such as right after you wake up or during your first cup of coffee, so the prayer becomes part of your routine. If you are a parent, you might pray it in the kitchen while the kids are getting ready, or sit in your car for two minutes before going into the house after work. Keep a pen nearby and write down one person you want to love well that day.
If you are praying with a spouse, a roommate, or a friend, take turns reading a paragraph each. Pray the blessing over one another at the end, and if you have children, invite them to say the short version with you at breakfast. Over time, you may find that the words of this prayer begin to shape the way you talk to people throughout the day.
A Blessing to Close
May the Lord fill your heart with a love that is patient and kind, and may it spill over into every room you walk into today. May he soften what has grown hard and steady what has been shaken. May you rest in the knowledge that you are deeply and unconditionally loved.
