1 John 4:17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.

Believing God rather than ourselves are noble thoughts.

I want to love perfectly and I try to do the right thing. The results are not always acceptable.

We can only put love out there, the results are not within our control.

• 1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
• 1 John 4:16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

I believe this even if I don’t see it. My problem more than anything is my expectation of the reciprocal effect of the love of God. If I put His love out there I expect to see results. Sadly that is the flesh seeking acceptance. Disappointment is the end result for seeking in the flesh those things generated in the spirit.

Things are bad right now and we pray. Then nothing happens. The problem is in the prayer if we do not pray God’s will. We pray from a position of fear and doubt. I know, I do it. It does not matter how much we agree if it is not within God’s will.

So what is God’s will?

To be in this world as His Son is in the world. Not as He was in the world but how He is in the world. His abiding love never fails if we walk in it. I tend to forget that and try to match a love that is so much greater than my own. But I try.

So I try to remember the process. God speaks, I hear, I believe, and I obey. It always begins with God speaking and if we are not listening, we know what happens next. We walk where we want and do what we want.

The better part of prayer is listening.