Prayer to Love God and His Word

A lawyer once asked Jesus a question to test Him:

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus answered without hesitation:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Everything hangs on love. Not effort. Not duty. Not religious performance. Love. The entire Law and Prophets—all of God's instructions to humanity—hang on loving God and loving others.

This is the secret: Love for God is a response to His love for you. You love Him because He first loved you. The more you comprehend how much He loves you, the more your heart responds in love toward Him.

Paul prayed for the Ephesians: “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power... to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.”

He didn't pray that they would try harder to love. He prayed they would comprehend Christ's love—because knowing you are loved produces love.

The psalmist had discovered this.

Throughout Psalm 119—the longest chapter in the Bible—he expresses an extraordinary love for God's Word:

• •“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.” (v. 97)
• •“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (v. 103)
• •“I rejoice in your word like one who finds great spoil.” (v. 162)
• •“I long for your salvation, Lord, and your law gives me delight.” (v. 174)

This isn't forced enthusiasm. This is genuine delight. The psalmist doesn't read God's Word out of obligation—he craves it. He stays up at night thinking about it. He finds more joy in it than in material riches.

This is why this prayer matters.

Without love for God, religion becomes empty ritual. Without love for His Word, Bible reading becomes duty without delight. Without love, you can do all the right things and miss the entire point.

But when your heart truly loves God, everything changes. Prayer becomes conversation, not obligation. Scripture becomes nourishment, not homework. Obedience becomes response, not rule-keeping.

This prayer asks God to pour His love into your heart—because that's the only way you can love Him in return. It asks Him to remove every competing affection, every idol that steals your heart's devotion. And it asks Him to make His Word the delight of your soul, not out of effort, but out of genuine hunger for the One who speaks through it.