From Self-Control To Genuine Love: A Morning Prayer On 2 Peter 1

What if spiritual growth followed a clear progression you could practice today? We open the morning with 2 Peter 1:5–8 and follow its steps—self-control, patient endurance, godliness, and love—through praise and intercession that moves from the heart to daily life. The focus is not on striving alone but on grace-enabled formation: asking God to cleanse what harms us, crucify what holds us back, and strengthen us to love people who are not always easy to love.

We talk honestly about waiting—how delays can trigger anger or anxiety—and then we ask for the Spirit to build patience that lasts. From there, we turn to unity in the Church. Division and jealousy quietly weaken our witness, so we pray for healing and reconciliation, for long-suffering and compassion that look like Jesus. As that godliness matures, love expands: first toward our brothers and sisters, then outward to everyone we meet. Along the way, we pray boldly for healing from sickness and mental torment, for joy that steadies us in storms, and for peace that settles the heart even when the wind still howls.

This time of prayer is also a call to usefulness. Scripture promises that as these qualities grow, our knowledge of Christ becomes effective and fruitful. We declare victory, put on self-control and endurance for the day ahead, and cover families, homes, and ministries in the blood of Jesus. If you need a simple, Scripture-shaped path to grow and a community to stand with you, this will meet you where you are and point you toward hope. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs courage for the wait, and leave a review to help others find this time of prayer and renewal.

Join us LIVE for Morning Prayer at 6 am EST Monday-Friday or Wednesday Night Prayer at 7 PM EST.  Prayer Warriors from the US dial 1 727-731-9243. International Prayer Warriors dial 1 267-807-9601 if prompted the access code is 252337. Send prayer requests to jbaymon@healing-word.org  or leave a message on the website www.healing-word.org

Join us Live for 6 AM EST prayer Monday-Friday and Wednesday Nights at 7 PM EST (727) 731-9243.  International number 1 267-807-9601 if prompted the access code is 252337. Send prayer requests to jbaymon@healing-word.org  or leave a message on our website www.healing-word.org

Transcript

Opening And Scripture Focus

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Good morning. Welcome to morning prayer. Today is December 2nd, 2025, and we are here for morning prayer. Uh scripture this morning that the Lord laid on my heart is coming out of 2 Peter, the first chapter. And this is the New International Version of the Bible. I'm reading the fifth chapter through the eighth verse, and they read, So make every effort to apply the benefits of these promises to your life, then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better. Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness. Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally, you will grow to have genuine love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. And so we're praying this morning that God will help us to display these fruits, these virtues, and that God will allow us to be in a space or in a place where we are usable or we are of use to Him. Amen. And so let's go before the Lord and we'll start by giving God praise this morning. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Lord. We praise your name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. All glory belongs to you. All glory belongs to you. All honor belongs to you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We lift up praise to you. We lift up worship to you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You're our redeemer. You're our healer. You're our hiding place. You're our way maker. Lord, you work miracles for us. God, we give you praise. God, we give you praise. Iananashteo. God, we give you praise. God, we give you glory. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Come and have your way, God. Come and have your way, Holy Spirit, in the midst of your people. Come and have your way, Holy Spirit, in the midst of your people. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We invite you to have your way this morning. Oh God. As we come into your presence, Father, we pray that you'll clean our hearts, God. In the name of Jesus. We pray that you'll clean our minds, God. In the name of Jesus. Oh God, anything in us that is not right. We pray that you'll take it out of us. In the name of Jesus. Any way that is not pleasing to you. God, we pray that you'll take it out, God. Oh God, every habit. Oh God, that is not like you. God, I pray that you'll deliver this morning. Deliver from every habit. Oh God, that is not like you. Take it out of us, God. Take the desire for it out of us, God. I'm Siah. In the name of Jesus. God, I pray that you'll cover us under your blood. Wash us with your blood. Purge us with your blood. I Naboho. In the name of Jesus. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. We need you to wash us this morning. In the name of Jesus. Oh God, have your way on this line. Have your way in the midst of your people. In the name of Jesus. Oh Lord, we're praying, God. We're praying that you'll help us, Lord, to continue to develop godly character in the name of Jesus. Oh God, we pray, Lord, that you'll help us, God, to have a desire to be more like you in the name of Jesus. Help us to have a desire to walk more like Jesus. To talk more like Jesus. To be more like Jesus in the name of Jesus. Oh God, give us to look to you to be our role model. Give us to look to you to be the model of how we should be. Oh God, give us to look to you and to not look to this world, to not look to influencers, to not look to those that are man, God. But Lord, I pray that you'll give us to look to you, God, for the perfect example of what we should strive to be in the name of Jesus. Oh God, help us. God, we don't have it all together. God, we're yet striving to be more like Jesus. Every day we're striving to be like you just a little bit more. Oh God, I pray, Lord, that you'll give us strength, that you'll give us grace. Oh God, to continue to crucify our flesh. Oh God, and to go after the things of the Spirit in the name of Jesus. Oh God, I pray that you'll give us strength today. Oh God, strength today to crucify the flesh. In the name of Jesus, crucify the desires that are not of you, Lord. Crucify the ways that are not of you. Oh God, crucify all unrighteousness. In the name of Jesus. Crucify it, God. Nail it to the cross. Sacrifice it on the altar. Oh God, give us to do that this morning. In the name of Jesus. Oh God, we need your Lord. Oh God, we need your Lord. We need your help, Father, as we're striving day by day to be just a little bit more like you. Oh God. Oh Lord, you told us, Lord, to apply these godly characters, these godly benefits to our lives, Lord. And God, that we would become greater for it, Lord, and better for it. Oh God, I pray, Lord, that you'll help us. Help us, Jesus. Help us, Jesus. Oh God, help us, Lord, to practice self-control in the name of Jesus. Oh God, you said in your word that self-control produces patient endurance. Help us, God, to be more patient, to be more enduring, to be more long-suffering in the name of Jesus. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Some of us become angry when we have to wait. Some of us become hallelujah beside ourselves when we have to wait. But God, your word is letting us know that being able to wait is a fruit of the Spirit. Being able to wait is a measure of self-control. Oh God, give us self-control in all things, Lord, in the name of Jesus. Oh God, help us today. Help us today. Help us today to apply self-control to the areas of our lives where it's lacking. In the name of Jesus. Lord, give us to apply self-control. Give us to apply it, God, in the name of Jesus. Oh God, and give it to bear the fruit that the word of God says that it would give us. Oh God. Oh Lord, your word says that self-control leads to godliness, Lord. Oh God, and that godliness leads us to love other Christians. Oh God, help us, Lord. Help us, God, oh God, to gain a godliness about us. Oh God, such that we're able to love other Christians, such that we're able to love our brothers and sisters in the name of Jesus. Oh God, I pray now, God, that you'll touch the body of Christ. That shall touch the body of Christ. In the name of Jesus. Oh God, give us to be more long-suffering with each other. Oh God, give us to be more patient with each other. Oh God, give us to love each other the more. In the name of Jesus. Oh God, give us to look out for one another. Oh God, give us to embrace one another. In the name of Jesus. Oh God, tear down the divisions. Oh God, tear down the jealousy. Oh God, tear it down. In the name of Jesus. Tear down God. Every faction of the enemy. Everything that He's created to keep us at odds with each other. Oh God, tear it down. In the name of Jesus, let us produce godliness that we may love each other the more. Oh God, you said that a house that is divided against itself, that it will fall, that it will fail, that it will crumble. Oh God, I pray, Lord, that the divisions within the body of Christ, oh God, that those divisions, oh God, will be healed in the name of Jesus. Oh God, give us to be able, Lord, to come together for the greater good. Give us to come together for the cause of Christ. In the name of Jesus. Oh God, I'm praying this morning that the love of God, that the love of God would break out in the body of Christ. Oh God, break out in the body of Christ in ways that you've never done it before, God. In the name of Jesus. Oh God, we need you. God, we need you. Oh God, not every brother and not every sister is lovable. Not every brother and not every sister is easy to handle. But God, we pray that you'll grow us in grace and give us to be more like you. Give us to be able to look beyond. Oh God, give us to be able to look beyond, God. Oh God, give us to be able to love them because you love them. Give us to be able, God, to do that in the name of Jesus. Oh Father, help us, Lord. Oh Lord, it says, Lord, that once we are able to love other Christians, that we're able to love other people in general. Oh God. Oh God, we need you. Oh God, we need you. God, our patience is failing. God, our love is failing. Oh God, we're having an issue, God, within the body of Christ. We're having an issue, God, where we're having a hard time loving one another, which makes it hard for us to love those that are in the world. Oh God, help us today. Oh God, help us today. Strengthen us, God. Strengthenabo Hoshaya. Strengthen us, God, in the name of Jesus. Oh God. Oh God. Oh Lord, your word says that once we have these principles together, God, that we become more productive, God, that we come more useful. Oh God. In our knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, we become more productive. We become more useful as kingdom builders. Oh God, we become more productive. Oh God, life becomes more fruitful. Oh God, once we're able to get past these stumbling blocks. Oh God, I thank you this morning that should never require anything of us that we're not capable of doing. Oh God, I thank you this morning. Oh God, for helping us, Lord. Oh Lord, to see the spiritual impact of our behavior. Oh God, I thank you this morning. Oh God, for giving us, Lord, to conquer these areas that the enemy set up to disqualify us from moving forward. God, I thank you. God, I thank you. I thank you, Lord. I am masko. I thank you for victory. We declare victory on this line. In the name of Jesus, we declare victory. We declare victory. We declare victory. Oh God. We declare it in the name of Jesus. We put on self-control this morning. We put on patient endurance this morning. We put on godliness this morning. We put on the love of Christ this morning. For the body of Christ. We put on the love of Christ this morning. Oh God, for the world and for those that are not in the body of Christ. Oh God, we put it on this morning. Oh God, I thank you, Lord. I thank you, God, for giving your people, Lord. Oh God, to see the benefits to obeying the word of God. I thank you, Lord, for blessing these homes and these families and these ministries. I thank you, Lord, because your word, Lord, oh God, it plants seed in us and causes great harvest, causes great produce, causes great things to manifest and to come into fruition. Oh God, we look to your word. Oh God, to correct us. We look to your word to establish us. We look to your word, God. Oh God, to go forward and to go into the will of God deeper than we were before. In the name of Jesus. Oh God, I thank you, Lord, for what you're doing, God. Thank you for what you're doing in the lives of these. We tell sickness this morning that you are bound in the name of Jesus. And we cast you into dry places. We tell infirmity that you are bound this morning. And we cast you into dry places. Everything that holds us back from doing the will of God. Every report of the enemy that gives us a sign or gives us a statement that we cannot or that we will not make it. We come against those things. In the name of Jesus. I rebuke pain this morning. In the name of Jesus. I rebuke mental illness this morning. In the name of Jesus. Oh, I call the joy of the Lord on the line. I call the joy of the Lord over the people of God. I speak the joy of the Lord over these your people. In the name of Jesus. I thank you, Lord, that despite what we're going through, despite where we find ourselves, despite what's going on all around us, I thank you, Lord. Oh God, that you have said in your word that the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord, it is our strength. Oh God, I speak joy. I speak joy over the people of God. In the name of Jesus, I speak peace in the midst of the storm. Oh, the wind may be howling. Oh, the boat may be rocking. But God, I speak the peace of God on the inside of your people. In the name of Jesus, we will not run scared. We will turn our faces to the wall. We will look up to heaven. We will look to the hills from which cometh our help. And our help comes from you, God. And God in that will trust you through the storm. We'll trust you through the winds. We'll trust you through the waves. God will trust you, God. We'll trust you, God. We'll trust you, God. Oh, God, we thank you. Oh, God, because our lives are in your hand, God. Our lives are in your capable hands. And God, I thank you. I thank you that you're not a God that drops his people. I thank you that you're not a God that is dismissive of his people. I thank you, God. I thank you, God. I thank you, God. I thank you, God, that you've already made a way. Oh, God, out of no way. I thank you, God, that you've already sent streams into the desert. I thank you, Lord, that it's already worked out, God. Oh, God, the things that we're trying to figure out, God. I thank you, God, that you've already worked it out. I thank you, God, because every time I turn around, God, you keep making a way. Every time we turn around, you keep making a way. You keep doing great things. You keep seeing us through. You keep being God. Oh God, we thank you, Lord, that you've never left us. You've never forsaken us. And you will not leave us and you will not forsake us. We thank you, God, that we're tied to you and you're tied to your word. We thank you, God, that heaven and earth will pass away before one thing you have said will fall flat or fail. We thank you, God, because you do not fail. We thank you, God, that you will not fail us. Oh God, we thank you this morning. Oh God, I speak over your people, God. Increase in this season. I speak over your people, God. Life, God, and not death. I speak over your people, God. Blessings and favor in the name of Jesus. Oh God, even as a response to obedience, even as a response to their obedience, even as a response, I am a bohoshabay to doing what the word says. Oh God, they shall receive the fruits of obedience. Oh God, I thank you. I thank you, God, this morning for each individual, each one that came on the line. Oh God, you know what they're crying out for. You know what their requests are. You know, oh God, I pray that you'll grant your their request according to your will. In the name of Jesus, I pray that you will grant their request according to your will. In the name of Jesus. Oh God, I thank you. I thank you, Lord, for the angels that are encamped round about us. Oh God, we cover ourselves with the blood of Jesus. We cover our loved ones with the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus prevails over us even now in the name of Jesus. Even now in the name of Jesus. Oh God, and we thank you for the power that is in your blood. Oh God, I pray that as we go through this day that you'll go with us. Oh God, and we thank you for your might and your power. In Jesus' name we pray. Thank God and amen. Thank God and Amen. Amen. We thank the Lord for this time of prayer. Hallelujah. I have a different devotional up this morning than what the Lord led me to this morning for this line. So just so that you know, what's on the line is not on the website today. Amen. What's on the line is just here with us this morning. The Lord led me to 2 Peter, the first chapter. Um I was reading verses 1 through 12, but really what caught me was verses 5 through 8. 5 through 8. Read it on your time, but I'm gonna I'm gonna read it to you, but I want you to reflect on it throughout the day as you see fit. It says, So make every effort to apply the benefits of these promises to your life. Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better. Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance. And patient endurance leads to godliness. Godliness leads to love for other Christians. And finally, you will grow to have genuine love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. So not only does God want us to serve, not only does God want us to walk out our assignment here in the earth, but he wants us to walk it out with godly character. He wants us to walk it out loving everybody, loving everybody, and he gives us a progression of what that looks like. The Bible says that once we know God, knowing God leads to self-control. And having self-control is having patient endurance. And having patient endurance leads us to being godly, and having and being godly leads to us loving other Christians, and us loving other Christians leads us to loving everybody. So it's a progression. We don't just love everybody off the bat, it's just not necessarily in us. People are so flawed, you know. People have ways about them that we don't like, but the Bible lets us know that having these things and growing in grace in these areas gives us to be more perfect in how we love one another and how we love the world. Amen. So we're praying that God will strengthen us to know Him better. We're praying that God will strengthen us to have self-control. We're praying that God will strengthen us to uh be godly and to love the body of Christ, to love one another as well as the world, the masses. Amen. So that blessed me this morning. I pray that it was a blessing to you. Again, that was Second Peter, the first chapter, and I read to you verses five through eight. Amen. Well, that being said, we thank the Lord for being on the line. I thank God for each of you. I thank God for Dr. Subtles this morning, for Elder Suttles this morning. Thank God for them hanging out with us, for being consistent with us, for being those that support and really back this morning prayer consistently for those that they pray for me, and I thank God for them. Amen. I thank God also for the healing word family. I thank God for Pastor Mark Bayman Jr., who is the visionary there. And last but not least, I thank God for those of you that come on the podcast, that download it, that listen to it, that share it with others. I pray that you're blessed by it. I do. I pray that God blesses you. And I pray that God will bless and keep each one of you until we come together again. We'll be here tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. if the Lord delays his coming. God bless you and have a beautiful day.