When life weighs heavy on our hearts, prayer keeps us reaching toward God and toward one another. As we ask the Lord to fill our hearts with overflowing love, even for our enemies, we can show a hurting world what His love looks like and stand ready, blameless in holiness, for Christ’s return. Pastor Dustin Hanson reminds us never to stop praying for ourselves and for others, including those who are unkind to us.

Growing in Love, Holiness, and Faithfulness

What if one of the most important prayers we could pray isn’t for God to change our circumstances, but for Him to change us?

We often pray for healing, provision, protection, and direction. We ask God to open doors, restore relationships, and help us through difficult seasons. These are important prayers, and Scripture encourages us to bring our needs before the Lord. But what happens when we begin asking God to do something deeper within us? What if we invite Him to expand our capacity to love, strengthen our commitment to His Word, and prepare our hearts for His return?

In his message, A Prayer for the Church, Pastor Dustin Hanson challenges us to consider what God desires to accomplish in His people during this season. Drawing from the Apostle Paul’s prayer in 1 Thessalonians 3:11–13, he reminds us that spiritual growth is not reserved for new believers or struggling churches. Even a healthy, thriving congregation must continually seek God for greater love, deeper holiness, and steadfast faithfulness.

At North Cities, we believe God is still speaking to His people. He’s still drawing us into His presence, calling us to greater consecration, and preparing us for the work He wants to accomplish through His church.

The question is whether we’re willing to respond.

God Is Still Calling His Church to Grow

It’s possible to become comfortable with where we are spiritually. We develop routines, establish habits, participate in worship services, and begin to assume that our present level of spiritual maturity is sufficient.

But God never intended the Christian life to become stagnant.

Pastor Dustin began his message by describing a recent gathering of young adults and teenagers at North Cities. During that gathering, a guest speaker involved in overseas missions challenged them to consider the greatness of God and His personal calling upon their lives.

As the young people responded in worship and prayer, many expressed a willingness to surrender themselves to whatever God wanted to accomplish through them. It was a powerful reminder that God is still working in the lives of His people, calling individuals to respond with obedience and faith.

That same invitation extends to the entire church.

God has not finished His work in us. There are still areas where He wants us to grow, attitudes He wants to transform, and opportunities for ministry that require us to depend more fully upon Him.

A Healthy Church Still Needs Prayer

In 1 Thessalonians, Paul writes to a congregation that was experiencing remarkable spiritual growth. The believers in Thessalonica had turned from idols to serve the living and true God, and their faith had become known throughout the surrounding region.

This was not a church defined primarily by dysfunction or spiritual failure. Paul repeatedly affirmed their faith, their love, and their commitment to the Gospel.

Yet even with everything God was accomplishing among them, Paul continued to pray for their spiritual growth.

In 1 Thessalonians 3:12–13, he writes:

“And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.”

Paul recognized something that every church needs to remember: spiritual health does not eliminate our need for spiritual growth.

No matter how long we’ve followed Jesus, how much we’ve learned, or how faithfully we’ve served, there is always room to become more like Him.

We never graduate from our need for prayer. We never reach a point where we no longer need God’s grace, His correction, or His transforming presence.

And we never become so spiritually mature that we no longer need the prayers of our brothers and sisters.

1. Pray for a Love That Continues to Grow

The first request in Paul’s prayer is that the believers would increase and abound in love.

Those words communicate movement, growth, and expansion. Paul wasn’t asking God to help the Thessalonians maintain the love they already possessed. He was praying that their love would become greater than it had ever been before.

That is a challenging prayer because love is often where we discover the limits of our spiritual maturity.

It’s relatively easy to love people who agree with us, appreciate us, and treat us well. It’s much more difficult to love someone who has disappointed us, hurt us, misunderstood us, or challenged our expectations.

But Jesus never defined love according to the limits of human convenience.

What Is Your Capacity to Love?

Pastor Dustin asked the congregation to consider a deeply personal question: How far does your willingness to love actually extend?

We all have experiences that influence the way we relate to others. Some of those experiences have strengthened our compassion, while others have created wounds that make us hesitant to trust or love again.

We may find ourselves establishing boundaries around our willingness to care. We decide which people deserve our attention, which situations are worth our involvement, and how much inconvenience we’re willing to accept for someone else’s benefit.

Yet Paul’s prayer challenges us to believe that God can expand our capacity beyond what we currently imagine possible.

The love God calls us to demonstrate is not merely an improved version of ordinary human affection. It is a love shaped by the character and example of Jesus Christ.

In Matthew 5:44, Jesus teaches His followers to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them. He calls us to demonstrate a love that goes beyond the natural tendency to care only for those who care for us.

This kind of love requires more than determination. It requires the transforming work of God’s Spirit within our hearts.

When we pray for God to increase our love, we’re acknowledging that our present capacity is not necessarily our final capacity.

Loving Beyond Our Comfort Zones

Pastor Dustin shared an experience that deeply affected him. During a gathering at North Cities, someone arrived in a time of significant personal distress. As members of the church responded, he watched Pastor Johnny and others immediately begin ministering to the individual with genuine compassion.

He described seeing Pastor Johnny moved to tears as he prayed over the person who was hurting.

Rather than simply admiring that compassion, Pastor Dustin found himself challenged by it. He began asking God to expand his own ability to love people with that same depth of concern.

That is the kind of response spiritual maturity should produce.

When we encounter someone whose compassion exceeds our own, we don’t have to become discouraged or defensive. We can allow their example to inspire us to grow.

God can teach us to see people differently. He can soften hearts that have become guarded, heal wounds that have limited our willingness to care, and help us respond to the suffering of others with genuine mercy.

The question isn’t whether we already love perfectly. The question is whether we’re willing to let God increase our love.

2. Love Like Jesus, Even When It Costs Something

One of the clearest illustrations of Christlike love is found in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan.

In Luke 10, a man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. The conversation turns to the commandments to love God and love one’s neighbor. Wanting to justify himself, the man asks Jesus to define who qualifies as his neighbor.

Jesus responds with a story about a traveler who is attacked, robbed, and left wounded beside the road.

A priest sees the injured man but passes by. A Levite also sees him and continues on his way. Then a Samaritan arrives, recognizes the man’s need, and chooses to help.

The Samaritan treats his wounds, provides transportation, arranges for his care, and accepts personal financial responsibility for his recovery.

The significance of the story is not simply that someone performed a kind act. It’s that the person who demonstrated genuine compassion was someone who crossed deeply established cultural and religious boundaries to help a stranger.

Love Doesn’t Stop at the Boundaries of Convenience

The Good Samaritan illustrates the kind of love Paul was praying would increase among the Thessalonian believers.

It’s a love that refuses to limit compassion to people who look like us, think like us, or share our background. It’s a love that notices suffering and responds with mercy rather than indifference.

At North Cities, we want to be a church where people experience that kind of compassion.

We don’t want our knowledge of Scripture, our spiritual traditions, or our commitment to holiness to become substitutes for genuinely loving people. Biblical truth and Christlike compassion are not competing priorities. Both should be evident in the life of a Spirit-filled believer.

Jesus made the standard unmistakably clear in John 13:34–35 when He commanded His disciples to love one another as He had loved them.

He didn’t simply tell them to be friendly or considerate. He pointed to His own sacrificial love as the example they were to follow.

That’s a much higher standard than most of us naturally embrace.

Jesus loved when it was inconvenient. He loved people who were rejected and overlooked. He loved people who failed Him. And ultimately, He demonstrated the fullness of His love through His sacrificial death.

If we want to love like Jesus, we must allow His Spirit to challenge the limits we’ve placed on our compassion.

3. Pray for a Heart That Is Firmly Established in God

Paul’s prayer doesn’t stop with increasing love.

In 1 Thessalonians 3:13, he prays that God would establish the believers’ hearts blameless in holiness.

The word establish communicates the idea of being strengthened, made firm, and securely grounded.

Paul understood that believers would face pressures, distractions, and challenges that could pull their attention away from Jesus. He wanted them to develop the spiritual stability necessary to remain faithful regardless of what happened around them.

Spiritual Stability Requires More Than a Good Church Environment

Being part of a healthy church is a tremendous blessing, but it doesn’t automatically guarantee that every individual will remain spiritually strong.

We can attend services regularly, participate in ministry, and surround ourselves with believers while still allowing our hearts to become distracted or divided.

Pastor Dustin illustrated this with the image of a damaged phone screen. When a screen becomes severely cracked, the picture may still be visible, but the damage distorts what we’re trying to see.

Our spiritual lives can experience something similar.

Disappointment, unresolved hurt, competing priorities, and the pressures of everyday life can gradually distort our perspective. We may still believe in God and participate in church activities, but our spiritual focus becomes increasingly unclear.

That’s why we need to continually ask God to establish our hearts.

We need more than enthusiasm that lasts for a single worship service. We need a deeply rooted commitment to Jesus Christ that remains steady through changing circumstances.

Remove the Distractions That Are Dividing Your Heart

Sometimes spiritual growth requires us to create space for God to speak.

Our lives are filled with constant demands for attention. Phones, computers, entertainment, responsibilities, and conversations can consume nearly every available moment.

None of these things is necessarily wrong in itself, but when they continually crowd out time with God, they can weaken our spiritual focus.

Pastor Dustin encouraged the congregation to consider the value of setting aside distractions and spending intentional time in God’s presence.

That might mean putting the phone in another room, turning off the television, or finding a quiet place where we can pray and reflect on Scripture without interruption.

The goal isn’t to complete a religious checklist or prove how disciplined we are. It’s to give God room to examine our hearts and bring clarity to areas where we’ve become distracted.

We need moments when we can sincerely pray, “Lord, search me. Show me where my priorities have shifted. Reveal anything that is pulling my heart away from You.”

A firmly established heart doesn’t happen accidentally. It develops as we continually surrender ourselves to the Lord and allow His Word and Spirit to shape our lives.

4. Pray for Holiness That Transforms the Whole Life

Paul connects an established heart with holiness.

This is important because biblical holiness is not merely about maintaining an outward appearance or following a collection of religious rules.

Holiness begins with belonging to God. It involves being set apart for His purposes and allowing His character to shape the way we think, speak, act, and relate to others.

As we walk with Jesus, His Word reveals areas of our lives that need to change.

Sometimes He challenges our attitudes. Sometimes He exposes pride, selfishness, bitterness, or competing desires. Other times, He calls us to surrender habits and priorities that have gradually taken a place they should never have occupied.

Holiness Is More Than External Behavior

Pastor Dustin described the importance of becoming wholehearted and undivided in our devotion to God.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Purity of heart involves more than outward conformity. It requires a sincere and undivided desire to please God.

That kind of holiness reaches into every part of life.

It affects how we treat our spouses and children, how we conduct ourselves at work, how we respond when someone offends us, and how we use the opportunities and resources God has entrusted to us.

It also challenges us to confront the difference between what we claim to believe and how we actually live.

We cannot separate genuine devotion to God from the transformation of our character.

The more we surrender ourselves to Jesus, the more His Word should influence our decisions and relationships.

God Is Preparing a Church That Reflects His Character

In Ephesians 5:25–27, Paul describes Christ’s love for the church and His desire to sanctify and cleanse her, presenting her as a glorious church without spot or wrinkle.

This picture reminds us that Jesus is deeply committed to the spiritual condition of His people.

He doesn’t simply call us into His Kingdom and leave us unchanged. He continues working in us, correcting what needs correction, strengthening what is weak, and developing the character that reflects His holiness.

At North Cities, we believe the transforming power of the Holy Ghost is essential to this process.

Through repentance, obedience to God’s Word, and the ongoing work of His Spirit, believers can grow in holiness and spiritual maturity.

This is not a call to achieve perfection through human effort. It’s a call to surrender ourselves to the God who is able to transform us.

The church should be a community where grace and truth work together, where people are welcomed with compassion and encouraged to become more like Jesus.

5. Live Faithfully Because Jesus Is Coming Again

The final words of Paul’s prayer point toward the return of Jesus Christ.

He prays that the believers’ hearts would be established in holiness “at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.”

This wasn’t an unrelated closing thought. The return of Jesus gave urgency and direction to everything Paul was asking God to accomplish in the church.

The expectation of Christ’s return should shape the way we live today.

The Return of Jesus Gives Purpose to the Present

It’s easy to think about the Second Coming only in terms of future events. We may wonder when Jesus will return, what circumstances will surround His coming, and how the promises of Scripture will be fulfilled.

Those are important subjects to study, but biblical teaching about Christ’s return is also intended to transform our present lives.

Because Jesus is coming, our faithfulness matters.

Because Jesus is coming, our love should continue to grow.

Because Jesus is coming, we should pursue holiness and remain firmly established in His Word.

And because Jesus is coming, we should remain committed to the mission He’s entrusted to His church.

The hope of His return doesn’t call us to withdraw from the world or abandon our responsibilities. It calls us to live with greater purpose, recognizing that our present choices have eternal significance.

Pastor Dustin emphasized that the return of Christ should bring our lives into focus, strengthening our commitment to what truly matters.

We don’t know everything the coming months or years will bring, but we do know that God has called us to remain faithful.

And we can trust Him to provide the strength we need.

Lord, Bend Me: A Prayer for Personal Revival

Near the conclusion of his message, Pastor Dustin shared the story of Evan Roberts, a young Welsh coal miner who became associated with the Welsh Revival of the early twentieth century.

Roberts was not a famous religious leader when he began seeking God with extraordinary intensity. He was an ordinary young man with a deep desire for God to transform his life.

One of the prayers associated with Roberts was remarkably simple:

“Lord, bend me.”

Those words captured a willingness to surrender completely to God’s will.

Rather than beginning by asking God to change everyone around him, Roberts was asking God to begin His work within his own heart.

He wanted God to shape his desires, correct his attitudes, purify his motives, and make him useful for His purposes.

Revival Begins With Surrender

The Welsh Revival became known for extraordinary spiritual responses, including widespread repentance, renewed devotion to prayer, and transformed lives.

But the lesson Pastor Dustin drew from that history was intensely personal.

Before we ask God to change our church, our community, or our nation, we should be willing to ask Him to change us.

That is a difficult prayer because it requires humility.

It’s much easier to recognize what needs to change in someone else than to invite God to examine our own hearts.

We can identify the attitudes, habits, and shortcomings of the people around us while overlooking the areas where we ourselves need to grow.

But genuine spiritual renewal begins when we become willing to surrender those areas to the Lord.

What if we began praying, “God, increase my love. Establish my heart. Purify my motives. Remove anything that is keeping me from becoming who You’ve called me to be”?

What if we stopped assuming that our present level of spiritual maturity was enough and invited God to take us deeper?

What if our prayer for revival began with our own surrender?

God is able to do more in us than we can accomplish through our own determination.

But we must be willing to yield ourselves to Him.

A Prayer for North Cities and Our Community

At North Cities, we believe God has placed our church in Garland, Texas, for a purpose.

We are called to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, make disciples, demonstrate His love, and serve the people and families of our community.

That calling extends beyond the walls of our church building.

It reaches into homes, workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, and communities throughout Garland, Murphy, Plano, Richardson, Rowlett, and Wylie.

It includes families throughout Dallas County, Collin County, and Rockwall County who are searching for hope, meaningful relationships, and a deeper understanding of God’s Word.

As an Apostolic Pentecostal church in Garland, TX, we believe in the power of prayer, Spirit-filled worship, biblical holiness, and the life-changing experience of the Holy Ghost.

We want to be a church where people encounter Jesus, experience His transforming power, and discover a community committed to growing together in faith.

But fulfilling that mission requires more than maintaining programs or continuing familiar routines.

It requires hearts that are surrendered to God.

We need His love to shape the way we treat people. We need His Word to establish our convictions. We need His Spirit to lead us into greater holiness. And we need the hope of His return to keep our priorities focused on eternity.

If you’re looking for a church in Garland, a Pentecostal church near Plano, or an Apostolic church near Murphy, Richardson, Rowlett, or Wylie, we’d love to welcome you to North Cities.

Learn more about our church, worship services, and opportunities to connect at northcities.org.

The Prayer We Should Be Praying

Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonian church remains just as relevant today as it was nearly two thousand years ago.

He didn’t simply pray that the church would become larger, more influential, or more successful by the world’s standards.

He prayed that their love would increase, their hearts would become established, and their lives would reflect holiness as they awaited the return of Jesus Christ.

That’s a prayer worth praying over our own lives, our families, and our church.

We need a love that reaches beyond our comfort zones and extends compassion to the hurting, the overlooked, and even those who have wounded us.

We need hearts that remain firmly established in God’s truth when distractions and difficulties threaten to pull us away.

We need holiness that transforms more than our outward behavior, reaching into our attitudes, motives, relationships, and daily decisions.

And we need to live with the expectation that Jesus Christ is coming again.

The invitation is not simply to admire what God has already accomplished among us. It’s to believe that He still has more He wants to do.

God is not finished with His church. And He’s not finished with you.

So perhaps the most important prayer we can pray today is also one of the simplest:

Lord, increase my love. Establish my heart. Make me holy. Prepare me for Your coming. And shape me into the person You have called me to be.