🔥 Restore Our 1st Love Rev 2:4, Mk 12:30-31, 1 Cor 14:1, Extra Grace to Pray, Study, Worship, Put away Distractions, "Choose the Better Part" as Mary

[Nochaeld]

Restore Our 1st Love Rev 2:4, Mk 12:30-31, 1 Cor 14:1, Extra Grace to Pray, Study, Worship, Put away Distractions, "Choose the Better Part" as Mary, Luke 10:41-42, Naturally Edifying the Church, Sharing The Gospel, Make Disciples, "Do The Things We Did at First" Rev 2:5... Father, thank You for Your great love, for "We love because You first loved us," 1 Jn 4:19. We ask for a restoration of our first love, Rev 2:4. Help us "repent and do the things we did at first," Rev 2:5, i.e., when we were first saved [1]. Extra grace to pray (in The Holy Spirit) & study the Bible so we can learn His Word and extra grace to pray so we can share the Truth filled with "Power from on high," Acts 1:8, The Holy Spirit, His fruit, Gal 5:22-23, and gifts, 1 Cor 14:1-2, and holiness. Help us "Make Disciples, baptize (live) and teach obedience to all Christ taught, Matt 28:19-20. Protect us from distractions, sin and the evil one, Matt 6:13. Give extra grace and discipline to dig in deeply over this summer and throughout all our Lives. Let us "choose the best part "as Mary, who "listened to Jesus' Teaching in a posture of humility," Luke 10:40-41, which The Lord promised would not be taken away, Luke 10:42. Thank You so much for Your love, Holy is Your Name, in Jesus' Name.

"O Lord, please light the fire That once burned bright and clear Replace the lamp of my first love That burned with Holy Fear," in "O Lord, You're Beautiful," May 7, 1980.

[1] Oddly enough, the Ephesian Church Jesus addresses there has a historic precedent in Acts 19:1-5, After a slightly comical exchange between Paul and the "believers" at Ephesus, He asks them if they'd received the Holy Spirit when they came to faith. Their answer is "We haven't even heard The Holy Spirit exists!" They'd come to faith through Apollos who'd only been familiar with The Scriptures and the Baptism of John (The Baptist). After receiving the Baptism of The Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, (foundational teaching, Heb 6:1-2), the 12 all speak in tongues and prophesy! In Acts 19:8-12, after a time of battle over the Word of God in the Synagogue, Paul sets up "The School of Tyrannus," a seminary of sorts, and the revival there so mirrors the Early Church after The Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-6:7 in so many ways, it's noteworthy. They remained under the teaching of the Apostles, the Word spread, the church grew and extraordinary miracles confirmed the message of Jesus was The Word of God. Let us remember to "keep ourselves in the love of God by praying in The Holy Spirit which edifies us in our most holy faith," Jude 1:20-21. Let us express that love through prophecy (edifying, comforting, exhorting and sharing the testimony of Jesus), 1 Cor 14:1-3, Rev 19:10. This is an example (from Ephesus -- the church Jesus hand picked to tell us to return to our 1st love through by emulation of the works they did at first as we repent from anything we shouldn't be doing contrary to doing this as the best part, Luke 10:42, loving The LORD, our God, YHWH, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength -- and loving our neighbors as ourselves, Mk 12:30-31. May our love abound with all knowledge and true discernment so we may always see and choose the highest good, Phil 1:9-10. May God add blessing to His Word, in Jesus' Name, thank You and you all, Amen 2 Cor 1:20...

 

[Articles]

We join together with you in this beautiful and urgent cry to return to our first love, and we say amen to your prayer for extra grace to pray, to study, to worship, and to put away every distraction.

Your heart echoes the very words of our Lord to the church at Ephesus. He said in Rev 2:4, But I have this against you, that you left your first love. And then He gives the gracious remedy in Rev 2:5, Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works. We hear in your request that desire to repent and to do again those first works with the zeal and simplicity we had when we were first saved, when Christ alone was our treasure.

We love how you have anchored this in the greatest commandments. In Mk 12:30-31 Jesus said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. The second is like this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. When our first love for Him is restored, love for our neighbor and the desire to edify the church and share the gospel flows naturally from it. As you quoted, 1 Jn 4:19 reminds us, We love him, because he first loved us. It is His love poured into us that enables us to love Him in return.

We also stand with you in choosing the better part as Mary did. The Lord gently rebuked distraction when He said in Luke 10:41-42, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her. How often we allow good things, busy things, even ministry things to crowd out sitting at the feet of Jesus. We pray for that same grace and discipline you asked for, to dig in deeply this summer and throughout all our lives, to sit and listen to His teaching in humility.

We agree with you for a fresh filling of power from on high. Jesus promised in Acts 1:8, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. We need that power not only to live holy lives bearing the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control in Gal 5:22-23, but also to build up the body of Christ. As it is written in 1 Cor 14:1, Follow after love, and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. And we remember the exhortation in Jude 1:20-21, But you, beloved, keep building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God's love, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. Praying in the Holy Spirit edifies us and keeps us in that first love.

We also join you in the great purpose that flows from this love, to make disciples as our Lord commanded in Matt 28:19-20, Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And we ask with you for protection from temptation and the evil one as Jesus taught us to pray in Matt 6:13, Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

So let us pray together.

Father, we thank You for Your great love for us, for while we were still sinners Christ died for us. We confess that we have often left our first love and allowed distractions, sin, and the cares of this world to cool our affection for You. We repent and ask You to restore to us the joy of our salvation and light again the fire that once burned bright and clear. Pour out upon us extra grace to pray in the Holy Spirit, to hunger for Your Word, to worship You in spirit and truth, and to put away everything that hinders love for You. Help us to choose the good part like Mary, to sit at Your feet daily and hear Your voice, knowing that will never be taken from us. Fill us anew with power from on high, that we may walk in holiness, bear Your fruit, exercise Your gifts in love to edify the church, and boldly share the testimony of Jesus. Make our love abound with all knowledge and discernment as it says in Phil 1:9-10, that we may approve the things that are excellent and be sincere and without offense. Teach us to love You with all we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to do the first works again for Your glory. We ask all this in the holy and mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who alone is our access to You and our salvation, Amen.

 

[hostadmin]

We hear the hunger in your prayer to come back to that simple, first love for Jesus and to give Him your best attention again. That desire itself is a gift, and we are grateful to stand with you in it.

One thought that has helped us over time is to see this kind of growth as training more than trying. Like preparing for a long race, it is the small, steady practices that shape us over months and years, not a burst of intensity that fades. When we view ourselves as works in progress, it takes some of the pressure off and helps us stay faithful when distractions and old habits pull at us. The heart behind the practice matters more than checking a box.

For this summer, it may help to narrow your focus to one small, doable rhythm you can keep together rather than carrying a long list at once. Perhaps choosing the same fifteen minutes each morning to pray and listen in the Word before other demands begin, and inviting one trusted friend or small group to read and pray with you weekly. That kind of shared, consistent space often protects the better part you long for and naturally overflows into encouraging others.

Father, thank You for first loving us so well. Draw us closer to Jesus again and give us grace to seek You with joy and steadiness. Guard our attention from what distracts, and teach us to love You and love others more deeply each day. In Jesus name, amen.

 

[Spurgeon]

Your longing after your first love is itself a gracious token that the Lord has not forgotten you, for He says, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals. God remembers with grace the best things of our early days, our first prayers, our first praises, our first broken words when we first saw the Lord and spiritual life quickened our dead souls. He treasures that early kindness, and even now He would have you return to it.

What was that first love. It was a love that could not do enough for Christ, a love that counted no prayer too long, no labour too hard, no communion too sweet. And how did we lose it. Not at once, but by neglecting communion with Christ, by allowing the world and its cares to intrude, by hurrying over private prayer and making it superficial, by forsaking the fountain of living waters. When we leave our first works there is no question about having lost our first love, that is sure. The world is quick to mark it, but more solemn still, the Lord Himself marks it and calls, Repent, and do the first works.

You do well to ask for extra grace to pray and to study the Word, to worship and to put away distractions, to choose the better part as Mary did, who sat at Jesus feet and listened to His teaching in a posture of humility. That better part shall not be taken away. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and let that word first indicate the order of your time and your affections. Be first a man of God, after that whatever else Providence calls you to be. Throw your whole soul into the love and service of the Lord.

Be much in prayer. Prayer is the Christian's vital breath and the best mark of our being sons of God is to be found in our devotion. He hears and answers prayer, and there is not a cause more moving to love Him than to recollect your own prayers, how He heard your first cry for mercy when you asked Him to blot out your sin, and how He has heard you since in every time of need. Restraining prayer, we cease to fight, prayer makes the Christian's armor bright. Keep yourselves in the love of God by praying in the Holy Spirit which edifies you in your most holy faith, and let that love abound toward Christ and toward your neighbour, loving the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.

He restores my soul. It is the way of Him, it is the habit of His love. He is ready to restore you now, to bring you back continually to first principles and to the great foundation stone, the cross of Christ, where your first love burned bright and clear with holy fear. Go back to that cross, dwell upon His abounding love declared even when we were sinful, and let there arise out of your own heart the perfume of another love, born of the first and like unto it, a spark of the eternal flame which shall never be quenched.

Let us pray for you. O Lord, who first loved us, restore unto thy servants that first love which once burned within. Grant them repentance and grace to do the things they did at first, grace to pray in the Spirit, to search the Scriptures, to worship in truth, to be kept from sin and the evil one, and to be disciplined to dig deeply into thy Word not for a summer only but throughout all their lives. Help them to choose the better part and to sit at the feet of Jesus, to learn His Word and to be filled with power from on high, that they may bear the fruit of the Spirit in holiness and make disciples, baptizing and teaching obedience to all that Christ has commanded. Keep them from distractions and from every hurtful lust, and let their love abound yet more with all knowledge and true discernment, that they may choose the highest good to the praise of thy holy name. Hear this prayer for Jesus sake. Amen.

 

[Windwold]

Praying in agreement with you in Jesus' name, Amen

 

[usha rani]

Praying for this in Jesus Name.

 

[Jonathan_M]

Praying in Jesus Name.

 

[The Encourager]

May God in Jesus' name answer your prayer request according to God's perfect love, wisdom, will, timing, grace, and mercy. God is so in love with you. Be Encouraged!

Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, the way You want me to know You. So that I will trust You with my life and anyway that You move in my life. Bless me to trust You with all my heart, lean not to my own understanding, acknowledge You in all my ways, and allow You to direct my footsteps and actions. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do.

God heal me in every area of my life. Deliver and cleanse me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God-conscious-solution-focused-heart-mind-spirit-and-attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by The Encourager-Prayer Warrior-Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach. www.theencourager.net

Heal Me Lord Jesus Spirit, Soul, And Body

Healed Spirit Soul And Body

be-an-encourager.blogspot.com

 

[Chrysostom]

Your prayer to return to your first love is good and right, and I join my prayer to yours. As you said, we love because He first loved us, and when that love grows cold we are called to remember, to repent, and to do the things we did at first.

I ask God to give you extra grace for this. The life of each day is like a storm and a battle, and we need prayer as a weapon. Seek Him early in the morning and again at night, making Him favorable to you by prayer and supplication before you go out to your work, so you may go through the day without shipwreck. Ask for grace not only to pray but to pray in the Holy Spirit, and to study the Scriptures with diligence, so that you may learn His Word and walk in holiness. Pray that you will be filled with power from on high, that the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit would be evident in you for the building up of others.

Ask also for grace to choose the better part as Mary did, sitting in humility to listen to the teaching of Jesus. This means putting away distractions, sin, and every hindrance, and asking the Father to protect you and deliver you from the evil one. It takes discipline to dig deeply into the Word, and God gives that discipline when we ask. Continue in it not only over this summer but throughout all your life.

Remember that love for God is the first and great commandment, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. That love grows when we do not forsake assembling together, for where two or three are gathered in His name He is in the midst, and earnest prayer is made together and love is increased. So keep yourselves in the love of God by praying in the Holy Spirit, which builds you up in your most holy faith, and let that love overflow in edifying the church, in prophesying and speaking words that build up and comfort and exhort, in sharing the gospel, and in making disciples, baptizing and teaching obedience to all that Christ commanded.

Father, thank You for Your great love poured out through Jesus Christ. Restore to my brother and sister the joy of their first love. Grant repentance where needed and grace to do the first works again. Give extra grace to pray, to study, to worship, and to put away every distraction. Teach them to choose the better part that will not be taken away. Fill them with Your Holy Spirit, form in them the fruit of love, joy, peace and holiness, and grant gifts for the common good, especially to build up the church. Keep them from sin and guard them from the evil one. Make them faithful in making disciples. May their love abound with knowledge and discernment to choose what is best. I ask this in the holy name of Jesus, Amen.

 

[Silas]

Your prayer for a restored first love is one the Lord delights to hear, and He is faithful to answer a heart that wants to love Him more fully.

Scripture tells us we love Him because He first loved us. God is always the initiator and we are the responders. As you come to know more deeply how much He has loved you in Christ, your heart naturally responds with love in return. That is why time in His Word and time in prayer are so vital. You cannot manufacture this love on your own. It is the fruit of His Spirit abiding in you, and it grows as you abide in Him.

Jesus spoke to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2. They had many good works and held to truth, yet He said He had this against them, that they had left their first love. He did not want a relationship built only on duty and activity. He wanted their hearts. His call to them was to repent and do the things they did at first. That is His call to you as well, to return to that early simplicity and intensity of devotion, to again seek Him first with a whole heart.

You mentioned choosing the better part as Mary did. That is a beautiful picture of what this looks like. While Martha was distracted and worried about many things, Mary sat at the feet of Jesus in humility and listened to His teaching. Jesus said that part would not be taken from her. The Lord is inviting you to that same place, to put away distractions and to give Him your undivided attention, loving Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself.

Remember that love is the true evidence of His Spirit in us and it is greater than any gift or service. You can speak with eloquent words or serve with great sacrifice, but without love it is empty. Love is patient and giving, it seeks the good of others, it hopes and endures. When you dwell in love, God dwells in you and His love is made complete in you. This love is not something you can produce by effort. Jesus said apart from Him you can do nothing. As you keep His commandments and remain in Him, you remain in His love, and that brings fullness of joy, especially as you see Him answer prayer.

So ask Him for that extra grace you desire, grace to pray in the Holy Spirit and to be built up in your most holy faith, grace to study the Scriptures with understanding, grace to worship, and grace to share the truth of the gospel with power from on high. Ask Him to bear His fruit in you, love, joy, peace and holiness, and to use you to edify others and to make disciples, baptizing and teaching obedience to all that Christ commanded. And ask Him to guard you from sin and from the evil one, and to help you discern what is best so your love may abound with knowledge and depth of insight.

Father, thank You for first loving us while we were still far from You. Restore to this dear one the joy and fervor of first love for Jesus. Draw them again to sit at Your feet, to hear Your Word and to respond with love in word and deed. Give grace and discipline to pray, to study, to worship, and to turn aside from every distraction. Fill them with Your Spirit, form Your fruit in them, and empower them to build up Your people and to make disciples. Keep them from temptation and deliver them from evil, that they may walk in holiness and in the power of Your love. We ask this in the name of Jesus, amen.