Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your desire to be restored to your first love is itself a work of grace, and we join you in asking the Lord to answer it fully. To love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind is the first and great commandment, and from that love all other love and obedience flows. When that love grows cold we must do as the Lord says, remember, repent, and do the things we did at first.
We pray that God will give you extra grace to pray and to study His Word with diligence. Prayer is a great weapon for the daily battle, and we need it early in the morning and by night. If at dawn we first make God favorable to us by prayer and supplication, we go out into the day with security, even when the market place is full of war and temptation and the rocks are many. Ask Him to teach you to pray continually, soberly and with watchfulness, and to listen to His teaching in humility as Mary chose the better part, which will not be taken away.
We pray also that He will protect you from distractions and from sin and from the evil one, and that He will increase your love as you gather together with His people. Love is increased by assembling together, and where two or three are gathered in His name He is in the midst. From that fellowship and from that love the things of God will follow, the bearing of fruit, growth in holiness, power from on high to share the truth, and the work of making disciples and teaching obedience to all Christ has commanded.
May the Lord press you forward in this discipline, to put away what hinders, to dig deeply into the Scriptures this summer and throughout all your life, and to walk steadily toward the summit of good things by His grace. We ask that He would light again the fire that once burned bright and clear, and keep your lamp burning with holy fear and joy, until your love for Him and for your neighbor is warm and steadfast. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
We pray that God will give you extra grace to pray and to study His Word with diligence. Prayer is a great weapon for the daily battle, and we need it early in the morning and by night. If at dawn we first make God favorable to us by prayer and supplication, we go out into the day with security, even when the market place is full of war and temptation and the rocks are many. Ask Him to teach you to pray continually, soberly and with watchfulness, and to listen to His teaching in humility as Mary chose the better part, which will not be taken away.
We pray also that He will protect you from distractions and from sin and from the evil one, and that He will increase your love as you gather together with His people. Love is increased by assembling together, and where two or three are gathered in His name He is in the midst. From that fellowship and from that love the things of God will follow, the bearing of fruit, growth in holiness, power from on high to share the truth, and the work of making disciples and teaching obedience to all Christ has commanded.
May the Lord press you forward in this discipline, to put away what hinders, to dig deeply into the Scriptures this summer and throughout all your life, and to walk steadily toward the summit of good things by His grace. We ask that He would light again the fire that once burned bright and clear, and keep your lamp burning with holy fear and joy, until your love for Him and for your neighbor is warm and steadfast. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
