First Love

It still amazes me how the Lord will bring Scripture verses to mind. Yesterday, two words filled me. I knew it was from Revelations and was in one of the letters to the churches. Now I finally have a few minutes to write on the other things that came to mind regarding these two words. Let's first take a look at the Scripture verses.

Revelation 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

In Revelations, Chapter one, it explains that John wrote this book and that Jesus Christ is the one that holds the seven stars in his right hand which are the angels of the seven churches that John was to write to. The seven golden candlesticks are the seven churches.

Jesus is telling John to write to the church of Ephesus first. He begins by telling them He knows their works and their labour. He knows their patience and how they cannot bear those that are evil. They have even tried the spirits of those claiming to be apostles and are not, but found them to be liars.

He goes on telling them they have laboured for His Name's sake and have not fainted. These are all good things that Jesus is telling them and I'm sure they were pleased to have read these compliments. Now, Jesus tells them that (Nevertheless) even though they have done all these wonderful things, He has somewhat against them. He plainly tells them they have left their first love and to remember that they were once sinners, but that they should now repent of leaving their first love and to do the first works. He goes on to tell them what will happen if they do not repent and begin again. He says that He will come to them quickly and remove their candlestick out of his place.

I remember the first time I ever read this verse and wondered what He meant by first love and doing the first works. Over the years it has become plain to me that we are to remember when we repented of our sins for the very first time and Jesus Christ saved our souls from sin. A lot of people believe that once this act is done, they will go to Heaven no matter what. (I may lose a lot of readers, but it is very important to read ALL the Bible for yourself and not take Mama's or Grandma's or even the preacher's word on this subject.) This is one of many, many Scriptures that plainly tell us that our salvation is conditional. Before you all start yelling at me, I know God's love for us is unconditional. This is true and is also mentioned many times, but in this letter to the church Jesus is saying he will remove their candlestick if they don't repent (again). Remember, he is talking to the church, the Christians, not unbelieving sinners.

Before I go on with this, I want you to know that I grew up going to a Baptist church. My whole family is considered Baptist. However, it wasn't until I began reading and studying the Bible for myself, that these Truths became evident to me that I should have more fear of God. Also, that I will not and should not make excuses that "I'm human" or "We all sin everyday". I'm sorry but this is a cop out. God doesn't care what denomination you belong to. He cares about what's in your heart. Is Jesus Christ living there? Is the Holy Spirit guiding your life? Do you grieve the Holy Spirit away? It is possible. The Bible tells me so.

Look at what He says in verse 7. To him that overcometh he will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. What are we to overcome? Sin. While we live in this world, we are going to be surrounded by sin and the only way to overcome it is to live on a daily basis with a very close relationship with Jesus Christ. He is to be allowed to consume our lives. We are to love, love, love talking about Him. We are to have that same fire burning in us even more now, than in the beginning when we received Him into our lives.

For many years, I was the type of Christian who was on a roller coaster ride. I would be high for Jesus and then something bad happened in my life and I would forget and try to fix my own problems. I'd go days, months even, without thinking about my Lord. In other words, I wasn't too serious about my relationship. To this day I still put part of the blame on preachers who are not getting the message across to their people how very important it is to win the battle over sin and how to go about doing it. At least the ones that were in the churches I attended. God tells us in Revelation 3:16, So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. He told this in the letter to the church of the Laodiceans.

I felt the Lord speaking this to me and I will not be ashamed to speak (or write) His Truth. I want to be on fire for Him. I want to be available to Him in whatever way He wants to use me.
Just getting saved and going to church and talking about it once in a while is not going to help you or me when times get tough. Have you ever noticed this verse that states "remission of sins that are past"? Not our future sins.

Romans 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 10:27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

I understand that we are humans and very capable of making mistakes. God knows this, but He has made a way through His Son, Jesus Christ, that we are able to overcome sin. The above verse mentions willfully. This is not the same thing as making an honest to goodness mistake. A mistake is not a willful act. If you willingly disobey God, you are in grave danger. If you are not even trying not to sin, then you are a servant of sin. Where is the fear of God? If we believe we are going to Heaven no matter what, how can we fear God? We are told to fear God. Obedience to Him is crucial for our salvation. We're in a race, but the race doesn't even begin until we are saved. A race is not won until the end. We must keep striving until the end.

Romans 11:20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 11:21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 11:23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.

This post could go on for a while, but I want you all to know that from most of the blogs I read I can tell that you ladies have a love for Christ and doing what is right. We are all in this race together and we are told to love one another, but also to exhort, reprove, rebuke in a loving manner. God says that as many as He loves, he rebukes and chastens and then tells us to be zealous and repent. He is talking to Christians! He is talking to me! He is talking to you!
Let's get on fire for Him! Let's get back to our first love and first works, which is to tell others about Christ Jesus.

Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

I also feel I need to expound more on First Love. This could also apply to our marriages. Remember when you first fell in love with your husband? Do you remember the qualities he had or (has) that caused you to admire him? Men love to be admired by their ladies. Let's remember our first love and do our first works on our husbands. Don't ignore him. Don't smother him though! ; )

Let's take this on to our children. Remember when you first held your baby? I cried. I had such an overwhelming love for my baby. If your children are teenagers or already grown and have gone the wrong way, don't waste your time thinking "what if I had done something different". Start praying for them. Don't stop until they are back on the right track. Everytime the devil tries to throw your past in your face, rebuke him and go back to praying. God will honor your prayers. If your children are still young and one is showing bad traits, pray for him or her too, but do what you are able now while they are young and train them in the ways of God.

I must stop this post, but please remember that I truly love you all and only want to share God's Word with you. I so wish someone had done this for me when I was younger and maybe I wouldn't have made so many mistakes.