YOUR FIRST LOVE - 05/02/2014

YOUR FIRST LOVE - 05/02/2014

Yesterday’s message was titled “APPOINTED TIME”, while today’s message is titled “YOUR FIRST LOVE” as given by Pastor E. A Adeboye in Open Heavens Devotional (Adeboye, 2014). In today’s message, we have been asked to memorise Revelation 2:4: “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” and read Revelation 2:1-5. Our Bible in one year for today has been taken from Isaiah 8-10 and Psalm 32 (Adeboye, 2014).

The message is quoted below for our usual discussion.

“As a Christian, your heart ought to be aglow ‘with genuine love for Christ, unless you are not genuinely saved as a result of having not truly repented from your sins even though you have confessed Jesus. At the new birth experience, the Holy Spirit regenerates our spirit and fills it with deep and pure love for God. However, often times, we do not diligently watch to ensure the flame of this love is kept aglow, rather we gradually give prime attention to some spiritual exigencies at the expense of our first love, forgetting that this first love in itself has a way of propelling and driving us into the activities required of us by God. It becomes disastrous when we get to a state where we consider as less important, the condition of our first love. God did not hesitate to point out the mistake the church at Ephesus made by falling into this state. He told them that in spite of those good things they were occupied with, He would remove their candlestick because they had forsaken their first love. Thank God they had the opportunity to repent. May you not get to a state where  God will remove your light in Jesus Name.

Beloved, what really is this first love for God? This is that deep and pure affection; His kind of love toward us which we are born into at our surrendering to Christ. It is the kind of affection between two lovers by which they share deep intimacies just between themselves to the exclusion of all others. God cherishes His communion with His bride (the believer). The lesson here is that we should not allow our labour or service no matter how expedient to becloud our consciousness and the necessity to maintain our first love for Jesus.

What are the expressions of this love? They include: Strong desire to be in the presence of God in praising, thanking and worshipping Him, spontaneously singing to Him either in private or in public. Another is by spontaneously expressing a fondness of him, making reference to Him at all times. Also, it includes readily resorting to him when confronted it with any given difficult situation and finally, enjoying imitating him all the way - such as by living holy. When we measure a life that portrays these expressions against the attitude of some who say they are His children you will discover that there seems to be no trace of this love, or that it has been suffocated. What shall we say about a Christian  who in a restaurant cannot pray over his food, or stylishly rays over the food before eating to avoid being noticed by other people”

The action point for today is that you should pray to God to help you recognise the true state of your first love for Him and ask for help to sustain it. If your  love is found wanting, repent and ask for mercy to rediscover it. (Adeboye 2014).

God bless you for your contribution

Reference:

Adeboye, E. A. (2014) Open Heavens: A Guide to Close Fellowship with God, Volume 14, 2014. Nigeria: Open Heavens Media Limited.