Tuesday 4 February 2014

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.

11 comments:

  1. May God draw us closer and help us to discover our first love also not to depart from him in Jesus name, Amen. Good morning brethren and thank you sister Yetunde.

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    1. Amen. Good morning and God bless you too Sister. Good morning everyone. I pray that the passion we had when we first gave our lives to Jesus will never depart from us in Jesus Name

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  2. Similarly, some will be closer to God in times of need, after receiving the miracle or turnaround they will find themselves drawing farther from God. Losing the first love is the initiation of backsliding.
    I pray that God will help us all, draw nearer, love him dearer and see him clearer day by day in Jesus name.

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  3. Jesus thou lover of my soul I give full control in my life. Holy spirit help us to love God as we ought to despite the circumstances that surround us let our love for God never die in Jesus name.

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  4. Lord i ask that u help me renew my first love for U, IJMN

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  5. Almighty Father! Let the grace to rediscover and dwell at the realm of my first love be released upon me now IJN! Amen!!!

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  6. I have not been able to get my own open heavens, but you have really helped me to study everyday through your blog. I pray deeply for you that GOD will bless you richly. Thank you for the effort

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  7. Please as Christians, We should be careful how we shorten our LORD's name like IJMN. By doing this we are silencing the name instead of magnifying it. Thank you sister for this daily upload. God bless you

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  8. God help me not to forsake my first love for my Saviour Jesus Christ. Thank you dear sister for sharing this.

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  9. I just want to be where you are: Dwelling daily in your presence: I don't want to worship from afar: Draw me near to where you are.....
    Fellow pilgrims, the above should be our song on regular basis today; particularly because we are the generation upon whom the end of the age has come... we are pressed on every side, we are encumbered with so many desires, iniquity abounds, love is growing cold and all sorts.. but these are simply birth pains... Pilgrims we are about to get to our destination: our glorious Lord and Saviour is at hand, let us dust off offences, disappointments, complaints, murmurings, and general lukewarmness... Let's daily rekindle the fire of his love in our hearts.... I just want to be with you

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  10. Lord help me to be close to u and restore my first love in u. In Jesus name . Amen.

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