Our First Love

Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 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.

The past couple weeks here have seen the recurring topic of faith, belief and prayer. The importance of each one of those cannot be overstated. Yesterday afternoon and this morning in prayer, the Lord gently reminded me of the most important thing that needs to be included with faith, belief and prayer.....thy first love.

I can say this topic of "first love" has been strongly reinforced in my mind over the past two days. I am convinced that we are in Rev 1-3 right now, the Spirit is speaking to the churches. Why do you constantly read this question here "what is the Spirit saying to the churches today?"

Maybe this is why:

Rev 2: 11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

17 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 hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Rev 3: 6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

^^^That's why^^^

And what is the Spirit saying to the churches today? Many things, but one of those things that sits in the front of my mind these past two days is "first love."

We know from Matt 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

and in Matt 7:14 we have it clearly stated that only a few will be saved, those who enter through the small gate on the narrow path. Why will only a few be saved? Religious people are a dime a dozen in todays world. They run around doing all kinds of things in God's name but few of them will be saved, why? First love. When's the last time you heard one of your hireling "pastors" get up and tell everyone that only a few of them will be saved? Never, right? Why? When's the last time your hireling "pastor" got up and talked about why only a few will be saved? Never, right? Do they not think that might be kind of important to talk about? Perhaps they think it better for people to find out that only a few will be saved when they are on their knees before the Lord being told "away from me you evildoers, I never knew you." If your hired hand spiritual employee "pastor" has never covered these issues then run, don't walk as far away as you can from them.

Religious people are running around doing all kinds of wonderful works in God's name, but the Spirit is saying to the churches today "what about your first love?" Intimacy with Jesus comes first, before everything and anything else. We know for a fact that many will say on that day "we did lots of great things for you Lord" and he will send them away as evildoers. Ya think someone who claims to be a "godly man" (pastors) might want to mention that, analyze that, find out why, and make every effort possible to make sure it does'nt happen to any of the sheep? Well, NONE will mention it, not even a whisper of it. If reading the word of God for what it says causes people to fear, perhaps they should ask why they fear? Perfect love drives out all fear because fear has to do with punishment, so what are they so afraid of?

1 John 4:18
... Rather, perfect love banishes fear, for fear involves punishment, and the personwho lives in fear has not been perfected in love.

Some fear is a good and necessary thing, its called the "fear of God" and it has its rightful place in the church.

2 Corinthians 7:1
... we have these promises, dear friends, let's cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit by becoming mature in our holy fear of God.

My point today is this: The Lord has made it clear to me that in addition to faith, belief, prayer, reading the word of God, we must put our "first love" first. What happens if you don't? Well, go back and refer to Matt 7:21 to see what Jesus says to all those busy bee religious people who did lots of "great" things.

There's a place for good works, but good works come AFTER intimacy, first love, tender moments with our awesome God. Absolutely do not take my word for any of this, read your bibles for yourselves. Seek our Lord's face, ply him with questions and requests for all kinds of things. Give thanks constantly. Pray for all the brothers, for your family and for yourself. Put first things first, and love of the God of eternity is FIRST.

Good works should be a natural secondary effect of loving closeness with our God. We know him intimately and our love for him drives us to want to please him in every way.

You might wonder why "pastors" are roasted here, but when you read in Rev 2 that Jesus HATES the teachings and practices of the nicolaitans (laity conquerers) perhaps you will understand that anyone with the Spirit of Jesus within them will hate the things that Jesus hates with equal passion. When you see that the babylonian hired hand religious men refuse to address some of the most pressing issues that face mankind today, perhaps you'll understand the fire kindled against them.

First things must come first. First love must come first, and from that first love you will see a natural outflowing of faith, belief, prayer and hunger for the word of God. How can a person spend time in the very presence of God and not come away like Moses with their face glowing for a week (or however long it was). It is impossible to spend time in the midst of the consuming fire that is our God and not be changed.

Time may be short, I don't know. This bird, pig or whatever flu may just be another fear fest by the lames stream media, or it may be a real threat. One of the other themes in my mind lately is this idea of low probability/high impact events. What's the probability this "flu" will kill millions this time? Low. What's the probability that the escape will happen today? Low. But are both possible? Oh yea. It seems that the narrow niche issues of life, are the real things of life. Most of what mankind focuses on from day to day is meaningless blather. There are only a few things in life that have any lasting value and its those things we should focus on.

The escape will happen someday. The day it happens, people will be buying and selling, planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage, just like the bible said. People will wake up that day thinking it will be a day like any other day, and on that day they will be wrong. That day will shake the world both literally and figuratively. Be ready for low probability/high impact events.

I'll leave you with what the Lord left me with this morning: first love...put it first. Do not be the fool who believes that tomorrow will be just like today. grace and peace