I was scrolling thought my social media feed when I stumbled across a fellow Christian’s YouTube channel. After watching a few of the videos, it stirred up many good, holy memories and scripture verses that came alive to me years ago when I first had my conversion to Christ.
The message I felt God was impressing upon me very clearly was, “Return to your first love!” I wasn’t sure if that was an actual scripture verse or not, so of course, I Googled it and sure enough, I found the full verse in Revelations. The verse referring to “returning to your first love” is Revelations 2:4-5. In this passage, Jesus addresses the church in Ephesus, saying, “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”.
The message and scripture hit me like a ton of bricks. I’ve been involved in active ministry for about 30 years after a profound conversion experience. So this message got me thinking. Have I become lukewarm? Do I have cobwebs on my bible at least figuratively? Has my heart grown cold? Not exactly, but I think God was encouraging me to get back to my first love —Him, the joy, peace, the passion, the work of the Holy Spirit and closeness that we shared at the beginning of my conversion. And yes, more that that, I sensed He was urging me to tell others to do the same, as many hearts HAVE grown cold and see no need for God. And God’s heart is burning with love for His people. (Think Sacred Heart of Jesus!)
No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, God is passionately in love with you and wants you to have Him first in your life. Perhaps you need a spiritual tune up ( I did!). Maybe you have never really had Jesus as your first love. Either way, below are a few ideas to rev up your spiritual connection to Jesus.
How do you return to your first love?
I had to ask myself this question. Here’s the answer I came up with as a basic start if you have been away from God or feel distant to God.
1) Tell God you are sorry for not being present to Him. Invite Him to be with you always. Then daily, spend 5 minutes (at least) every morning in silence with the Lord without interruptions or distractions.
2) Find one scripture verse that speaks to you.
3) Listen to God.
4) Do whatever He tells you.
5) Find other Christians who share your love of God either at Church, or an online community. You are welcome here!!
God is inviting us all to “Return to Our First Love”. Let us all accept this invitation!
To learn how to know what God wants in your life, check out my podcast “All About The Grace” and my series on “Spiritual Direction: What Does God Want?” It’s a six-part series to help you hear God better, and know His will for your life especially when making decisions.
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See you there! Remember, God LOVES YOU!