Lost Love...

That first love...

Nothing can compare. When he completely sweeps you off your feet. Your life revolves him...you want to spend every waking moment by his side; you allow him to consume your thoughts and practically run your life. You dream of the day when you will be his, and he will be yours, forever. 

  Then one day he asks you to dinner, and you feel this special tingle in your heart..something is different. then he gets down on his knee and asks for you to be his forever. your eyes well up with tears, as he picks you up and sweeps you off your feet. 

   Every day feels like an eternity as you earnestly wait for the blessed day when you official become man and wife. you become one. As the dawn of your wedding day occurs, you can hardly breathe from the excitement. you get yourself all ready--no one can deny the beauty of the lovely bride. The rest of the day seems like a blur, as you are lost in imagining your future with your Prince Charming. You are completely lost in his love. you feel as though nothing can get in the way of your paradise. 

"I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and they are not, and have found them liars; and you have  persevered and have patience, and have labored for My namesake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love."

Revelation 2:2-4

The days go by. You still love your soul-mate, but some things have changed. you don't swoon at the sight of his face; the tingling in your stomach no longer occurs when he enters the room. you still love him!! but it is not the same....

"But Jesus said to him, 'no one, putting his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

Luke 9:62

  The weeks go by, then the months, then the years. You are grateful for his companionship, but he does sometimes bug, doesn't he? Those wonderful dates you used to have...oh, the good ole days..when nothing could pry you two apart. Now you spend more time arguing than laughing...and those sweet texts you would send back and forth. ha! kinda embarrassing....wish you could back? mm.. love to but... just don't have the time. 

    This story sounds all too familiar. but it is taken as fact. yea, the love is great at first, but that never lasts forever. I mean it can't, right? 

 You have been wooed, courted, and swept off your feet by the most perfect Prince ever to enter reality. That Prince is Jesus Christ. He created you, and loved every moment of you. He watched you grow and discover His infinite love for you, and rejoiced in your passionate love for Him. He waited with expectation to speak to you every moment; He adored when you quieted your heart and only listened to His thoughts. You two were inseparable. and such joy you shared!! 

  But the weeks went by, then the months, then the years. Your time with Him became shorter and shorter, and the noise of the world drowned out His still small voice. You still love Him, of course!! But that love...it has died from the beauty it once held. It lessened from what Jesus intended it to be. He faithfully waited for your sweet messages and dates together, but you were just so busy!! of course He'd understand....

 Our God is a jealous God. One of His names in the Greek is El Qanna. He calls Himself that name in Exodus 20:5, "For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." Does this mean He is jealous OF you? NO!!! The God of the universe has absolutely no reason to be jealous of His very workmanship. No, He is jealous FOR you. Unlike man, whose love is more of an emotion than a choice, His love is eternal. And He is eternally in love with you. Yet how easy it is to ignore His voice! To allow other things to get in the way of His love. But in the end, what is more important than Him? Why do we allow our minds to become so consumed with ourselves and the things of this world that we neglect the God of the universe who gave Himself up to one of the cruelest tortures in history just so that He could call you His own. and He is head-over-heels in love with you. The rest of the verse in Revelation(v.5) says:

"Remember therefore from which you have fallen; repent and do the first work, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place--unless you repent."

Is that convicting or what? God considers leaving our first love with Him a sin. Not a mistake, not a lazy thing that happens to everyone...a sin. Something He takes very seriously; enough to tell us to repent--or He will remove "your lamp stand from its place." See, when we allow His love to be squelched from our hearts, we also allow our effectiveness as His witness to be dulled, and we are no longer usable! How devastating is that? We have been given the love of your lives given to us freely, and yet so often we choose to let it slip away!! Jesus is clear on what we are to do. 

       1. Remember

2.Repent

3. Return

 Remember what is was like! Before the worry and stress of the world drained His life out of you. Before the envy of other things robbed you of the joy that was yours from giving all your love to Him. Remember the passion, the excitement, the joy.

 If you allow yourself to remember the sweetness of your love combined with His, and the repentance should come as a natural step. Repent does NOT mean confess, it means to TURN AWAY from it!! Complete 180 degree about-face. and to never look back. 

  Then...return. Return to Him! Let Him wrap His arms around you, and just enjoy the warmth of His love and presence. He has been waiting SO patiently...and desires nothing better than to hold you in His arms, pour out all His love on You, and to listen to your voice!! He has missed it so...and He has wanted to share so very many things with you; things that the business of this world has stolen away.

   I write this as much to myself as to you. maybe you have not lost your first love, maybe you are still in the beautiful season!! but the trials will come...and the world will start yelling their opinions in your ears. and you will have to FIGHT for that first love. cause love is not an emotion, not a feeling, not a high--it is a choice. But if you desire to be fulfilled, and be used in any great way (or even small ways) you must choose to love Him. He has never stopped pursuing you.

"He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction..."

Job 36:16

How do we do this? How do we keep our first love ignited? 

"You will keep  in perfect peace,  whose mind is stayed on You, because He trusts in You."
Isaiah 26:3

We have to keep our eyes on the prize ladies!! we must keep our minds stayed on Him and His love.

We must keep our armor on, 

     "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the the obedience of Jesus Christ.."

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

capture every thought and throw it at the feet of Jesus Christ! Fight the good fight, run the good race, and just....be still. and know that He is God, and He is madly, wildly, eternally in love with you. 

"Behold, this is our God;

We have waited for Him, and He will save us. 

This the the Lord;

We have waited for Him:

We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."
Isaiah 25:9