Letters from Jesus - the First letter, shared by Aije Barnes, February 4, issue 2, Vol 6

A fortnight ago, I shared with you on the topic called 'virgins' and my reasons for sharing this. If you have not read it, you will do well to do so, as today's  topic and the next six, follow on from that. I admit, it was a long read, but it is one which was given in due season. 

Around the same time I felt I needed to share with you the story of the 10 Virgins given by Jesus as shared in my last ministration and the importance and relevance of it today, I also felt I needed to remind you of the letters Jesus asked John to write through their Angels, to the seven churches that were in Asia, as a direct message from him. 

The same messages are relevant to the church - the virgins, today. 

Here is an excerpt of the first letter from the book of Revelation - the last book in the bible:

“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: “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 are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless 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. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. “ Revelation‬ ‭2:1-6 ‭NKJV‬‬

Looking closely at the résumé or summary of the lives of Christians in this church, before Jesus told them what he was not happy with, they looked like pretty cool, top notch, no nonsense godly people of God. And they were! However because they had left their first love, they had fallen and needed to repent and return to God in this one particular area of their lives or else Jesus would remove their lamp stand from its place. 

Now this is serious stuff here! Just before I go on, in chapter one, Jesus explained that the seven golden lampstands were the churches and he was standing in the midst of them. Each church had an angel assigned to it and it was this angel that stood in the right hand of Jesus and through who Jesus sent his message to the churches. So Jesus was telling the Angel of the first church to let them know that he knew all the good things they were doing but if didn't remember from where they had fallen and repent by returning to their first love and do the first works, he would remove them from their place. 

By this, I believe, Jesus was telling them that they were things in their lives which, because they loved him so much when they first became Christians, they they did, but now they had stopped doing them because that flame had either diminished or gone all together. However they continued doing other godly things which Jesus was pleased with, but this was not sufficient to sustain them and were in danger of being removed from their place. 

In my heart I feel their first love may have been the desire to seeing other people saved and sharing God's love with them by telling them about him and perhaps their devotion to him was no longer how it used to be.  I remember when I first gave my life to Jesus, I was so happy and in love with him that I wanted everyone else to know him and be saved too. I wanted my life to reflect his beauty and delighted in getting to know him more by reading my bible regularly and also praying not just words but from my heart. 

If I am honest, I struggle with some of these areas of my life because of some other pressures in my life but I fight on and will never give up doing my best for Jesus. 

So stop for a moment and remember what your first love for Jesus was and  ask yourself whether it is still there. Does your flame for him still burn brightly or has it dimmed or gone out completely? What did you used to do that demonstrated your first love for him? Are still doing it with the same passion or is it now just a mundane routine done just to tick a box or make you feel 'self righteously good'? Or have you stopped doing it all together?

How many of us have become present in the house of God but absent from His Presence? 

If you have fallen from your first love and left all the works behind that accompanied it behind, let us repent and do the first works with the same passion and love that we first had for our Lord. 

Sometimes it is a big struggle, but Jesus said: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” Revelation‬ ‭2:7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Shalom