Daily Bread_August 29, 2013

Title: There is No Substitute for This Attribute Among God's People

Text:

Revelation 2:4-5 (ESV)
⁴ But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Observation:

There is nothing more devastating than when the people of God lose their love for the Lord; nothing we replace it with is acceptable in the eyes of the Lord. Notice what God said to His people of old.

Jeremiah 2:2 (ESV)
² "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

Jeremiah 2:32 (ESV)
³² Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

It is apparent from these two passages that the Lord expects the first love of His people to continue. This is a commandment, and not a suggestion.

Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV)
⁵ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Matthew 22:36-38 (ESV)
³⁶ "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"
³⁷ And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
³⁸ This is the great and first commandment.

What can you do to restore the joy in your relationship with the Lord? The Bible says we need a change; it is a change in our hearts, and it is a change in our behavior. This is the word of the Lord to His people.

Revelation 2:5 (ESV)
⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Prayer:

Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I pray that You will press it upon the hearts of Your people to return to obedience to the great and first commandment. Father, change our hearts and our behavior so that we can once again experience the joy of our salvation. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Lord Jesus, I give all that I am to loving You more dearly and totally. This song expresses the deepest desire of my heart: Give Yourself to Love the Lord.

http://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn.php/ns/160

--

Acts 6:4 (KJV)
⁴ But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

 

My blog: Sharing the Word of God Daily:

 http://herbcotton.blogspot.com/