RETURN TO YOUR FIRST LOVE

When I was a child, one of my favorite past times was the pursuit for finding honeysuckles. Many times, they were hard to find, hidden by weeds or other vegetation and I was always avoiding poison ivy. Having honeysuckles were a delicious treat after dinner for me. I would anxiously look for the beautiful tubular flowers that are edible. They were so sweet and delicious! That was one of the many advantages of being reared in the country in the South; the simplicity of it all! There was always a moment for me when I would eat them. God created these shrub flowers with the beauty of appeal only to carefully eat one of these delicious flowers. I would not eat many of them; two or three were my limit. Honeysuckles always upgraded the candy or cookie jar. There is nothing on this earth that is equal to God’s creations.

There are so many times we as people become nostalgic for our childhood memories, old relationships in our past, travels, or places we once visited. Nostalgia is good in many ways. It holds sentimental values in our hearts that often carry us for a lifetime. We do not ever want to pine over anything. However, if you find yourself thinking about the past in a most marvelous way then you should inquire with the Holy Spirit, why these images of your past keep surfacing. The sweet Holy Spirit, who is our comforter, would be delighted if we ask him to help us. It is God’s Spirit that lives in Christians, Christ in you, and the hope of glory. This is a season where the Holy Spirit is having the body of Christ to be nostalgic about Jesus. This is the season where we, as the church of Christ, will start to reminisce about how it all started with our first love.

We all, as Christians, have had many loves in our lives. We love our families, friends, and when we become Christians, we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Loving our neighbors should be a daily commitment to God before we walk out of our doors. Loving your neighbors as you love yourself is a daily pursuit. This can be challenging but so rewarding. It is a daily practice for all Christians. Love in itself is a beautiful thing to all men, saved or unsaved. Love connects our hearts to people only to show them the love of God that dwells in us.

The Spirit of the Lord says, “It is time to reconnect to your first love. It is time to go back to your first love. I say, return to your first love for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Jesus is God’s Son. God loved you that much, beloved. Do not forget your first love. For God loved you first before you loved him. Never say you loved first for it was Jesus who died on the cross on Calvary to save you from your sins. For it was Jesus who resurrected from the grave so you could have everlasting life with God. Return to your first love. I am causing the church to become nostalgic once again for Jesus, the way it was in the beginning. Amen”

Thank you God, for the hunger and thirst once again for our first love, Jesus Christ. Thank you Lord Jesus for the sweet Holy Spirit. Amen.

“We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (I JOHN 4:19-21).

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (MATTHEW 22:37-39).

“Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 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. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. 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 tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (REVELATIONS 2:1-7).

To God Be All The Glory,

Reverend Helen Trower