What is Jesus saying to you?

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 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. Revelation 2:4-5

Jesus to the Church in Ephesus. Ephesus was a large city at the time. Basically Ephesus was the main Roman city on that coast line. There had been a very big and long standing Church in that city at the time John received this message from Jesus to give to them. Ephesus had the ‘mega’ church in the region. If you wanted ‘status’ in the the Christian community at large you needed to have the Church of Ephesus’ approval. Do we have churches like this today? What happens when a Church gets very large in number and size? What becomes the main focus behind closed doors? What becomes of the ‘message’ that is presented to the masses?

It has been my observation that slowly after a certain size no matter the denomination or style — the ‘machinery’ (the business and facility)  becomes the focus to maintain the ‘workings’ (all of the schedule, salaries, and costs) over the intimacy with the Spirit of Jesus. It is very difficult to be ‘led by the Spirit of God’ when in the ‘closet’ of our lives we are mainly moved by pride, fear, and lust. Pride of what we have become, fear of losing it all, and lust to have more, rather than ‘knowing Him’ with ever increasing levels of humility, faith, and contentment… filled with His love.

This can easily apply to our own households and lives as well. We are not immune to these iniquities deep within the human character. If we are not doing the inner (soul) work with the Holy Spirit individually then we will project our blame on problems and onto other people and things. We will point and judge without allowing the conviction from the Holy Spirit to work on us first. For when we DO allow Him to work in us deeply – we then can begin to see with His perspective.

Love and contentment. How important are these things to our spiritual lives and growth? Most of our issues derive from not allowing and receiving the love of God deeply within our souls, and not allowing His love to heal us from our wounds, iniquities, and sin. We so easily dismiss the ‘still small Voice’ of the Holy Spirit within our minds asking us to repent and change our ways. Reread 1 Corinthians 13 about the attributes of agape love (God’s love). This is the standard. And it is beyond human capability. It MUST be born (placed there BY God Himself) and grown and matured THROUGH the individual and specific work of the Holy Spirit within the human mind and soul. Are you allowing Him to work deeply within you and allowing Him to show you where you need to change?

If we don’t keep up this individual personal ‘inner work’ with the Holy Spirit and life with Jesus …eventually our focus will turn the the ‘work of the ministry to the masses’, and those three main roots of iniquity (pride, fear, and lust) set within our fleshly nature will begin again to take over. Anyone with spiritual discernment can see countless examples of the above scenario by just looking around at the condition and state of the American Church right now. We are most likely an example of all the churches mentioned in Revelation save Philadelphia who was suffering major persecution. Riches and comfort make for very bad theology.

What was the time like for you when you were first in love with Jesus? Do you remember it? What did you do at that time? Where was your focus?

When the whole world is focusing on the growing crisis in every sector of life, who or what will you be focused on?