The church in Ephesus was a “good church” – it was an orderly and a formal church, but God had something against it, that it has left its first love toward the Lord (Rev. 2:4-5). We can be good Christians, church-going believers, and we may read the Bible regularly and claim we are Christians before […]
to love the Lord with the first love is to repent and do the first works
What does it mean to love the Lord with the first love? What does it mean to give the Lord the preeminence in all things? What does it mean to give the Lord the first place? When we first see the Lord and are captured by His beauty, we love Him with the first love. […]
seeing a high revelation of Christ in His ascension sitting at God’s right hand
This week in the morning revival we come to Psalm 110, a very short psalm that contains a very high revelation concerning Christ in His ascension. The first verse in this psalm has been quoted more than 20 times in the New Testament, “Jehovah declares to my Lord, Sit at My right hand until I […]
overcoming the loss of the first love by giving the Lord the preeminence in all things
One very simple way to overcome the loss of the first love for the Lord is to give Christ the first place, the preeminence, in all things. The Bible begins with, “In the beginning, God …” (Gen. 1:1), and Colossians tells us that Christ must have the first place, the preeminence, in all things (Col. 1:18). In order for us to love the Lord with the first and best love, we need to consider the Lord Jesus as the first in everything. In God’s eyes and in God’s economy, Christ is the first – but what about in our personal universe, in our decisions, considerations, emotions, living, walking, speaking, attitude, and in all our being? [read more online]
desolation comes in when God’s people do not properly appreciate and exalt Christ
Our failure to give Christ the first place in all things – our failure to love Him with the best love and appreciate Him – brings in desolation and degradation. The problem of desolation can be solved by Christ being appreciated and exalted by God’s people (see Psa. 80:17). When Christ is enjoyed, appreciated, given the first place, given the preeminence in all things – when He is properly appreciated and exalted, the house and the city of God can be maintained, preserved, and built up! Our not giving Christ the preeminence and our not appreciating Him is the cause of our failure and desolation. [read more online]
What does it mean to give the Lord the preeminence, the first place, in everything?
To give the Lord the first place in our life practically means to repent and do the first works. Rev. 2:5 warns us that if we don’t repent and do the first works, the Lord will remove the lampstand. These works issue from our first love for the Lord – they are a work issuing from a heart filled with zeal for the Lord’s love, and this is precious in the Lord’s eyes. We love the Lord so much that we just do the first works – and they come out of our zeal, our love for Him! In that day, when we will stand before God at His judgement seat, He will appreciate how much of what we have done out of love for Him. Only those things we do motivated by our love for the Lord are considered gold, silver, and precious stones. If we don’t do these works, the Lord will take the lampstand! Whatever we do in the church life, we need to love the Lord and do the first works – and we will be a corporate expression of the Triune God everywhere on the earth as the golden lampstands! [continue reading online – 12 ways we can give the Lord the preeminence in our life]
I need to practically put the Lord first – and He will care for my needs! (a student’s testimony)
In this year, the most eye-opening and simple revelation that the Lord has shown me is that I need to place Him first. It is easy to say and even easier to just take it in as “a piece of advice that could be handy“. However, actually putting this word into play is much more […]