When I climbed out of bed this morning Brenda awoke and asked me what I was doing. I told her I was doing what I usually did when I got up. I came to the office to seek more of God. It took longer to get focused this morning. I have been a little stressed.
In about fourteen hours I will be loading a bus with 48 students and adults headed for Panama City, FL for our youth camp. It has been nearly two decades since I took a group of students to camp and had to be in charge. We will leave tonight and drive all night and a good portion of the day tomorrow before we arrive at camp tomorrow afternoon.
I had to pray through a Psalm this morning in order to calm my mind and soul. Before I knew it once again God caught me up in His presence and I lost track of time. Two hours seemed more like fifteen minutes. I honestly became so engrossed in Ps 107 and prayer that everything else faded into the background of my consciousness. God once again became my greatest desire. Once again He did not disappoint.
Once again I interceded for revival, the lost to be saved, for Faith Community Church and our worship service later this morning. There is always something to pray for. God engulfed me in His love today. I basked in His everlasting love for me before I trusted Christ for salvation. I thanked Him for His love for me even when I have forsaken Him and chosen sin. I thanked Him for His love for me when I ministered preaching or writing under His anointing. I thanked Him for His steadfast love when I am cranky and stressed like last night as the boys were packing for camp. I never pack until the last minute. I think that is partly due to the fact I do not enjoy leaving home. I know Brenda and is ready for a whole week to herself. She eat what she wants, watch something other than sports, and have the freedom to come and go as she pleases.
The love of God is mind boggling. It is undeserved and therefore could never be earned. God's love is a gift. I shudder to think of the number of times I have taken that love for granted. In the days of this glorious pursuit, the love of God is shed afresh in my heart leaving both humbled and grateful. That love is reciprocated as I seek Him day after day.
I truly love Him. I want to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I love Him with a passion I have not known for anything including Brenda and the boys. This has not always been the case. In college I made an idol out of Brenda. Painfully God removed her from my life for a whole year. During that time God became my first love. Though the fervency of that love has waned at times I know nothing else has ever usurped God on the throne of my heart or been the object of my greatest affections.
How many have left their first love? How many have cooled in their affections and let someone or something else sit on the throne of their lives? [Rev 2:4-5] "But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lamp stand out of its place, unless you repent."
Can you recall at time in your life when you loved God more than you do now? Can you recall any point where you felt a deeper love and devotion to the Lord than you are experiencing currently? Have you allowed other things to slowly creep into your heart competing for your deepest affections? Is the throne of your heart getting crowded? If so it is time to repent and to return to your first love. To put it another way you need to return to your chief love. That is the love of your life that is first in rank, first in priority, and first in influence. Only God is worthy of that kind of love and devotion.
I am experiencing revival on a personal level. I know it is because God is my first love. The more I love Him and seek Him the more He keeps revealing Himself pouring out fresh waves of His love in my soul. I want to remain on this glorious pursuit all the days of my life and gradually keep climbing higher in the Lord and closer to Him.
On days like today I have worshipped privately in this office long before the public worship service. I am eager to sing to the Lord and declare His truth because I have sat with Him. What if others sat with Him today? All over the world what if the multitudes flocked to the house of God with repentant hearts and returning to Him their first love once again. What a glorious day this would be.
All I can do is keep loving and seeking God in my own life and pointing others in that same direction. I pray God so burns in my life that others catch flame with more love for God when they get close to me. I pray people will come from miles around to a church where the hearts of the people are set ablaze by the everlasting love of God. That is the course set before me and I follow this path even if none go with me. What I have experienced in God this morning and on this glorious pursuit is well worth the investment to linger longer in His presence.
I challenge you to do something today. Sometime get away with the Lord and choose a Psalm. Pray through each verse and let the truth of God marinate into your heart. Don't rush through this time. Take the necessary time to enjoy God. Watch what happens to your heart in the process. You will rediscover your first love. Seeking and serving God out of love rather than duty makes all the difference. Rediscover [Matt 22:37-39] again today as you start your own glorious pursuit.
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