Your First Love
God says, "But I have this against you,
that you have left your First love."
—Revelation 2:4
Have you left your first love? The first question might need to be: Who is your first love? Could it be your girlfriend or your best friend? Maybe your first love isn’t even a person but rather earthly possessions like a car or game or sports or having loads of money—who or what is really first in your life and in your heart? Why is it important to know?
The reason it's important is that God says He has something against us if we are not faithful to the One who loved us and gave His life for us, and because of this, He says, "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). When our First love isn't His Son, God explains the warning signs of such displaced love. “For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred” (2 Timothy 3:2). “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil…” (1 Timothy 6:10).
In the last book of the Bible, Revelation, God says this: “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4). So, once again, the question is: Who or what is honestly first in your life, "For where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires; that on which your life centers] that's where your heart will also be" (Matthew. 6:21).
Do you now have a better understanding of what God is saying to each of us? He is saying that any time we put someone or something ahead of our love for Him, our relationship with Him, or our time with Him, we have left our First love, and therefore, God has something against us! "It is terrifying to fall into the hands of the living God. Think back on those early days when you first learned about Him. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant being made a public spectacle through insults and distress. Yet you showed sympathy to fellow suffers, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew better things were waiting for you that will last forever. So do not throw away your boldness, for a great reward is coming when you will be richly rewarded" (Hebrews 10: 31-35).
How can we determine if we have left our First love? When you or I love someone or love something, we naturally want to spend more than once or twice a week with this person (or do whatever we love doing the most). Attending church on Sundays and possibly another service isn't proof of passion. Besides, a group setting is far from gaining great intimacy or a close, deep friendship. When we are “in love” with a person or a thing—we literally try to spend every waking moment with them or it—we spend every waking moment thinking about them, talking to them, or doing what we love. Is this how often you think of or spend time with the One who saved you "while we were yet sinners"?
If not, do you think you might want to discover how to return or maybe discover for the first time a Love that conquered the world, that never fails, that covers a multitude of sins? And, No, it doesn't necessarily mean reading your Bible more or spending more time at church. Does that surprise you? It surprised me, too. Let me share what happened to me and what I've shared in other books that have helped many people.
You're ALL I Want • You're ALL I Need • You're ALL I Live For!
The reason we were all created is to fellowship with God. After being abandoned by my spouse on many occasions, I began to yearn deep in my soul to walk with God in the “cool of the day” as Adam did, walk with God as Enoch did, and see Him face to face as Moses did—but I had no idea how to do it. So I asked God to show me how—since "all wisdom is from above" (James 3:17), and God also says He will give wisdom to anyone who asks" (James 1:5).
God heard my heart, and that's when I discovered what God says is precious and what is worthless" (Jeremiah 15:19). What opened my eyes was a missionary to India who visited our church and told a story of a little girl he had found living on the streets and dying. It was a message I heard for a second time because I completely missed the life-changing message the first time. The missionary explained how troubled he was when he heard he had to leave India to return to the USA because of an orphaned girl he'd found living with her younger brother in a drainage pipe.
While saying goodbye to this little girl, he heard words that changed his life, that changed my life, and I hope it will change your life as well. Brokenhearted (because he knew it would be the last time he would see her alive), as he hugged her, he heard her say, “You do not need to be sad for me because I have the Lord. He is all I need. He is everything. I have everything that I need.” It took me hearing this story the second time when it clicked—its message changed my life forever!
On that day, I began to tell the Lord that He was all I wanted and needed and that if I had Him, I would have everything I needed!
The more I said it, the more He became the love of my life. At first, I felt nothing. I knew I should feel this way toward the Lord, but I didn't honestly feel that way. Yet I continued speaking, and soon became how I felt in my heart! "The tongue can bring death or life and bear the consequences or rewards of their words" (Proverbs 18:21).
Once you begin reciting "You're ALL I Want, You're ALL I Need, You're ALL I Live For," suddenly, He will become your first love, and everything in your life will change.
First, I noticed that when people or problems came against me, I would tell the Lord that He was all I wanted and all I needed—and immediately, whatever came against me no longer mattered, and it lost its sting, power, and impact on me. Whatever loss I had became my gain. Like the Apostle Paul, "More than that, I count all things to be a loss because of the surpassing value of knowing my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Him" (Philippians 3:8).
This mindset changed my heart so that I would not only be able to endure difficulties but also overcome the destruction that came against me, no matter how difficult the trial or attack was.
The moment you have Him and His love just as this little dying girl had Him and how I have Him now, that's the moment you'll notice something else that will happen in your life. God says that when His desires come first, all these things will be added unto you (Matthew 6:33), which is the most amazing part of this story. When the missionary returned to India, the little girl (who once was dying) was healed, whole, and healthy!! The little girl had all of Him—He was all she needed to live. It's the same for you, me, and everyone you love, including your friends and family! And you won't have to say a thing. Just wait because they'll ask you, "What happened to you?" Then, that's when you tell them the same story or share this chapter with them.
What are you waiting for? Stop right now and tell the Lord that He is all you want, He is all you need, and if you have Him, you have everything. Then, whenever anything or anyone tries to come against you, say these same words:
You're ALL I Want
You're ALL I Need
When I have YOU, I have EVERYTHING!
Say it over and over again when you wake up every morning and when you lie down at night. You can say it out loud or in your heart. Then, get ready for a life-changing event. And if you later feel troubled or shaken, God will remind you that you're drifting away from your First Love. Then you know it's time to recite "You're ALL I Want, You're ALL I Need, You're ALL I Live For" until you're back experiencing the fruits of being His first love, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion" (Jeremiah 31:3) and the "apple of His eye" (Psalm 17:8).
Seeking Him first. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Without trying, you will be forever blessed because the Lord is first in your priorities. Without trying, He will be first in your day and, especially, first in your heart. As if He was not enough when we put Him first, He shows us His love by adding all the things that we love, and He goes out of His way to bless us with things we have hoped for. God also says, “Delight yourselves in the Lord,” and in turn, “He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). Isn’t that incredibly amazing?
And when He is not our First Love? What does God do to draw us back into a deep, loving relationship with Him? Because He loves us so much, God will lovingly take that person or thing we treasure away from us, “You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them. I am confined and cannot escape...You have taken my companions and loved ones from me; the darkness is my closest friend” (Psalm 88:8, 18).
He turns the heart. God wants us to be faithful to Him so much so that He lovingly turns the hearts of anyone we put ahead of Him. “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes” (Proverbs 21:1). Have you found that happening in your life? Have you found that happening in other people’s lives? Have you witnessed that when people have lost someone or everyone or lost possessions or positions they love? That's when their focus becomes the Lord, for only then will their hearts be healed. And should their heart not turn as He intended, He takes the next step to harden their heart as God says here. "For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded" (Joshua 11:20).
Let's make sure this truth is perfectly clear. God is not selfish; He does what He does because He knows that we were each created with emptiness in our hearts that He alone can fill. This void will never be met with an earthly relationship or possessions or by what entertains us. The emptiness can only be met, fulfilled, and overflowing with joy when we experience a deep relationship with the One who loved us enough to die for us.
THEIR TESTIMONIES
Quick 2-minute read
Janine in South Africa: I don't think I can put it any other way than to say it straight forward: for so long I ran after my spouse and believe me it was an exhausting run, no wonder he ran away so fast😂. Instead of just running after our precious Beloved Lord and the best part is He on the other hand didn't run away, He waited for me with open arms.
As I read Living The Abundant Life, Chapter 16 this beautiful passage stood out for me and I just want to remind you precious woman:
Precious one, remember the chapter “Longing for Whom?” back in my first book Finding Your Abundant Life when it gave proof that to run after the Lord would mean that happiness would run after you? It is truer now than ever, dear bride. What is also true is that once you chase after the Lord, and He lets you catch Him—His love will change it all, everything. For there is none like Him, no, not in all this big world.
Read this part again: to run after the Lord would mean that happiness would run after you. And the best part His love WILL change it all! Isn't that beautiful!
I can testify after years and years of running after my spouse and things of the world, that there is no one in this whole big wide world like the Lord!!! His love truly changes everything! It's only He who could give me this peace and happiness that surpasses all understanding. So precious woman I want to encourage you to run after the Lord and see how He changes your whole life and you experience peace and happiness despite your circumstances, because our Darling Lord's love really surpasses all understanding!
"And to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." E3:19
Personal commitment to put the Lord first in my life: “Based on what I have just learned in Scripture, I surrender this area of my life and begin to do everything by putting God first in my life. Through His Spirit, I will prove my love to the Lord by my obedience to His Word, and specifically, by my obedience to my parents and all authority that God has placed over me.”
Take the Advanced Course of this chapter
Both Tara and Vana studied A Wise Woman before they married. Read Tara's True Life Fairytale love story and also "The Heartbroken Heiress."
Wow!! What a beautiful chapter! It has touched my heart. I can say from my experience as a young married adult that this chapter tells the truth. It is SO true that we replicate the behaviors we have with our parents and authorities in marriage, it seems that when we get married we reap the good or bad seeds that we sowed in our youth. That’s what I feel like happened to me.
Since I arrived at RMI I dreamed that young women could know these truths if I had known them along with the testimonies of those who demolished their homes with their hands by building them on the sand, perhaps I would have had more understanding to distance myself from many situations. who caused me so much pain and I would have made wise decisions.
God bless you Erin, what a precious anointing to convey the TRUTH of her word to the young women of today.
I would have like if I could have learned te truth when I wash still young teen,how I could done things differently. Yes our Beloved must be our first love first in everything and its even important for young girls to learn to have Him as there first love.