Tag: devotion

Daily Ponder : The Love you have lost

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#018

 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Revelation 2:4-5 NIV

The Love you had first

One of the interpretation is that Ephesus had lost its early love for Christ. Another interpretation is that Ephesian believers had lost its love for one another and needed to revive compassionate works they did at first. Many interpreters think both are in view, since love for christ and love for one another is related.

ESV STUDY BIBLE COMMENTARY

My thoughts:

Our tendency to lost our love for Christ, over theological knowledge and wisdom is one of the many battle a Christian has to weight in and check our hearts carefully. We can be passionately zealous for the mission, for the ministry, for evangelism, public ministry and have a heart so far from Christ is a pity.

On another extreme, we have lost grace towards fellow believers on their failings, shortcomings and probably their convictions aren’t satisfying enough on our eyes. The community becomes dry of love when to much driven on working and no loving relationship exist.

Our love for Christ, over flows in our relationships and community. We will always be in a heart check, knowing our sinful tendency, But praise be to God for His grace in our lives that enables us to repent and go back to our first love. Jesus Christ.

Daily Ponder #018 Alpha & Omega

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 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Revelation 1:8

Jesus is the beginning of all history, The CREATOR and the goal for all whom all things are made. All history moving towards glorifying Him.

More than being a a comforting verse, it is a power for those who believes. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. When our lives are fully submitted to him, we are relieved from the cares and worries of this world.

He knows your beginning, he knows your failings, your darknest past, your shame, your brokenness. He knows. Nothing is hidden, everything is bare naked and fully known before him.

He knows the end as well. He knows the journey, you will go through. He know every inch of it.

WHO HE IS MATTERS above all, His character cannot be likened to humanity. Perhaps the question is do we know him? Or do you associate God with the failings of parents, christians friends or on what you see on those who claims to be of faith? Are we living a life in pursuit of of knowing him more?

May we live lives that is centered on Jesus, He is the way, they truth and the life. He is the Alpha and the Omega. May we live lives that desires to give more glory and honor towards him.

May He be your Alpha and Omega.

3 ways to Cultivate Spiritual Hunger

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How do we set up ourselves for greater desire for intimacy with God and spiritual growth? Or maybe do you desire to know God more and more in your relationship with Him? Would you want to experience God more than before? May these 3 ways help you cultivate spiritual hunger.

1. Ask for it.

Asking entails humbling ourselves before God, acknowledging that left to our own, we cannot do it. We need God’s power and grace in our lives to enable us to hunger and thirst for more of Him in our lives.

For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened. – Mathew 7:8

Spiritual hunger is something that we cannot manufacture on our own. Asking God is our starting point in all things, developing intimacy requires communication.

2. Develop Spiritual Disciplines.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. – Hebrews 12:11

Starting new disciplines isn’t always easy at start; but it springs from a heart that is committed to growth and intimacy with the Almighty, not by obligation but of joyful delight. If God is of top priority, then daily spiritual discipline is nonnegotiable.

These are personal disciplines of reading and understanding the Word, reflection, prayer confession, and obedience to the Word.

The more we discipline ourselves, the more we know God, the more we desire for more of Him and growing in trust in Him. Spiritual disciplines are never the means to attain salvation but the means to get deeper in knowledge of God.

3. Preach the Gospel to self and accept it daily.

Our understanding of the gospel directly impacts how we live our lives and so are our misunderstandings about it. We need to be reminded of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and its implications. Reminding ourselves of the Gospel keeps us grounded to our own depravity. Accepting the gospel daily sets us free from our inadequacy and it enables us to live the life to full in Christ.

The gospel leads us to inside-out transformation.

As we end: let me encourage with this promise:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” – Mathew 5:6 ESV