First Love Moments - Part 1

I have had the privilege of being a talk show host on Radio Cape Pulpit for approximately 10 months now, teaching about the preparation of the bride of Christ.

When I was asked to prepare a weekly devotion as well, I prayed and asked the Father what He wanted this devotion to be about and immediately, I knew that it had to be about love. Specifically about His children returning to their first love for Him.

With joy then, I say, 'Welcome precious seeker to ‘First Love Moments.'

I invite you to join me, so that together, you and I set our hearts to approach the throne of Grace.  A moment in time where we come, in communion with the wonderful Holy Spirit, our Teacher, our guide and our helper, to renew and reaffirm our First Love for God our Father and for our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Jesus spoke of this in Rev.2:1-7 in His letter of warning to the church at Ephesus. He praised them for being an amazing, hard working dedicated church but He warned that in all of their good works, that they had forgotten and left their first love. It was a serious rebuke.

Nearly 2000 years later, He would rebuke me in the same way.

We had many prophecies spoken over our lives. We knew we were called to full time ministry and we were looking forward to that. In fact, I couldn’t wait for that.

In the waiting, we got involved with so many different aspects of ministry, bible college, evangelism, intercession, worship, teaching the word. Busy, busy, busy doing the good works. We read our bibles, we prayed, but in truth in our prayer time we spent more time interceding for all we were busy with and less and less time being still in His Presence. Less time building an intimate personal relationship with Him. Effectively, in our busyness we had left our first love.

The rebuke from the One who is Love was an act of love towards me and I am eternally grateful for it. Now, the cry of my heart is, Lord, keep my heart tender and sincere. Teach me how to love You in the way that You deserve.

If you know anything about me, you will know that the Preparation of the Bride of Christ has been my heartbeat for the last 22 years. Our King, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back to fetch His Bride (John 14:1-3; Matt.25:1-13) to fetch His glorious church who is ready and waiting with expectation for His return.

Ready and expectantly waiting is the key factor here. This is speaking about a life that has been transformed from glory to glory by the work of the Holy Spirit. Christ is in her, the hope of glory. He is and will always be her first love.

So, let’s come before Him in prayer:

Lord, You are coming for a bride, who is holy, without spot or wrinkle. You are cleansing us with Your Word. we come before Your throne of grace to ask that You would forgive us for where we have allowed other things to eclipse the love that belongs to You alone. Restore to us First Love where we hang onto Your every word. Reignite the flame of First Love once more. Make our hearts tender again.

Whatever it is that You call beautiful – glorious Lord, make us that.

Family, don’t rush the time you have with Him. 

James 4:8 NKJV Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

Allow Him the time to lead you. As you open up your bible, look for Him in the Word as you read the scriptures.

Remember to join me on Cape Pulpit 729 AM for more on the The Preparation of the Bride - 5am on Tuesdays mornings OR 6:30pm on Wednesday evenings

If you have missed any of the teachings on Radio Cape Pulpit, please go onto the Radio Cape Pulpit App. Click on Podcasts, look for ‘Created in His Image’ and you’ll be able to download all the ‘Behold the Bride’ teachings.

Until next week. Blessings to you all.