Our love for the Word of God is what ties our hearts together. Yeshua (Jesus) is the Word, and His Word is the manifestation of God to us. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).1 When you pick up the Word say, “Lord, I love You! This is my time with You.” Run to the Word and embrace it. Love it, dig into it, eat it, and drink of it. What is our first love? It is the Word of God. When people are in love, they spend time together. They find ways to be together. It is a deep love relationship. Spend time in the morning when you are fresh to tell the Lord that you love Him. This year I want to see the Body of Christ break through into a personal devotional life that we have never known before.
When I was praying about this the Lord spoke to my heart, “Return to your first love.” I wondered, “How can you leave your first love? It’s the love of your life. It’s the joy and delight of your heart. What could make us leave our first love?” Are we responsible for leaving it? Yes. That is why Yeshua says to repent. Go back and do the first things. Get back to your love. I think we sell short the battles we have been through as believers. We have toiled, persevered, not grown weary, and endured for His name’s sake (Revelation 2:2-5). We have done hand-to-hand combat with the devil himself and nothing seems to have touched the fact that we still live with a dedication. No wonder we have toiled and labored. But the Lord does not want us to live that way. Can you imagine getting up in the morning, kissing your mate on the cheek, and saying, “Good morning, dear. I ‘persevere’ you”? That is different than saying, “I love you.” It comes from a different place in your being. The Lord is saying, “You have done all these great things. I just want to hear you say, ‘I love You.’” Who wants to be in a relationship that is a perseverance? I want a relationship with the Lord where I am crazy in love with Him. That will change everything!
When the Lord says, “Return to your first love,” to me He is saying, “Get back to the Word.” You love the Word before you believe it. Express your love to Him. Spend time with Him. Everything else should be an outgrowth of that time you spend with the Lord. When we talk about a personal devotional life, we include reading the Word, meditating on the Scriptures, having a personal prayer life, worshipping, and listening to Him during times of waiting on the Lord. God does not want us just working away at projects. The will of God that is closest to His heart is that we spend time with Him. Read the Word together as a family. Create an atmosphere where Yeshua can be brought into the conversation. You are going to become the oracles of God who speak that Word and from your “innermost being will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). His Words will come alive to you and be the joy and delight of your heart (Jeremiah 15:16). Christ will literally jump out of the pages and into your life.
1 All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).