As I considered the church of Ephesus, I went back to 1 Corinthians 13:1. Let’s take it to the marketplace. It says that if what we say does not come from a heart of love, we just sound like a loud noise. Verse 2 says that though we have spiritual gifts, great knowledge, and all faith, unless it is born from love we are nothing. 

Verse 3 says, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” I love Franklin Graham’s remark about his dad. He said that he was the same at home as he was in the pulpit.

Paul was a great example for us. 1 Corinthians 9:22 says, “To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

Disobedience breaks our communion with the Lord. 1 John 1:6 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” As you read this next verse, I want you to think of it as though the Lord is speaking to your heart.

Song of Solomon 5:1 Amplified says, “…Drink, yes, drink abundantly of love, O precious one (for now I know you are mine, irrevocably mine! With his confident words still thrilling her heart…”

In Psalm 42:1, the picture is of a deer that is panting for water. It knows that if it can’t get to water it will die. It says, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.”

Psalm 63:8 Amplified says, “My whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You; Your right hand upholds me.” Pants, follows hard, and clings closely are words longing for intimacy.

As I started reading about the church in Ephesus, it sounded really good until I read verse 4. It says, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” The Greek word for ‘left’ means to neglect or forsake.

My mind went immediately to John 15. Verse 4 in the Amplified says, “Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. (Live in Me, and I will live in You.) Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.”

Bearing fruit for His glory comes from abiding not doing. I never understood that until 1977. I was bedridden from falling headfirst into a six foot ravine. It stopped me in my tracks. It was during that time that the Lord wooed me through intimate communion with Him. He taught me how to be vitally united. I ceased to do and learned to be.

Revelation 20:6 says, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.”

22:7 says, “Behold I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

22:14 says, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.”

The Greek word for revelation means an unveiling or disclosing of a reality that previously has not been perceived. Revelation 1:1 says, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place…” 

The word ‘shortly’ has a different meaning than what we might mean today. The use in this book is that they can take place at any time ~suddenly.

I have begun my journey to meditate through the book of Revelation. I have found that meditating through a whole book opens new vistas of understanding. I encourage you to try it out.

Here is something to consider. In Matthew 5:3-11 there are nine beatitudes. In Revelation there are seven. Revelation 1:3 says, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.”

14:13 says, “…Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”

16:15 says, “Behold I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”

19:9 says, “…Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!…”

David wrote Psalm 51 after his sin with Bathsheba. That sin might now have occurred if he had been doing what kings were supposed to do. 2 Samuel 11:1 says, “It happened…at the time when kings go out to battle…But David remained at Jerusalem.” In his boredom, he did not guard his heart.

Psalm 51:4 says, “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight—that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge.” Our disobedience is sin against the One who gave His life for us ~ out of love.

Our heart’s maintenance is to guard it from our fleshly suggestions, clinging instead to the truth of God’s word, and applying it daily to our lives. His prayer in verse 10 is one we can adopt. It says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit in me.”

Since our heart is our belief center, we need to monitor what goes into it. Jude recorded three ways to build up our faith. Verses 20-21 say, “…praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

As I meditated on what it means to keep ourselves in the love of God, my mind went back to John 14:21. It says, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

We keep our heart in God’s love through obedience to His word. Therefore we have to know His word in order to obey. Holes are made in the protective barrier of our heart when we choose to walk in disobedience.

Ephesians 4:18 says, “Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

I’m memorizing Psalm 145. Verse 12 was written about us ~ saints. It says, “To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom.” Verse 9 says, “The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.”

We are His workmen created to do good works. Ephesians 2:10. We serve the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. There is no one like Him. Isaiah 40:25 says that there is no one His equal.

There are countless hurting people in the marketplace. We have a treasure within ~ the gospel. Luke 4:18 Amplified describes them well. It says, “…to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed (who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity).”

In the last week, I have received three minor mentees that were suicidal. One gal is a believer. She said that at school they talk about suicide a lot. She woke up in the night with a voice saying to kill herself. The other two are not believers. The world has no answers.

These treasures of darkness have no spiritual perception. They are ignorant of divine truth. 1 John 2:11 says, “But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” Dark. No light. Alienated from God. Let us be about our Father’s business.

Isaiah 45:2-3 says, “I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places.”

2 Corinthians 5:20 says, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” We are called to set the captives free. 

There are folks bound in the darkness of sin, hatred, anger, and revenge. We are His light. If we light a match in a dark room, the whole room is lit up. I was at a convenience store paying for my gasoline. The gal’s face, who took my money, was dark and stormy. I said, “May God bless your day in a special way.” Her face lit up and she sent me a fleeting smile.