Welcome to Hank’s Place
We have been looking at Jesus’ letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2. The Ephesians were working really hard to do all the right things, to get it right for Jesus. And they were doing this because they had left their first love. They had forgotten how they were saved, who did the saving, who does the keeping!
Jesus gave them the remedy: Remember – Repent – Do. Remember the love of God for them. Repent, turn from toiling to exhaustion for Him and do their first deeds. Those first deeds? Sitting at the feet of Jesus, like Mary – and receiving His unconditional love.
If they did not heed His instructions, Jesus said He would come and move them to a new place. Move their candlestick. Well, if you are in a place of loveless exhaustion, Jesus moving you to another place would be a much better thing than it sounds on the surface.
What does it mean “to him who overcomes?” Jesus says this in all 7 letters. Many people define overcoming as a list of things you must do – prevailing in life’s trials – victory over spiritual enemies – conquering every sin – resisting temptation – walking in daily victory. Try to keep a list like that and you’ll get stressed out. And you will fail – it’s the law in disguise. The truth: Jesus has overcome. Past tense. The Overcomer now lives in us. 1 Jn 4:4. As He is so are we in this world. 1 Jn 4:17. We are overcomers because of Jesus. Unless we forget who we are. And think we have to earn the title and position.
We are in Jesus – Jesus is in us – we stand in His victory. We are more than conquerors. Read again Romans 8, those last few verses. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
These Ephesians had forgotten His unconditional, gracious love and were working to earn what they had been freely given. My dear friend, please don’t forget how much God loves you. At the end of this video, I urge you to take a moment, and remember when Jesus was your everything. Enter again – His rest. Stay there, you will COME ALIVE!
NEW BLOG NOTIFICATION
Be notified when a new blog posts