Everyone Wants a Wedding, but a Marriage...

Special Announcement:

With today being the official second week of the blog, God put it on my heart to do something special, new, and exciting.

This urging coupled with my belief in distributive leadership and the same Holy Spirit being in all believers, week 2's T.O.D.s will be presented by fellow Christian soldiers. Some of them may choose to be anonymous like today's writer.

I prayed that God would send her a word for today's post and send me that same word.

Guess what y'all? The word that she and I received was the same and  is confirmation that this new thing we're doing for T.O.D. week 2 is in God's will!

For the next 6 days, guest bloggers/ fellow Christian soldiers will allow God to speak through them for the tasks/blog posts!

Sooooo exciting!

I highly recommend y'all subscribe as to NOT miss your blessing!

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Scripture:

Revelation 2:5 (KJV)

⁵ Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

 

 

Revelation 2:5 (NIV)

⁵ 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.

 Inspiration:

After rebuking pride and whispers of doubt that lurk whenever I am asked to participate in Kingdom business; I asked God if He would give me a piece of the Word to share for today’s T.O.D.. Revelation 2:5 immediately popped into my head before I even finished the prayer. I was a bit skeptical that a Word came so quickly, but rebuking pride and doubt, I was quickly reminded that we serve an on time God. I reluctantly turned to that scripture in fear that it would be a sharp reproach for something I must have been doing rather than a Word for the people (I am not so well acquainted with the book of Revelation, so I didn’t know what it said offhand). However, to my surprise I found that it is more of an exhortation of sorts for those who choose to live for the high calling. 

 

From the surrounding verses (Rev. 2:1-7) I gathered that John was relaying the message that, although God acknowledges the hard work and perseverance and diligence of his servants, He was still not pleased with the Church of Ephesus and they would receive punishment unless they repented. To repent means to acknowledge actions that are not pleasing to God and do a 180, turning away from those wrong actions.

The fifth verse reveals that this church was disobeying God’s chief commandment to love Him completely (Matthew 22:36-40).

He mentions some of the church’s  good works before warning that if this church did not rekindle her passionate love for the Bridegroom, the Lord would take away His power from her (the church) (Rev. 2:5). From my initial understanding/thought, the candlestick represents an anointing that comes from Christ’s presence via the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if the church did not heed God’s warning and  turn away from a lackluster love,  then the church would no longer be a light to the world and would no longer operate in Holy Spirit power.

 

The situation between the church of Ephesus and Jesus was much like a marriage that lost its spark. The union was no longer a compassionate and love-filled relationship; it simply became this “thing” dulled by time and repetition. In this scene, the Husband is still madly in love with his wife and desires her attention, companionship and affection. Unfortunately, the wife starts to  view her devoted husband as a commitment that she made some time ago, a huge task on her to do list, considering "what if I could do better?”.  

She makes sure to do the duties expected of her. She cooks, cleans, does her part in raising the kids, but forgets why she got married in the first place. Somehow she forgets that love is what brought her here in the first place. She forgets that married is where she always wanted to be. It is what she always dreamed. This causes her to become dull, robotic, and distant, eventually resulting in spoken and unspoken marital issues. The honeymoon period has ended and things are getting stale. I once read that the scientific term for this is “hedonic adaptation”.

 

TASK OF THE DAY 8:

Remember your first and greatest Love!

People who truly love God will willingly serve Him, excitedly tell others about Him, and long to worship Him (John 14:15).~G. Richard Blackaby (Corporate Hindrances to Revival, Revival Commentary, v.2, n. 2).

Today I challenge you to acknowledge that you can afford to love God better.  Turn away from a lackluster love and a stale formulaic relationship. You messed up… but if you ask for forgiveness, if you ask for another chance, your Husband will forgive you and keep no record of wrongs. With this second chance, be spontaneous! Do something new for your loving and faithful Husband! Instead of remembering what you and God once had long ago create a better, stronger, and deeper love!  

Think: If you could plan the forever marriage to your greatest love today, and marry that love tomorrow, what would that ceremony and that life look like? What would it feel like? What changes would you make? How would you do things differently? Today is that gift! Today is your chance! Today is that day!

 #T.O.D.forGod via Guest Blogger and fellow Sister in Christ who chooses to give God the glory and remain anonymous

Update!:

Malachi 2:15-16 (NIV)

¹⁵ Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.^[a] So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
¹⁶ “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”^[b] says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.

Notes:

·        Companion Scriptures to Matt. 22:36-40 are Luke10:27, Mark 12:30-31, Deuteronomy 6:5

·        Check out http://gracetabernacle.org/GraceLife/quotes/Love-God-for.htm regarding quotes about loving God.