Pray to Grow Our Love

Have we been praying about how we are to grow our love for our Jesus? Have we been meditating on how we can keep our love fresh, engaged, and on fire? There is a warning in Revelations 2:1-4, that although they are commended for doing good works, nevertheless, Jesus reprimanded them for leaving their first love. We read in Revelations 3:15-16 that this particular body of believers are rebuked for being lukewarm, with dire ramifications. So, maybe our question to ourselves should be how do we get hot and stay hot. Isn’t God calling us to return to our first love? Could we not assume these Christ followers did not allow their love to grow cold or indifferent on purpose? And doubt they even knew that they had? Maybe we need to examine ourselves daily as we  are instructed in II Corinthians 13:5 (see also Gal 6:4; Lam 3:40; Ps 26:2; Jer 17:10; Ps 139:23-24, and I Cor 11:28). Maybe we need to have daily spiritual heart check-ups? In Matthew 12:34 we are admonished that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Are we really listening to what is coming out of our mouth? Where is this harshness coming from? This criticalness and judgement? This resentment, this irritation, this anger? This pride, this arrogance?  (Shouldn’t our behavior should reflect Him?) Or our complacency and apathy, our lack of fire we once had? What happened to our red-hot passion and love for Jesus to the degree we prayed and worshiped for hours and witnessed to anything that moved? Or have we become weary, or too busy (even doing “God’s work”), or too distracted? Those believers we read about in Revelations 2 and 3 never dreamed they would one day be accused of forsaking their first love; of the one who saved them, delivered them, healed them, blessed them, kept them, guided them, comforted them, and most of all, showered His love on them. They stopped pursuing God. Their relationship with Him was no longer a number 1 priority. Does our heart ache when we think about this? And the sad thing is, it could have been avoided. Does this stir something in our heart? Do we feel convicted? If we really searched our heart and were honest with ourselves, would we admit that we are dry and thirsty? That our heart is cold and callused? That we are at a loss to explain our loss of passion to pray; loss of desire and appeal to study His Word; the loss of our once longing for deep, heartfelt, tearful worship; and the loss of excitement to share the love of Jesus with others? That we can’t find that zeal we once had? That we don’t feel that deep, heart-felt longing for more of Him that we once felt? That we cannot truly describe our relationship with Jesus as “intimate” anymore? Are we at a loss for words? We pray to grow our love for Him! Oh, let us pursue Jesus with all our heart, mind, strength and soul. Let us seek to please Him. Let us strive to partner with Him. Let us be sure we are present with Him. Let us make Him a priority. Let us promote our relationship with Him. Let us seek to daily renew our passion for Him. And lastly, let us protect our relationship with Him. Oh, may we spend time with Him, for in His presence we are renewed and refreshed in our deep heart-felt love for our Jesus, the Lover of our soul.