Can we be honest and ‘get real’ here for a few moments today? I’m writing to those of you who at some earlier ‘season’ in your life...you had a moment, an experience with, or better yet...you had an ‘encounter’ with the living God, your creator...who made the heavens and the earth (Acts 17:24).

It may have been at a church altar on any given Sunday, or perhaps at a youth retreat you attended years ago. It might have happened when you as an adult...were at a really low place in your life and the darkness and despair had set in all around you. You were compelled to strip away all the masks and facades... as you just bore your shredded heart to God and called out to Him from the depths of your pain and misery... and He heard you.

You had arrived at a place of no longer wanting to negotiate and ‘make deals’ with God; on the contrary...you were in a place to simply ‘surrender all’ to Him, as we like to sing at times in our worship services. And while you cried those ugly tears, you just laid all the filth and shame at His feet as you confessed and truly repented of all your past sins, mistakes, and blunders (Luke 5:8). You were actually putting in to practice...what James encourages us to do in James 4:7-10; and as you humbled yourself before Him, and drew near to Him...He in turn...drew near to you and ‘lifted you up’, just like He promised He would do.

Do you recall what you felt and experienced in the deepest part of your soul/heart as a result of this pouring your heart out to Him? It was a ‘peace...that passed all understanding’ (Phil. 4:7). You experienced a ‘joy that was unspeakable’ which was bubbling deep within you. And whether you knew it or not, what you were experiencing in the afterglow of your repentance was the ‘times of refreshing that comes from the presence of the Lord’ which Acts 3:19 speaks about.

But now...that is all but a faint wisp of a memory, and for the life of you, it seems so far out of reach where you could ever experience such a place of serenity again. No doubt, it’s a question that not only have you probably asked yourself more than a few times, but it’s the same question so many others in a similar place as you have asked: “what happened to me?”

Would you believe the scriptures have the likely answer to that question? I’d like to encourage you to read Ps. 51:3,10-12, and see if that passage don’t resonate with you. Then, let’s take a look at Revelation 2:4 together. This is the passage where the Lord was speaking to the church at Ephesus and addresses an issue that happens to most all of us at one point or another. Let’s read it:

“Nevertheless...I have this against you...you have left your first love. Remember from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” (Rev. 2:4)

You. Left. Your. First. Love.

It wasn’t a matter of God ‘leaving you’, because He promised to never do that; but...we can certainly leave Him. (Heb. 13:5; John 6:66). It reminds me of quote I came across years ago- “If you don’t feel close to God, guess who moved?”

So may I simplify this for you ...and then you can wrestle with what I am sharing with you here- Jesus said “IF...we love Him, we’ll do what He says, as in ‘keep His commandments” (John 14:15) To not keep his commandments...is to ‘sin’ (1 John 3:4) And I hate to break the news to you...but sin still...separates us from God (Isa. 59:2). Please note- I did not say it changes God’s love for us, because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, demonstrating His love to us...and the whole world. (Rom. 5:8; 8:38-39; John 3:16) But sin sure disrupts our fellowship with Him, not to mention the abiding process. (John 5:14; 1 John 3:6)

We ‘leave Him’...when we stop doing what He asks of us (Luke 6:46). We ‘drift’, as the writer of Hebrews warns us about, when we no longer ‘heed His word’ (Heb. 2:1). Then, it’s only a matter of time before the effects of sin begins to ‘harden our hearts’ (Heb. 3:12-13). And it can be oh, so subtle...that you barely even notice what is happening. (I sure hope you are looking up and reading these verses yourself)

Then, what is so dangerous and can happen to any of us if we are not careful, is we still ‘go through the motions’...’honoring Him with our lips’...while our ‘hearts are far from Him’ (Matt.15:8) and before you know it...you are ‘walking in a form of godliness while denying the power thereof’, as Paul warned us about- (2 Tim. 3:5)

But I have some good news for you today, if any of this applies to you and you are on the verge of a serious ‘eye leak’ breaking loose- God’s Spirit is dealing with you, wooing you, trying to awaken you ...once again. He has a solution, a fix, a remedy where the ‘joy of your salvation’ might be restored, as the psalmist cried out for. And it’s the same advice He gave to those at Ephesus: “repent...and do the first works...again’. Would you like to be reminded what those ‘first works’ were?

Tomorrow, Lord willing, we will look at four questions we have on record that God asked some individuals; questions that I believe He is asking many of us today. I hope you will join me.