As Christians, we can sincerely say that we love our Savior Jesus Christ, the One who gave His life for us. Without question, we acknowledge that He is worthy of our love.

But have we ever asked ourselves whether we love Him the way He desires to be loved? Today we’ll read verses from Revelation 2 and accompanying notes in the New Testament Recovery Version to see how the Lord Jesus wants us to love Him.

The Lord’s speaking to the church in Ephesus

In Revelation 2 and 3, the Lord’s speaking to seven churches in Asia shows us what pleases Him and what troubles Him regarding His people. The first church He addressed in this section was the church in Ephesus.

Revelation 2:1–3 says:

“To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write: These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, He who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: I know your works and your labor and your endurance and that you cannot bear evil men; and you have tried those who call themselves apostles and are not, and have found them to be false; And you have endurance and have borne all things because of My name and have not grown weary.”

The Lord began by acknowledging the many good points of the church in Ephesus, such as their works, their endurance, and much more. It seems their condition before the Lord was quite positive. But then in verses 4 and 5, He says:

“But I have one thing against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore where you have fallen from and repent.”

Their labor and faithfulness couldn’t offset the one thing the Lord had against them: they had left their first love.

What is our “first love”?

The Lord specifically said the church in Ephesus had left its first love. What does the phrase first love mean?

Let’s read note 1 on first in the New Testament Recovery Version to find out:

“The Greek word for first is the same as that translated best in Luke 15:22. Our first love toward the Lord must be our best love for Him.”

Luke 15:22 says:

“But the father said to his slaves, Bring out quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.”

Here, the father didn’t call for just any robe, but the best robe he had, the finest robe.

In Greek, the original language of the New Testament, the word used for best in Luke 15:22 is the same word used for first in Revelation 2:4. This shows us that the first love the Lord desired from the church in Ephesus was their best love.

But was the Lord’s speaking applicable only to the believers in Ephesus then? No! Since it’s included in the Word of God, it applies to all believers and is a warning to us today. The Lord longs for us to love Him with our first, best love. This means that we give Him the first place in our heart and our life, loving Him above all else.

The importance of maintaining our first love for the Lord

The defining characteristic of our relationship with the Lord Jesus is love. And this love is like that between a bridegroom and his beloved bride. In fact, the book of Revelation reveals that the Lord Jesus is our Bridegroom who will one day be married to His bride, composed of His believers. And the end of Revelation shows us that for all eternity, Christ will be the Husband to His people. Together, they’ll be a loving couple living in complete oneness with each other.

Since this is the ultimate conclusion of the whole Bible, no wonder the Lord Jesus wants us to love Him with our first love today. He loves us purely, with a deep, unchanging love. But what about us? Has our love for Him diminished? Is our love for Him what’s left over after loving the world, our career, or other things?

Let’s read Revelation 2:4–5 again:

“But I have one thing against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore where you have fallen from and repent.”

At one time, the church in Ephesus had loved the Lord as their first love, but they left that love. This is the one thing that the Lord Jesus had against them, and what they needed to repent of.

Now let’s read the the second half of note 2 on Revelation 2:4 in the New Testament Recovery Version:

“Now this second epistle to the Ephesians reveals that the degradation of the church begins with our leaving the first love toward the Lord. Nothing but love can keep us in a proper relationship with the Lord. The church in Ephesus had good works, labored for the Lord, endured suffering, and tried the false apostles (vv. 2-3), but she left her first love toward the Lord. The leaving of the first love is the source of all the degradation in the succeeding stages of the church.”

This note strongly points out that “nothing but love can keep us in a proper relationship with the Lord.”

Although the church in Ephesus had good works, labored for the Lord, endured suffering, and tried the false apostles, the Lord wasn’t satisfied with these things because she left her first love.

No matter how much scriptural knowledge we obtain or how many good works and activities we carry out, only loving Christ with our first love can keep us in a proper relationship with Him. Loving the Lord with our first, best love should be the top priority of our Christian life. Only this love can keep us in a proper relationship with the Lord.

Today, it’s possible for us believers to think that serving the Lord is the primary thing He wants from us. We can become occupied with serving Him, yet neglect our personal fellowship with Him. This isn’t what He wants. He yearns for us to love Him with our whole heart, more than anything else. While the Lord certainly wants us to serve Him, anything we do for Him should be the issue of our love for Him.

And it’s not only good works we do for the Lord that can take His place in our heart. Anything can distract us and diminish our love for the Lord, including our job, education, or friends. These things can become more important to us than the Lord and cause us to leave the Lord as our first, best love. The Lord wants to have the first place in every facet of our lives.

Repenting for leaving our first love

We all have to ask ourselves about our relationship with the Lord. Do we love Him with our best love? Does He have the first place in our hearts?

The Lord told the church in Ephesus to repent for leaving their first love. We should all spend some time in prayer to open our hearts to the Lord. We can pray something like this:

“Lord Jesus, I do love You. But show me anything that I love more than You. I want to love You with my first and best love. I repent of the things that have taken Your place in my heart. Lord Jesus, I want to love You above all else.”

As we pray this way, He will show us the things that we love more than Him. Under His shining, we can repent. Our hearts will be unloaded, and we can begin to love Him with our first love again.

Spending time with the One we love

So how can we maintain our first love for the Lord?

Spending time with the people we love is indispensable. Two people can say that they love one another, but if they seldom talk or spend time with each other, their love isn’t very real. When it comes to love, time together is everything.

It’s the same when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. The more time we spend in fellowship with Him, the more our appreciation and love for Him grows.

How we spend our time every day reveals what occupies us, what our priorities are, and what we love. All day long, we’re presented with choices related to our time. For instance, how do we begin our day? Do we immediately reach for our device, scrolling or reading through our emails? Or do we put everything aside to spend time in fellowship with the Lord to behold Him first? This is a very practical choice.

There is something special about being with the Lord first thing in the morning, before we’re weighed down or filled with other things. In the unsullied freshness of a new day, we can spend time with Him in fellowship, prayer, and the Word. Opening our hearts to Him, we can bask in His presence and let Him draw us more to Himself. By spending time with the Lord this way, we nurture our love for Him.

Then throughout the day, we can maintain our love for the Lord by telling Him we love Him. He delights in hearing us declare our love to Him. No matter where we are or what we’re doing, we can quietly say, “Lord Jesus, I love You. I love You with all my heart.”  Telling the Lord again and again that we love Him keeps our love for Him fresh, and fills our hearts with appreciation for Him.

We can also express our love to the Lord Jesus by singing to Him. For instance, we can sing a song like this that encourages us to love the Lord with our best love:

Jesus Lord, You’re our first love;
You’re the One we love the best.
When our heart is loving You,
How we’re filled with Your sweet rest!

Lord, we love You for Yourself,
Not for what You give or do.
Nothing else could e’er compare
With the joy of loving you.

     Lord, we’ve been drawn off by many things;
     Now we turn our heart back—how it sings!
     We repent of loving other things—
     Jesus, Lord, You’re our first love.

Never more could we desire
Anything that’s less than You,
And to this we would aspire—
Simply to be filled with You.

Jesus Lord, You’re our first love;
You’re the One we love the best.
When our heart is loving You,
How we’re filled with Your sweet rest!

You can hear the tune to this song here.

We hope this post has helped you see that the Lord wants us to love Him with our first and best love, and that this is what keeps us in a proper relationship with Him.

If you live in the US, we encourage you to order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.

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Have you ever felt like God seemed far away and out of reach, even after you were saved?

Over the course of our Christian life, we sometimes experience the Lord’s presence with us in a clear and definite way. Maybe we’re in a difficult situation and when we pray to the Lord, He feels so near. But after the crisis passes, it seems like that experience of His presence was a mysterious, even accidental occurrence—like we were stumbling around in a dark room, inadvertently hit a light switch, and the lights came on.

As believers in Jesus, we long to know Him and be close to Him. Here’s the good news: the Lord wants that too. He wants us to experience Him intentionally, not accidentally. He wants us to enjoy His presence every day, not just occasionally or only when we have a pressing need. But how can we regularly and consistently experience Him if we feel like He’s so far away?

In this post, we’ll get some help by reading a few excerpts from the book The Economy of God by Witness Lee, which you can download for free here.

What happened when we were saved

Actually, for believers, the Lord Jesus is not distant at all. He’s closer to us than anyone else ever could be.

When we believed in Jesus, some wonderful things happened: we were redeemed through His death on the cross, our sins were forgiven, and we were saved from eternal judgment.

But this isn’t all. Redemption solved the problem of our sins before God, but God’s full salvation includes more than this. According to His eternal purpose, God wants to live in us so we can have His life and know and experience Him subjectively.  

So after dying for us, 1 Corinthians 15:45 tells us that in resurrection, “the last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving Spirit.” And when we believed in Christ, He as the Spirit entered into us.

The Holy Spirit and the human spirit

In The Economy of God, Witness Lee devotes chapter 3, titled “The Residence of the Divine Spirit,” to the wonderful fact that the Spirit is now living in us.

Let’s read this excerpt on page 27. Here, Lee begins by pointing out three verses in the Bible that show us the Holy Spirit and the human spirit together:

“In John 3:6 we read, ‘That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’ This verse speaks of two distinct spirits—one is capitalized, and the other is not. The first occurrence of the word refers to the Holy Spirit of God, and the second, to the human spirit of man. That which is born of the Holy Spirit is the human spirit. Another verse showing these two spirits is John 4:24: ‘God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit.’ Again, the first Spirit is capitalized, and the second is not. We must worship God, who is the Spirit, in our human spirit. Romans 8:16 further confirms the existence of two spirits: ‘The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.’ The pronoun our definitely designates the human spirit and removes any ground to doubt the reality of both the divine Spirit and the human spirit.”

Notice that all three of these verses mention the divine Spirit and the human spirit. All of us need to know, understand, and appreciate these three crucial verses: John 3:6, John 4:24, and Romans 8:16. They’re worth remembering, and even memorizing.

In the following paragraph on page 27, Lee explains why we must know the human spirit in addition to the Holy Spirit:

“Why do we point this out? It is because Christians have very little knowledge about man’s spirit. Much attention is given to the Holy Spirit, but the human spirit, the residence and dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, is almost entirely neglected.”

We might know something about the divine Spirit of God, but we may not have known that we have a human spirit and that the divine Spirit resides in our spirit. Without knowing this, we can’t intentionally experience Christ because we wouldn’t know where to locate Him.

Lee continues:

“Suppose someone wants to visit me. He must first find where I live. If he cannot locate my home, he will have to forfeit his visit.”

This illustration drives the point home.

If we don’t know the Lord’s “address” other than a vague “He lives in me,” no matter how much we want to be close to the Lord Jesus and enjoy His companionship, He will continue to seem far away.

But once we know that Christ lives in our human spirit, we know where to find Him! This is the secret to experiencing Him every day. We can turn to Him in our spirit to contact Him any time and enjoy fellowship with Him. We can consistently experience Him personally and subjectively. We no longer need to hope that somehow, we’ll experience Him; we know where He is and can “visit” Him anytime!

The Spirit’s exact address

Thank the Lord that His Word is specific and clear about this. The three important verses pointed out in the first excerpt we read show the wonderful relationship of the Holy Spirit and our human spirit.

We also have 2 Timothy 4:22:

“The Lord be with your spirit.”

This verse underlines the fact that our spirit is where we need to go to meet Him and experience Him! That’s why striving to think about the Lord more or depending on our feelings doesn’t help us experience Him. We need to go to Him in our spirit.

By turning to our spirit, our deepest part, we can contact the Lord Jesus and enjoy Him. And this is something we can do anywhere, anytime, under any circumstance, in good times and bad times. We can experience Him in all the situations of our life.

A few simple ways we can practice turning to our spirit include calling on the name of the Lord, praying to fellowship with Him, and praying with the Word of God. By turning to our spirit, we’ll realize that the Lord is so near and available to us all the time.

Seeing that the Lord Jesus lives in our spirit will revolutionize our Christian life. We’ll know exactly where to go to find Him at any moment. As we learn to live according to our spirit, contacting the Lord and talking to Him throughout the day, we’ll enjoy His dear presence more and more. Our human spirit is truly the secret to experiencing Him.

We encourage you to download a free copy of The Economy of God here to read chapter 3 in its entirety, along with all its included scriptural references. And if you live in the US, you can order a free New Testament Recovery Version here and read the insightful notes that accompany the verses mentioned in this post.

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What is mercy? The dictionary defines it as “clemency and compassion shown to a person who is in a position of powerlessness or subjection, or to a person with no right or claim to receive kindness; kind and compassionate treatment in a case where severity is merited or expected.”

This definition describes every fallen human being before God. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Powerless and under righteous judgment, we had no right to receive any kindness or compassionate treatment from God.

But God had tremendous mercy on us in our fallen, sinful condition and opened a way for us to be saved through believing in Jesus Christ.

Today, we’ll read a few verses and notes in the New Testament Recovery Version to gain a fresh appreciation of God’s mercy. We’ll also see how we can continue to experience God’s mercy throughout our Christian life.

The source of God’s mercy

Since fallen human beings are utterly undeserving and powerless to claim anything from God, why does He extend His mercy to us?

First, to see how much we needed God’s mercy, let’s read Ephesians 2:1-3:

“And you, though dead in your offenses and sins, in which you once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit which is now operating in the sons of disobedience; among whom we also all conducted ourselves once in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

This was our situation before we were saved. Our condition was truly wretched before God. We were dead in our offenses and sins, walked according to the evil age of this world and according to the evil ruler of the air (Satan), conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, and, by nature, we were children of wrath!

The very next verse begins with “But God.” Ephesians 2:4-5 says:

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”

This passage shows us it’s because of God’s greatlove for us that He is rich in mercy to us. Despite our awful condition, God greatly loved us, and in His mercy, He caused us to be saved by grace.

Paul’s experience of God’s mercy

Paul, who was formerly known as Saul, could write these words in Ephesians 2 because he himself had experienced God’s rich mercy.

In 1 Timothy 1:12-13, Paul testified:

“I give thanks to Him who empowers me, Christ Jesus our Lord, that He has counted me faithful, appointing me to the ministry, who formerly was a blasphemer and a persecutor and an insulting person; but I was shown mercy because, being ignorant, I acted in unbelief.”

This was Paul’s testimony: “I was shown mercy.”

In the New Testament Recovery Version, note 3 on mercy in verse 13 says:

“Saul, a blasphemer and a persecutor, first was shown mercy and then received grace (v. 14). Mercy reaches farther toward the unworthy one than grace does. Because Saul was one who blasphemed God and persecuted man, God’s mercy reached him before the Lord’s grace did.”

God’s mercy was able to reach even a person like Saul, one who blasphemed God and persecuted the believers of Jesus! This shows how rich God’s mercy is. It extends to even the most unworthy and seemingly unreachable.

God had mercy on Saul, not just to turn him from being a blasphemer and insulting person, but also to bring him into a position where he could receive and enjoy God’s marvelous grace.

We can continue to experience God’s mercy and grace

We all experienced the mercy of God when we were saved, and we can continue to enjoy His mercy throughout our lives.

As we go on in our Christian life, we may try our best not to make mistakes. But although we’re born again and eternally saved, we still have our sinful nature. This causes us to fail and commit sins, even though we don’t want to. When this happens, we must repent and confess that sin to the Lord. This is essential. Confessing is how we’re forgiven and cleansed.

But after we’ve confessed our sins, we still might feel quite low because of our failures, disgusted with ourselves, and even completely defeated. But we don’t have to stay in such a disheartened state. We need to remember that God is always rich in mercy.

At such times, we can be encouraged by Hebrews 4:15-16:

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all respects like us, yet without sin. Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.”

Jesus, our High Priest, is touched with the feeling of our weaknesses. So even when we’re feeling weak and low, we can come forward boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace.

The first part of note 2 on mercy explains:

“Both God’s mercy and God’s grace are the expression of His love. When we are in a pitiful condition, first God’s mercy reaches us and brings us into a situation in which He is able to favor us with His grace. Luke 15:20-24 tells us that when the father saw the prodigal son returning, he had compassion on him. That was mercy, which expressed the father’s love. Then the father clothed him with the best robe and fed him with the fattened calf. That was grace, which again manifested the father’s love. God’s mercy reaches farther and bridges the gap between us and God’s grace.”

In Luke 15, the prodigal son had utterly failed his father, having squandered his entire inheritance, and was reduced to a pitiful condition. He was in no position to receive anything from his father. But when he returned home, his father’s compassion bridged the gap and reached him. Affectionately receiving his son, the father then clothed him and fed him with the fattened calf.

At times, we also may be in a pitiful condition, and the gap between us and God’s grace seems insurmountable to us. But God’s mercy can bridge that gap and bring us into a situation where we can once again enjoy His grace.

How we can enjoy God’s mercy

The second part of note 2 on mercy gives us a way to experience God’s mercy and grace again and again:

“God’s mercy and grace are always available to us. However, we need to receive and find them by exercising our spirit to come to the throne of grace and contact our High Priest [Jesus], who is touched with the feeling of all our weaknesses. By this word the writer of this book encouraged the wearied Hebrew believers to receive mercy and find grace for timely help, that they might be set upright (12:12).”

On God’s side, His mercy and grace are available to us all the time, but on our side, we must come forward to the throne of grace in order to freshly receive mercy and find grace. We do this by exercising our spirit.

A simple way to exercise our spirit is by calling on the name of Jesus. Romans 10:12 tells us the Lord is “rich to all who call upon Him,” and Psalm 86:5 says, “You, O Lord, are good and ready to forgive and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.” We can call quietly or out loud; sometimes when we’re desperate, we may even cry out to the Lord.

When we exercise our spirit by calling upon His name, we come forward to the throne of grace and are able to receive God’s rich mercy and enjoy His grace again. This is something we can practice every day.

Besides calling on the Lord, we can also exercise our spirit by praying and singing to Him. For instance, we can sing a hymn such as the one below, which was written by Witness Lee, the author of the notes and outlines in the Recovery Version. This hymn praises God for His rich mercy. As we sing hymns like this, we enjoy His mercy afresh and are brought into thanks and praise to the Lord for it. You can hear the tune here:

God, we praise Thee for Thy mercy,
’Tis so great and so profound!
In our weakness and our failures;
 With its greatness it abounds.
We adore Thee! we adore Thee!
 With such mercy we’ve been crowned!
 With such mercy we’ve been crowned!

How we marvel at this mercy
 So far-reaching and so vast!
It has reached us, e’en the sinners,
 And will ever hold us fast.
From this mercy, from this mercy,
 What can cause us to be cast?

For Thy mercy we are grateful,
 ’Tis so rich, so plenteous!
Thru Thy mercy in redemption,
 Thou hast richly favored us.
If without this, if without this,
 How could we be favored thus?

Oh, Thy mercy, so inspiring!
 Gentle, tender, dear and sweet!
With Thy patience and Thy kindness,
 Us in all our need it meets.
It we treasure, it we treasure,
 Nothing can with it compete.

Father, we enjoy Thy mercy,
 Ever fresh and ever new;
Every morning shed upon us,
 It refreshes as the dew.
How we taste it! how we taste it!
 Giving Thee the praises due.

We can never cease to praise Thee,
 As Thy mercy e’er endures;
All Thy grace and all Thy favor,
 Ever for us it secures.
Trusting in it, trusting in it,
 Thy sure mercy us assures.

(Hymns, number 26, published by Living Stream Ministry)

The Bible reveals so much about God’s mercy; we could only touch on it briefly in this post. But we hope you’ve seen something of how rich God’s mercy is to us and are encouraged to continue experiencing it daily.

If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here. In it, you’ll find many verse cross-references on mercy and notes on those verses that will enrich your appreciation of God’s rich mercy.

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