1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
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 2:1-5.
So the church at Ephesus had good works. They were patient. A lot of good qualities. But they had lost their first love. They had grown cold, and because of this Jesus threatened to remove their candlestick unless they repented.
35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him.
37 And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee. Mark 1:35-37.
So we see in Mark chapter one that Jesus awoke a great while before day and went off to pray and his disciples got up too and went to be with Him. But notice how the disciples had changed toward the end of the book of Mark:
32 And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.
33 And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
34 And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.
35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
37 And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?
38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
39 And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words.
40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him.
41 And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Mark 14:32-41.
Notice that Jesus had not asked His disciples up to that point to do hardly anything, but here He asks them to stay awake and pray with Him. But did they do it? No! They had fallen asleep. He went away and prayed again, and the second time found them asleep again! Then He went and prayed again and when He came back found them asleep once again. How different were the disciples in Mark 14 from what they had been in Mark 1. They had lost their first love.
And Jesus Christ predicted for us living in the days we are just before His second coming "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Matthew 24:12. That's talking about the Christians. The love of many Christians will have waxed cold just before His second coming. And we need that love, because it's part of the fruit of the Spirit, also including joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Galatians 5:22,23. Jesus is coming to harvest fruit. Is He going to see that fruit in us? Do those terms describe us?
We can pray the prayer of Psalm 85, which includes the phrase "Revive us again." We can also pray the prayer of Habakkuk in Habakkuk 3:2 "O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." We should get baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit and pray in tongues and groanings in the Holy Spirit every day to crucify our flesh and to put on the fruit of the Spirit. If we've never been saved we should do so, but if we've been saved in the past we should cry "Revive us again" so we're ready for Jesus Christ's soon coming!
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
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 2:1-5.
So the church at Ephesus had good works. They were patient. A lot of good qualities. But they had lost their first love. They had grown cold, and because of this Jesus threatened to remove their candlestick unless they repented.
35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him.
37 And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee. Mark 1:35-37.
So we see in Mark chapter one that Jesus awoke a great while before day and went off to pray and his disciples got up too and went to be with Him. But notice how the disciples had changed toward the end of the book of Mark:
32 And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.
33 And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
34 And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.
35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
37 And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?
38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
39 And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words.
40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him.
41 And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Mark 14:32-41.
Notice that Jesus had not asked His disciples up to that point to do hardly anything, but here He asks them to stay awake and pray with Him. But did they do it? No! They had fallen asleep. He went away and prayed again, and the second time found them asleep again! Then He went and prayed again and when He came back found them asleep once again. How different were the disciples in Mark 14 from what they had been in Mark 1. They had lost their first love.
And Jesus Christ predicted for us living in the days we are just before His second coming "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Matthew 24:12. That's talking about the Christians. The love of many Christians will have waxed cold just before His second coming. And we need that love, because it's part of the fruit of the Spirit, also including joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Galatians 5:22,23. Jesus is coming to harvest fruit. Is He going to see that fruit in us? Do those terms describe us?
We can pray the prayer of Psalm 85, which includes the phrase "Revive us again." We can also pray the prayer of Habakkuk in Habakkuk 3:2 "O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." We should get baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit and pray in tongues and groanings in the Holy Spirit every day to crucify our flesh and to put on the fruit of the Spirit. If we've never been saved we should do so, but if we've been saved in the past we should cry "Revive us again" so we're ready for Jesus Christ's soon coming!