Innocent But Untested Love
“Because of the spread of wickedness, the love of most men will grow cold, though the man who holds out to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:12 Phillips).
A few good years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ assigned two young boys the tasks of witnessing and prophesying. As a ministry, we can attest to their faithfulness in prayer while we observed the manifestations of the true fruits of the Holy Spirit in their lives (Galatians 5:22-23) Like the apostles, it was a joy for them to suffer ridicule and persecutions for the Lord (Acts 5:41). As it was, their zeal and commitment to daily Bible reading and their spirited prayer live invited the Presence of God in their gatherings. Furthermore, the boy’s innocence and appetite for God served as an inspiration for many people who had doubts and were afflicted with sin. We can further attest that many people turned to the Lord in great conviction because of the testimony of these lads. In fact, they outsmarted their peers with regard to their faith and love for God.
Burdensome Love
However, as the boys got exposed to friends via social media they started embracing and following worldly ways and they loved the attention of the opposite sex and this was the beginning of them spiralling towards a downward trajectory spiritually. Observingly, the lads lost their innocence (Genesis 3:7), and the early morning prayers became a burden to them and their conversation became salted with worldliness as their appetite for other things grew (Numbers 11:4). Additionally, the spirit of rebelliousness towards their parents took a violent turn and the usual ‘clever’ reasoning to hide their wrongdoing became their defense (Numbers 16:1-4). As they are being rebuked in the name of the Lord in a spirit of love, their line of reasoning against their parents became, ‘as long as the Lord loves me’. By taking this dangerous turn, the Holy Spirit departed from them, their prophesying ceased (Judges 16:20) and the boy’s started growing bad fruits (Samuel 16:14-16; Matthew 7:16).
Active Love
Now, to the Lord be the glory, praise and thanksgiving, belongs to Him only! For He alone is Holy and every high tree He will bring down (Isaiah 10:33) and God Almighty is NO respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). Being Passionate Towards God Finally, beloved brethren in the Lord if we can identify with this, we still have grace this side of the grave to make right and seek the face of the Lord, keeping in mind that the Lord said, “only those who endure till the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13 NIV). As people, we grew weary, discouraged and we allow the things of this world to ‘choke’ the Word of God out of us and leaving us as prey to the devil and so causing us to re-crucify the Son of God (Hebrews 6:6).
We thus encourage you to stem out the coldness from your heart and grow closer to God through fervent prayers driven by a passionate love for God (Daniel 6:10-28). It is not difficult to determine our love for the Lord, and we know words conceals our real actions (Matthew 15:8), instead, it is those whose spend most of their time in God’s Presence and the JOY will NOT FADE nor the fragrance of the fruits. “So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified. A tree so planted will not fear when heat comes, it will not experience damage from the blazing heats of summer, its leaf remains green, and it will yield fruit in season” (Isaiah 61:3). Thus, our salvation starts by loving God, let us learn to love God and He will honor us, prune us and make us fruitful (Daniel 10:11; John 15:8). In conclusion, the love our Lord Jesus showed to the Father was so intense the Bible says our Lord spend nights out alone with God, what a Glories Presence to indwell (Luke 6:12). Equally, we also read how Moses spent 40 days with God and being filled with God’s glory (Exodus 24:18) while we struggle to spend a few minutes in God’s Presence in prayer.
Blessed Grace
Brother Glenn
