As I sit down at my desk today I cannot stop thinking about the goodness of God and how merciful He is. It has been said over and over and over again that God is the God of the second chance, let me tell you that I have found that to be so true.
The Holy Spirit has been dealing with me over the last few weeks of getting back to where I once was and to do some of the things in ministry that I was doing twenty some odd years ago. In the letter that Jesus wrote to the Church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation after He had commended them for all the good that they were doing, and for standing against false doctrine and false Apostles He said, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against you.” What was it that Jesus had against this Church? They had left their first love! Notice that they “Left” not lost their first love, you may go somewhere in your car today and leave it in the car park while you do some shopping, well you have not lost your car you have just “Left” it, this is what the Church at Ephesus had done they left the first love. However Jesus told them how they could get their first love back, He told them to do three things, you will find this in Revelations 2:5. First He told them to “REMEMBER”, it is always good to remember the mercies of God, it is good to remember how you have been use of God in days gone by, it is also good to remember from where you have fallen. The second thing that Jesus told them to do was, “REPENT”. I know that this is not a popular word in the modern Church, nevertheless it is one of great importance! To repent means to have a change of mind, to change the direction in which you were going, when Jesus tells you to repent you know that this is serious business. Acts chapter three tells us that if we repent we will have days of refreshing and God will bring about the restoration of all things. The third thing that Jesus told them to do was “RETURN” return to their first love and first works.
We who are in the ministry can get so busy working for the Lord that we forget to have fellowship with Him, and as a result we begin to move away from our God-given mandate and begin doing our own thing. we must return to doing what we have been called to do and then remain faithful to it. As I have said the Holy Spirit has been dealing with me about these things, and on Tuesday He spoke to me about “Returning to my first work” and to commence hold “More Than Conquerors” Faith Conventions once again. He said to me that He never told me to stop holding then in the first place and that for seventeen years I have been in disobedience, He laid it upon my heart to ask my good friend and fellow minister of the Gospel Rev.Dr. Steven Evans if I good use his Church in Winstanley, Wigan to hold my first “Come back” convention. Rev. Evans agreed and so I have set the date for October 28th – 30th 2010. It is of great importance that we follow the Lord with our whole heart and only what He has commissioned us to do.
Until the next blog, keep rejoicing
Dr. Stephen J. Hales
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