Kevin Martin
Write the following to the messenger of the congregation in Ephesus. For these are the words of the one who holds the seven stars firmly in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:
I know all that you’ve done for me—you have worked hard and persevered. I know that you don’t tolerate evil. You have tested those who claimed to be apostles and proved they are not, for they were imposters. I also know how you have bravely endured trials and persecutions because of my name, yet you have not become discouraged. But I have this against you: you have abandoned the passionate love you had for me at the beginning. Think about how far you have fallen! Repent and do the works of love you did at first. I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place of influence if you do not repent. Although, to your credit, you despise the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also despise. The one whose heart is open let him listen carefully to what the Spirit is saying now to all the churches. To the one who overcomes I will give access to feast on the fruit of the Tree of Life that is found in the paradise of God. Revelations 2:1-7 TPT
Consider that the Ephesians were doing all the right stuff.
According to the Passion Translation note C: They were:
- Working for the Kingdom
- Persevering
- Not tolerating sin
- Examining the claims of ministries
- Enduring trials bravely
But doing everything right does not mean it will be righteous or of love for Jesus. He said to them, “You have abandoned the passionate love you had for Me at the beginning.
- Think about how far you have fallen
- Repent and
- do the works of love you did at first
So, think about the passionate love you had for Jesus at the beginning. Was it about the hard work you were doing for Him? Or was it about the love you had for Him?
The crowds among those who were fed of the 5,000 plus people went to search for Him in Capernaum. When they finally found him, they asked him, “What should we do if we want to do God’s work?”
Jesus answered, “The work you can do for God starts with believing in the One he has sent.” John 6:28, 29 TPT
To the one who overcomes I will give access to feast on the fruit of the Tree of Life that is found in the paradise of God. Rev 2:7 Good works without love are from the wrong tree in the Garden of Eden.
If I were to be so generous as to give away everything I owned to feed the poor, and to offer my body to be burned as a martyr, without the pure motive of love, I would gain nothing of value. 1 Corinthians 13:3 TPT
So the work of God is simply to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. As you believe Jesus is the one Father God has sent, you will follow Him. As you follow Him, you will know His love. As you know His love, you will love Him. As you love Him, you will love others. As you love others the way He loves you (John 15:12), you will be moved by love to believe Holy Spirit to empower you to do the works Father God puts on your heart; like feeding the poor and even to be martyred for His sake.
Desolation Will End
15. The desolation will not end
until the Spirit is poured out upon us from heaven!
Then the wilderness will blossom into a fruitful orchard
and the trees of the orchard will grow into a forest!
16. Then justice will reside in the wilderness
and righteousness will dwell in the fruitful orchard.
17. The work of righteousness is peace,
and the result of righteousness
is quietness and confidence forever.
18. My people will live free from worry
in secure, quiet homes of peace. Isaiah 32:15-18 TPT
- Have we fallen so far that our works are more about what we are doing for God’s acceptance rather than from the heart of God’s love motivating us? There is a promise in Isaiah 32 which will not manifest when it’s just about how hard we are working for Jesus and how much we endure in the environment of cold hearts we live among today. But when our motivation is passionate love for Jesus, the desolation can end. Remember, He loved us before we loved Him (1John 4:7, 10, 18, 19). We are accepted in Christ, the Beloved (Eph 1:6).
Jesus’ Message to Believers Today
- Repent! Turn away from a focus on works to prove how faithful you are.
2. Jesus’ message to believers today: “I’m calling the church back to their first love. And I’m calling you deeper than you’ve ever been before. Deeper than you’ve ever imagined; into My love and glory.”
3. Jesus’ focus is not on our work or our endurance. He directs our attention to the source of our effort, the motive of love at the core of our endurance.
10. This is love: He loved us long before we loved him. It was his love, not ours. He proved it by sending his Son to be the pleasing sacrificial offering to take away our sins.
11. Delightfully loved ones, if he loved us with such tremendous love, then “loving one another” should be our way of life! 12. No one has ever gazed upon the fullness of God’s splendor. But if we love one another, God makes his permanent home in us, and we make our permanent home in him, and his love is brought to its full expression in us. 13. And he has given us his Spirit within us so that we can have the assurance that he lives in us and that we live in him.
14. Moreover, we have seen with our own eyes and can testify to the truth that Father God has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15. Those who give thanks that Jesus is the Son of God live in God, and God lives in them. 16. We have come into an intimate experience with God’s love, and we trust in the love he has for us.
God is love! Those who are living in love are living in God, and God lives through them. 17. By living in God, love has been brought to its full expression in us so that we may fearlessly face the day of judgment, because all that Jesus now is, so are we in this world. 18. Love never brings fear, for fear is always related to punishment. But love’s perfection drives the fear of punishment far from our hearts. Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment has not reached love’s perfection. 19. Our love for others is our grateful response to the love God first demonstrated to us. 1John 4:10-19 TPT
Jesus said to me, “Remember your first encounter with Me on May 17, 1975. Share how that vision has stayed with you. Though you have at times forgotten it, now you are living the vision.”
My Dream and the Vision Within
I dreamed I was with two of my brothers and my youngest sister at a monks’ table in a monastery. I got up and turned a corner and the scene changed. I was now in a mansion. There was a large marble landing at the bottom of two flights of stairs. There was an immense, three story, single pane, opaque window; lit up from somewhere within the mansion, but not by lights or candles. Then I saw Jesus.
Jesus was standing at the third story railing looking down at me. I said I’d go up.
He said, “I will come down to you.” Immediately He was at the bottom of the stairs. He walked toward me and I toward Him. He embraced me and I embraced Him. I never felt such love as His love for me in my life. As I remained in His arms I entered a vision.
While embraced in His loving arms, He showed me a vision of works of love I would one day enjoy. I was walking with a partner down a hallway of closed doors on each side. As we would walk into a room to minister for Jesus, the people would feel His presence and tell us how amazing it felt as they received what they needed. Today I know this ministry. It’s from a place of rest; living in the love of Christ.
To Abide in His Love
- “I am a true sprouting vine, and the farmer who tends the vine is my Father. 2. He cares for the branches connected to me by lifting and propping up the fruitless branches and pruning every fruitful branch to yield a greater harvest. 3. The words I have spoken over you have already cleansed (pruned) you. 4. So you must remain in life-union with me, for I remain in life-union with you. For as a branch severed from the vine will not bear fruit, so your life will be fruitless unless you live your life intimately joined to mine.
5. “I am the sprouting vine and you’re my branches. As you live in union with me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you—but when you live separated from me you are powerless. 6. If a person is separated from me, he is discarded; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire to be burned. 7. But if you live in life-union with me and if my words live powerfully within you—then you can ask whatever you desire and it will be done. 8. When your lives bear abundant fruit, you demonstrate that you are my mature disciples who glorify my Father!
9. “I love each of you with the same love that the Father loves me. You must continually let my love nourish your hearts. 10. If you keep my commands, you will live in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands, for I continually live nourished and empowered by his love. 11. My purpose for telling you these things is so that the joy that I experience will fill your hearts with overflowing gladness!
12. “So this is my command: Love each other deeply, as much as I have loved you. 13. For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends. John 15:1- 13 TPT
Verse 9 stayed with me and Holy Spirit drew me back to it again and again. “Continually let my love nourish your hearts.”
My dream was of Jesus fully and passionately embracing me and I passionately embracing Him. At the same time He was taking me into a vision of the ministry I would enjoy, empowered by Holy Spirit. As I would walk into a ministry room with a ministry partner, the people would feel His presence and tell us about it. The ministry is from a place of rest; living in the love of Christ.
Promise
16. I pray that he would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power.
17. Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life.
18-19. Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God! Ephesians 3:16-19 TPT
He never spoke to them without using parables, but would wait until they were alone before he explained their meanings to his disciples. Mark 4:34 TPT
- 7. Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love. Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him.
10. This is love: He loved us long before we loved him. It was his love, not ours. He proved it by sending his Son to be the pleasing sacrificial offering to take away our sins. 1 John 4:7, 10 TPT
Not Fearing God’s Correction
Anyone who fears God’s correction has never known the depth of His passionate love.
God’s endless love pouring into your heart makes you so secure in Him that obedience to His commands becomes your desire. Even when you fail, His correction doesn’t feel like punishment. It feels like the love of a father you can always trust, always run to; never having to hide from Him. When you stumble, His correction is His hand reaching down to put you back on your feet with assurance that He is patiently, lovingly training you to walk in His light with increasing confidence. There is never condemnation, only deeper revelation of His perfect love for you.
20. But you, my delightfully loved friends, constantly and progressively build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith by praying every moment in the Spirit. 21. Fasten your hearts to the love of God and receive the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who gives us eternal life. Jude 20, 21 TPT
20. Behold, I’m standing at the door, knocking. If your heart is open to hear my voice and you open the door within, I will come in to you and feast with you, and you will feast with me. 21. And to the one who conquers I will give the privilege of sitting with me on my throne, just as I conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22. The one whose heart is open let him listen carefully to what the Spirit is saying now to the churches. Revelation 3:20-22 TPT
Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free—not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.
I, Paul, tell you: If you think there is benefit in circumcision and Jewish regulations, then you’re acting as though Jesus the Anointed One is not enough. I say it again emphatically: If you let yourselves be circumcised you are obliged to fulfill every single one of the commandments and regulations of the law!
If you want to be made holy by fulfilling the obligations of the law, you have cut off more than your flesh—you have cut yourselves off from the Anointed One and have fallen away from the revelation of grace!
But the Holy Spirit convinces us that we have received by faith the glorious righteousness of the Anointed One. When you’re placed into the Anointed One and joined to him, circumcision and religious obligations can benefit you nothing. All that matters now is living in the faith that is activated and brought to perfection by love. Galatians 5:1-6 TPT