MONDAY MOTIVATION
JOIN PASTOR GUY EVERY MONDAY FOR BIBLICAL ENCOURAGEMENT, INSPIRATION & INSIGHT
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Welcome to Monday Motivation—a devotional blog to keep you encouraged throughout the week! My name is Pastor Guy Deckard and I am incredibly excited for you to join in every Monday.
Below, you will find the most recent Monday Motivation post and if you continue scrolling, you will find an archive of blog posts by date. If you’d like to get a better understanding as to how this blog came about, click HERE to read the first Monday Motivation post.
I invite you to follow along with me every Monday! And if you would like to dive even deeper into your study of God’s Word, purchase the same daily study that this blog is based, just click HERE.
#mondaymotivation
Newlyweds!
Newlyweds!
From the Aug. 28th reading
Have you lost that “in love” feeling?
SCRIPTURE:
READ: Revelation 2:1-6
Revelation 2:4
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. (NIV)
OBSERVATIONS:
- To the church in Ephesus (V. 2) – this is the Church that Paul started 43 years prior
- Jesus commended the church in vs. 2
- They worked hard and they persevered
- They did not tolerate wicked men or false teaching
- They had endured hardship
- But they had forsaken their first love (forsaken = abandoned, deserted)
- Vs. 5 – “Remember the height from which you have fallen. Repent and do the things you did at first.”
- They were busy doing things but they had forgotten their devotion to Him.
APPLICATION:
- Doing for the Lord is important
- Standing firm against false teaching is a must
- But if we do not seek Him and lay at His feet it will not mean anything
- Don’t be a “Martha” (see Luke 10:38-42)
- He desires our heart and our devotion
MOTIVATION:
Remember being a Newlywed? Or have you seen a Newlywed couple? That first year of marriage is wonderful. You can’t get enough of one another! You can’t spend enough time with the other person, and nothing they do seems to bother you. But, over time little things start to creep into your marriage. Kids, life, work, and even ministry. And before you know it, that “In Love” feeling seems to have disappeared. Where did it all go? And you begin to miss it. You begin to wonder did I make the right choice; did we make a mistake? Just know that God didn’t design it this way, and with some work and with the work of the Holy Spirit in your life you can have that spark back in your marriage. I know, because after almost 35 years we have it in ours. It hasn’t always been there, and sometimes life gets in the way, but we still love to hold hands and to gross out our children in the middle of the kitchen (kissing – just to clarify)!
That is exactly what John is writing about here in the beginning chapters of Revelation. Jesus instructed John to send the church in Ephesus a message. Jesus Himself commended them for their hard work and for their devotion to correct doctrine. Warren Wiersbe describes the church in Ephesus this way: It was also a sacrificing church, for the word labor means “toil to the point of exhaustion.” The Ephesian Christians paid a price to serve the Lord. They were a steadfast assembly, for the word patience carries the meaning of “endurance under trial.” They kept going when the going was tough.[i] This fledgling church had toiled and continued its faithful service to God for more than 40 years. But as we will see that wasn’t enough. Not even close.
This busy, sacrificing church really suffered from “heart trouble” – they had abandoned their first love! They were doing and saying all of the right things but they were not motivated out of love for Christ. One author explained it this way, “Most of the Ephesian Christians were now second-generation believers, and though they had retained purity of doctrine and life and had maintained a high level of service, they were lacking in deep devotion to Christ.”[ii] They had forgotten their first love.
What is “first love”? Wiersbe says that “It is the devotion to Christ that so often characterizes the new believer: fervent, personal, uninhibited, excited, and openly displayed. It is the “honeymoon love” of the husband and wife (Jer. 2:1–2). While it is true that mature married love deepens and grows richer, it is also true that it should never lose the excitement and wonder of those “honeymoon days.” When a husband and wife begin to take each other for granted, and life becomes routine, then the marriage is in danger.”[iii] Is it any wonder that scripture likens our relationship with Christ to that of a marriage!
How the church today needs to heed this same warning, that devotion to doctrine and service are not enough. Jesus wants our hearts as well as our hands and our heads. And the only way that I know to restore that “first love” for Christ is to spend time with Him. To read His Word, and to spend time talking with Him. For the last two years I have used the Life Journal to help me to restore my “first love”. If you aren’t already doing it, I challenge you to do the same.
PRAYER:
Pray a prayer of repentance. Ask God to forgive you for losing your “first love”. Then ask Him to restore that in your life. Ask Him to give you the desire and the determination to spend time with Him.
Each week’s Monday Motivation is taken from the reading schedule found in the Life Journal. If you are ready for the next step in your discipleship, then order yours today or see me for a copy.
www.lifejournal.cc
If you would like help in growing in your faith, or if you would like to know how to have faith in Him, then please contact us at (928)636-2949 or email me at pastorguy@cvgrace.com
[i] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 571). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[ii] Walvoord, J. F. (1985). Revelation. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, pp. 933–934). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[iii] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 572). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
Devotionals by Date
January 2018
MONDAY MOTIVATION INTRODUCTION
THE GREAT SHEPHERD
January 1, 2018
THE GREAT PLANNER
January 8, 2018
PROTECTING YOUR ROOTS
January 15, 2018
FACING YOUR GIANTS
January 22, 2018
February 2018
PLEASE STAND
February 5, 2018
BE A GAME CHANGER
February 12, 2018
FINISH STRONG
February 19, 2018
STRETCHER BEARERS
February 26, 2018
March 2018
DIGGING YOUR WAY OUT
March 5, 2018
REAL PEARLS
March 12, 2018
HIDDEN IDENTITY
March 19, 2018
MYSTERY GARDEN
March 26, 2018
April 2018
THE TEST!
April 2, 2018
PASS IT ON!
April 9, 2018
CRACKED POTS!
April 16, 2018
LAY THEM DOWN!
April 23, 2018
LETTING GO
April 30, 2018
May 2018
IDOL WORSHIP OR IDLE WORSHIP?
May 7, 2018
WATCH AND PRAY!
May 14, 2018
DON’T SAY GOODBYE
May 21, 2018
TRAPPED
May 28, 2018
June 2018
GOT A MATCH?
June 4, 2018
CHOSEN?
June 11, 2018
I’M THIRD!
June 18, 2018
CHANGED LIVES MATTER
June 25, 2018
July 2018
MADE FOR MORE THAN THIS
July 2, 2018
SET FREE!
July 9, 2018
HEAVENLY PLACES July 15, 2018
LOOKING IN THE MIRROR
July 2, 2018
NO SURPRISES HERE
July 2, 2018
August 2018
INSTRUCTIONS INCLUDED
August 6, 2018
THE PEOPLE PLEASER
August 13, 2018
ONE CHURCH
August 20, 2018
BROTHERLY LOVE
August 27, 2018
September 2018
NEWLYWEDS!
September 3, 2018
WHEN GOD SPANKS US!
September 10, 2018
TAKING A STAND
September 17, 2018
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
September 24, 2018
October 2018
FROM ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY
October 1, 2018
STAND YOUR GROUND!
October 8, 2018
FAITH UNDER FIRE
October 15, 2018
HOMELESS FOR A DAY
October 22, 2018
November 2018
A HEAVENLY MARRIAGE?
November 5, 2018
HOLY SMOKE!
November 12, 2018
MIRROR, MIRROR…
November 19, 2018
SECRET AGENT
November 26, 2018
December 2018