RYH Chapter 5 “First Love”

Have you left your first love? Who is your first love? Was your husband your first love? Is your baby or your children first in your life? Has your career been first? Maybe it’s now your health. Has your health become your focus, what matters to you most??

Be honest with yourself, who or what is really first in your life? 

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:37). The Scripture in Revelation says: “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Rev. 2:4).

What is our Lord saying to us? He is saying that any time we put someone or something ahead of our love for or our relationship with Him, then we are not worthy of His Love.

Seek first. You are to put Him first in your priorities, first in your day and first in your heart and whom you seek FIRST when facing each and every pain or medical crisis. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33), all meaning health and a remedy to get through whatever it is you’re facing. “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me” (Ps. 23:4 KJV). “No temptation [to seek a physician] has overtaken you but that which is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). The Message bible says it this way “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it” even when you feel He’s waited too long. 

This Streams in the Desert should help you understand WHY He is waiting, because it’s more than His will for us to be healed.

January 23

Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? (Psalm 10:1)

God is . . . an ever-present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1). But He allows trouble to pursue us, as though He were indifferent to its overwhelming pressure or pain, so we may be brought to the end of ourselves. Through the trial, we are led to discover the treasure of darkness and the immeasurable wealth of tribulation.

We may be sure that He who allows the suffering is with us throughout it. It may be that we will only see Him once the ordeal is nearly passed, but we must dare to believe that He never leaves our trial. Our eyes are blinded so we cannot see the One our soul loves. The darkness and our bandages blind us so that we cannot see the form of our High Priest. Yet He is there and is deeply touched. Let us not rely on our feelings but trust in His unswerving faithfulness. And though we cannot see Him, let us talk to Him. Although His presence is veiled, once we begin to speak to Jesus as if He were literally present, an answering voice comes to show us He is in the shadow, keeping watch over His own. Your Father is as close to you when you journey through the darkest tunnel as He is when you are under the open heaven! from Daily Devotional Commentary 

Although the path be all unknown?

Although the way be drear?

Its shades I travel not alone

When steps of Yours are near.

So, what happens when you put someone or something ahead of the Lord? What does He do to draw you back to Him? If you have put your husband or health or job ahead of the Lord, then it is the Lord who will lovingly take your husband or health or job from you. “You [God] have removed lover and friend far from me; my acquaintances are in darkness” (Ps. 88:8). The Lord knows just why things were removed from your life, so He’ll lovingly keep them from you until what is most important, what will bring you the most joy, will be your clear and lasting focus. Don’t make your health and getting better the first and most important thing in your life; you must make the Lord first in your life and as we read above—and once you do—everything will be added to you and your life!

Obedience Rather than Sacrifice

To obey is better than sacrifice. “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you . . .” (1 Sam.15:22–23). “To do righteousness and justice is desired by the Lord rather than sacrifice” (Prov. 21:3). Don’t fall into works or appearing to be trusting the Lord for your health. What matters is the heart, which means, even if you fall short and fear takes over, He will not judge you harshly but lovingly continue to draw you closer to Him.

Your outward appearance. Even if your outward appearance deceives others into thinking you’re trusting the Lord as your Physician, God knows and always tests your heart. “Do not look at his appearance . . . because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). 

When I was on my first real restoration journey, the one in 1989 that began my ministry, I tell this story often. My husband and everyone else thought I was an extremely submissive wife. I was even deceived. God knew that my being abandoned with 4 small children was what I needed to get me to focus on Him and begin to submit to the Lord as my Heavenly Husband (Isaiah 54:4-6). I also share this story:

There is a story of a little boy whose father continued to ask him to “sit down.” Finally, the little boy did sit down and the father smiled. The boy quickly exclaimed, “I may be sitting down on the outside, but on the inside—I’m standing up!” Many times we are standing up on the inside. Many times after you do the right thing and go along with your husband’s plan, you exclaim, “But I don’t agree!” or your attitude tells him that you don’t. 

Have you done this? Has this been your type of “make believe” submission to your Heavenly Husband?

Suffering unjustly. Let’s talk about those of us who are suffering unjustly, such as when malpractice or neglect or something else has you in your current physical condition. “For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly...But if when you do what is right, and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God” (1 Pet. 2:18–20). The Word goes on to say that we women have an example in the Lord and His life. He asks us to follow in His footsteps.

By His wounds you were healed. Even “while suffering, He [Jesus] uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.” (1 Pet. 2:23-25). The last portion of these verses again explain why and the conclusion of why He suffered for us, and while we are able to share in His suffering. It says, “but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.” (1Pet. 4:13)

“If You Love Me—Obey” 

After you put the Lord first in your life, and begin to submit those in authority over you, you must then cast down the false doctrine that says “you are saved by grace, so it’s really okay to sin, because we are no longer under the Law.” 

Sin is often at the root of our illnesses. It could be continuing to smoke or drink to excess or use drugs. It could be feeding His temple, our bodies, with things that clearly “feed the flesh” rather than to give it the nutrition it needs. It could be hidden sins that you’ve failed to confess that is eating away at you. Or it could be unkind words that you’ve held onto and haven’t let go of because you’ve failed to really forgive Matthew 18: 21-35 and offering your enemy kind words “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24) which would result in you being healed.

So let’s look at and search the Scriptures to see what it says:

Do your deeds deny Him? “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed” (Titus 1:16).

Do you do what His Word says? “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom. 6:1–2). “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!” (Rom. 6:15).

Faith without works is dead. “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (James 2:14, 26). Good works are the “fruits” of our salvation. These are the questions we must ask ourselves: Do my deeds deny that I follow the Lord? Does grace give me a license to sin, and not forgive? Am I, as a believer, to produce good works that others can easily see in my life?

I never knew you. Many believe that you can live any way you wish and then enter into heaven once you die. Is this true? “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matt. 7:22–23). The answer is then “no” and another good reason why the Lord will use an illness to help you truly find Him.

Confess your sins. If this is the mindset that you had about living in sin, prior to learning these Scriptures, do as Scripture says: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed . . .” (James 5:16).

Obedience to His Word

Seek wisdom! “Wisdom shouts in the street, she lifts her voice in the square. At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings: ‘How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing and fools hate knowledge? Turn to my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you” (Prov. 1:20–23).

“Because I called and you refused; I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; and you neglected all my counsel and did not want my reproof; I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, when your dread comes like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you” (Prov. 1:24–27).

“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but they will not find me, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would not accept my counsel, they spurned all my reproof. So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be satiated with their own devices. For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil” (Prov. 1:28–33). Seek wisdom for each and every decision in your life—whether or not it directly relates to your health.

Obedience comes from the heart. “. . . You became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed” (Rom. 6:17). Again, “for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam.16:7).

Obedience needs testing. “Do not be surprised at the fiery trial which comes upon you for your testing” (1 Pet. 4:12). Obedience purifies your soul. “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls . . .” (1 Pet. 1:22). Once your soul is purified, it often will reflect in your health being purified as well.

Obedience gives testimony of who your Father is. “Obey My voice and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way in which I command you, that it may be well with you. Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward” (Jer. 7:23–24).

Your disobedience actually praises the wicked. “Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive with them” (Prov. 28:4). The prayers of the disobedient often go unheard. “He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination” (Prov. 28:9).

Our Example of Obedience Is Jesus and His Life

He was obedient even unto death. “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8). “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). Coming through a painful and/or debilitating illness will change you completely.

He was obedient and submissive to His authority. “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will. My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done” (Matt. 26:39, 42). This could be a daily prayer you have, asking God to remove the cup of suffering He’s called you to drink—but then surrendering to His will above your own just as Jesus did. Remember, even those closest to Jesus didn’t understand why He submitted Himself to suffer as He did. Yet, He knew that without that suffering, He would be unable to help others. We too are called to help others in the midst and after our suffering has been completed—again, like Jesus did for us!

Turn aside to myths. Instead of searching for the truth about how to really be healed, rather than simply having their illness or condition “treated” many people simply want others to agree with their wrong ideas or decisions: “But wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers [or doctors or health professionals] in accordance to their own desires, and . . . will turn aside to myths” (2 Tim. 4:3–4). One only needs to watch old movies to see how the common practices used by doctors seem barbaric and utterly foolish, often more dangerous than the illness. And the truth is history always repeats itself and someday soon what your doctor or what’s popular to “treat” your illness will turn out to be as horribly ridiculous as the common practice of “bloodletting” performed by surgeons until the late 19th century, a span of almost 2,000 years!! 

By studying His word and seeking Him, He will lead you to find the truth to truly healing you. And what more than likely is not the common “treatment” of today. Let’s think about this, if Christian doctors had study the Bible they would have realized the truth, which was that bleeding someone would drain the life from them as “modern” science has finally realized as it’s said clearly in the Bible.  “This is because the life of the body is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11 EXB).

Obedience to His Word. “Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near to you” (Ps. 32:9). If you don’t obey, He will lovingly discipline you. “The Lord has disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death. I shall not die but live, and tell of the works of the Lord” (Ps. 118:18, 17).

Let’s conclude this chapter by reading and praying Psalm 51 aloud: “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done what is evil in Thy sight. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners will be converted to Thee. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou will not despise.”

Testimony

Due to an ailment He’s asked me to suffer through, I often am unable to think clearly. Even though the enemy wants to torment me with all sorts of fears, the last time it happened, I immediately asked my perfectly wonderful and loving Heavenly Husband, about it. Remember, my HH, He’s also a Physician.

That’s when He assured me I was okay, and then reminded me of a very old song I had heard on the radio and had downloaded to my phone, playing it over and over and over again. 

It’s The Very Thought of You by Billie Holiday. YouTube. Many singers have recorded it, so if you’re suffering through anything even remotely similar (or know someone who is), I’d like you to read some of the lyrics, then find an artist of your genre who you’d like to listen to. Get the song and put it on repeat, singing it to Him over and over again in your mind and heart. When I did, the most amazing thing happened, I felt my heart feel as if it were about to burst in love and gratitude, and that’s when I realized I wasn’t feeling horrible nor was I having trouble thinking!

BUT, be sure that you first speak to your Heavenly Love, asking Him about it. Don’t speak to Him once, but each and every time you’re plagued with not thinking clearly and are being tormented by it. Please also make sure you share this with others, don’t add becoming the Dead Sea to what you’re already suffering through.

 

The Very Thought of You
by Billie Holiday

The very thought of You and I forget you

The little ordinary things that everyone ought to do

I'm living in a kind of daydream

I'm happy as a queen

And foolish though it may seem, that’s everything

The mere idea of You, the longing here for You

You'll never know how slow the moments go til I'm near to You.

I see your face in every flower

Your eyes in stars above

It's just the thought of You

The very thought of you, my Love

 

“Very Special to Him”

I have been catching up on the Daily Encouragers from this week, since I had a very intensive training session at work that took all of my time and strength to do other things. However, I'm very grateful that my HH always walks by my side, sits with me, talks to me and leads me to talk, especially to other women about His grace in my life and His love for us.

These Encouragers were all telling me different things, answering different questions that I have had and I knew it was my HH speaking to me through each one of them. PTL! One that really caught my attention was “Front Row Seat to a Miracle”. I read it and felt His love through this woman's testimony as He was speaking to me directly because she was talking about her mom's situation dealing with breast cancer, which I happened to be diagnosed with last year too.

I couldn't be happier when I witnessed through reading her testimony, how God healed her mom twice without having to undergo chemo or radiotherapies or the surgery. I felt very happy for her, because this is really a tiring and long process and I know this because I went through the three of them! (I'm totally healed now, cancer free, thanks to my HH :))

The part that really shook me was when I read almost in the end of her testimony that: "Everyone in life is confronted with something that will either draw them closer to our Beloved or push Him away. Whether it is a marital crisis or cancer, we each have a cross and the opportunity to carry it. "

I was really in shock because I could feel how interested He was in me, that He allowed not only one but these two things to happen to me last year to draw me closer to Him!

Instead of feeling devastated, I feel special, very special to Him!! That's how desperately He wanted me to become His bride!! PTL!!

~ Sara in Colón Restored

 

January 22

He withdrew . . . to a solitary place. (Matthew 14:13)

There is no music during a musical rest, but the rest is part of the making of the music. In the melody of our life, the music is separated here and there by rests. During those rests, we foolishly believe we have come to the end of the song. God sends us times of forced leisure by allowing sickness, disappointed plans, and frustrated efforts. He brings a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives, and we lament that our voices must be silent. We grieve that our part is missing in the music that continually rises to the ear of our Creator. Yet how does a musician read the rest? He counts the break with unwavering precision and plays his next note with confidence, as if no pause were ever there.

God does not write the music of our lives without a plan. Our part is to learn the tune and not be discouraged during the rests. They are not to be slurred over or omitted, nor used to destroy the melody or to change the key. If we will only look up, God Himself will count the time for us. With our eyes on Him, our next note will be full and clear. If we sorrowfully say to ourselves, “There is no music in a rest,” let us not forget that the rest is part of the making of the music. The process is often slow and painful in this life, yet how patiently God works to teach us! And how long He waits for us to learn the lesson! John Ruskin

Called aside—

From the glad working of your busy life,

From the world’s ceaseless stir of care and strife,

Into the shade and stillness by your Heavenly Guide

For a brief time you have been called aside.

 

Called aside—

Perhaps into a desert garden dim;

And yet not alone, when you have been with Him,

And heard His voice in sweetest accents say:

“Child, will you not with Me this still hour stay?”

 

Called aside—

In hidden paths with Christ your Lord to tread,

Deeper to drink at the sweet Fountainhead,

Closer in fellowship with Him to roam,

Nearer, perhaps, to feel your Heavenly Home.

 

Called aside—

Oh, knowledge deeper grows with Him alone;

In secret of His deeper love is shown,

And learned in many an hour of dark distress

Some rare, sweet lesson of His tenderness.

 

Called aside—

We thank You for the stillness and the shade;

We thank You for the hidden paths Your love has made,

And, so that we have wept and watched with Thee,

We thank You for our dark Gethsemane.

 

Called aside—

O restful thought—He doeth all things well;

O blessed sense, with Christ alone to dwell;

So in the shadow of Your cross to hide,

We thank You, Lord, to have been called aside.

February 19

Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. (John 15:2)

A child of God was once overwhelmed by the number of afflictions that seemed to target her. As she walked past a vineyard during the rich glow of autumn, she noticed its untrimmed appearance and the abundance of leaves still on the vines. The ground had been overtaken by a tangle of weeds and grass, and the entire place appeared totally unkempt. While she pondered the sight, the heavenly Gardener whispered such a precious message to her that she could not help but share it.

The message was this: “My dear child, are you questioning the number of trials in your life? Remember the vineyard and learn from it. The gardener stops pruning and trimming the vine or weeding the soil only when he expects nothing more from the vine during that season. He leaves it alone, because its fruitfulness is gone and further effort now would yield no profit. In the same way, freedom from suffering leads to uselessness. Do you now want me to stop pruning your life? Shall I leave you alone?” 

Then her comforted heart cried, “No!” 

Homera Homer-Dixon

 

It is the branch that bears the fruit,

That feels the knife,

To prune it for a larger growth,

A fuller life.

 

Though every budding twig be trimmed,

And every grace

Of swaying tendril, springing leaf,

May lose its place.

 

O you whose life of joy seems left,

With beauty shorn;

Whose aspirations lie in dust,

All bruised and torn,

 

Rejoice, though each desire, each dream,

Each hope of thine

Will fall and fade; it is the hand

Of Love Divine

 

That holds the knife, that cuts and breaks

With tenderest touch,

That you, whose life has borne some fruit,

Might now bear much.

Annie Johnson Flint

 

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