First Place

Word from the Lord –October 21:

“Edwina, you can only love Me as much as you love yourself. So my love comes to set you free from yourself, to set you free from how you see yourself, and to set you free from the smallness of your own thinking about yourself. My love comes to set you free from rejection and from shame and from low self-esteem, despair, and abuse.”

“Because when I look at you,” says the Lord, “I see something that I love. I see someone that I love outrageously and I have so much to bestow upon you, so much to give you, so many places to take you in my heart. But you can’t go there unless you allow Me to love you. My love for you will break every barrier, bring every wall crashing down. And know this,” says the Lord, “my love damages fear, my love hates fear, my love will fight fear around you. If you have fear,” says the Lord, “then know that you have a treat in store because My perfect love casts out fear. There is no fear where I am present because My love casts out fear. Beloved, you are My beloved and in My love I want you to feel good about yourself because I love you.”

Today’s blog and the one from yesterday were written in response to an email I had sent a friend some time ago. The email was about how I didn’t like anything about myself – not my looks, body, attitude – there was nothing I liked about myself. When I read the word from the Lord for the first time, I thought, “That’s nice.” But it did not affect me in any way.

The next night at Bible study, we went through the confession of sin. When we got to the part of “I have not loved you with my whole heart,” the Lord spoke directly to me and said, “No, you have not loved me with your whole heart. If you had, you would understand my love for you.” WOW! That hit me like a ton of bricks. Even though I had taught about His extravagant love for us, I still had not accepted and comprehended that love for me.

What does it mean “you have not loved me with your whole heart?” Very simply, it means that we love something or someone else more that we love Jesus. Anything or anyone that we put ahead of Christ in our lives is the thing or person that we love more than we love Him. Ouch! Truth hurts, doesn’t it?

It is possible that we do not realize we have put someone or something ahead of Christ in our lives. These types of situations can be very deceptive. After all, where is the wrong in loving your spouse and/or your children so much? Nothing – as long as you don’t give them first place in your life, above God.

What is wrong with loving your volunteer work at the church so much that you are at the church all the time and you win the “Volunteer of the Year Award?” Nothing - as long as you don’t place your church work above your love for and your walk with Christ.

If what I’ve written in either of these blogs has made you realize that you have placed anything or anyone above the Lord, you need to know that there is a very easy remedy for this. All you have to do is repent and ask God to forgive you. He is waiting to hear from you now.