Scripture Reading: Rev. 2:4-5, 7; Col. 1:17b, 18b; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Mark 12:30; Psa. 73:25-26; 80:17-19
Ⅰ
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to love Him with the first love, the best love, being constrained by His love to regard and take Him as everything in our life—Rev. 2:4; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Mark 12:30; Psa. 73:25-26; 80:17-19; 1 John 4:19:
A
The Lord's demand for us to hold on to the first love means that we should consider His love and our love for Him to be forever fresh; we must not love anyone or anything above the Lord, including our soul-life.
B
We love the Lord because He first loved us, infusing His loving essence into us and generating within us the love with which we love Him.
Ⅱ
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to repent and do the first works; the first works are works that issue from the first love—Rev. 2:5; 1 Thes. 1:3; 2 Cor. 4:5:
A
A work that issues from a heart filled with the zeal of the Lord's love is precious in the Lord's eyes; they are works that are done out of our love for the Lord.
B
In that day, when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we will surely not be praised for the greatness or volume of our work; what He will investigate is how much of what we do is out of our love for Him.
C
Only those works that are motivated by love are the gold, silver, and precious stones; then we will not have empty assemblies but churches that are golden lampstands in reality as the corporate expression of the Triune God.
Ⅲ
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to live a life of prayer—1 Sam. 12:23; Dan. 6:10; 2:17-18; 1 Tim. 2:1; 2 Tim. 1:3; 1 Thes. 5:17.
Ⅳ
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to be governed by the direct, first-hand presence of the Lord—Exo. 33:11, 14; 13:21-22; 2 Cor. 2:10.
Ⅴ
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to love the church in the church-loving Christ—Eph. 5:25; 2 Cor. 12:15; 1 Cor. 16:24.
Ⅵ
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to love the ministry that builds up the church—2 Cor. 8:5; 1 John 1:3; Eph. 4:11-12.
Ⅶ
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to live and walk by the Spirit, to serve by the Spirit, and to minister the Spirit—Gal. 5:25; Phil. 3:3; 2 Cor. 3:6; Zech. 4:6; Judg. 9:9; cf. 1 Sam. 2:30b.
Ⅷ
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to take Him as the fountain of liv-ing waters; God's intention in His economy is to be the fountain, the source, of living waters to dispense Himself into His chosen people for their satisfaction and enjoyment to produce the church, God's counterpart, as God's increase, God's enlargement, to be God's fullness for His expression—Jer. 2:13; John 4:14b.
Ⅸ
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to eat Him as the tree of life; eating Christ as the tree of life, that is, enjoying Christ as our life supply, should be the primary matter in the church life; loving the Lord, enjoying the Lord, and being the testimony of the Lord go together—Rev. 2:7.
Ⅹ
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to continually come to Him to con-tact Him, take Him, receive Him, taste Him, and enjoy Him—Isa. 57:20, footnote 1.
Ⅺ
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to take Him as our centrality—our holding center—and our universality—our everything; we need to take Him as the center and circumference of our personal universe—Col. 1:17b, 18b; cf. Matt. 24:45-51.
Ⅻ
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to aspire and determine to gain the honor of pleasing Him in all things—2 Cor. 5:9; Col. 1:10; Heb. 11:5-6:
A
We can please Him in all things by bearing fruit in every good work—living Christ, growing Christ, expressing Christ, and propagating Christ in every respect.
B
We can also please Him through growing by the full knowledge of God—the living knowl-edge of God in spirit.
C
We can also please Him in all things by being like Enoch, walking with God by taking Him as our center and everything and doing everything according to His revelation and leading.
XIII
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to have a clear sky like awesome crystal with God's sapphire throne above it; this means that there is nothing between us and the Lord and that we are filled with the heavenly atmosphere, condition, and situation of His ruling presence—allowing Him to rule and reign within us—Ezek. 1:22, 26.
XIV
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to hold Him as the Head, staying intimately connected to Him and enthroning Him as the ruler and decider of everything in our life—Col. 2:19.
XV
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to ask for the counsel of Jehovah in everything in our lives—Josh. 9:14; Phil. 4:6-7.
XVI
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to give the flow of life, the flow of the Lord Jesus within us, the preeminence in all that we are and do; then He is the shining One, the redeeming One, the reigning One, the flowing One, and the supplying One within us—Ezek. 47:1; Rev. 22:1-2.
XVII
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to be dominated, governed, directed, led, and moved by our mingled spirit, caring for the rest in our spirit by being His captives and by praying, "Lord, make me Your captive. Never let me win. Defeat me all the time"—2 Cor. 2:13-14.
XVIII
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to enthrone Him with our praises; praise is the highest work carried out by God's children—Psa. 22:3; 119:164; 34:1; Acts 16:25.
XIX
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to receive the word of God warmly and gladly and say Amen to it—Psa. 119:48.