Mind Charging Preparation Exercise

On this final day of exercises as we draw to the close of our Lenten Preparation Exercises, we come with submissive and subjected hearts and minds, through the engaging Holy Spirit, who has us as a people who have considered our positions and repented of our wrongs.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Revelation 2: 2 – 6.

Charge me, O Thou most blessed Christ Jesus,

For now Your Spirit has made me conscious,

How as before, I don’t to You relate,

Charge me ere I die in my fallen state,

With Your help, my love for You will be sweet,

Just as it was, when I did first You meet.

Amen!

Return to First Days

On this third and final day of preparation before Ash Wednesday, we come with healed, clear and cleaned consciences and minds in Christ. Such a spirit-cleansed mind allows us to have the mind that was in Christ Jesus, to be able to do as we are told and know peace and contentment in so obeying.

Now that each of us has repented, we are not called to just feel good, basking and boasting in our pardon and forgiveness. Absolutely not! True repentance here calls for us to do. What are we to do? Our Lord makes it plain, clear and most simple for us to do, nothing new or difficult either. Do the things you did at first. This is where it becomes personal to each of us, as you now return to doing the things you previously did in Christ. Once, you delighted in hearing Him without effort, but you have settled for hearing Him sometimes and you are never too bothered, or even vaguely aware that you have been drifting away in hearing and knowing. You were once jealous of His love for you, preserving and guarding every intimate moment you could steal with Him. Not again. Excuses for not having these times as often as possible have intruded, and you have accepted them.

May God preserve you and me! Amen!

Our Lord never mixes matters, nor does He mince His words. Listen again to the consequence of repenting, yet not doing what He says, which is to do the things you did at first. Does this not remind you of the situation of which Jesus spoke, regarding a clean house, a clean life? Can this not be His Church also, you and me? Listen to our Lord, as is recorded in Matthew 12: 43 – 45a NKJV. When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of the man is worse than the first.

When you are given pardon, as you have repented, you are made clean and right again. However, to remain clean and good without doing as you are told to do, means that your last state will be worse than your first state. You will be forgiven, but you are not doing the things Jesus wants you to do, so you will lose your place in the order of things.

If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Thank God that the opposite is true, for if you and I repent and return to doing the things we used to do, when we were enjoying a honeymoon time of love with Jesus, we know that our lampstands will remain in their places.

Glory to God for His perseverance with us. Amen!

Now we receive this beautiful, encouraging, propelling word of commendation from our Lord, as we march resolutely into Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.