Return to your first love and be healed from a hardened heart

I rejoice in the Spirit, hallelujah! He saved me, He set me free, He paid the price for me.

He wiped away my sins, and now, abundant life flows through my veins. He is alive, my Redeemer is not dead! He lives! He has the final word over my life.

So I rejoice, I leap for joy, I celebrate: no matter what stands before me as an obstacle, no matter what tries to slow me down, I WILL MAKE IT! I will fulfill God’s destiny. I will finish the race, I will cross the finish line, this is my faith. I am more than a conqueror through Christ, who loved me. Amen. So I’m speaking to you, the one reading these words: do you still have that same fire in your heart that you had on the first day?

Remember that first time you met Jesus

That day when you came to Him without asking questions, without calculating. That day when a simple word would bring you to tears. That word wasn’t complex, it didn’t require deep theological explanation… but it pierced your heart. You gave everything expecting nothing in return. Your makeup washed away in tears. You fell to your knees without restraint. That was your first love. And something tells us that many, today, have abandoned it.

Has something faded away with time?

The Lord is drawing you with love today, He is calling out to you: Return to your first love, and be healed from a hardened heart.

A simple and pure love, yet powerful

First love isn’t built on logic. It’s a passionate love, a fire that consumes without asking permission. It’s an insatiable spiritual thirst. When that fire is ignited, nothing can extinguish it. Do you remember? When you came to midweek services before anyone even asked. When you had no role to play, but insisted on being there. That was simply called loving the Presence of God.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first. (Revelation 2:4-5)

Our Father is not judging us here. He is not condemning us. He is drawing our attention. He wants us to remember. To look back not to blame ourselves but to realign ourselves.

You loved without expecting. You served without complaining. You believed without proof. First love is the love of a child. Love that doesn’t question, love that obeys. Romans 5:5 says, “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit”… so if love has dried up, it’s not because God has withdrawn it: it’s because our heart has closed.

When love fades, everything becomes mechanical

When first love fades, something twists in our hearts. We start “doing” for God without “being” with Him. We become religious. The songs are beautiful but no longer move us. The preaching is powerful, but no longer breaks us. Our hands are lifted by habit, our “hallelujahs” have become mechanical. God is still in the room, but our heart is no longer present.

Don’t say that you’re mature… maturity does not kill thirst. The more you grow spiritually, the greater your level of thirst becomes. No father is honored by an adult child who has become cold. Where has the flame gone? God is calling you today to a spiritual heart resuscitation. Do you hear that? A resuscitation! Your heart needs to come back to life. The breath of the Spirit must start it beating again. You can’t keep going like this. Do you hear God’s call?

Why did I lose that fire?

Your heart didn’t harden all at once. It was gradual. You were hurt, betrayed, humiliated… and you didn’t heal your wounds. You tucked them away. You created prison cells inside your heart. With every offense, you locked someone up. You imprisoned too many people in your heart. And without realizing it, you became a prisoner too.

What started as a mere shelter became a fortress. Your heart became surrounded with barbed wire until even God, from the outside, could no longer enter. That’s why you can no longer feel, or cry, or run with passion. The heart has hardened. It no longer listens. It has become a heart of stone.

But I bring you good news: our God doesn’t just restore—He transforms.

I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36)

This is not an improvement God is offering you, but a spiritual heart transplant. This morning, accept that your old heart must die. Receive a new heart, a gentle heart, a pliable heart, the heart of a child.

Come back into the Father’s arms

I am like a weaned child with its mother. (Psalm 131:2)

The weaned child has known the frustration of departing from its mother’s breast, but has learned to trust. He stays in his mother’s arms even when he cries, because he knows she loves him. He knows she feeds him. He knows she carries him. That’s what God expects from you. He’s not looking for a Christian who understands everything but a child who remains in His arms, even when he understands nothing.

Stay. Don’t seek logic in your trials. Stay in His arms. Keep singing even when you feel nothing. Keep praising even when the emotions don’t follow. Keep bending your knees even when your body is tired. That is true love. That is awakened first love.

God is still looking for lovers

In Heaven, there is no religious bureaucracy. There are lovers. Those who surrender. Those whose hands are lifted in truth. Those who cry without shame. Those who love even when it costs them. Are you still one of them?

God is seeking children, not faith professionals. He’s looking for sincere hearts, not veiled faces. He is seeking the altar. He is seeking the fire. He is seeking men and women who consume His presence.

You can no longer remain someone who preaches what he doesn’t live out. Someone who sings what he no longer believes.

Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. (Hebrews 3:15)

If you want the fire, get close to the fire

The fire doesn’t fall from a distance. The fire falls on the altar. Present yourself again. Come just as you are. You are not too dirty. You are not too dry. You are not too far gone. He is here. The fire is ready. It won’t fall on your theory, or your reputation. It will fall on your offering, on your surrendered heart. Draw near. Adjust your altar. Give Him everything. And watch what He will do.

Let’s pray together

Father, I come before You. I offer You my heart just as it is. Lord, remove the heart of stone. Change me. Give me a new heart. Reignite the fire in me. Restore the zeal of my beginnings. I refuse to be religious. I want to be in love. I want to be a child again in Your arms. Lord, refresh my life. Light a new fire. Burn away my indifference. Give me hunger for Your presence. Bring me back to the altar. Make me a worshiper in spirit and in truth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

🙏 If you’ve never given your life to Jesus, pray this prayer with all your heart:

Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that I need You. I believe You died for my sins and rose again for my justification. Today, I invite You into my life. Be my Lord, be my Savior. Open my eyes, change my heart, fill me with Your Spirit. I depend on You. Amen.

At the heart of the Bible

• Revelation 2:4-5 – You have forsaken your first love…
• Romans 5:5 – The love of God is poured out in us by the Holy Spirit
• Ezekiel 36:25-27 – I will give you a new heart
• Psalm 131:2 – Like a weaned child in its mother’s arms

📽️ Want to go deeper? To watch the full video: click here.