Dear Bros in Christ,

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.

Brothers in Christ, this monthly devotional is sent and meant to be an encouragement to all
and to build up and edify in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oikodome means "Builder". The Lord has
put this on my heart to send out a monthly Iron Man Oikodome {oy-kod-om-ay'} to build
up and encourage the men who love and follow Jesus Christ in their walk with Him.
Hebrews 3:13 "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none
of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness."
PRAYER REQUESTS: If you have any prayer requests please send them and I will send
them out to the bros for prayer, if privacy is needed I will send in a discreet way.

NOVEMBER 2009

“First Love”

“Nevertheless I have [this] against you, that you have left your first love. Remember
therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works…” (Rev. 2:4-5 NKJV)

Bros ever notice when you seem to have fallen away from something or someone you love
dearly; it just seems to all of a sudden be like that, to have happened so quickly. You don’t
remember ever leaving that love, kind of like what happened? How did the fire burn out so
quickly? It seems like it was a huge blaze just yesterday. The love is there but it is a small
ember on the verge of being snuffed out. This fire that once roared for the Lord is now like
a person on their deathbed they have a faint pulse they are not dead but they are barely
alive at best. By falling away from something I am not referring to idolizing some object of
affection, (but using it as an example to amplify our first love later as the story unfolds)
something of the world or some ungodly habit but those things can take you away from
your first love and usually do! What I am referring to is actually the things you love to do
and maybe it is spending time with the Lord. That time where you get up early or maybe
your time is at lunch or in the evening walk where you have that alone time with the Lord
Jesus Christ, just you and Him. Also, that time we spend in the Word where we have that
quiet time and we are meditating on and in His Word and we are mesmerized by His Holy
Spirit because the Lord is showing us and speaking to us through His Word in such an
intense way we are so into Him that we lose all cognizance of time and we don’t want to
leave that place of ministry that time we have and the Lord is so ministering to us and
loving us we are in a state of heavenly blessing. You remember those times right? Just like
they were this morning, they should be that fresh, if not fresher in the thoughts of your
mind and the depths of your heart, well if you don’t remember maybe you have fallen away
from your first love and maybe it’s time to return.

Remember in your youth that first car (or it could have been anything really that got your
love or attention)where you practically wore the paint off of it washing and waxing it even
though it never really had that much paint on it to begin with. Then after you had it a while
you slacked off and kind of maybe stopped washing it and keeping the maintenance up on
it and pretty soon you started getting a big attitude against it, started trash talking your
chariot, thinking to your self what a hunk of junk this thing is, it’s old, has no value, doesn’t
mean much to you… You took advantage of it as long as you could for what you got out of
it and then when you thought it can’t do me any more good you lost interest there was
nothing for you in it. You get the idea; it just seems to not register in your priorities of
what’s important to you anymore... Then some time goes by and now ol’ Nellie needs some
mechanical work and maybe it is something simple like new tail light bulbs and or a side
mirror, set of spark plugs or oil change or maybe you put a new starter or water pump
something like that. So you pull ol’ Nellie into your garage and start working on her and put
some time into fixing her up right and you get all the new parts on but not before you take
a few knuckles down a layer and drop a tool into the fender well and spend an hour or two
retrieving it. So you got all your tools back and you are feeling quite blessed because you
poured a lot of labor (of love of course) and effort and struggle into the repairs. Now you
take her out for a test spin and man O’ man she is running like a top so you are cruising in
the ol’ bread box and you start thinking to yourself what a sweet ride, man this car runs
great, purrs like a kitten. Wow this is so smooth and you get back home and spend the rest
of the day cleaning the car inside and out. Then it dawns on you how much you love this
car and how much it means to you and how much you have poured yourself into taking
good care of this baby. You pay attention to something, you work on something, put in a
little labor on something and you end up loving and caring more for that something in the
end. You made a choice you went after it with all your heart you thought to make it better,
granted that was not your original intent but it happened. You spent time with the object of
your affection and it turned out changing your attitude and heart from the inside out. That
very thing you grew apart from caused you to value it more because you made time, you
made a choice, and you turned yourself towards wanting to make it better. It seems to
grow our love deeper and more appreciative when we make that choice in our heart of
hearts, but we have to make it for ourselves- no one can make it for us; we become
impassioned about that thing or person. Sometimes we don’t realize what we have and we
don’t appreciate the things we love and the people we love in our lives, maybe we have
taken them for granted, not intentionally but it just happened little by little we quit caring
or taking the time to show our love or to show our appreciation for that object of our
affections.
Bros if you have stopped loving or caring, return to your first love, repent, and get right
with the Lord Jesus Christ right now, return to your first love, do the first works, fall in love
with Jesus again today, return He is waiting for you.
Here’s what Jesus Christ King of kings, Lord of lords says;
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will
come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me”. – (Rev 3:20 NKJV)
What are you waiting for, if you hear Him knocking open the door & let Him in today and
become one with the Lord Jesus Christ. Give Jesus Christ the first fruits of your time and
heart and you will return to your first love…
In His Love,
Daniel Wright
Iron Man Oikodome
Proverbs 27:17

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