Jesus is God (1 John 5:6)

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Jesus is God

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  1John 5:6

 

            Message of the verse:  6 ¶ And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit also gives us the testimony that this is true   (NLT) 6 ¶ This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.  (NAS95) 

            The NLT gives a good interpretation of what John is writing about here.  John is saying that Jesus Christ is God who came in the flesh, and one of the reasons that He came in the flesh was so that He could die for the sins of mankind on the cross.  God the Father testified to this when Jesus was baptized, and this was where water was used, He also testified of this before Jesus died on the cross, and this was where He shed His blood.  The Holy Spirit was a part of this also and He to testifies of this Truth.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This the fundamental truth of the Christian faith, and that is that Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh, and without this truth there is no gospel at all.  Nothing else in the Word of God would matter if this were not true.

 

            The Word of God was instructive to my heart as I read it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Trust in the Lord with all of my heart and lean not upon my own understanding, in all of my ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct my path.

Faith and Love Grow Together (1 John 5:4-5)

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time:                Focus:  Faith & Love grow together

 

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  1John 5:4-5

 

            Message of the verse:  4. For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory.  5.  And the ones who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. (NLT)  4.  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5.  Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?  (NAS95)

            John uses the word overcome a number of times in his writings, and he uses it here to describe a believer, for he said that anyone who is born of God has overcome the world.  Paul uses the phrase “in Christ” on different occasions in his writings, and that little phrase has a lot of meaning, for a person who has been born of God is in Christ, and this means that a believer has in position these spiritual things that Paul describes because they are in Christ.  Believers are buried with Christ, they have been crucified with Christ, and they have been raised up with Christ from the grace.  Believers are in heaven with Christ.  I know that that one is kind of hard to understand, but none the less it is true.  All of these truths can give the believer confidence in his daily walk with Christ, confidence that Christ has already won the victory and that they are a part of that victory. 

            John writes about our faith and faith and love grow together, for the more a believer trusts the Lord the more he finds out that the Lord is trustworthy, and the more trustworthy the believer finds Christ the more he grows in his love for Him.  The writer of the book of Hebrews described faith this way in Hebrews 11:1, (Phillips) “Now faith means that we have full confidence in the things we hope for, it means being certain of things we cannot see.”  Of course faith has to have an object and to the believer the object is Jesus Christ. 

            John has been writing about love in this section of his letter, and how a believer should grow in his love for the Father, and knowing about the victory that he has in Christ is having confidence in Christ and it shows love for the Father being perfected.  Growing in love for the Father is not something that just happens without any effort, but it takes a concentrated effort to achieve this lofty goal.  Abraham is called a friend of God and friendship grows into love.  Abraham was not perfect, yet he knew that when he fell that he should confess his failures to God, and God would forgive him. 

            As the believer grows in his friendship with God through Bible reading, study, and meditation, and also fellowshipping with God’s people, he will begin to cultivate his love for the Father, and things will begin to change, not all at once but they will change gradual.

            This friendship, growing into love will be evidenced by obedience, and not just obedience out of fear, but out of love for the Father, because of a growing trust in Him.

             This process will continue, and the believer will be conformed to image of Jesus Christ, which is the goal of every believer, and will not happen completely until he is  face to face with Him in glory, none the less it is still the goal of the believer while on this earth. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I begin this new year not knowing what will take place, but knowing the One who does know what will take place, I would like to make it my goal to read the New Testament through three times, along with reading the book of Psalms through three times, and to finish up my verse by verse study of the New Testament.  Along with this I would like to grow in grace and in the knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, along with growing in my love for the Father.

 

The Word of God was refreshing to my heart as I read it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  By God’s grace and mercies I wish to begin this New Year growing in His Love, grace, and knowledge.

 

 

 

Perfecting Love Produces Joyful Obedience (1 John 5:1-3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Perfecting Love produces joyful obedience.

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  1John 5:1-3

 

            Message of the verse:  “1 ¶  Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.  2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.  3  For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. (NAS95)  “¶  EVERYONE who really believes that Jesus is the Christ is himself one of God’s family. The man who loves the Father cannot help loving the Father’s sons.  2  The test of our love for God’s family lies in this question—do we love God himself and do we obey his commands?  3  For loving God means obeying his commands, and these commands of his are not burdensome.  (Phillips)

            Verse one is talking about how to know if someone is a true child of God, and that means that a person has to believe that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), is part of God’s family.  John goes on to talk about the theme he has been writing about, and that is love, for a person who confesses Jesus as the Christ must show that he is truly in the family of God by loving, loving God and loving God’s people.  He goes on in verse two to speak of another test of being in the family of God, and maturing in the love for the Father, and that is by loving the Word of God and obeying the Word of God joyfully.  In verse three he continues by saying that the love of God is keeping His commandments and then adds that His commandments are not burdensome.  As Dr. Wiersbe points out when writing about this verse that the person who wrote the 119^th Psalm had the correct attitude about this for in that Psalm the writer talks about loving God’s Laws and loving to keep them.  Paul wrote about giving and how it should be done joyfully, and living the Christian life should also be done joyfully.

 

            Spiritual Meaning for my life today:  Deep down in my heart I know that living the Christian life in obedience to God’s commandments will bring joy to my life, But one of the chief stumbling stones is the old nature and that old nature wants it’s own way and that way is always wrong.

 

The Word of God has been instructive and convicting to my heart today as I studied it.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Trust that the Lord will give me the desire and the where with all to continue to grow in His love, and to continue to joyfully obey His Commandments.

More about God's Love from 1 John 4:20-21

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

 

My Worship Time:                Focus:  More about God’s Love

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  1John 4:20-21

 

            Message of the verse:  “20 If a man says, "I love God" and hates his brother, he is a liar. For if he does not love the brother before his eyes how can he love the one beyond his sight?  21 And in any case it is his explicit command that the one who loves God must love his brother too.”  (Phillips)  “20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.  21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”  (NAS95)

            As a believer grows in his love for the Lord then he will also grow in his love for other believers that God has brought into his life.  John makes this point very clear in verse 20 where he states that if a person cannot love his fellow Christian whom he can see how does one love God whom he cannot see.  John goes on in verse 21 to say that keeping the commandments of God are not to be a burden on believers, for this should be the thing that they would want to do, because they know that this is pleasing to the Lord. 

            There is a popular song out by Scott Kirplank entitled “No More Pretending,” which is exactly what John is writing about here in these two verses.  Pretending is something man has done since the fall in the garden, as it is a part of the old nature, but it should not be part of a believer who is maturing in the love of God.  John has already stated that believers all sin, but he also stated that believers are to confess to the Lord when they fail Him, and He will forgive their sin.  By confessing sin to the Lord believers are being honest with Him that we have sinned, and there is no hypocrisy in them as with the people written about in Acts Chapter 5.  Not only did Ananias and Sapphira sin by lying to the Holy Spirit, but they were also being hypocritical too.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This passage and the commentary that Dr. Wiersbe has written on it has really stepped on my toes, and has brought conviction to my heart.  As a person I have generally had a low self-esteem, and consequently have tried to put myself in the spotlight far too many times.  I do believe that as my love for the Lord begins to grow that I will not have such a low self-esteem, because I know the Lord knows that I am just dust and can make mistakes and sin, but because of His love, mercy and grace He will pick me up and put me on the right path again. God wants me to succeed in the Christian life and has proven that by sending His Son to die in my place and take the judgment on the cross that should have been given to me.

 

The Word of God has brought much conviction to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to strive to grow in the love of the Lord, and to obey His commandments.  

 

Why We Love (1 John 4:19)

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Why We Love

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  1John 4:19

 

            Message of the Verse:  “19 Yes, we love because he first loved us.  (Phillips)  “19  We love each other as a result of his loving us first.  (NLT)

            Agapao is the Greek word that John uses here and is translated “love.”  The word is similar to the Greek word Agape, which is also translated love many times in the NT.  The KJV translates Agape as charity in 1Cor. 13, which is known as the love chapter.  One of the definitions of Agapao given in the Greek dictionary that is used by the Online Bible program said that Agapao was a word that John used in 1John to show Christian love between believers.  It also said that this was the word which describes the love that God the Father has for Jesus Christ, His Son, so the word has a very strong meaning for how believers should love one another, which is what John is saying in verse 19.  The NLT puts it in a way that is clear to what John is trying to get across when it says, “We love each other as a result of his loving us first.”  Mankind is not capable of this kind of love in the state in which they are born because when a person is born he is born spiritually dead and therefore is not capable of having the kind of love that God loves.  Once the miracle of the new birth happens to someone then he can begin to learn about this kind of love from God, form His Word, and from other believers and as a result of this can begin to love other believers this way.  This is a process, and does not happen overnight, and it is something that the believer has to work at by the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, along with the help of mature believers to guide him in this process. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In order for me to love the brethren as I should, I need to continue to grow in the love that God loves me with so that I can love others in that same kind of way.  Love is not something that I can do on my own, but it is something that I can learn about and do.

 

The Word of God was again convicting to my heart as I read it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith For Today:  To continue to learn and grow in the love of God.

 

Love (1 John 4:14-16)

Spiritual Diary

 

My Worship Time:                Focus:  Love

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  1John 4:14-16

 

            Message of the verse:  “14.  We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.  15.  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  16.  We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”  (NASB95)  “14. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  15.  All who proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.  16.  We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.”  (NLT) 

            In verse 14 John is writing about how God demonstrated his love for the world by sending His Son to die on the cross so that He provided salvation for those who would believe in this act of love being done for them.  Once a person accepts this act of love and then confesses the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord then God abides or dwells in them in the person of the Holy Spirit for as long as they live on this earth, for the Holy Spirit will not leave them, even though at times they may grieve Him because of sin in their lives.

            In this section John uses the word “abide” or “dwell” six times, and it is used three times in verse 16.  The NASB Greek definition of this word is as follows: “to stay, abide, remain.”   God will always abide with us, for His Word makes that clear, but we as believers need to abide in His love, and as we do this then we will love God more by demonstrating His love to other believers and also to the lost, and even to our enemies.  God dwelling in believers is how He is seen in the world today.  The world will see how believers love each other and also how they love the lost and this is what will attract them to God, and how they can see God in the world today.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I believe that this section of John is the very heart of the Christian life and how the Christian life should be lived, and that is in the center of it is “God is Love.” 

 

The Word of God was convicting to my heart and it was also full of instruction.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To understand more about the love of God, and to grow in the love of God, and to Grow in the knowledge of God.

           

 

God Loves Us (1 John 4:10-11)

SPIRITUAL DIAY

 

                                                                                                            Date:  12-03-04

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  God Loves Us

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  1John 4:10-11

 

            Message of the verse:  “10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  (NASB)  “10 We see real love, not in the fact that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to make personal atonement for our sins.  11 If God loved us as much as that, surely we, in our turn, should love each other!”  (Philips)

            A little note from verse nine, seeing how it has been a long time since I wrote on that portion of Scripture, and that is that God sent His Son into the world. This supports the truth of the deity of Christ, for babies are born, and not sent into the world as Christ was.

            “In this is love,” this has to be speaking about the cross of Christ, for on that cross God demonstrated His love for sinners.  It was one then for God to have a love for lost sinners, however that would not satisfy His righteousness, however by sending His Son to the earth so that He could become sin for the world, God truly could satisfy His righteousness and that is what propitiation is.  It needs also to be noted that man has never loved God on his own, as John writes in verse 10, “not that we loved God.”  It is only through the prompting of God’s Spirit into our lives that He loves us that we can even begin to love and want to please God.  This is a process, and a discipline that needs to be worked on each day of our lives.

            Verse 11 speaks of the believer’s responsibility to one another by loving them because of God’s great love for us.  Jesus said that the world would know that we know Him because of our love for one another, for this is certainly not a natural thing for anyone to do.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I cannot conjure up love to love God or to love my fellow believers, however I can rely upon God’s Spirit and the studying of His Word to show me how great a love that God has for me and then rely upon them to love others through me.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:    Trust the Lord to see me through this long weekend, as I have many things to get done.  Trust the Lord to cause me to love others as He has loved me, and be a light in a dark place.

No Fear in Love (1 John 4:12-18)

Spiritual Diary

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  No fear in love

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  1John 4:12-18

 

            Message of the verses:  “17 ¶ By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.  18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”  (NASB95)  “17 ¶  So our love for him grows more and more, filling us with complete confidence for the day when he shall judge all men—for we realize that our life in this world is actually his life lived in us.  18 Love contains no fear—indeed fully-developed love expels every particle of fear, for fear always contains some of the torture of feeling guilty. The man who lives in fear has not yet had his love perfected.”  (Phillips) 

            As I look at the beginning of verse  seventeen I cannot help but going back to what was in verse sixteen, and in that verse John used the word “abide” three times and then he starts out verse seventeen by saying “by this, love is perfected with us.”  I seems to me that love is perfected by us abiding in Christ and growing in the knowledge of His love for us.  What happens to a believer when he begins to abide in Christ’s love and understand it more and more?  That believer will begin to have more and more confidence in God, because he knows more and more about God, and especially His love for believers.  The believer will learn that he need not fear God is such a way that it would bring torment upon himself for John goes on to say that perfect love casts out fear because fear has to do with punishment or judgment.  Believers need to have a fear of God like a child has for a loving parent, not a prisoner has for the judge he must face, for the believer the judgment has already taken place at the cross for him. 

            As believer in Christ we need not fear the past, for Christ died for us, or the present, or the future, and that is because of the great love that Christ has for us. 

 

            Spiritual Meaning for my life today:  One of the things that has haunted me for most of my life is fear, and one of the things that God has been dealing with me on this working assignment in Aruba is to deal with this fear by having more confidence in the wonderful love that He has for me, and as a result of this I do believe that I am beginning to grow in His love.

 

The Word of God was convicting to me as I studied it this morning, and it was also refreshing to my heart.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to grow in the grace and knowledge, and love of God. 

           

God's Love Perfects Us (1 John 4:12-13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  God’s Love Perfects in Us

 

Bible Reading & Meditation:           Reference:  1John 4:12,13

 

              Message of the verse:  “12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.  13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.”  (NAS95)  “12  No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us.  13  And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.”  (NLT)

            No one has seen God at any time is a phrase that was spoken by John the Baptist in John 1:18.  No human being has ever seen God in the way that He exists in heaven, all though God has made Himself visible to men in ways that men can see Him.  The best example of that is Jesus Christ, and that is whom John was speaking about in John 1:18.  The apostle John is saying here that if believers love one another God will abide in them and thus His love will be perfected in them so that others will see God’s love in action.  John goes on in verse 13 to speak about God’s Holy Spirit and says that the giving of His Holy Spirit to believer is proof of God’s love for us and this is how believers can love one another by abiding in God through the Spirit who lives in them.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today: I believe that selfishness is the easiest way to cause me not to be abiding in God’s love, and thus not fulfilling what God has in mine for me to accomplish while in the body He has given me to dwell while upon this earth.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To be controlled by God’s Holy Spirit as I go about my day today, and especially at Sharlotte and Tim’s wedding today.

God Sent His Son Into the World (1 John 4:9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

                                                                                                            Date:  09-29-04

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  God sent His Son into the world

 

Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:  1John 4:9

 

            Message of the verse:  “9  By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”  (NAS95)  “9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.”  (NLT)

            This verse has some very descriptive words in it that help show the real meaning of this verse, and thus help to show God’s love for man.  The word manifested means to come out into the open, to be made public, and is the opposite of to hide or to make secret.  God’s love is not hidden, in that how He demonstrated His love for us was to send His “only Begotten Son” into the world in order that we might have eternal life through Him.  The words only begotten mean one of a kind, and in the case of Jesus it was speaking of His uniqueness in being the eternal Son of God. 

            The verse says that Jesus was “sent” into the world, and this means that He was in existence before He was born into the world.  The eternal Son of God was sent into the world, and the humanness of Jesus Christ was born into the world.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  All of this took a great deal of planning, and you can see the fingerprints of God demonstrating His love for me in all of this.  God’s love for me is so important in my life each and every day of it, because I can have the assurance that because He loves me so much that He will care for me in a way that only He can do, and so I trust Him more and more as I understand more fully His love for me.

 

The Word of God was very refreshing to my heart as I read it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  I want to continue to trust the Lord to lead me and also my wife and to show us the purpose of why He has sent us to Aruba.  It seems to me that it is because of John and his need for the Saviour.

God is Love (1 John 4:7-8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

                                                                                                            Date:  09-26-04

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  God is Love

 

Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:  1John 4:7,8

 

            Message of the verse:  “7 ¶  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  8  The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”  (NAS95)  “7 ¶  To you whom I love I say, let us go on loving one another, for love comes from God. Every man who truly loves is God’s son and knows him.  8  But the man who does not love cannot know him at all, for God is love.”  (Philips)

            John says that love is from God and because believers share in God’s nature, they should love one another.  God is more than love for He is also Spirit, and He is also Light.  Light refers to His holiness and darkness refers to sinfulness, which God cannot have. 

            As a believer abides in Christ he will begin to take on the nature of Christ more and more, and part of His nature is love and therefore the believer will begin to have a great love for other believers.

            A person has to be born into the family of God to understand who God is and begin to learn from Him by His Word and by His Spirit.  If a person is not born of God then he cannot take on the characteristics of God, and therefore cannot love as God loves.  Romans 5:5 will help shed some light on this subject:  “--because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is much easier to love a believer that is not really close to you, but much harder to love someone who is close to you, yet with the help of God this can take place.

 

The Word of God has been convicting to my heart today as well as encouraging to my heart as well.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To continue to trust the Lord, that He might have His love flow through me to others, certainly including my wife.

 

Abiding in Love (1 John 3:23-24)

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

                                                                                                            Date:  09-25-04

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Abiding in love

 

 

Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:  1John 3:23-24

 

            Message of the verse:  23 ¶ This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.  24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.  (NAS95)  23 ¶  And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.  24  Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

            John give a commandment, which is from the Lord, and that is in fact a wittiness to all who read this, that people are to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and those who have done this will love one another.  Believers are to have a love for other believers, and also a love for the lost that the Lord brings them in contact with so they can share Christ’s love with them. 

            John goes on in the next verse to talk about abiding and this is something that all true believers are to do, and that is to abide in Christ.  In John’s gospel he wrote about abiding in Christ in chapter 15, where he quotes Jesus’ Words as He taught what it is to abide in Him.  Jesus  used the illustration of the vine and the branch in order to teach about abiding.  The branch cannot produce any fruit unless it is attached to the vine in a healthy way, and in the same way a believer cannot produce any fruit for the Lord is he does not stay in contact with the true Vine.  Abiding is something that a believer must do, and as he does it then He will have the power to live out the Christian life with power and love that can only come when he is abiding in Christ through His Holy Spirit.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The teaching on abiding in Christ through His Abiding Spirit is something that is of great importance to me if I want to have a powerful experience with my Lord and be able to love others as He loves others and also to be able to understand what His will is for me, and also to have the insight to pray about what He wants me to pray about.

 

The Word of God was convicting to my heart, and also was very instructive for me as I read and studied it this morning.

Love Keeps me in God's Will (1 John 3:21-22)

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

                                                                                                            Date:  09-19-04

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Love keeps me in God’s will

 

Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:  1John 3:21-22

 

            Message of the verse:  21 And if, dear friends of mine, our conscience no longer accuses us, we may have the utmost confidence in God’s presence.

22 We receive whatever we ask for, because we are obeying his orders and following his wishes.  (Philips)  21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.  (NAS95)

            When believers have love for the brethren then their lives are pleasing to the Lord, and they are obeying His commandments.  If a believer does not love the brethren and has a problem with one of them then this can affect their prayer lives and they may not receive answers to their prayers.  Psalm 66:18 speaks to this issue when is says that if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me. 

            There are other references in the Bible that have to do with answered prayers, and it is important to understand them too, for it is not good to take one section of verse and not look at others or it could cause much disappointment in a believer’s prayer life. 

            If a believer loves his brothers and the Lord out of fear then it is not truly Biblical love, and the story of the prodigal son’s brother illustrates this point.  Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to the subject of have one’s prayers answered is that God truly has a plan for all believers and He also has a plan for this entire world and there are many times that believers do not understand the Lord’s plans for them or for the world and therefore this can cause them to get upset when things do not go the way that they think things should go.  Psalm 37:4 give a little insight into what is being discussed here, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”  This verse says that if we are delighting in the Lord then God will cause the desires of our hearts to be the desires that He has for the believer. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today: There are far too many times in my life that I am not loving others as I should and not having patience with others that I should and therefore can miss out on having my prayers answered.  Life is a journey and there are far too many times when this journey is not pleasing to the Lord, but I do believe that I am not to give up and that I am to continue to seek the Lord’s will for my life and not be so upset when upsetting things happen to me, but realize that they are bumps in my path that I can climb onto to get me where the Lord wants me to be.

 

The Word of God was convicting and at the same time refreshing to me as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Trust in the Lord with all of my heart and lean not upon my own understanding, in all of my ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct my path.

We are of the Truth (John 3:19-20)

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

                                                                                                Date:  09-12-04

 

My Worship Time                    Focus:  We are of the Truth

 

Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:  1John 3:19-20

 

Message of the verse:  19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him 20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.  (NAS95)  19 It is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before the Lord, 20 even if our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.  (NLT)

When a believer is walking in love, and has God’s love for the brethren there will be times when his heart will condemn him, but God knows us better than our hearts know us and also it is possible that the Devil is condemning us too.  Verse 20 tells the believer that God is greater than our hearts and knows all things.  When a believer sins and then repents of his sin as 1John 1:9 instructs us to do then that sin is forgiven and unless it is repeated does not need to be confessed to the Lord again, and therefore the believer should not be accused in his heart about it again.  Peter is a wonderful example of this, for after he denied the Lord three times and confessed that to God he was forgiven of that sin and was able to be used of God for mighty things.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I believe that my heart has condemned me falsely on many occasions, and this study on these verses has been a help to me in this area of my life.  It is sometimes difficult for me to understand and put into practice the truths of this verse, but by the grace of God I would pray that I will begin to understand and put into practice what I have learned here.

 

The Word of God was a blessing to my heart as I read it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord in times of great distress as it is difficult for me to get adjusted to this new life style I am living in.  

  

 

 

 

True Love (1 John 3:18)

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

                                                                                                            Date:  09-11-04

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  True Love

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  1John 3:18

 

            Message of the verse:  18  Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.  (NAS95)  18  My children, let us love not merely in theory or in words—let us love in sincerity and in practice!  (Phillips) 

            John is saying here that a true believer should love in deed, which is the opposite of loving in word, and they should love in truth, which is the opposite of loving in tongue.  In James 2:15-16, James give a good example of how not to love in deed where he writes, “15  If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,

16  and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?” 

            In Luke 6:38 Jesus said, “give and it will be given to you,” and this statement can be applied to both money and also to love, yet true love is not given so that we get in return, for we love others because Jesus has commanded us to love other, and if we yield to our new nature this will be what we have a desire to do anyway. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I would say that showing true Christian love to my wife is one of the most difficult things for me to do, and I know that is wrong, yet only by the grace of God will I be able to do this on a more consistent way.

 

The Word of God has brought conviction to my heart as I read it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Trust the Lord to give me both the desire and the will to love as He loves.

Indifference (1 John 3:16-17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

                                                                                                Date:  09-10-04

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Indifference

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  1John 3:16-17

 

Message of the verse:  16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.  17 But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?  (NAS95)  16 We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters.  17 But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help—how can God’s love be in that person?  (NLT)

In 1John 3:16 John describes an example of what true agape love is, where he describes Christ’s laying down his life for us, and then he urges believers to lay down there life for other Christian brothers and sisters.  I do not believe that John’s first reason for writing about laying down our lives for our brothers and sisters is speaking of our physical lives as much as the giving of our time in helping others who are in need, as he writes about in verse 17.  Biblical love is not so much a feeling as it is an action, and that action is done something for another without any concern for any type of being paid back.

Dr. Wiersbe points out in his book on 1John that there are three conditions to be made in order to help other brothers in need.  The first one is that we must know about the need, and two we must have the resources to help one in need, and third we must be loving enough to share with one in need.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have learned the most from the three conditions from Dr. Wiersbe’s book that I hope will help me in the future to love those in need. 

 

The Word of God was convicting and informative to me as I read it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  To trust the Lord as he continues to stretch Sandy and me while we are here in Aruba.  I want to accomplish what He wants me to accomplish while I am here, and trust Him with the thorn in the flesh I suffer with, knowing that His grace is sufficient for me, for His strength is made perfect in my weakness.

    

 

 

 

Hatred in the Life of Believers, and Unbelievers (1 John 3:13-15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

                                                                                                            Date:  09-02-04

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Hatred in the life of unbelievers and believers

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  1John 3:13-15

 

            Message of the verse:  “13  Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.

14 ¶  We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.  15  Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”  (NAS95) 

            “13  Don’t be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.  14 ¶  We know that we have crossed the frontier from death to life because we do love our brothers. The man without love for his brother is still living in death.  15  The man who hates his brother is at heart a murderer, and you know that the eternal life of God cannot live in the heart of a murders.”  (PHILPS)

            I believe that verse 13 ties in with verses 11 and 12 for it is talking about a believer who is living for the Lord and because of that the world hates him just as it hated Jesus Christ. 

            In verse 14 John is talking about some evidence that will show that a person is a true believer, and that in that he will begin to love his new brethren instead of hating them.  Hatred is very close to murder, as Jesus explained in Matthew 5:21-26, and so when a person who has given testimony that he is a believer and still has continued hatred in his heart it is provable that he is not a true believer, this is what John is writing about in verse 15.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is not so difficult for me to not have the kind of hatred in my heart that would want to see someone dead, but getting mad with fellow believers is a harder thing to avoid.

 

The Word of God has brought conviction to my heart as I read it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  I believe that there needs to be some serious prayer time in our lives about our trip to Aruba.