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.
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