Category: Uncategorized

Revelation 3:20

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.

Encouraging Words

Jesus never gives up on us. He is always at the door of our hearts and lives knocking, waiting for us to let Him in. Even if we have chosen to give our lives to Him, we still shut Him out some times. He remains faithful even if we don’t. He remains persistent, even after we have given up. He desires to sit at the feast table with us. The question is whether or not we are willing to open the door and let Him in to stay. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

2 John 1:6

This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

Personal Challenge

“Ignorance of the law is no excuse!” I remember hearing that statement often while I was growing up. We have all been given common sense. We have all had planted within us God’s foundational truths because we were created in His image. This is why we know that God’s basic commandment to us is to love one another. As we do this in our journey through life we will get to know God more intimately and be able to see and practice more of the things, the commandments, that He wants us to do. The closer we draw to God the further we become removed from ourselves. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

1 John 5:10-12

He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Personal Challenge

John makes an interesting point here. God has revealed Himself to us through His son, Jesus Christ. He has also revealed Himself through nature and all of creation. Since we have had Him revealed to us, we have no excuse for not believing in Him. John even goes so far as to accuse us of making God out to be a liar if we choose not to believe in Him. This can be hard to hear. The wonderful thing about God revealing Himself to us is that through this we know His Son and through Him, we have eternal life. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

1 John 4:20

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

Personal Challenge

Once again we are presented with a vivid reminder that our commitment to Christ is an active commitment. We are not saved by Christ to be couch potatoes in our Christian walk. If we are not actively loving our fellow human being, whether we like them or not, whether they are rich or poor, whether their color or political affiliation or gender or any aspect of their being, matches ours or not, then how can we love our God whom we have not seen? The proof of our love for our God is shown in our love for those around us. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

1 John 4:15-16

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Personal challenge

Another problem that can be found in our modern-day Christianity is that Jesus Christ is often relegated to just a symbol in the worship and practices of many churches. We have simplified the Christian life to the point that if I say this special player once in my life, then I am a Christian and receive all the benefits and blessings that go with that. But John reminds us that to be a true follower of Christ, we will be confessing or professing Him constantly, in everything that we say, every action that we take, and every thought that goes through our heads. We will abide in God 24/7, which means we will no longer abide in the world or pursue the things of the world. If I am truly professing Jesus in everything that I do then I will be set apart from this world and will most likely be despised by this world. To abide in God we must abide in love for those around us. Glory be to God!

1 John 4:10-12

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. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

Encouraging Words

The two commandments that Jesus gave us to live by are to love God and to love our neighbor. We sometimes find ourselves complaining that we do not know how to love this way. All that we have to do is to look to God and we will see how to live with this love in our lives. God is not commanding us to do what He has not already done and continues to do. By ourselves, we will never be able to love this way. We are too self-focused. Godly love does not come from our own accord, it comes through the love that God has for us. A love so deep, so wide, so all-encompassing, that He sent His Son to be our Savior. Because of this love, and this example of loving another, we can love others. Loving this way is so powerful that by loving one another we will have God abide in us and be manifested in our actions of loving. Glory be to God!

1 John 4:4

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Encouraging Words

So, what is it that we have overcome? The verses before this speak of the forces or spirits that are at work in this to draw us away from God and His grace and mercy. Notice that the verb used here is that we have already overcome them, that they no longer have any power or control over us. How have we done this? We have not on our own, but our Lord, by His indwelling within us gives us His power to overcome the spirits of this world. Through Him, we can live godly and pure lives because He is greater than he who is in this world. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

1 John 3:18

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

Personal challenge

We have become, in many cases, a “Christian” nation of hypocrites. What do I mean by this? We go to our churches on Sunday’s and midweek’s and sing songs about God’s love and mercy. We relish in the fact that He loves us and that Jesus gave His life for us. We take joy in hearing that He wants us to love one another. And then we go through the rest of our week cursing at the person who took our parking spot or cut in the line before us. We talk angrily and hatefully about those aliens amongst us who are here in our country when we would rather they be somewhere else. We do not love those around us, all of them in word or in tongue. We are hypocrites. As Jesus call the Pharisees, “we are whitewashed tombs.” We are called to love in deed and not just words. Lord, have mercy!