DO YOU HAVE TRUE LIFE?

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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 it is true.

So we have these three witnesses - the Spirit, the water, and the blood - and all three agree. Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the testimony that comes from God.

Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.

And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. So whoever has God's Son has life; whoever does not have His Son does not have life.

1 John 5:6-12

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In Old Testament times, there was a biblical principle applied to determine truth when making a case.

One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. Deuteronomy 19:15

In the days of Jesus, the One we affirmed is the way to victory in yesterday’s message, there were many who refused to believe Him as being who He proclaimed Himself to be, the promised Messiah and very Son of the Lord God Most High. In fact, the Jewish religious authorities of that time accused Jesus of the crime of blasphemy and lying. What was interesting is that the Sanhedrin found itself in a challenging position when they brought Jesus before them for trial. This is because they had problems with finding more than one witness who could truthfully confirm the charges at hand. And so ultimately, these alleged men of God decided to execute Jesus based on truths they couldn’t accept, the very kind of injustice the Law intended to prevent.

It’s into this space that we find John writing into as we continue to look at the last chapter of his first letter, a passage that uses the concept of three witnesses to validate that Jesus was indeed the Way and the Truth and the Life, the only true Life. Look again at those verses here:

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 it is true.

So we have these three witnesses - the Spirit, the water, and the blood - and all three agree. Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the testimony that comes from God.

And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. So whoever has God's Son has life; whoever does not have His Son does not have life. Vv. 6-9, 11-12

Here, we find three witnesses but they symbolic elements, not people. Let’s look at these three elements, baptism and water, the crucifixion cross and Jesus’ shed blood, and the Holy Spirit, individually.

First, baptism and water.

In Matthew Chapter 3, we read the account of Jesus' baptism. You may recall that John the Baptist (not to be confused with the writer of this letter) had been predicting this event to those who came to hear him speak and be baptized in the Jordan River. He would proclaim that One more powerful than him would be coming, One who would baptize, not with water, but with the Holy Spirit.

“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes One who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Matthew 3:11

Here we find an immediate connection established here between Jesus and the imparting of the Holy Spirit. And just in case there was any doubt amongst those who first heard John and then were able to witness Jesus' baptism, it was removed as He emerged from the water. For the scriptures tell us that “at that moment, Heaven was opened” and “the Spirit of God” descended on and then rested upon Him as God spoke the following words:

"This is My Son who I love. With Him, I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:16-17)

Water and baptism set the stage for Jesus receiving the Holy Spirit and now He was prepared for the amazing ministry that was to follow. There was visual testimony in the Spirit's descending and audible testimony from the very voice of God Himself.

How could one not believe after witnessing that?

Next, we look at the cross and Jesus’ shed blood there.

The people of Israel were under Roman rule and every day was laden with severe oppression. They longed for the day to be liberated and set free, a day that had been prophesized over and over again by the prophets of the Old Testament scriptures.

For God would send a Messiah Savior to set His people free from their bondage but the people misinterpreted the kind of deliverance they would receive. They expected a powerful warrior who would come to vanquish their enemies but what they received in Jesus ran counter to those expectations. For Jesus, who came into the lives of the people of Israel and proclaimed Himself as their Messiah, did not go about His business with hatred, brutality, and bloodshed. Instead, He did everything out of love whether it was teaching, healing, resurrecting, or leading.

Unfortunately, the Israelites quickly forgot the Jordan baptism where God validated the legitimacy of His Son. Instead, they took issue with Him because He didn’t meet their preconceived ideas, giving them what they wanted.

So they willingly chose to reject Him and then orchestrated His crucifixion on Calvary’s cross, openly endorsing the shedding of His blood. Little did they know that by their very actions, they were setting in motion God’s plan for the salvation of all mankind, salvation that would be not only for the Jews but the Gentiles as well.

Indeed, the selfish yearnings of the Jewish people, spurred on by their religious leadership, prevented them from seeing that Jesus had actually come to liberate them spiritually, to offer them freedom from the death penalty of sin and a life eternal well beyond the worldly lives they were currently living. Before this liberation and ushering into everlasting life could happen, Jesus had to die and shed His blood to atone for the sins of the world before He could be raised from death by His Father loved Him and was still well pleased with Him.

We need to see today that this love of God extended deeper than just for His Son. For His love, displayed on the cross in and through Jesus, would be extended to anyone who would place their belief in Jesus as Savior. It was a love that was willing to sacrifice His only Son so that multitudes could be spared from the eternal damnation of Hell. The needs of the many ended up outweighing the needs of the few. Indeed, the cross and the shed blood of Jesus are reminders of God's affection for us, a love that would not allow us to perish but have the opportunity to live in the Kingdom of Heaven forever.

Finally, let’s revisit the work of the Holy Spirit for He not only showed up at Jesus’ baptism, empowering the Savior of the world and validating Him as God's Son but the same Spirit is imparted on all Christ believers today so to continue to validating Jesus.

If you don't believe that, simply clear your mind for a moment and pray unto God the Father. Ask Him to open your heart and mind to gain understanding of the Word He has given, a Word that will lead you to truth. Then, ask Him if Jesus Christ, His Only Son truly came and died to pay the price for your sins, bringing you salvation and the true promise of life eternal after death.

When you do this, be prepared for the Holy Spirit to rush into your open heart and mind, flooding it with perfect truth as He always will do when you seek it. He will always help to separate the truth from a lie, the will of God from the deception of Satan.

In the end translation, when we God's testimony about His Son, revealed through the water and baptism, the cross of crucifixion with Jesus’ shed blood, and the help of the Holy Spirit, we will always find ourselves to "true life", the life only found when someone believes in Jesus for salvation, the One who is the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE WAY TO VICTORY

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves His children too. We know we love God's children if we love God and obey His commandments. Loving God means keeping His commandments and really that is not difficult. For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory. And the ones who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

1 John 5:1-5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we have journeyed through John's first letter, we have seen multiple places where he has written about the contrast between the world and the Lord. He has said more than one time that the world is an evil place and actually under the control of the evil one, Satan. He has also emphasized that we cannot be in a relationship with the world and God at the same time.

In other words, the world is the domain of sinfulness and all temptations that would pull God's children away from the Father's will for them. God cannot abide where there is sin so allowing oneself to enter into fellowship with the world and its ways is akin to severing their ties to God. Remember, you can't serve two masters (Matthew 6:24) and have it both ways. It's either the world or the Lord in your life. No middle ground.

With this, we need to see that there is a constant battle for our very hearts and souls. On one side, Satan would want us to marry ourselves to the world and his ways, possessing us by appealing to and providing enticements to satisfy our flesh-driven passions and desires.

On the other side, and in direct conflict with the enemy, is God, the very God who created the world in complete perfection until Adam and Eve committed the first sin, disobeying God and ushering evil into the world forever. Now, this evil world and its prince, Satan, wants nothing more than to gain victory by leading every single person away from the Lord and sadly, these victories are being won every day. For as people willingly choose to pursue and partner with sinfulness instead of the righteousness and holiness God intends for them to live by, they are turning their backs on the only One who can author their salvation and deliver them from the sure eternal torment and damnation of Hell, the only One who can lead them to victory through His only Son, Jesus Christ.

Friends, our scripture today affirms that the way to genuine victory and a guaranteed eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven is through Jesus. John proclaims the truth that "every child of God” will defeat “this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory." In the words of Jesus Himself, there is only one way to God the Father and it’s through His Son, the One who is the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).

You see, when Jesus died on the cross, Satan thought he had won because the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29), the long prophesied Messiah was dead. The enemy had to be doing a happy dance at the time thinking that this Jesus wouldn’t be able to save anyone if He was dead.

But then something miraculous happened three days later after Jesus had been taken from the cross at Calvary and buried in the tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea.

He, Jesus, was resurrected from the dead and has been alive ever since. The crucifixion had to happen to serve as a final atoning sin sacrifice for all mankind but it was the lead in to the blessed resurrection, the moment Jesus gained the ultimate victory, victory over Satan and death.

Ever since then, Jesus has paved the way for others to gain the same victory He established. All they need to do is to believe in Him to be saved (John 3:16). Indeed, Christ is the way to victory for all Christians, the only One who can bring the certainty of Heaven. He has been, is now, and will always be the way to victory.

As you read this today, if you are a Christian, I pray you are rejoicing in the truth that Heaven is sealed as your eternal home. If you are reading this and have rejected Jesus to this point, I urge you to make today the day of your salvation. Place your belief in Jesus and receive the victory over Hell that only He can bring.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

DON'T BE A DISHONEST LOVER

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Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

1 John 4:20-21

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever fell victim to a dishonest lover?

Unfortunately, I have and it’s not a very pleasant experience.

Indeed, there are plenty of people out there who tend to say they love someone but it’s not really true. They are often just using love as a way to get what they want.

This is a self serving love and it definitely is far from the love the Lord wants us to give, a love that is pure and genuine, a love that only comes from Him.

In yesterday’s message, we learned that God is the only source of true love and to tap into it we have to love Him with all our heart and mind and soul and strength (Mark 12:30-31). When we are fully devoted to Him, then He is able to work through us and that includes loving others as He loves.

This is a love that is legitimate and flawless. It’s a love that leaves no room for hatred, the polar opposite of love. And perhaps this is the best way to tell if someone is a dishonest lover through the lens of the Lord. For when we fail to give Him all our love, then we leave room for Satan to lead us into unloving attitudes and behaviors.

With this as a backdrop, let’s now look at the closing verses of 1 John, chapter 4. Here’s what we read in verses 20 and 21:

You’re deceiving others by not loving truthfully...loving as God loves.

You’re sinning against God by not loving as He has commanded. The only way our love can be as He expects is when we love as He does.

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Is there hatred in your heart for someone?

If so, you are a liar if you claim to love God because no one who truly loves God as He expects, giving Him full affection above anything else, can possible hate another. The scriptures are clear here that it’s impossible to love God if you hold hatred for “a brother or sister”.

God’s command is clear.

Anyone who loves Him must love others, a love void of any trace of hate.

In the end translation, God doesn’t want us to be dishonest lovers. It’s up to us to allow Him to keep us from going there in life.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE SOURCE OF TRUE LOVE

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Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

We love because He first loved us.

1 John 4:19

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We all want to be loved. Deep inside, every single person wants to feel the warmth of someone’s caring and compassion.

Unfortunately, real, genuine love can be hard to find in our world and that’s a big problem that leaves multitudes feeling hurt and alone. In fact, perhaps there aren’t many worse places to be in life than in a place where you feel unloved.

So why do we have such a shortage of legitimately loving people?

I believe there are two reasons and one leads into the other.

First, every single person is imperfect. No matter how good you think you are, the truth of the matter is that you are flawed in almost every way and that includes the way you love others. Left to our own devices, we are doomed to fail the love test and unfortunately do so regularly if we’re honest with ourselves.

And so with this, we need help if we’re going to hope to love in ways that others will value, love that is legit, authentic, and effective. Thankfully, we find the help we need in today’s scripture verse, a mere six words that, if embraced, will help us fix our love problem. Look again at those words here:

We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

In a previous message, we looked at three other important words on this subject in the sixteenth verse of this chapter. Those three words stated this absolute truth:

God is love.

When we put these two verses together, we understand that the source of all love isn’t found in any human person but rather in the divine, holiness of the Lord God Almighty. He is love and the only way we will love anyone properly is if we first love Him as He loves us and then share His love with others. When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus reinforced this through His own words, borrowing from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. Here’s what He said:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

In these two verses, Jesus provides the way to tap into the only source of true love and as we see, we have to give to God to receive what we need from Him.

Step one in the two step loving process is giving all of our love to God first.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

As created people, we are to give our complete devotion to the Creator, our God who made the heavens and the earth and everything within them. We’re to love Him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, pouring out our love in Him and when we do, something amazing happens.

His love becomes ours.

Indeed, we can’t love others the way He intends unless we love the way He does. And the scripture verse for today is clear and bears repeating.

We love because He first loved us.

It all starts with God and the source of true love, a true love that allows us to really love our neighbors as we do ourselves.

Are you loving that way today? Are you loving God with all you are so His perfect love can then flow through you to those He brings into your life, those that He longs to feel the way He cares for them?

If not, I pray this message will provide what you need to love better because you will have traded in your imperfect love for the perfect love found in our perfect God. For if you do, then these three words from 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 8 will come alive in your life.

Love never fails. 

It never fails because He never does. 

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

ADIOS, FEAR!

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Do you have fears in life?

You know, this emotion seems to take hold of us from our earliest years in life, those childhood years when we began to understand that there were things that could threaten us.

If you’re a parent, or even if you’re not, I’m sure you have seen a small child turn away from someone they don’t know, running to the assurance of someone who they trust like a parent they feel safe with. You see, to a little toddler, any bigger person seems imposing, a giant who is scary.

As we grow older from those scary toddler days, it seems like fear grows older with us. It matures and takes on new forms as we live life facing the inevitable challenges it brings, new giants that are imposing to us. The difference is that when we are adults, we usually don’t have our parents nearby to run to and so it seems like we have to face our fears and anxieties on our own.

Maybe you can relate.

Thankfully, the Word of God speaks into our lives in ways to bring us assurance and comfort, a sense of safety when fear comes knocking on our door. We’re going to look at several passages today that can help us to say, “Adios, fear!”, scriptures I pray you will write on your hearts. Let’s start with our single verse for today as we continue studying from the fourth chapter of 1 John.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. v.18

Perfect love drives out fear.

This is what I always like to refer to as an absolute in the Bible, a statement that makes a sure and perfectly reliable truth known.

This verse doesn’t say that perfect love might drive out fear if you try it or suggest that you give perfect love a try when there are several right options to choose from. No, it simply proclaims with bold assurance that perfect love drives out fear. We just need to receive it without doubt.

Once we do this, once we go all in on believing without reservation that perfect love drives out fear, then we have the battle won. Period. I say this, because the only thing we need to do is find the source of perfect love and there is only One, the Lord God Almighty, the Maker and Master of all creation. This God’s infallible love led Him to do this:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

These words were spoken by none other than Jesus Himself, the one and only Son that God willingly gave up to die in our place so to sacrifice the curse of sin on the cross so that every sinner could find atonement and a restored relationship with the God of perfect love. This Savior Jesus went onto show us that indeed He and His Father were one (John 10:30), including the ability to love perfectly. Here’s what He had to say in chapter 15 of John’s gospel.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. Vv. 12-14

So to sum up where we are right now in this amazing message, we were given the opportunity for salvation by the God of perfect love who gave up His one and only Son Jesus, who then showed us perfect love through His willingness to lay His life down to save us, those who believed in Him and carried out His commands in obedience.

As we saw in yesterday’s passage, these displays of perfect love paved the way for us to have a sure and confident future, the sure promise of Heaven.

Because God has given you a sure and confident future, He would ask us:

What are we worried about? Why are we afraid of anything?

These are good questions, right?

For as we learned in this same chapter, when we choose to believe in Jesus and receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Lord God Almighty lives within us and this is why we find the Apostle Paul proclaiming these words of assurance, words meant to drive out fear. He wrote in Romans, chapter 8:

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31-32

Friends, God has no rival. Period. There is nothing He can’t overcome and no one He can’t defeat.

So why do we fear?

There really is no justification for it and to double down on how foolish it is for a Christian believer to allow fear into their lives, we need to consider this truth:

When we fear, we send the message to the Lord that we don’t trust Him.

Need an example?

Let’s go back to the scriptures and time when Jesus was onboard a boat with His disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee. We read about it in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 4:

That day when evening came, He said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat. There were also other boats with Him.

A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him!” Vv. 35-41

The story here is pretty simple. A severe storm happens and the boat that the disciples were on started taking on water due to the wind driving the waves “over the boat”. We read where the disciples were stricken with fear, so much so that they ran to wake up Jesus, basically asserting that He didn’t care that they were about to drown at sea.

Despite all the miraculous works that Jesus had performed, acts that showed He possessed a power greater than anyone or anything in the world, the disciples failed to simply trust Him with faith when danger started to crouch at their door.

And so Jesus has to remind them of His incredible might by rebuking the winds and commanding the waves to subside into peaceful waters, an act that left the disciples terrified. Maybe they should have been more frightened of their lack of faith, a lack of faith Jesus calls out in His condemnation while asking His followers a simple question:

“Why are you so afraid?”

Indeed, why?

This same question applies to all of us who have decided to follow Jesus in our own lives. For if God is truly in us and with us, who can stand against us?

We know the answer is nothing and this is why we can all say, “Adios, fear!”, trusting in God and His Son Jesus who have given us the perfect love and power within to drive fear away, now and forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

A CONFIDENT FUTURE

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world, we are like Jesus.

1 John 4:17

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

How confident are you in your future?

It’s a question that will impact the person considering it in different ways.

For example, some people like to plan long range. They have a five, ten, or maybe even a twenty year plan with clear expectations as to what they want to achieve and how they’re going to do it.

A lot of people have future plans but they are much shorter. Like maybe the couple who are planning a wedding or a person who enrolls in college to get a degree or a woman who is either beginning or in the midst of pregnancy.

And there’s a large segment of the population who are not looking at the future in terms of months or years. They are just hoping to have tomorrow, each day being a great struggle in and of itself, whether because of finance, health, or some other major life struggle they might be up against.

One thing is for sure. When it comes to our worldly lives, almost everyone has their eyes on the future in one way or another.

But here’s the thing. When we are looking our future through the lens of the world, we do so with a very finite perspective because the truth is...no one lives forever in this life.

The life after that is an entirely different story.

Unfortunately, people are so focused on their future in this life that they fail to give attention to the matter of eternity and where they will be in it.

And everyone is going to live forever.  

This is the truth. Every single person will go to one of two destinations spiritually when this life on earth ends.

Those who have placed their belief in Jesus, God’s one and only Son, will be saved from their sins and go onto eternal life, abiding in Heaven with God and Christ forever.  

Conversely, those who decided in life to reject Jesus are destined for the everlasting damnation, torment, and suffering of Hell where they will be roommates with Satan.

With this as a backdrop, let’s look at our scripture verse for today, verse 17 of 1 John, chapter 4:

This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world, we are like Jesus.

Note here that all Christians can live in absolute confidence regarding their future, in the here and now as well as the eternity to come. For on the day of judgment, the day when Jesus Christ returns to earth, everyone who believed in Him will be saved because “we are like” Him. Go to the eighth chapter of Romans and you will find this in regard to the likeness to Jesus when it comes to the Kingdom of Heaven.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. Vv.14-17

The moment we believe in Jesus, we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and begin to be under His leading. The scriptures are clear that this makes us a child of God, adopted into sonship so we can call God “Father”. This joining in kinship with Christ makes us also a co-heir with Him, a co-heir to the greatest inheritance ever, the very Kingdom of Heaven.

Friends, in Christ Jesus, believers have a confident future no matter what life might bring, a victory over death and the penalty of Hell that no one can ever take away. My prayer today and every day is that you will join me in embracing a spirit of rejoicing and thanksgiving for all God has done to save us through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus. He has promised us that the best is yet to come.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

GOD IN US

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
.
In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

This is how we know that we live in Him and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

1 John 4:13-16

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The moment a person chooses to believe in Jesus as Savior, they receive three of the greatest gifts from God, gifts we see highlighted in today’s scripture passage from the fourth chapter of 1 John. Let’s look at that Word of God here:

This is how we know that we live in Him and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. Vv.13-16

The first thing we learn here is that a Christian is given the very Spirit of God. This happens the very moment the believers places their trust in Jesus as Savior. At that very instant, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within and assures the Christ follower that God is with them in a Father to child relationship. The believer lives in their God and He in them.

Think about that a minute. By becoming a Christian, a person gets to have the most intimate relationship with the God who is the Maker and Master of all creation.

It’s unbelievable, right?

Now, that in and of itself would be enough but there’s more for the second thing we find the Christian believer receiving from God is the gift of testimony. For when someone chooses to accept Jesus as God’s Son and the Savior of the world, they accept the responsibility to go and make disciples, the command Jesus gave to all His followers (Matthew 28:18-20). And it’s this open sharing of the amazing nature of God’s grace through the willingness to grant salvation to anyone who believes in His Son (John 3:16) that shows He, God, “lives within” that Christian and, in turn, that Christian lives in Him.

Finally, a Christian receives the love of God, a love that lives within them as surely as God does. This is because “God is love” and so the love a believer has within is no ordinary love and definitely nowhere close to the love the world offers. It’s a love that is pure and perfect, a love that is selfless and self sacrificing. It’s a love that every Christian believer can rely on for it’s a love that never fails. Indeed, no love rivals God’s love anymore than they can rival Him.

Friends, our God is so good all the time. As Christians, He is not only in and therefore ever with us but for us (Romans 8:31), providing everything we could ever ask for, all we could ever need.

Today and every day, let us rejoice and be glad, giving thanks to the God who didn’t wish for us to perish but rather live with Him forever in the future glory of Heaven.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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