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Christian Devotional – July 13, 2014
Read 1 John chapter 4 VERSE: 1 John 4:6–We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. TRUTH: When we start talking about doing the right thing in situations, we will have people who don’t understand what we are saying or why we are saying it. They don’t have the Spirit of God in them to help determine whether it is truth or falsehood. We shouldn’t get upset or bothered by these people for they have been deceived by a spirit of falsehood.…
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Christian Devotional – July 12, 2014
Read 1 John chapter 4 VERSE: 1 John 4:5–They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. TRUTH: Still speaking about the false prophets, John reminds the people that the teachings and advice of the world will make sense to the world. People will listen to the false prophets and the false teachings. We must not be one of them who are deceived and since we have Jesus living in us, we have overcome the false teaching and false teachers. However, we must not get distracted or discouraged when the world listens to them and their teachings. Remember, the…
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Christian Devotional – July 11, 2014
Read 1 John chapter 4 VERSE: 1 John 4:4–You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. TRUTH: Remember all the evil and false spirits that were mentioned in the previous verses? The great news is that through God, we have overcome them all. God is greater than all the things that are of this world. As we surrender our lives to Him and allow Him to live in and through us, we see how great He is and we can trust Him to reign supreme over anything and everything we encounter…
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Christian Devotional – July 10, 2014
Read 1 John chapter 4 VERSE: 1 John 4:3–but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. TRUTH: Truly, the key to determining what is true or false, right or wrong, is found in Jesus Christ. No matter what people say or profess, we can always go back to their relationship and view of Jesus Christ. Do we use Christ as the measuring stick for every area in our life so that we may know and acknowledge the truth? Evil is in the world and we…
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Christian Devotional – July 9, 2014
Read 1 John chapter 4 VERSE: 1 John 4:2–This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God; every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. TRUTH: Jesus Christ is God and He came in the flesh to live among us and be the sacrifice to fulfill God’s plan to provide for the salvation of those who believe. This is truth. The Spirit of God acknowledges that truth and professes that truth and always encourages actions that declare that truth. Anything else is from the evil one. These false spirits may try any and all sorts of deception, but when it comes down to…
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Christian Devotional – July 8, 2014
Read 1 John chapter 4 VERSE: 1 John 4:1–Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. TRUTH: How do we know whether an idea or a thought we’ve had comes from God? We can’t just assume that it is because we have an enemy who would love to trip us up and cause us harm. Yet, God states that we can test the spirits to see whether they are from God or from our enemy. Anyone who comes and claims they are from God must be able to show and…
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Christian Devotional – July 7, 2014
Read 1 John chapter 3 VERSE: 1 John 3:24–The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. TRUTH: Yesterday, we saw that God’s command for us is to believe in Jesus and love one another. Still, how do we know that God does what He promises us? God gives us His Spirit to live in us. Through the Holy Spirit, God lives in us and through us each day. We can have confidence in God and in all He has promised us because of His Spirit living…
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Christian Devotional – July 6, 2014
Read 1 John chapter 3 VERSE: 1 John 3:23–And this is his command, to believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. TRUTH: What does God command us to do? In the previous verse, it states that we keep his commands and do what pleases Him. Here, He tells us exactly what that is. We are to believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and we are to love each other. Are we following His commands? Would these two ideas describe our whole life? If not, we need to reevaluate and refocus today. RESPONSE: Father, You have told…
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Christian Devotional – July 5, 2014
Read 1 John chapter 3 VERSE: 1 John 3:21-22–Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. TRUTH: Yesterday we talked about God’s truth being greater than our own feelings. Today, when our feelings have come in line with the truth of God, we have such confidence in Him. We will receive anything from Him that we ask because we will be so in tune with Him that what we ask will be exactly in line with His will for us. Our actions will be pleasing to Him…
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Christian Devotional – July 4, 2014
Read 1 John chapter 3 VERSE: 1 John 3:19-20–This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. TRUTH: God is truth, not our hearts. Our feelings can sway and change with time, but nothing changes the truth. God reminds us that if we’ve made a decision to follow Jesus, then we belong to the truth and nothing can change that. Some days we may not feel that way, but our feelings and emotions do not change what actually is the…