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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…
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Christian Devotional – July 3, 2014
Read 1 John chapter 3 VERSE: 1 John 3:17-18–If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth. TRUTH: We know that God is love and that He has commanded us to love. So what are we doing about it? Loving others is to be an action that we take, not just words or sentiments that we say. Loving others involves meeting their physical needs. We are to see others as Christ sees them and…
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Christian Devotional – July 2, 2014
Read 1 John chapter 3 VERSE: 1 John 3:16–This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. TRUTH: God is love and through Him we know what love is. He demonstrated love to us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Because we know what love is, we should act and respond the same to others. Our love for them is to be seen through our willingness to sacrifice ourselves for them. Do we show others that we love them or are we just saying the words? Does…