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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…
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Christian Devotional – July 1, 2014
Read 1 John chapter 3 VERSE: 1 John 3:15– Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. TRUTH: Our actions are born from our thoughts. What we are willing to consider in our thoughts, we would be willing to do in real life if the circumstance presented itself. When we think about hating people and the anger involved in that, Jesus Himself even stated that hatred is the same as murder. What thoughts do we allow in our minds? What thoughts do we dwell on? Our obedience to Christ begins with our thoughts, not just our…
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Christian Devotional – June 30, 2014
Read 1 John chapter 3 VERSE: 1 John 3:14–We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. TRUTH: God is love. We learn love from the Father, and only because of his demonstration of love toward us though Jesus Christ are we able to experience and share true love. Love is a perfect measure of whether a person is truly following God. We cannot “work up” love and we can’t manufacture love. Either we have God’s love in our life that has saved us, or we do not and are still condemned to death. Is our…