1 John 4:1-21
1 John 4:1-21
4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.
God, I know that You came in the flesh as Jesus Christ. Thank You for Christmas---thank You for a time of remembering when You came down from heaven and perfection into a broken world to rescue me---to rescue everyone. Thank You.
This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
God, help me to live like this is true. Because it is true. I can read this now---and find peace and comfort in You. But sometimes I feel like I am overcome by other things. Please fix my eyes on You. And let me know wholeheartedly that You are in me---and that You are greater than anything not of You in this world.
5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
God Is Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
God, thank You that You are love made manifest among us. When I read this---I think---it sounds like the closest I can come to seeing You in this life is in loving others. So give me a heart that loves You---and that loves others---that You can abide in me and that Your love may be perfected in me. There are other lesser things that my heart sometimes chases after. Take those away. Let my heart chase after the promises found here---fully and completely---that it may be a real heart---slowly being made perfect by You.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
God, I have so much fear. I know I have not been perfected in love. “Perfect love casts out fear.” You have perfect love. Please let me draw closer to You---not just so You can cast out fear---though I’d really like You to do that. Let me draw closer to You because of who You are. Let me see You fully---that I might love You fully---and walk with You the way you intend for me to do.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot[a] love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
God, thank You that You loved me first. I haven’t even the faintest glimmer of love without You. I know this. There would be no hope if You did not love me first. But you have---let me live a life that pours out from that. As You have loved me---let me love You---and let me love others. You say---over and over again---this is the heart of Your ways and Your law. Set me in Your ways, God. When I wander---hold fast to me. And thank You---because I know You will.
Anything I have prayed for myself, I pray for others as well.
God, You know the ones You have laid on my heart. Bring healing where it is needed. Bring comfort. Provide for the needs of others---teach me where I can provide for the needs of others---and do not let me neglect to be Your hands and feet. Do not let me be paralyzed by fear. But let me rest in Your perfect love---that casts out fear. For every person who is laid upon my heart---I know there are a million more that are laid upon Your heart. Be close to the people You love.
Thank You for all that You are, all that You’ve done, and all that You will do.
In Jesus’ name I pray
Amen.
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