1 John 5 (Sept 30 – Oct 6)

 

Link to the Study

Activities @ my thoughts

We were asked to highlight the word “believe” and “know” every time they occured in this chapter. This really helped me ponder what this chapter was saying. Ive never used this technique before – thanks Phil

By doing the first exercise I could tell how important John felt it was for us to put our trust in God.

Verse 1

By believing we earn the right to be called a child of God. What a priviallge!!!

Verse 2

By loving others and following His commands we are actually loving Him and pleasing Him
Verse 5 and 19

reminds me that if God is for us who can be against us (and win)

Verse 10 and 20

We can believe and know what Jesus did really did occur and that He was who He said He was. The Son of God.

Verse 13 and 20

We can assured of eternal life by believing and knowing God is real

Verse 14 and 15

Are wonderful!!! He will listen to us!!! its like I said yesterday we are never alone!!! Praise Him

Verse 18

We are safe from harm when we are with Him. Again such reassureance

Verse 19

reminds me although we live in this world we are not part of it

I like the way verses 5 and 19; 10 and 20; and 13 and 20 kind of line up with each other and add to each other

I also LOVE verses 14, 15 and 18

Lastly

if we believe then

we know what the truth is

and it will set us free

1 John 4 (Sept 23-30)

To Link to the Study

My thoughts

Verse 1

We need to read and check (in our Bibles) whether what we a re told is the truth or not.

 

Verse 2

By reading the bible we get to know what God is really like.

 

 

Verse 3

Jesus is God and anyone who doesnt believe this is an unbeliever. There are those out there in thje world that will try to tell us different but they are not from God.

Verse 4

We are from God. We dont have to believe of those that may do us wrong. We have Jesus on our side. He is all powerful and He has already overcome all evil.

Verse 5

Unbelievers and evil people are from the world. Others like them will listen to them. They dont know any better. They also use clever words and ways to get others to listen to them.
Verse 6

Again he says we are from God. Believers will listen to us. But those of the world wont. They will wish us dead. By knowing our Bibles and God we will know the difference between what is right and what is wrong.

Verse 7 and 11

Again he tells how important it is to love each other. Love is from God. There is no hate in Him. We must follow in His example.

Verse 8

It is not possible to know God and yet hate others. We must be like Jesus. He forgave even on the cross.

Verse 9 and 10

By knowing God we can love others as He did. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn us but to love us. Nor is it our job to judge others.

Verse 12

Although no one has ever seen God. His love can be seen through us, if we believe in Him. For He is in our hearts.

Verse 13

We are one God and I, when we love others as He did. He has given us the Holy Spirit to help us live right.

Verse 14

We believe that God the Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. This is the good news. We can tell others this wonderful truth.

Verse 15 and 16
When we know and believe and tell people that Jesus is the Son of God. We become one.

Verse 17

When we do know within our knower that Jesus Christ is Lord and God Most Holy then we dont have to be afraid of the future. We will be able to one day stand in glory on the day of judgment.

Verse 18

To truly believe and be loved by God and us Him means we dont have to worry. Perfect love is unconditionally. God loves us unconditionally. Because we have put our trust in Him. Again I am reminded about the fact that God sent His Son into the world NOT to condemn us but to save us. If we DONT believe this then we dont fully trust and love God.

Verse 19

We can love others because He first loved us. He showed us what perfect love is.

Verse 20 and 21

If we say we love God yet also hate our brother or someone else then we are lying. We have seen our brother, we have never seen God. Is it not far easier to feel emotions for someone we have seen than someone we havent. Love is having faith in someone and for this to occur we dont have to see them. Besides which we have been told to love others. We must not hate.

Sometimes it can be very hard to love someone whom has hurt us. However, I turn my feelings into prayers. I give my hurts up to God. I know that those that have hurt me are without God. I truly believe everyone needs God. So I pray for their souls. I pray that God can reach out to them and heal them and love them the same way He loves me. Without God on their side the future for them is bleak. I also believe that by doing this I am forgiving them. God calls us to forgive. This doesnt always mean I can forget what has happened. I believe in order to be healthy sometimes we need to love from afar. Believe me when I say I am praying for you E, M, D and S. You may never see this but I am praying for you all.

I found this, this morning

When God calls a man He does not repent of it. God does not, as many friends do, love one day and hate another; or as princes, who make their subjects favourites and afterwards throw them into prison. This is the blessedness of a saint; his condition admits no alteration. God’s call is founded on His decree. His decree is immutable. Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out His people’s sins, but not their names.” Thomas Watson

I also found this

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.

He did that for us!!!!! We were never worthy and can never be worthy enough but He did that for us!!!

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

We need to give and support others.

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded. Those who obey his commands live 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. ~ 1 John 3:16-23

Amen

1 John 3 (Sept 16-22)

To Link to the Study

My thoughts

verse 1

How truly blessed we are to be called His children. We are not of this world although we do live in it. Unbelievers dont really understand us as they do not know the Lord and He is very much a part of us.

2

We are still being shaped and molded to be like Him.

However we cant fully understand and know Him either until we see Him face to face

3

We are becoming pure because He is pure.

4

We must try to live a righteous life.

5

God is totally pure. There is no sin in Him. God sent his son Jesus down to Heaven to die on the cross for us. Jesus took the sins of the world on Himself even though He is totally sinless.

6

We are forgiven because of Him.

7

We must be aware of false teaching to do this we must read and know the Word well

8

Bad thoughts and actions come from the Devil. We must on our guard. Because of the work done on the cross sin can be conquered. The devil wont have a leg to stand on if we put all our faith in Him and lead where He guides us

10

There is a difference between believers and unbelievers. We are called to live a righteous life and love others. The unbelievers tend to be more not for themselves.

11

We must love each other as God first loved us. We must also love our enemies. I often pray for those who are done me wrong.

Verse 15 is an interesting one

“you know that no murderer has eternal life”

what happens if a person who has murdered comes to know the Lord while serving his/her time does that mean he or she is forgiven and receives eternal life or not

16

Jesus truly loved us as even though He was innocent He gave His life for us. Thank you Jesus. If we truly love Him we must be willing to die for other believers.

17 and 18
If we are well off we must give to others who are less fortunate than ourselves

Its not enough to just say we care we must prove it. We must be like the good Samartian and give.

I think this can sometimes be given in time and serving as well as $$

22

When we pray we must believe that whatever we ask for He will give it to us according to His will

We will get extra blessings if we keep His commandments and live the way He wants us to.

23

One of the greatest commandments is to love Jesus. I learnt the other day that when something is written in the bible more than once – when it is repeated – it is important. It therefore is important that we love others. This reminds me we cant be lone Christians we need others to help, love and support us and we in turn must do that too.

24

When we follow where He leads us then we have true communion with Him.

He has given us the Holy Spirit to help us do what is right.