Friday, August 30, 2019
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
TAKING A LOOK AT 1 JOHN
“And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.”- 1 John 5:11-12New Living Translation
We all have a testimony, a story of our conversion. Well God has one too, only his involves our conversion as well, or rather the means of our conversion. John made it clear to the church brethren that God’s testimony was the eternal life he gave us thru the life, death and resurrection of his only Son, Jesus Christ. No other ‘religion’, cult or otherwise, has someone who died for the sins of mankind. Plenty of folks think it’s a fool’s errand to entertain belief in such a wild story as the one the Bible shares.
Christian’s believe God gave all men a free will to believe as they choose. Those who disbelieve are oblivious to their sinful self and their need for forgiveness. You either believe or you don’t. As the old saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” 1Our responsibility as followers of Christ is to emulate his character in an attempt to introduce nonbelievers to God. They may choose to believe or may choose to ignore the call, that is their choice.
“Whoever believes in God’s Son has eternal life. He is all you need. You don’t need to wait for eternal life because it begins the moment you believe. You don’t need to work for it because it is already yours. You don’t need to worry about it because you have been given eternal life by God himself – and it is guaranteed.” 2 Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!
Resource: The Life Application Study Bible.
1– It was first recorded for English use in 1175 in Old English Homilies.
2– Verse footnotes on p. 2818 of the Life Application Study Bible.
Monday, August 26, 2019
TAKING A LOOK AT 1 JOHN
“Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son. All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.”-1 John 5:9-10New Living Translation
Here we see John hammering home the fact that true followers of Christ know in their hearts that God is truthful in all he says and does. He also condemns those who don’t believe this by saying they are in actuality calling Almighty God a liar. Knowing what we know about God that is simply preposterous.
The fact does still remain that we have a tendency to believe the testimony of those we can see, touch and hear more than an unseen God. It is simply human nature. We never think, though, that earthly testimony is drawing from worldly resources. As I have said many times before, man wants to run his own life. It’s easier to handle things on our own until we run out of options. Only then do we either say that God could have or should have kept this ‘thing’ from happening. Or maybe we simply blame God for allowing something to happen to us at all, as if we are entitled to a perfect, problem free life. It’s a good thing God understands the way we are.
Too many people don’t take the time to really know God. The Bible reveals everything we need to know about him to us, but are we paying the right amount of attention to grasp all that has been revealed? Those who study God in a cursory fashion are the same ones who misquote scripture and question what God has done or is doing. They never delve into the topic deeply enough to see if God is really to blame at all. Perhaps God allowed what transpired at man’s insistence.
It’s pretty cut and dry and happens to fall under the whimsical category of “God said it, I believe it and that settles it”. You’re either ALL IN or you’re not. God is either telling the truth or he is a liar. It does God a disservice to call him out without doing a more thorough study into the topic of God, but from what you already know about the Lord, I believe it would be safe to say that whatever God says is true and whatever he chooses to reveal is the truth. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!
Resource: The Life Application Study Bible.
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Friday, August 23, 2019
TAKING A LOOK AT 1 JOHN
“And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in the water and by shedding his blood on the cross – not by water only but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony. So we have these three witnesses – the Spirit, the water and the blood – and all three agree.”–1 John 5:6-8New Living Translation
“At this time, there was a false teaching in circulation that said Jesus was ‘the Christ’ only between his baptism and his death – that is, he was merely human until he was baptized, at which time ‘the Christ’ then descended upon him but then later left him before his death on the cross. But if Jesus died only as a man, he could not have taken upon himself the sins of the world and Christianity would be an empty religion. Only an act of God could take away the punishment that we deserve for our sin.”1
Water is a symbol of salvation. Blood was necessary for the atonement of one’s sins and was a symbol of ‘life’. In other words we cannot live without blood coursing thru our veins. The shedding of blood has been required from the very beginning. In the OT God required the blood of goats, lambs and bulls to atone for the sins of the Jewish people. The NT was the unveiling of God’s plan to cleanse all men and sent his only Son to accomplish this. Blood is essential for forgiveness and the changed life that follows.
What is so special about the name of Jesus? Some say he is just a good man. Some say he was nothing more than a prophet or teacher. Scripture declares that Jesus was the Christ, the long awaited Messiah. If you take the Bible in its entirety it becomes clear that only Jesus, was the Christ. Was it a coincidence that the Temple veil that was 60 feet tall, 4 inches thick and made of woven material was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died? According to my research it supposedly took 300 priests to maneuver one of these veils. It seems pretty clear that the tearing of the veil, 1– could only have been torn supernaturally, hence the logical one responsible was Almighty God and 2 – it represented God provided open access to him from then on. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!
Resource: The Life Application Study Bible
1 ScriptureNote from The Life Application Study Bible, p. 2818.
*Verses confirming Jesus as being the Son of God: Matthew 3:16-17, Matthew 17:5.
Thursday, August 22, 2019
TAKING A LOOK AT 1 JOHN
“Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.”- 1 John 5:3-5 New Living Translation
John’s first statement here says it all. Living life as Christ would have us live, imitating him, would only be burdensome to those who strain at the leash wanting to live their own life. We aren’t slaves or robots; we are willing participants in the life Christ has plotted out for those who love him. We can do as we please, God gave us that right, but can we say with assuredness that our path is better than the one laid out for us by the Creator of all things?
Man seeks to be autonomous, but running your own show thinking you need no ones help is a mistake. There are spiritual forces at work seeking to trip you up. Without the Lord directing life becomes much more difficult than it has to be. Christ never promised that obeying him would be easy, but it is no burden for those who love him.1If the burden starts to become too heavy for us we can trust that Christ will help us bear it. Satan will do all he can to make things more difficult for us, but God remains in control and we will not be given more than we can bear, in spite of we may feel.
Living the way God has intended us to live involves two elements that are not in the mind and heart of the unbeliever, they being faith and trust. Trust grows out of our faith. If our faith is weak, our trust will be weak as well. They go hand in hand. You’re not going to trust something or someone you have little or no faith in. We must go about bolstering our faith daily by feeding our spirit man / woman with food from God, whether it be his Word, faith-based books, movies or music, or a trusted preacher, just to name a few. Feed voraciously on that which will build up your faith and subsequently your trust, not drag it down. Those of us that win in the end are those who believe in and love Christ and follow him closely. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!
Resource: The Life Application Study Bible.
1 Matthew 11:28-30 New Living Translation
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
TAKING A LOOK AT 1 JOHN
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments.”- 1 John 5:1-2 New Living Translation
Here in chapter 5 we find John continuing on about loving our family members. When we give our lives over to Christ, we become a part of God’s family. As in real life, we do not choose who is in our family. And just like our earthly family, we don’t always see eye to eye with every member of the family. The same is true with God’s family. We aren’t perfect either so perhaps it is best to try to see things from the other individual’s point of view and go along with them or agree to disagree. The one thing we should always be able to agree on is that Christ is Lord and will come back for us one day.
Understand that we are not being commanded to be best friends with everyone in the family of God. We are commanded to accept them for who they are and love them with the love of Christ. As I mentioned in yesterday’s devotional, we must strive to see them as God sees them. God sees us all without prejudice or preconceived notions tainting his view. Sadly, we cannot boast that same ability.
In this day and age we see many charlatans posing as believers to take advantage of kindhearted brethren. It places a black mark next to the name Christian and makes is that much more difficult to trust congregation members and others outside the church who profess to know Christ. We must hone our ability to discern that which is from God and that which is not. It’s not necessarily a gift, but rather a spiritual skill we can develop. For those who follow the Marvel comic book and cinematic universe, it’s like having Spiderman’s “Spidey-sense”. Being distrustful of others no matter who they are may not be a very Christian trait, but it seems to be the route many, myself included, are taking lately. Would that we could trust the Lord enough to love all and let God guide us as we go. May it be so, Lord. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!
Resource: The Life Application Study Bible.
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
TAKING A LOOK AT 1 JOHN
“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.”-1 John 4:20-21 New Living Translation
The church John was writing to was having problems loving others in the congregation. Sound familiar? We all have different personalities, quirks and idiosyncrasies, some which drive others nuts. God has commanded us to love one another within the family of God. There is no stipulation that says if they are annoying or irritating you don’t have to love them. We all annoy someone in one way or another, but we mustn’t focus on that which irritates us, we must learn to overlook that which annoys us in favor of showing God’s patience, mercy and love. That can be a challenge for a lot of us. Let’s face it; we’re all just a little bit selfish. We don’t want to walk into an uncomfortable situation. The one thing that those on the outside of the main group want and need more than anything else is acceptance. I’m as guilty as the next person. I judge and even turn away from those less fortunate than me within the body of Christ. I’ve been praying about it and have noticed improvement on my part, but I must watch my tongue. Perhaps you can relate to that?
Now John uses a harsh word to describe ones feelings toward a Christian brother or sister … hate. It’s meaning is having“strong feelings of dislike or hostility”towards another person. Now I may be naïve, but I feel that the problem of ‘hating’ a brother or sister in Christ may not be all that prevalent. We must focus on people’s positive attributes and act as if the undesirable traits didn’t exist.
Having sight can be a detriment to living a Christian life. We can’t notsee things, especially if these things are either in front of us or all around us. We have to train ourselves, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to start to see things with the eyes of God. In other words, see others the way God does. It’s not easy to love the brethren at times, but if we allow the character of God to permeate our soul, we could overcome many obstacles in our life. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing! rlkeller
Resources: The Life Application Study Bible; The American Heritage Dictionary.
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
TAKING A LOOK AT 1 JOHN
“God is love and all who live in love live in God and God lives in them.” “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.”– 1 John 4:16b, 18-19.
As believers in Christ we truly have nothing to fear. So why are we afraid. I submit to you this thought, we cannot see God, but the things we can see with our own eyes each day can be very intimidating at times. We fear the unknown. What does the future hold? Are we good enough to avoid God’s judgment? Will be make it to heaven? We only need to reflect back on Paul’s statement to the Roman brethren (Romans 8:38a) to find our consolation. It says: “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.”
We are human, fraught with insecurities and flaws. God knows this about us because he knows us far better than we know ourselves. Why do we have such difficulty trusting our Heavenly Father when things go awry? It is because we are human that we have this difficulty. Mankind is compared to sheep with Christ being the shepherd. Sheep are not smart creatures. That might insult me if I didn’t know it was true.
Perfect love is what God offers. If we fear we have not achieved perfect love. That is not an indictment, but rather a plain fact based on the Word of God. The only way to come close to achieving perfect love is to draw nigh unto our Lord and keep your focus on him and not those things around you. Our circumstances change constantly; God never changes … not even a little bit. It behooves us to hitch our wagon, so to speak, to God and go wherever he takes us. Remember … we have nothing to fear. In the famous words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, our president prior to and during WWII, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Fear can be very real, but God is the master over all fear. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing! rlkeller
Resource: The Life Application Study Bible.
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Word for the Day
DUE TO MY WORK SCHEDULE I HAVE BEEN SEVERELY PRESSED FOR TIME IN THE EVENINGS, HENCE THE LARGE NUMBER OF "WORD FOR THE DAY" POSTINGS. I HOPE THEY ARE AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO YOU. PLEASE KEEP STOPPING BY. I DON'T KNOW WHEN I'LL BE GETTING BACK TO JOHN'S EPISTLES ... I'M HOPING IT'S SOON BECAUSE I LOVE WRITING AND I LOOK MINISTERING TO WHOEVER CHANCES TO READ WHAT I'VE WRITTEN IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. AS YOU ALL SHOULD KNOW BY NOW THIS BLOG IS NOT ABOUT ME, IT'S ABOUT GOD AND WHAT HE'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH US ALL. I AM JUST A CONDUIT AND AM HUMBLED TO BE USED IN SUCH A WAY. KEEP ON STRIVING FOR THE LORD ... UNTIL WE MEET OVER THERE OR IN THE AIR ... GOD BLESS TO YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES. RLKELLER
Friday, August 16, 2019
Thursday, August 15, 2019
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Word for the Day
I've said in my writings that God answers prayers Yes, No or Not Yet, but I like this much better!!
Monday, August 12, 2019
Word for the Day
"When the heart is clouded with fear of the future, anxiety of what will be the outcome of that matter, and sorrow that may result from a negative outcome, it becomes impossible for you to see the provision that God has made for you."
REV. DR. O. EZEKIEL
Nigerian Evangelist
Friday, August 9, 2019
Thursday, August 8, 2019
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Monday, August 5, 2019
Taking a Look at 1 John
“… as we live in God our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.”– 1 John 4:17 New Living Translation
On a day known only by God himself we will all face judgment. It’s at that time we will be held accountable for all our actions. That would be a very imposing event for all those who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. To know Christ is to love. We love Christ and we love others … all others. Being consistent, vibrant followers of Christ will show the world there is something important going on and they are missing out on the most wonderful blessing life has to offer. None of us are perfect, but with the Spirits help we can live the life that Lord has laid out for us.
Fear is for those who do not have faith. Those who have faith in God Almighty lean on him in times of fear. Our faith should give us confidence for the payment due for all our sins has been paid for us. We are free, not to do as we please, but to follow God’s prescribed plan for love, joy, peace, satisfaction and happiness. This life is not void of problems, but with faith in God these problems diminish in size considerably. That’s because we are learning to focus on Christ and not on the problem.
In the end, there will be a day when all that is prophesied in scripture will come to fruition. We should be looking forward to these events with eager anticipation for we have nothing to fear. God is with us and all around us and will see us thru the last days into eternity with him. This was the message John’s readers needed to hear then and it’s the message that still rings true today. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing! rlkeller
Resource: The Life Application Study Bible.
Friday, August 2, 2019
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Taking a Look at 1 John
“… God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.”- 1 John 4:13 New Living Translation
In this verse John is stating that when we surrender our lives to Christ the Holy Spirit enters into us. I know when I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior I didn’t really feel anything right away, but the next morning I realized I was not the same person I was before. It’s hard to explain. You have to experience it for yourself and everyone’s experience is personalized just for them because we are all different in a wide variety of ways.
John wanted his readers to understand that what resided within them was all the proof they needed to thwart the efforts of the false teachers. The Spirit enables us to discern that which is the truth from that which is a lie; we do have to be paying attention, however. This is why we must continue in the word and not grow weary. The enemy never gives up. He is constantly looking for a weak, soft spot in our faith so he can attack.
The Spirit of God gives us the power to love the unlovely and those who are undesirable. They may even be in your own church community. This life we are living is NOT all about “ME”. It’s about God and him lifted up. It’s about seeing others as God sees them, not thru the jaundiced eyes we sometimes display. It’s about knowing without question that you are his child and that his Spirit lives in you. Nothing can change that, but our own spiritual lethargy may keep us from being used in the most effective way. Nothing will happen to you or your loved ones unless it is ordained and allowed by Almighty God for his own purposes. God knows what he’s doing … don’t ever doubt it. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing! rlkeller
Resource: The Life Application Study Bible
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