1 John 5 (HCSB)
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of Him. 2 This is how we know that we love God’s children when we love God and obey His commands. 3 For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden, 4 because whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. 5 And who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
The Certainty of God’s Testimony
6 Jesus Christ—He is the One who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the One who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in agreement. 9 If we accept the testimony of men, God’s testimony is greater, because it is God’s testimony that He has given about His Son. 10 (The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about His Son.) 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Effective Prayer
14 Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not bring death, he should ask, and God will give life to him—to those who commit sin that doesn’t bring death. There is sin that brings death. I am not saying he should pray about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that does not bring death.
Conclusion
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the One who is born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true One. We are in the true One—that is, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verses 18-19): Father, please forgive my sins of selfishness and anger towards my wife. Help me to keep You as my focus and my center. Help me to lean on You more in the times the enemy attacks me and convinces me to sin in selfishness and anger. Drive these unrighteous qualities out of me.
PROMISE (verses 14-15): You promise us that anything we ask in Your will is heard. Help me to learn more so that I can know when I am aligned with Your will; in those times that I am not, please help me to get back into alignment.
ATTITUDE (verses 3-4): Lord, You tell us that showing true love for You is keeping Your commands. Help me to change my worldly attitude so that I may always have a focus on loving You and not the desires of the flesh and of the world. Help me to truly internalize that Your commands are NOT a burden so that I may rejoice in following them to glorify You.
COMMAND (verse 2): In command us to love God's children, You tell us how we will know we truly are loving God's children--when we love God and obey His commands.
EXAMPLE (all verses): Father, help me to follow John's example given in this scripture. The example of loving God first, which means following His commands, which leads to aligning with Your will, which leads to our prayers being answered, which leads to us loving others, which leads to a great flow of Your testimony, which leads to our eternal life through You. Help me to be living proof that this example CAN be followed even in today's world.
*DAILY NOTE: Such a strong conversation today with God that I so badly needed. Thank you, God, for speaking to me through Your word and the Holy Spirit here, because I really needed these words spoken to me. Your timing is always better than my own, so thank you so much for bringing this scripture to me at just the right timing, Father!
*GENERAL NOTE: I always "sandwich" my quiet time with God in prayer and do it in a location that I will not have any distractions so that I can be focused on my quiet time with God. Do not worry about how short or long your journal entries are for that day's quiet time. Just focus on the actual quiet time and relational conversation with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word. The journaling is an enhancement to your quiet time conversation with God, but also to allow you to reflect on things later as you can look back on your journal entries later when you do the chapters again in the future to see how you have grown. See the FAQ for more detail on how I do my quiet time.
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