07/03             1 John 5:3

Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. 

OBEY

Obey the Lord.  Learn the rules and play by the rules.  The Lord will give you wisdom, mercy, and grace to serve Him as His obedient servant.  Oh, and we are not the one who decides what obedience is.  Jesus has clearly detailed the right things to do in His Word.  

07/02             1 John 5:2 

We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. 

DO

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  As a result of our salvation we are able to love God and obey His commandments.  Therefore, love is a 360 degree thing for Christians.  We love all of God’s children with whom we come into contact.  Love one another.  

07/01             1 John 5:1 

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. 

CHOICE

Believe in Jesus and the Bible says you are saved.  Now, if we believe in Jesus we will love his children.  It is a choice.  He calls us to love those who mistreat us, care for those who reject us and love the unlovely.  This is a hard thing to do and in fact if you are not a child of God you cannot do it.  Simple.  If you love Jesus you will love the Father and His children.  

06/30               1 John 4:18-21

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. 19 We love each other because he loved us first. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

FEAR

Do not fear.  Hate destroys our bond with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Forgive, repent and Love one another.

06/29               1 John 4:13-17 

And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.  17 And 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. 

SPIRIT

The Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) indwells us as God’s children.  He will guide us if we will bend the knee to God.  We declare with our mouth our allegiance to the Lord and with our belief we permit the Holy Spirit to guide us when we walk in the right way.  Our love grows under the direction of the Holy Spirit.  We become more like Jesus day by day.  

06/28               1 John 4:11-12 

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. 

COMMAND

His command is that we love one another.  We have not seen Him but we obey Him and love one another.  The test for fellowship with the Lord Jesus is to love one another.   

06/27               1 John 4:8 
But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 

SIMPLE

It is a very simple test to know if you love God: do you love the people you are with?  If you do you love God.  If you don’t you don’t love God.  

06/26               1 John 4:7

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.

LOVE

Love one another.  If you love those you are with you will experience the very presence of your Father.  God is Love.  

06/25               1 John 4:6

 But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception. 

KNOW

If you know God you will listen to Him.  He will talk with you and give you direction for your life.  He will remind you of how much He loves you and that you are His child. 

06/24               1 John 4:5 

Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. 

AGAINST

The World is against Jesus.  Not against religion or spiritual ideas-it is to the death set against Jesus.  Remember if you love Jesus and follow Him the World will be against you.  Jesus is Lord.