Lord! Eternal Life! What a Promise!

Lord, You know that as a child I memorized John 3:16 in Sunday School.  It is probably the most widely known and quoted verse in all of Scripture.  Little children to very old saints can quote it verbatim without error.  I remember understanding the first part because we celebrated Christmas and my dad would read the “Christmas” story from the gospel of Luke.  I did not understand the, “should not perish but have everlasting life” part.  First, I didn’t understand the word “perish”.  But even after it was explained to me that it meant “die”, I was very confused.  Second, we had loved ones who had died and we knew folks in our church who had died.  Even the people we read about in the Bible stories were all dead.  David, Samuel, Solomon, the prophets, and even Mary and Joseph were all dead, but they had believed.  I remember being terrified that when I died I would be awake somehow in the casket under the ground without a way to get out and being all alone.

            I did not understand what my soul was even in my early twenties after I was saved for about a year.  All of that time, I knew the words but did not understand the concepts.  Now I know that my body is simply a vessel that houses my soul…all that I am, think and feel.  That part of me will never “perish” or die.  When I close my earthly eyes in the natural death of the body, I will be in Heaven in the presence of You and the Father forever.  The wonderful thing is that I am living my eternal life NOW, this moment! Hallelujah!  Talk about the ultimate Christmas gift!  There are no words to describe my thankfulness, Lord.  The fear of death is gone from my life.  I must admit that the dying process still is a bit scary, but I know that You will be with me even then and will give me dying grace when I need it.  Hallelujah!  AMEN!

Remain in the Truth

1 John 2:24 “See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.  If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.”

            Lord, in this whole section John is encouraging me to remain steadfast in the faith so as not to be drawn away from the truth by false teachers and antichrists.  If once I was saved it is not possible to be drawn away, You would not have had John write this.  I know that, especially as a new believer, I needed to be diligent and very careful as to whom I would  listen, or what I was to read.  I had to learn to check everything by the scriptures before believing it.  I was very blessed to have a wonderful and intense discipleship period right after salvation and she laid a wonderful deep foundation with me.  Thank you Brenda and You, Lord!

            Later when a false teacher /pastor tried to convert me to his way of thinking that I could name and claim riches and wellness, I was able to search the Word and find that he was from the pit not Your church!  There were cults in our area that would come every year to my door to try to convert me to their “religion” and I could tell them about You and the truth, or just bid them to depart post haste!

Thank You, Lord, that You gave us the guide book of TRUTH!

How to Spot an Antichrist

1 John 2:22-23 “Who is a liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ.  Such a man is the antichrist-he denies the Father and the Son.  No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”

            Lord, there is no way that someone can acknowledge part of a triune God and not acknowledge the rest.  If they deny one part, they deny all three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  In very inadequate human terms; if someone denies me as the daughter of Bruce Pierce, they deny my father because he is the one who begat me.  If someone were to deny me as mother to my children, they also deny me as wife to my husband Dick, and as daughter to my father.  Sadly, Lord, many in our ages, and in ages past, have “disowned” their family members, but in reality no matter what they say or do legally, they are still related by blood, and genetics.

            Lord, thank You for having John write these words to us.  You make it very easy to spot the antichrists.  There are many in our day as well as in his.  Everything boils down to the age old question:”What will you do with this Jesus?”  It is very sad that people can talk about God (except when speaking of creation) and folks don’t regularly get too miffed.  I guess because the world says there are many roads to God (whoever they see him to be) and it does not matter what one you take.  However; all of that changes when we mention Your name.  Then the conversation changes and we are ridiculed as a Bible thumper, Jesus freak, religious fanatic, and narrow-minded bigots.  I know it is because our ever present enemy does not care what people believe as long as it is not in You.  He preaches “tolerance” for everyone but Christians.  He wants sin and rebellion to reign as he is the Prince of Darkness.

                I praise You, Lord, that on that summer day in 1974 when I finally acknowledged You as my Savior and Lord, I also received the Father and my comforter, teacher, and guide the Holy Spirit.  May I always be ready and willing to share that faith with those You put in my path.

You Know the Truth

1 John 2:21 “I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.”

            Sweet Lord, thank You that there is absolute truth.  Our world’s culture tells everyone that truth is relative: what may be true for you is not true for me, what is true in one instance would not be true in another.  If something is true for someone else, but not true for me…how can it be TRUE at all?  Either something is true or it is not…period.  In this there is no gray area.  Lord, even in Christianity today some are trying to make Your truth gray.

            Lord, how Your church needs revival!  We need a turning back to the absolute truths of Your word in which there is no lie!  What better time of year to do that than Christmas when we celebrate Your birth as Emmanuel, God with us?

          Oh Lord, strip away all that does not glorify You.

But You..Oh How I love Them!

1 John 2:20 “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” (Some texts say “know all things”)

Lord Jesus, how I love the “but you”s in Your word!  Only by Your grace and mercy does this one refer to me and my family.  I praise You, Lord, especially at this time of Christmas.   YOU, the gift wrapped in the body of a helpless newborn baby, delivered into a human family to live with us as one of us for a season so You could show us how to live a sinless life while knowing all along that we, in our pathetic sinful state, would never be able to.  You knew from the very beginning that You would be the perfect sacrifice…the lamb without spot or blemish…to pay the price for not only my sin, but also for the sins of the whole of humanity: past, present, and future!

Hallelujah!  What a Savior!

Antichrists

1 John 2:19 “They went out from us but they did not really belong to us.  For if they belonged to us, they would have remained with us; bit by their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”

Lord, there have been many in history who have started out by going to “church” in several different ways.  However; they fell away and went with the enemy.  John is saying here that they never really “belonged” to the fellowship of believers.  If they had they would not have left.  Help me to be discerning, Lord!