FRIDAY, January 2nd, 2009

Hi there! How is your year going so far? Well, hopefully you are still sticking to your new years resolution so far... it has only been like 36 hours!!!

Let's finish up I John today!

14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.
17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

18 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

The first two verses make it clear that if we have some kind of request to God, HE WILL HEAR US IF WE PRAY TO HIM!!! Then the passage goes on to explain to us that all unrighteousness is sin! What is the big deal? Well, God makes it cear that if we are saved then we should do everything in our power to live rightous because "whosoever is born of God does not sin"... we are no longer under the law of sin, instead, now we are freed from the bondage of sin... the idea here is not that I WILL NEVER SIN AGAIN, but that I dont have to sin anymore... I can choose to stop sinning!!

The last verse in this chapter is the one that really stands out to me the most!! It says: Little Children!!!! Keep yourselves from Idols!!! Think about it! Little kids are so mesmerized by little toys and other gadgets... and God says: Just like a child is distracted by idols... we too are often distracted from serving and obeying God like we should because we are too focused on other idols... Things that we worship more than God!! We must STAY AWAY FROM IDOLS!!!
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4 comments:

Tylermon33 said...

the beginning says that if we want something all we have to do is ask God and He will give it to us. one way we can ask God for things is by praying. when we ask God for things we can't just ask Him for 1,000,000 dollars because we don't need that, but when we ask for food to get by the week He will give that to you because you do need that. it also says that we need to keep ourselves from idols. an idol can be anthing we put before God like the tv or the xbox or sports. it's really hard to always put God first in everything we do because our flesh wants otherwise, but if we trust in God we can do it.

January 2, 2009 at 2:33 PM
McCue said...

Anything that get's between us and God's will can be an idol. So the last verse can be though of as a warning to stay away from absolutely everything that keeps us from becoming as righteous as God wants us to. It's difficult in that so many times we'll think the little sins will go away but I just keep thinking that great things are only accomplished by perfection of small details. Sin is sin so every "little sin" needs to be eliminated before God can do great things through us. Thank God for a new year and I can only pray I become closer to Him and that I make right decisions.

January 2, 2009 at 6:29 PM
Godservant said...

Okay, in the begginning of this passage it said something I didn't quite understand. It said something about a sin that doesn't lead to death..., I thought all sins or all sin lead to death. 'Cause a sin is when you do something against God, and therefore fall under the curse of death. So how can there be a such thing as a sin that doesn't lead to death? PL or anyone else, help me out!

And Pastor Lee, you put 2008 on the title page. Don't worry, your only 365 days off.

January 2, 2009 at 7:24 PM
Bethany said...

hey Pastor Lee... When I was reading this passage and it said to stay away from idols, that really hit me because i know that God comes before anything else is.. and I think that was what made me want to come and do my devotions again. I am going to try to stay faithful and do them everyday before I do anything else on the computer!

January 3, 2009 at 1:06 PM

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