Believers, Overcomers, Witnesses
The first part of 1 John 5 helps deepens our understanding of what it means to be a child of God in His forever family.
The first part of 1 John 5 helps deepens our understanding of what it means to be a child of God in His forever family.
When John came to the end of his letter, he underscored the things every believer can know with absolute assurance.
Is it true, prayer changes things? That depends on what “things” we are talking about. I think when most of us wonder whether or not prayer changes things, we’re really asking if God will intervene in a specific situation.
At one time, I assumed that “victory in Christ”—or living a victorious Christian life in the middle of our sinful, messed-up world—meant having victory in my own life, as I chose to define it.
Why don’t we experience more victory in the Christian life? We have neglected the spiritual disciplines and opted for comfort and mediocrity. So now what do we do to find victory?
If tears were indelible ink instead of clear fluid, all of us would be stained for life. The heartbreaking circumstances, the sudden loss of someone we simply adored, riding out the consequences of a stupid decision—ah! Such is the groan and grind of life.
Although it may feel like it, death is not an escape—it leads you into eternity. Ending your life is not your decision to make, it’s God’s. He is both the Giver and Taker of life.
You can’t play games fairly without keeping the rules and the same logic applies to life. Rules set boundaries for us in how we should live but they don’t stop us from stop doing what wrong. God’s law is not the cause of our wrongdoing it simply reveals it to us.
Because Jesus triumphed over Satan through the cross, and we are in Him, we are no longer under Satan’s control, rule, or authority. We are beyond his reach forever.
“Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22). Why would Peter tell believers who loved each other to love each other?