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Trust…. (devo reflection)

1 John 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

It has taken me a long time to make some sort of peace with verses 14 and 15. I can’t say I’ve got it all figured out, but here is how I made peace: Isaiah 55:8, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”

1 John 5:15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

God’s ways are far beyond anything I could imagine. He knows what’s best. He knows the eternal repercussions. I have to trust Him. Isaiah 43:19, See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness…. He is making a way, even if I cannot yet perceive it, even if it looks nothing like I hoped or imagined. I have to trust Him.

1 John 5:20a We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true….

Lord, I know it is utterly ridiculous for me to struggle to trust the God of all creation, maker of heaven and earth. Forgive me. Thank You for answering my prayers, even when I struggle to understand Your answers. Help me to trust You always. Amen.

1 John 5:20b …And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Have a blessed day.

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Just love everyone.…

1 John 4:7-8 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

I have mentioned more than once the billboards I’ve seen before that say: “Just love everyone. I’ll sort them out later. ~God” To me, that idea is the heart of God’s message, Jesus’s message: Just love everyone.

1 John 4:9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

Oftentimes that’s easier said than done—loving everyone. We have to love past our own issues and past the other person’s. But I truly believe that at the heart of most issues is the deep need to be loved and accepted—warts and all, faults and all, unlovableness and all. We all need love. And God is love personified.

1 John 4:10-11 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Lord, Your commandment—love everyone—is so easy, but absolutely not simple. Life, pride, grudges, so many things get in the way of loving others. Help us to see the simplicity of what You ask of us. Help us to make love our default, no matter how difficult it is. Help us to love as You love. Deeply, lavishly, completely. Amen.

1 John 4:16b-17 …God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.

Have a blessed day. I love you.

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Children of God…. (devo reflection)

1 John 3:1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

We are deeply loved children of God. He created us—individually, uniquely, wonderfully—for a purpose. He loves us fiercely. He lavishes love upon us. These truths bring me incredible comfort, especially when life gets me down.

1 John 3:2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

The fact that we are deeply loved children of God gives us hope. We are His. Eternally. “[W]hat we will be has not yet been made known.” He didn’t create us and abandon us. He has big plans for us. Eternal plans for us.

1 John 3:3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Lord, Sometimes life is hard. It is so easy to get caught up in the cares and worries of this world. Thank You for this reminder that we are Yours. Eternally. That You love us. Deeply, fiercely, lavishly. When this life makes us doubt our value, help us remember our worth in You alone. Amen.

1 John 3:18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Have a blessed day.

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Knowing and abiding…. (devo reflection)

1 John 2:4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.

There is a vast difference between knowing Jesus and abiding in Him. Knowing seems much more superficial, more surface-level. I can know every detail of someone’s life and story, but knowing does not indicate that that knowledge has any effect on me—my behavior, my attitude. Knowing is strictly intellectual.

1 John 2:5-6 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Abiding, however, involves the head and the heart. If I am abiding in Christ, then my life is rooted in His. I actively strive to live in Him, to embody His values and attitudes, to be His hands and feet. Abiding in Him is a lifestyle, not an intellectual hobby.

1 John 2:9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.

Lord, I want to abide in You, to root myself so firmly in Your love that it’s impossible to tell where You end and I begin. Help me to invest time and effort into my relationship with You. Help me to actively emulate your love and care for humanity. Draw me closer. Amen.

1 John 2:10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.

Have a blessed day.

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The Light…. (devo reflection)

1 John 1:4 We write this to make our joy complete.

God created us to live in relationship with each other, and communication is a part of that. Many times I try to bolster communication, communion, through texts to loved ones and dear friends—an inspirational quote, a quirky picture or meme, a random text. These are ways that I say, “I love you. I miss you. Your relationship is important to me.”

1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

For me, those connections help strengthen God’s light by reminding me I am not alone. This world can be so dark, so negative, so lonely. Knowing I have the love and support of God’s community is vital to my mental well-being. It helps me to walk in God’s light.

1 John 1:6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.

Lord, Now we see through a glass darkly. We misunderstand each other. We frustrate each other. We alienate each other. Darkness lurks around every corner. Help us to strengthen the relationships that draw us closer to You. Help us to walk in Your light. Always. Amen.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Have a blessed day.

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Every single day…. (devo reflection)

2 Peter 3:8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

Lord, Thank You for Your patience with us. Thank You for loving us fiercely, even when we do really stupid things. Thank You for covering us with Your grace and compassion, again and again, even though we don’t deserve it and can never earn it.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Lord, Help us not to get complacent in Your love. Help us to grow in You—Your word, Your love, Your compassion. Help us not to take Your abundant gift of grace for grant.

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

Lord, Help us to grow in grace. Help us to seek You passionately, to learn You intimately, to strive to know You just a little better, just a little more, every single day. Help us, Lord. Amen.

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Have a blessed day.

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A vivid illustration…. (devo reflection)

2 Peter 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

This chapter talks of the dangers of false prophets, who entice people away from God and back into their sinful, worldly ways. That way lies much danger.

2 Peter 2:12 But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.

The chapter also gives a vivid analogy for a person who turns away from God and back to sinful ways. Such a person is like a dog returning to its vomit. That image is truly gross but a vivid illustration of Peter’s point.

2 Peter 2:20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.

Lord, The pull of this world is strong. The rewards are immediate. But the value is empty, especially in light of an eternal future with You. Help me to cling tightly to You and Your eternal promise, Lord. Help me to let go of this world. Amen.

2 Peter 2:22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

Have a blessed day.

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Grace and peace mine in abundance…. (devo reflection)

2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Last night I had a hard time going to sleep. I had a lot on my mind. I was stressing, fretting, worrying, stewing….You get the idea. And I realized that as long as I was focused on my mess, I would never get to sleep. I had to cast my cares firmly on my Savior and leave them there.

2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

The only way grace and peace can be mine in abundance is by focusing on my Savior, not myself, not my mess, not my worries and fears (which seem to multiply exponentially). It isn’t easy for me to do, and doing so doesn’t magically make everything ok. But giving my cares over to Him is the only way to free myself up to receive His grace and peace.

2 Peter 1:4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Lord, I worry about so much, about so many people that I care for deeply. Help me to cast my cares, all of them, on You. Help me to entrust those I love, those I worry about, to You. Help me open myself up to the grace and peace that are mine in abundance only through You. Amen.

2 Peter 1:8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Have a blessed day.

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Cast all your anxiety on him…. (devo reflection)

1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

I want to look specifically at verse 7. To cast, as a literary verb, means to throw (something) forcefully in a specified direction. God calls me to cast my anxiety on Him because He cares for me. I’m guilty of gently tossing my anxieties in His general direction before I quickly jerk them back to me. Jesus, Help me.

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Verse 6 makes more sense in light of my propensity to horde my anxieties instead of casting them on God. I have to humble myself, to recognize that I can’t do a single thing about these anxieties that eat me up and that I, therefore, need to hand them over to the One who can do all things. Jesus, Help me.

1 Peter 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

Lord, I love You. Fiercely. I trust You and believe in You. Completely. Help me to humble myself before You, to cast my anxieties on You and leave them with You, so that I may be free to serve Your people with grace, love, and compassion. Amen.

1 Peter 5:11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

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Love, grace, and compassion…. (devo reflection)

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

I do not think God’s default personality is vengeful. I don’t think He’s waiting and watching, trying to catch us messing up so He can punish us. I think He is a loving, gracious, compassionate God, and I think He asks us to adopt that same attitude—loving, gracious, compassionate—towards ourselves and each other.

1 Peter 4:9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

But when I examine myself, my actions, asking whether I am being a faithful steward of God’s grace by being loving, gracious, and compassionate, sometimes the answer is a resounding no. I’m learning that at those times, when I feel I’m failing miserably on every front, God wants me to apply those traits of grace, love, and compassion more thoroughly to myself and my actions.

1 Peter 4:10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

Lord, Thank You for being the God of love, mercy, and compassion. Thank You for loving me fiercely and for infusing my spirit with these godly traits. Thank You for my ability to shower these traits on Your people. Help me to get better at showing love, grace, and compassion to myself. Amen.

1 Peter 4:11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Have a blessed day.