<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="1jo+4:7-16">1 John 4:7-16</span></span></p><p>We turn now to consider another aspect of God's nature and character - love. There are three things told us in Scripture concerning the nature of God. First, "God is spirit" (<span class="scriptRef" ref="joh+4:24">John 4:24</span>), which means He has no visible substance. Second, "God is light" (<span class="scriptRef" ref="1jo+1:5">1 John 1:5</span>), which means no darkness can dwell in Him. In Scripture darkness stands for sin, death, and so on. Third, "God is love," which means that the energy that flows out from His Being is that of infinite, eternal beneficence. When John wrote the words "God is love" it was no slick statement, as it was the first time in history that the phrase had been used in that way. People had believed that God was love, and had speculated about His benevolence, but now the categorical statement is laid down for all to behold. These words, in my judgment, are the high-water mark of divine revelation; nothing more needs to be said for nothing greater can be said. I often create a mental picture for myself of the angels peering over the battlements of heaven as John wrote those words and then, when they had been written down, I imagine them breaking into rapturous applause and saying to each other: "They've got it. They've got it! At last they see that God is love." And a sigh of deep satisfaction and great joy would have filled the portals of heaven in the knowledge that the greatest truth about God was now made crystal clear. The implied was now inscribed.</p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">O Father, I am so thankful that You have demonstrated categorically that the greatest thing about You is love. My heart gladly rests upon that glorious fact. I look forward to exploring it forever. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="jer+31:1-4">Jeremiah 31:1-4</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="joh+3:16">John 3:16</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ro+5:8">Romans 5:8</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did the Lord appear and say?</li><li>How did He demonstrate this?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"God is love." (v. 16)

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="heb+10:19-25">Hebrews 10:19-25</span></span></p><p>In every religion in the world apart from Christianity there is a note of uncertainty concerning this matter of personal salvation. Many modern religious attitudes are expressed in the limerick: For as much as without Thee We are not able to doubt Thee, O grant us Thy grace To inform the whole race That we know nothing whatever about Thee. Can we be satisfied with this? St. Augustine said he wished to be as certain of things unseen as that seven and three make ten. The human heart longs for certainty - it needs to know without a shadow of doubt that the salvation of the soul is secure. The good news is that in Jesus Christ such security is found. When we turn from other religions to the Word of God, it is like stepping out of thick fog into clear and brilliant sunlight. Our text today talks not just of assurance but full assurance - the full assurance of faith. What is faith? Faith is simply taking God at His Word, accepting what He asserts and acting accordingly. Listen to just one of the many things God says concerning this matter: "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved"  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="ro+10:13">Romans 10:13</span>). Have you called on Christ and received Him into your heart? Then you have scriptural warrant for believing on that basis alone, quite apart from personal feelings, that you are a child of God, and that you are going to spend eternity with Him. What a salvation! What a Savior! </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">My Father and my God, what a joy it is to know that You make available to me not just assurance but full assurance. Fill the cup of my heart until it is overflowing with the sense of divine assurance. And keep it full, dear Father. In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1th+1:1-10">1 Thessalonians 1:1-10</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1jo+2:3-6">1 John 2:3-6</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1jo+3:16-20">1 John 3:16-20</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1jo+4:13-16">1 John 4:13-16</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1jo+5:10">1 John 5:10</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What is a recurring theme in 1John?</li><li>Why not make the same confession to someone today?</li></ul></div></div>

"... let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith ..." (v. 22) 

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="1jo+4:7-21">1 John 4:7-21</span></span></p><p>There have been two great attempts to find God throughout the ages," said Dr. E. Stanley Jones, "one, philosophy, the other, moralism." The attempts of philosophy to find God are represented by the three great philosophical nations - Greece, India, and China. These three nations have taken men and women about as far as it is possible to philosophical reasoning. Philosophy has strained itself to the utmost and yet it has not been successful in finding God. Lao-tzu, the Chinese philosopher, said the final word about God is Silence, and Shankaracharya, the Indian philosopher, said the final word about God is not that. They both concluded at zero. Moralism, likewise, cannot lead to God. The attempt to find God through the law was the noble effort made by the Jews. Never was such a moral system devised as theirs, nor an end result so disappointing. It produced, for instance, the Pharisee who stood in his pride and said: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men" (<span class="scriptRef" ref="lu+18:11">Luke 18:11</span>). Jesus pronounced doom on the Pharisee's attempt to find God through moralism when He said: "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven"  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="mt+5:20">Matthew 5:20</span>). They could not reach the kingdom by even their greatest self-effort alone. Both philosophy and moralism fall short. When our best was not good enough, when our highest attempts could not lead to the kingdom, God came down Himself to lift us. Now no one need say in his or her quest for God: "Not that."</p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">O God, Your down-reach is my only hope. My up-reach is feeble and goes little higher than my head. Your down-reach, however, goes to the lowest of the low-it reaches me. I take hold of Your grace and I am lifted - to You. Blessed be Your Name forever. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ro+5:1-8">Romans 5:1-8</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="eph+2:4-5">Ephesians 2:4-5</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="joh+3:16">John 3:16</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="2ti+3:5">2 Timothy 3:5</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What is the result of moralism?</li><li>What is the heart of Christianity?</li></ul></div></div>

"... God ... sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him." (v. 9)

<p> Do you want a house for your soul? Do you ask, "What is the purchase?" It is something less than proud human nature will like to give. It is without money and without price. Ah! you would like to pay a respectable rent! You would love to do something to win Christ? Then you cannot have the house, for it is "without price." Will you take my Master's house on a lease for all eternity, with nothing to pay for it, nothing but the ground-rent of loving and serving him for ever? Will you take Jesus and "dwell in him?" See, this house is furnished with all you want, it is filled with riches more than you will spend as long as you live. Here you can have intimate communion with Christ and feast on his love; here are tables well-stored with food for you to live on for ever; in it, when weary, you can find rest with Jesus; and from it you can look out and see heaven itself. Will you have the house? Ah! if you are houseless, you will say, "I should like to have the house; but may I have it?" Yes; there is the key-the key is, "Come to Jesus." "But," you say, "I am too shabby for such a house." Never mind; there are garments inside. If you feel guilty and condemned, come; and though the house is too good for you, Christ will make you good enough for the house by-and-by. He will wash you and cleanse you, and you will yet be able to sing, "We dwell in him." Believer: thrice happy art thou to have such a dwelling-place! Greatly privileged thou art, for thou hast a "strong habitation" in which thou art ever safe. And "dwelling in him," thou hast not only a perfect and secure house, but an everlasting one. When this world shall have melted like a dream, our house shall live, and stand more imperishable than marble, more solid than granite, self-existent as God, for it is God himself-"We dwell in him. " </p>

This timeless classic from Charles Spurgeon will help to both start and end your day with wonderful insight into God's Word.

Charles Spurgeon's Morning & Evening

"We dwell in him." - 1 John 4:13

Morning Devotional

<p><span class="scriptRef" ref="1jo+4:7-16">1 John 4:7-16</span></p><p>"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 <span class="italic ">God is love </span>." One reason why Christians should love one another, is because God would have them interpret His love to the world, and this they can do, only by love. Anything <span class="italic ">unloving  - </span>is not of God. We ought to think of this - that it is our mission - to let the world know what God is like. A great many people do not know God, do not know what His character is. We know Him and we are to make Him known to others. This we cannot do merely by <span class="italic ">telling </span>them about God. The Bible is full of <span class="italic ">revealings </span>of God - but it is not enough for us to <span class="italic ">read the Bible </span>to people. It does little good for us to <span class="italic ">quote texts </span>which tell of God's goodness, kindness and holiness - if we cannot show the goodness, kindness and holiness in our own life! The only Bible we can really get others to read - is the one written in our own conduct, disposition and character! People must see God's love in us.</p><p>When Mr. McAll went to Paris to begin his mission work, he knew only a few words of French. All he could say was, "God loves you, and I love you." His message was that God loved the people to whom he was speaking - but this would not have been listened to by them - if they had not seen the love also in the preacher. That is, the love of God was interpreted to them, in himself. We must give the same interpretation.</p><p>There is no other love like God's. There has always been love in the world. <span class="italic ">Mothers </span>have always loved their children. There have always been tender <span class="italic ">home affections. </span>Men have always loved their country. But these are only <span class="italic ">little fragments </span>of love, imperfect and faulty at best. The <span class="italic ">great fountain and center </span>of all love - is God's love. It is to all other love - as the sun is to all earth's little candles. God's love is love which does not depend on our love to draw it out. God does not love us <span class="italic ">because </span>we love Him - if that were true, we would never have God's love. The message of the gospel is not that we should love God - but that God loves us. It makes a great deal of difference how we read the words. Which love comes first - ours, or God's? Our confidence is not in <span class="italic ">our love for God, </span>which is very weak, faulty and ever changing - but in <span class="italic ">God's love for us. </span>This is infinite, eternal, and never changes. Whatever our need or feelings may be, we may always be sure that the love of God is everlasting, the same yesterday and today and forever.</p><p>"The Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." We think of the <span class="italic ">holy child </span>sleeping His first infancy's sleep in the manger, and we hear the angel say, "There is born to you this day in the city of David - a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." It is because God loved the world - that He gave His only begotten Son!</p><p>It is knowing and believing the love of God in Jesus Christ, which saves us. It is possible to <span class="italic ">know </span>it and not <span class="italic ">sincerely believe </span>it. To be blessed by it - we must believe that God loves us with an <span class="italic ">individual, </span>personal love, and must let His love into our hearts. A story is told of a child in Luther's day, who for the first time heard and believed this love. She lived in a home where only <span class="italic ">severe thoughts of God </span>were known. The name of God was used to <span class="italic ">frighten </span>the children. Every mention of God made the child tremble. She had learned to think of Him as her enemy, watching her only to punish her. One day she found on the floor of her father's printing office a piece of torn paper with some words printed on it. Picking it up, she began to read, "God so loved the world, that he gave," it was torn off here. She did not know what followed. But the thought that God loved was an altogether new one for her. If He loved the world He could not be such a terrible God as she had been taught to believe Him to be. "God so loved the world that he gave," her paper said. What He gave, she did not know - but if He loved enough to give anything, He must be a kind and good God. So her thought ran on until, by and by, a new conception of God had taken possession of her heart. With nothing more than this little fragment of a verse - she had received a great truth, and the thought of God had become a wonderful blessing to her. She knew and believed the love that God had for her, and it saved her. This is the lesson all of us need to learn afresh!</p>

A unique type of devotional from the writings of James Russell Miller, published between 1908 and 1913.

Devotional Hours Within the Bible

1 John 4:7-16

God's Love in the Gift of His Son

<p>The love of the Spirit. § The Helper, the Holy Spirit. § In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought against them.<br><br>We know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. § Having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. § I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. § The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.</p>

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 

<p>It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.<br><br>The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. § You did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” § The Spirit … helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.<br><br>The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. § Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.<br><br>By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.</p>

 I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, . . . the Spirit of truth. 

<p><span class="bible-text "> <sup class="verse-num ">13 </sup>This is how we know   that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.   </span></p>

This is how we know<cr>1</cr>  that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.<cr>2</cr> 

1 John 4:13

 13 This is how we know   that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.  

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.

<p><span class="bible-text ">This is how we know   that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.   </span></p>

 This is how we know   that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.  

Bible Verse of the Day

December 16, 1889

1 John 4:13 NIV

Verse by Verse Bible Study

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