<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="joh+12:20-33">John 12:20-33</span></span></p><p>The love for God that burns in our hearts must never be seen as the fruit of our labor, as if it is something we manufacture. Seeing the love of God for us, our own heart responds with love. We give love for love. We cannot help it. Let's be done with the idea that love for God is something we work at. It issues forth in good works, of course, but it begins in contemplation of how much we are loved. I often tell my students that they cannot love until they have been loved. By this I mean that love is a response. Our souls must receive love before they can give out love. Those who did not receive much love from their parents complain at this stage: "I can't love God because my soul was never properly prepared to love; my parents didn't love me." That is a problem I agree, but it must never be seen as an insoluble problem. No one who stands at Calvary and sees God dying for them on that tree can ever argue that because they were not loved by their parents they cannot now receive God's love. If they really believe that, then they are saying that God's love is balked by the adverse influence of human conditioning. God's love will only flow into us if we let it, and if we really want it. To desire it is like the touch of the hand on a spring blind; the blind is released and the sunlight flows in. Just to want His love is enough; He will do the rest.</p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">O God, forgive me if I have used excuses to barricade my heart against Your love. I gaze once more on Calvary and open my heart to allow its mighty magnetism to draw my soul toward You in a way it has never been drawn before. 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="2th+3:1-5">2 Thessalonians 3:1-5</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="jude+1:21">Jude 1:21</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="eph+3:17-19">Ephesians 3:17-19</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 was Paul's desire for the Thessalonians?</li><li>What was Paul's prayer for the Ephesians?</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

"But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (v. 32)

<p>This implies that we are beloved of God, and that we know it, and love Him in return. That we should endeavour to retain our standing, and keep ourselves sensibly in the love of God, by setting it always before our minds; exercising our faith on it; and seeking the enjoyment of it by prayer and in the Lord's ways.</p><p>We should keep ourselves in the exercise of love to God, by avoiding temptations, walking by faith, and living as in His presence. We should keep ourselves in the exercise of love one to another, by exhortation, forbearance, and example. We should preserve ourselves by the love of God from the temptations of Satan, the snares of the world, and the lusts of the flesh.</p><p>Beloved, consider how the love of God aggravates our sins; how it should fire us with courage to oppose everything that is unholy or forbidden.</p><p class="mlr40 italic">O love divine, how sweet Thou art!<br> When shall I end my longing heart<br> All taken up by Thee?<br> Grant me, O gracious Lord, to prove<br> The sweetness of redeeming love,<br> The love of Christ to me.</p>

Written by James Smith for his own flock around 1840, but such was the demand that by 1846 over thirty thousand copies where in circulation.

The Believer's Daily Remembrancer

Keep yourselves in the love of God. - Jude 1:21

<p> Mark the union of the Three Divine Persons in all their gracious acts. How unwisely do those believers talk who make preferences in the Persons of the Trinity; who think of Jesus as if he were the embodiment of everything lovely and gracious, while the Father they regard as severely just, but destitute of kindness. Equally wrong are those who magnify the decree of the Father, and the atonement of the Son, so as to depreciate the work of the Spirit. In deeds of grace none of the Persons of the Trinity act apart from the rest. They are as united in their deeds as in their essence. In their love towards the chosen they are one, and in the actions which flow from that great central source they are still undivided. Specially notice this in the matter of sanctification. While we may without mistake speak of sanctification as the work of the Spirit, yet we must take heed that we do not view it as if the Father and the Son had no part therein. It is correct to speak of sanctification as the work of the Father, of the Son, and of the Spirit. Still doth Jehovah say, "Let us make man in our own image after our likeness," and thus we are "his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." See the value which God sets upon real holiness, since the Three Persons in the Trinity are represented as co-working to produce a Church without "spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." And you, believer, as the follower of Christ, must also set a high value on holiness-upon purity of life and godliness of conversation. Value the blood of Christ as the foundation of your hope, but never speak disparagingly of the work of the Spirit which is your meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light. This day let us so live as to manifest the work of the Triune God in us. </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

"Sanctified by God the Father." - Jude 1

Morning Devotional

<p><span class="bible-text "> <sup class="verse-num ">21 </sup>keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait   for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.   </span></p>

keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait<cr>1</cr>  for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.<cr>2</cr> 

Jude 1:21

 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait   for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.  

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

 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

<p><span class="bible-text ">keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait   for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.   </span></p>

 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait   for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.  

Bible Verse of the Day

April 15, 2020

Jude 1:21 NIV

Verse by Verse Bible Study

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