Day 336: Recap!

Day 330: We Have an Advocate

Today we talked about how Jesus is an advocate for us and how he is constantly rooting for us. We also discussed how we should be and need to be advocates for one another, praying for one another and lifting each other up. We focused on 1 John 2:1-2.

"...sometimes we have to plead someone else’s case. Sometimes we have to sit ourselves aside and go to God on behalf of someone else."

Day 331: The Truth About Loving God

Today we talked about how we really know we love God. We asked ourselves question about what loving God looks like and how we can make sure we are doing it. We talked about what a life loving God looks like. We focused on 1 John 2:3-6.

" Loving God is less about abstaining from sin and more about obeying His word, there is a difference."

Day 332: Loving This World

Today we continued with the theme of love and talked about choosing to love the world or God, but we cannot do both. We talked about how the world offers us something temporary and fleeting but God gives us eternity. We focused one 1 John 2:15-17.

"There is only so much the world can do for us. But when we choose to love God, we are choosing eternity, we are choosing everything by making one choice to choose God."

Day 333: Walking Away Isn't Easy

Today we talked about how if we really love something or someone it is very hard to walk away. We then went on to propose the question, if we walk away from God, whom we say we love, did we really ever love Him at all? We focused on 1 John 2:19.

"When we come to the understanding of who God is and everything He has done for us in our lives we will want to stay near Him for all eternity. Walking away is not an option because we come to the conclusion that walking away from God means walking away from life and that is not something we are willing to give up."

Day 334: We Are Because He Is

Today we talked about how different life would be without God, if it would be life at all. We talked about how everything we are not only depends on Him but it is because of Him. We talked about how we tend to look over or forget the little things, not acknowledge that God is responsible for even those things. We focused on John 3:16 and Revelation 22:13.

"We must remember where we come from, we come from God, our identity, our life, our very existence is a result of a loving heavenly father. We are because He is."

Day 335: This is True Love

Today we talked some more about love. We talked about how God teaches us what true love is by loving us first. We talked about how His love is so unconditional and so great that we will never be able to fully grasp the capacity of it. We also talked about how God has taught us to love other people the way He loves us. We are called to love. 

"Love can change people. Love can pierce evil. Love can heal or soften a broken and hardened heart. We need love, love is what keeps us going everyday. Love is our foundation. Life is so much better when we love...Love makes the world a better place."

I love you so much and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 337!

Day 331: The Truth About Loving God

1 John 2:3-6

3 And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4 If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

There’s moment’s in our lives when we need to sometimes check in on ourselves, and see how we’re doing. We need to stop and see if we’re holding up, we have to do a little self-assessment. Sometimes we forget that we need to check in with ourselves to make sure we are okay and everything is okay with us. The word of God is a reminder of that, we need to check in on our spiritual lives constantly, the same way we would check upon ourselves physically. When we find something wrong, we go to a doctor or we do what needs to be done in order to fix the problem. It is the same with our spiritual lives, many times we find that something is wrong and we continue to move forward as if everything is just fine. When we find something wrong with us spiritually we need to take some time with our doctor, Jesus, and make sure that anything that is or has gone wrong is healed and fixed.

There’s nothing like reading the word of God of to make sure your heart is in the right place. Upon reading God’s word we find how to live life but we also find the flaws in our own hearts and the things we need to turn to God for. Many times it is not our intention to lose focus or to disobey God’s command. We are not all walking around trying to deliberately disobey God. Sometimes it just happens and that’s just life. Sometimes life gets the best of us and we don’t really notice things falling until they start crashing down. The question is, what do we do when we start to notice ourselves slipping away? What do we do when we realize we have disobeyed God or went against His word. How do we react when life starts falling apart? We must turn to Him, we must find our hope in Him our strength in Him. If we love God, if we truly love Him we will surrender our lives to Him. We would surrender our hearts to Him. The question is, how do we know we really love God?

I have found myself asking myself this question multiple times on multiple occasions. I’ve heard people say, if you have to ask yourself that, then you don’t really love God. In my opinion that statement is not entirely true. As Christians we sometimes get the idea that we must do more. Sometimes when life gets a little too simple we think that we are falling out of good graces with God, or we are doing something wrong because everything is a bit too easy. However, I do not believe that God wants every minute of our lives to be a fight, or that we are continuously suffering. God gives us a break sometimes. When it comes to the question of our love for God, we must ask ourselves if we are following His commands? That’s what it all comes down to, are we doing what He told us to do? Are we obeying Him? Loving God is less about abstaining from sin and more about obeying His word, there is a difference. When we love God we will obey Him because we love Him, not because we don’t want to be punished or not to stay out of the fiery pits of hell, but because our love for God is more important that our want for sin. Our love for God is greater than our want to not go to hell. Loving God is living in Him. When we love God we will live like Christ. It all comes together when we make the commitment to love God before anything and anyone else.

When I became a Christian the first thing I wanted to do was rid my life of all the sin that was in it. Let go of anything and anyone who would cause me to sin, if you know my story you would know how ironic that statement is. I felt like until I did that  I could not serve God. I felt like I had to start from there, before I could have a relationship with Him I had to be clean. If I kept that attitude I definitely would not be where I am now, writing this devotional. If we want to start anywhere we need to start with love first, and let everything are and aspire to be, be built on that.

Reflection

1. Check in with yourself, how are you doing?
2. Do you love God?
3. Are you following His commands?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Have a conversation with God about what you discovered today. If you have found yourself slipping or have found that you are not committed to God in the way that you thought, now is the time to submit and surrender. Take the time to pray and surrender everything to Him. However long you need with Him take that time, this is your soul we’re talking about.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 332!