"He who has My commandments
and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.
And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father,
and I will love him and
manifest Myself to him."
John 14:21
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Let's seek the Lord this day....
"Father, as we study today about what it means to have the trith abiding in us, may we never forget what You did to ensure our salvation. May we never take it for granted.
I pray that You will search me for my sins and purge me with Your hyssop. I pray that You will cleanse me of all unrighteousness and renew a steadfast spirit within me. I pray that You will fill me to overflowing with Your Holy Spirit this day.
I lift up to You the ladies reading this study. Each with her own needs and concerns. I pray that You will give her that peace that passes all understanding and help her to cast all her cares upon Your perfect shoulders. I pray that she will walk with You this day and earnestly seek Your will for her life.
In Jesus' name.....amen."
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In our opening verse, we have Jesus telling His disciples that their obedience to God will keep them close to Himself. He teaches them that whoever loves Jesus will be loved by the Father. Notice when this conversation takes place: at the Passover meal with His disciples.
Jesus knows that His betrayer is among those reclining at the table. Yet His focus isn't on the one who will betray Him, it is on the ones who will serve Him and even die for His commandments.
Ladies, this lesson will be on how the Truth is abiding in us even though we are among those who are antichrists, we have that Light shining in us and if we keep those commandments which we have heard from the beginning.....we have that protection from the world and from God's wrath that was given to us through Christ Jesus.
1 John 2:26-27
"These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it taught you, you will abide in Him."
As John reminds us here in this epistle, he also wants to encourage us as is his usual pattern in this book. He tells us that what he is writing isn't anything new. We know that we are supposed to keep the commandments of God:
Please read:
Ex 20:1-17
1 Thess 4:3
1 Thess 5:16-22
Prov 3:31-33
These are all verses that we would be wise to memorize because they will help us remain pure in Christ just as He is pure.
Let's look more closely at 1 Thess 5:11-22
These verses are excellent exhortations that Christians should know:
We are commanded to recognize and esteem those who do labor for the church.
Warn other believers idle, comfort those who are weak and fainthearted.
We are commanded to be patient with all believers.
Paul commands us to pursue what is good.
We are told to rejoice always....even in bad times.
Pray without ceasing....that means all day long everyday.
And to give thanks in everything.
This is the will of God for your life! So the next time you hear someone asking how they may know the will of God for their lives, take them to 1 Thess 4:3 & 5:11-22. Then they will know the will of the Lord!
Like John, Paul tells us to abstain from every form of evil...only he puts it more bluntly.
This is the Truth that we know. I am not teaching you anything new. But I am reminding you as well as myself that we are to obey these commandments in order to abide in Christ. Jesus tells us that by obeying, we love Him and He will manifest (reveal) Himself to us.
2 Tim 2:22-26
God can use a gentle and patient heart in order to bring those in opposition to the faith and knowledge of Christ.
Paul wants us to purse righteousness....as Jesus wanted us to pursue righteousness:
Matt 6:33
Paul commands us to abide with God at all times when he commands us to "pray without ceasing".
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When I was in high school, I attended a youth camp in Glorieta, New Mexico the last summer before college. While there, I met a godly young man who was also graduating high school and going on to college to be a missionary since his parents were also missionaries in Africa. He was such a pleasant young man...I had a crush on him!
One night, he gave his testimony to the whole camp and read 1 Thess 5:17. I'll never forget his words of wisdom that we are commanded to pray at all times. We are never to stop praying....through the good and bad times.
His message stayed with me and I think of it even now over 20 yrs. later. This is how John wants to remind us: we know these truths. He is writing these things because he knows there are antichrists out there trying to deceive us.
They want us to forget to pray. They want us to think we can do things on our own. They want us to think we are better than others and not to serve others. These antichrists want to deceive us into thinking our husbands do not love us or that we do not love our husbands. They want us to think God is only about love and not about holiness.
John's fellow believers were being deceived in the same ways we are to this day because Satan has no other game plan. He has to regurgitate the same methods over and over again hoping his lies will work this time.
What keeps us from believing the lies?
Please read:
Prov 6:23
Prov 2:10-12
It is the Law of God- His Word- that shall keep you from these perverse lies of the devil and his minions.
"But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you...."
We have that Law of God, His anointing of the Holy Spirit, and Christ all within us. Because we have all this, we have discretion and discernment.
"..but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it taught you, you will abide in Him."
What a glorious promise this is! John, like Paul, wants us to remember what we have in Christ so that when the temptations come.....we can have that perfect defense. Christ Jesus within us.
Take this with you today. Remember to pray without ceasing. Remember to rejoice in all things. Comfort those around you. Be patient with believers you fellowship with. Abstain from every form of evil.....and above all, abide in Him by staying in His Word.
And He will abide in you.
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Life Application
1 Thess 4:3-
"For this is the will of God, your sanctification...."
For me, this verse really emphasizes the importance of our separation from the world we live in. I wish I had memorized this verse when I was younger and perhaps I would have abstained from sexual immorality. I pray I can teach it to my son so he will remain pure.
Ladies, this lesson isn't anything new to you. You have heard this before, but the Lord laid it on my heart to remind you. We must pray for our husbands and our children to remain pure regarding sexuality.
So many times we think: this cannot happen to me. My husband, child, or myself, cannot possibly fall into sexual sin!
But it does happen and the cost is high.
Lift up your husband today in prayer that the Lord will help him remain separated from the world. That the Lord will help him flee sexual immorality and abstain from every form of evil.
He faces a world filled with many sexual images all around him. More so now than when we were younger!
He needs you to pray for him. Pray for yourselves as well. I know I need it! Sexual sin is something the Lord will allow me to deal with for the rest of my life. I know that I can easily fall into that temptation....so I pray for my sanctification daily. I covet your prayers too!
Pray and ask the Lord to teach you how to possess your own vessel so you can be used by God. For God did not call us to "uncleanness, but in holiness" as He is holy above all.
Pray without ceasing.
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Until next time....
"Now this sort of purity of heart is absolutely necessary in order to our coming to see God. There must be a renunciation of all impure and lascivious practices and conversation. They who live in the indulgence of such a lust in one kind of practice or another, or though it is only with their eyes or in their thoughts, are impure hearts, and shall never come to see God unless they have new hearts given to them. They who have pure hearts abhor and are afraid of such things (Jude 23). They take heed that they do not prostitute their souls to so much as mental and imaginary sins, much less to practical impurities and works of darkness."
-Johnathan Edwards (1703-1758) (Alogether Lovely, 1997, p. 172)
Blessings,
Ruth
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