1 John

The Ammunition Of Prayer - 1 John 5:14-16

11:00 AM


1 John 5:14-16


We as Christians are in a battle for our very souls. The apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 that there is a great spiritual war waging around us even as we speak. As such, we are commanded to be warriors in God’s army. Soldiers armed against the Enemy’s attacks, and at the ready with our spiritual weapons. And some of the greatest ammunition we have is prayer.


There are some who definitely have God’s anointing when it comes to prayer. They pray easily, fervently, and persistently. Their prayers are filled with complete assuredness that God will answer their pleas. But for others, prayer doesn’t some so easily. To them prayer may feel awkward, or they worry they’re doing it wrong. Still others are too proud or too ashamed to come before the Lord. But God calls all Christians to pray; with no exceptions. So how do we strengthen our prayer lives and become mighty warriors? 


John tells us that the first step is knowing God’s will. To do this, we need to be reading His Word. For in it He has revealed to us who He is, and what He wants. And the more time we spend in the scriptures, the more in harmony our hearts and minds will be in praying according to God’s will. Next we are to have complete confidence that God not only listens to such prayers, but when they align with His plans, have faith they will be answered every time. 


Prayer is an unbreakable bond between us and God. There is no special formula, ritual, or words that have to be said. All God wants is for us to come to Him in complete and humble faith. Through the blood of Jesus Christ we have unlimited access to the Father and His throne. And He wants to hear from us! James 4:2 tells us we don’t have, because we don’t ask. So today I challenge you to ask! Go to God in prayer. Give to Him your heart and all it holds. And have unshakable faith that if it is His will, He will see it done! 


And don't forget to head over to our Facebook group to join the discussion at https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenintheword2

Confidence

Lord, Teach Us To Pray {Luke 11}

5:00 PM




Monday Jan. 20, Walking in Wisdom 


During His ministry, Jesus would often slip away to spend time alone with God. From afar, His disciples would watch the Lord pray; witnessing firsthand the strength, comfort, and joy He received from those prayers. Wanting the same for themselves, they approached Jesus as He was, “praying in a certain place”. And after He had finished, one of the disciples came to Him asking, “Lord, teach us to pray”. (vs. 1) And so Jesus began by first instructing them what to say, giving what is known as the “Lord’s Prayer”. The perfect prayer model for Christians to follow.

Jesus begins with, “When you pray, say:” 

“Our Father in Heaven”-In reverence, we are to acknowledge God for who He is and our relationship to Him. 

“Hallowed Be Thy Name”-Hallowed means sacred. We are to give the holy name of the Father the esteem and respect it alone deserves.

“Thy Kingdom Come. Thy Will Be Done On Earth As It Is In Heaven”-We are to earnestly pray not only for the return of Jesus and the establishment of His kingdom on earth, but also for the will of God to be done everywhere.

“Give Us Each Day Our Daily Bread”-God cares about every aspect of our lives, both big and small. We are to pray that He will provide for our physical needs.

“And Forgive Us Our Trespasses, As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us”-Daily we need forgiveness. We are to pray that God will both pardon the sins we commit against Him, and give us the strength to extend that same pardon to those who sin against us. 

“And Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From The Evil One”-Each day Satan plots ways in which to get us sinning against God. We are to pray for both protection from the Enemy and the strength to stand against his attacks.

Next, Jesus, through the parable of the friend in need, tells us to pray with persistence. Persistence got the man at the door what he wanted, and of persistent prayer Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.” (vs. 9) 

Finally, we are instructed us to pray with childlike confidence. Jesus says that since we expect good things from our earthly fathers, we should pray with the expectation of even greater things from our Father in heaven. “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (vs. 13)

Prayer is a fundamental part of the Christian Faith. It helps us to grow in our personal relationship with God and enables us to receive that same strength, comfort, and joy as Jesus received. Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God.” Have you come before God in prayer and are waiting for His answer? Don’t give up. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. For God may not answer our prayers right away, and He may not give us the answer we want, but God will indeed answer. 


1 John

ASK IN CONFIDENCE!

9:00 PM

ASK IN CONFIDENCE!




Welcome to Scripture Saturday!

Today we are memorizing 1 John 5:14 and 15…

And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.

Here is the amplified version…

This is the [remarkable degree of] confidence which we [as believers are entitled to] have before Him: that if we ask anything according to His will, [that is, consistent with His plan and purpose] He hears us. And if we know [for a fact, as indeed we do] that He hears and listens to us in whatever we ask, we [also] know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted to us] the requests which we have asked from Him.

Confident, abiding faith combined with God’s power can produce amazing results, if the request is in harmony with God’s will. God is fully capable of doing what we may regard as impossible.

John outlines in these verses three keys to effective prayer:
  1. ask for anything
  2. seek according to God’s will
  3. knock until He hears

If God has given each of His children the ability to pray for anything, it only follows that He expects us to rightly use this power of prayer to accomplish His great and glorious will. 

Commit yourself to prayer. What practical steps can you make to make your life count for Him? Ask the Lord to train you to pray and be prepared for an wonderful journey with your hand in His!


Have a blessed and precious day everyone!

1 John

Praying According to God's will {1 John 5}

3:33 AM


BORN AGAIN OR NOT?


Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

What are the signs in your life that God has caused you to be born again? 

Evidences of the New Birth according to 1 John

* Those who are born of God keep his commandments. {1 John 2:3-4, 1 John 3:24}
* Those who are born of God walk as Christ walked. {1 John 2:5-6}
* Those who are born of God don't hate others but love them {1 John 2:9 ,1 John 3:14, 1 John 4:7-8, 1 John 4:20}
* Those who are born of God don't love the world {1 John 2:15}
* Those who are born of God confess the Son and receive (have) him. {1 John 2:23,1 John 4:15,1 John 5:12}
* Those who are born of God practice righteousness. {1 John 2:29}
* Those who are born of God don’t make a practice of sinning. {1 John 3:6, 1 John 3:9-10,  1 John 5:18}
* Those who are born of God possess the Spirit of God.{1 John 3:24, 1 John 4:13}
* Those who are born of God listen submissively to the apostolic Word. {1 John 4:6}
* Those who are born of God believe that Jesus is the Christ.{1 John 5:1}
* Those who are born of God overcome the world. {1 John 5:4}

Nevertheless, mistakenly we tend to make two conclusions based on these verses:

“If you’re born again, you’re perfect. If you’re born again you don’t sin at all. There is no defeat in the Christian life. There is only victory.”

" we can loose our salvation. That is, we can be born again for a while and then begin to fail in these tests and die and lose the spiritual life that we were given in the new birth."

But John knew that his words could be misunderstood, so he explains further that Christians are not sinless, and born-again people cannot lose their spiritual life and be lost.

He says in 1 John 1:8-10, “If we say we have no sin [present tense], we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins [present tense], he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” So John is at pains to say that “walking in the light” (1:7) does not mean walking flawlessly. It means that, when you stumble, the light of Christ causes you to see it and hate it and confess it and move forward with Christ.

1 John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

Jesus never promised that obeying him would be easy. But the hard work and discipline of serving Christ is no burden to those who love him. And if our load starts to feel heavy, we can always entrust Christ to help us bear it  {Matthew 11:28-30}

PRAYING ACCORDING TO GOD'S WILL




1 John 5 vs 14 and 15 teach us about prayer and God's will.

It is only when we know God's will for our lives that we can certainly ask for those things boldly.

In everyday situations when we are unsure whether something will be God's will or not {specially because we don't have a Bible verse to back up our specific petition} we must pray that His will is done and not ours. 

Another  thing to consider when praying for God's will in our lives is his timing. Many times we can pray for something that is the will of God, but until His timing is right in our lives we will not see the physical manifestation for our answer.

To ponder:

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:11) If you have the word of God to back up your requests, stand in faith and persevere in prayer until you see the results. But remember, real faith causes us to enter the rest of God, so waiting on Him should be a pleasant experience, not one of frustration and depression :-)

LET'S PRAY

God, thanks so much for the confidence we have that if we ask anything in Your name, according to Your will and in agreement with Your plan your are always faithful to listen and hear us (1 John 5:14)

boldness

12:00 AM

WITH BOLDNESS AND CONFIDENCE!


Welcome to Scripture Saturday!

Today we are memorizing Hebrews 4:16…

Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the the proper time.

And again in the amplified version…

Therefore let us [with privilege] approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favor] with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find [His amazing] grace to help in time of need [an appropriate blessing, coming just at the right moment].

Oh how rich this verse is!

Time and time again I have witnessed, have personally experienced, this amazing mercy and grace in my time of need and most recently which I’d like to share…

My husband, Rick, is not a believer, yet knows of my faith in Christ, my desire to follow Him in all things and to pray to Him for all things (including for him).  Recently, we made the decision that it would be best to move his mother from where she is to closer to us into an assistant living situation. We both knew that convincing her would not be easy. She loves her independence, yet requires much help because of illness and age, and being far from home that made it difficult. Rick needed to visit her and present our case. So I called upon my prayer warriors - my Christian sisters!  I and my sisters approached the throne of grace with boldness and confidence without fear and prayed that God would go before Rick arrives and soften his mother’s heart.  And of course, our Father came running to the rescue! She immediately said yes-no hesitation! Our Father reached down to Rick, his mother and I, and touched us with His grace! Praised Him! Glory to God! I believe in my heart that Rick experienced how important prayer is, and how God can come and bless us through our prayers, confidence in Christ, and His love, at just the right moment! What a great testimony of His faithfulness!

I know that we all have testimonies like mine.  I pray that we all experience ,on a daily basis, through our prayers and supplications, His great mercy and grace!


Have a blessed and precious day everyone!

 ___________________________________
I'd like to personally invite you to join me and a wonderful, eclectic group of women from all over the world on a Facebook site we call, Women in the Word . We are currently traveling through the entire New Testament - one chapter a day! It has been such an incredibly journey which we want to share with you! 

So, if you've ever wanted to know more of what God's Word has to say about everything, and meet and make new friends from all over the world, come join us by clicking on this link . 
There will always be someone there to welcome you! Oh! And please feel free to invite others!

Confidence

Confidence {Philippians 3}

12:30 AM

By Lisa Thayer

I love how Paul begins this chapter with all his credentials.  He lists his upbringing, his nationality, his family background, inheritance, orthodoxy, activity and morality.  Paul was someone others looked up to.  However, his conversion (Acts 9) was not based on what he had done, but on God’s grace.  Even the most impressive credentials fall short of God’s holy standard.  No one can add anything to Christ’s offer of salvation by grace through faith.  What a believer does is a result of faith, not a prerequisite of faith.

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Last week I shared with you about my ‘rut season.’  While in my rut, I was reflecting on things from the past and it challenged me to become better.  I have longed for unity for a long time.  Only the unity I was desiring was for others to be unified with me.  Pride was leading me for a long time and I had some expectations of other people and it only left me disappointed.

But, God is so generous and He showed me that my desire for unity was His!  To be unified with Him.  I’ll tell you that since realizing this truth, I just want to share this grace with anyone.  Just like Paul, everything else is just garbage.  My possessions, my education, my home, my job.  “I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, because like him in his death, and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”  (v. 10-11)

God wants us to embrace the life He has prepared for us, not resist it, not just tolerate it, not just endure it.  Embrace it!

How can we embrace this life?  By relinquishing our own lives to Him.  I certainly had different ideas for how things would work out.  I’ve thought that each of my children would be a bit different.  I thought that my home life would be different as well as my vocation.  We have to practice, or better yet, exercise our faith every day, by reaching forward – not behind – by reaching forward and walking in faith.

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So many people are not much different from year to year.  They stay entrapped by sin, they remain in bondage, more guilty and more fearful.  But I can testify that God’s grace is enough!  I may have been caught off guard by the changes in my life, but God’s grace is enough.  Nothing that has happened in this season of my rut has caught God off guard.  He’s even known about how painful it has been.  But you cannot go anywhere without God’s goodness and mercy and grace following you everywhere you go.  I have found that anything that causes me to need the Lord, anything that presses me closer to His heart, is a blessing.  Anything that makes us more conformed to the image of Jesus is a blessing.  And if Jesus learned obedience through the things which He suffered, do you think we can become like Jesus – become obedient servants and children of the Lord – without suffering?!?

There are no shortcuts as we embrace the cross.  We may have to endure the fire, but Christ will be there with us and He will bring us out without a hair being singed.  He will deliver us in His way and His time.

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