Day 339 Bible Readings – 1 John 5: 14-15 (ESV)

Daniel 12, 1 John 5: 1-21, Proverbs 22: 28-29, Proverbs: 23: 1-9

1 John 5: 14-15 (ESV)

“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.”

In verses 14 and 15 from 1 John 5, John tells us that we can ask anything of God because of our belief in Jesus Christ. We just need to ask anything of God in prayer and ask according to his will. We also need to have confidence that God will hear us, and our prayers will be answered if they are part of God’s will. Many folks who have commented on these Bible verses say that we need to pray to God about everything in our life because God cares about everything in our life.

I think that what is interesting in these verses is we need to ask for things that are part of God’s will, so we need to discern what is God’s will. If we think about and try to discern what God’s will is for our life, then our prayers for what we want will be quite different. I always try to add to my prayer request to let me know if this is God’s will, and if not, for God and the Holy Spirit to help me discern his will for my life. But it is probably a better idea to try and discern God’s will before praying for something, so you have a better chance of your prayers being answered.

Day 338 Bible Readings – 1 John 4: 18-19 (ESV)

Daniel 11, 1 John 4: 7-21, Proverbs 22: 17-27

1 John 4: 18-19 (ESV)

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.”

In verses 18 and 19 from 1 John 4, John tells us about the transformative love of Jesus Christ. Christ died for us – his is a perfect love for humanity, for us. Because Jesus loves us with a perfect love, we will not have fear in our life. God loves us so much that we need not feel the fear of punishment of our sin, because Christ died for our sins.

I think it’s hard sometimes to not fear God. We want to please God so much and when we fail, we think God will punish us. But God isn’t like our human parents. God’s love for us is perfect. God never wants us to be afraid of him because he wants us be happy.

Day 337 Bible Readings – I John 4: 1 (ESV)

Daniel 9 & 10, 1 John 4: 1-6, Proverbs 22: 7-16

I John 4: 1 (ESV)

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

Verse 1 from 1 John 4 is good advice that we cannot believe or assume that every spiritual experience or demonstration of spiritual power is from God. This scenario is one of the few times we can test the Holy Spirit to ascertain whether the spirit is from God.

I love listening to prophetic voices. I find the phenomenon of prophecy so interesting, but I don’t think we can assume that all prophecies are from God. We need to observe and question whether the prophecies are in line with Biblical teachings. If the prophecy is not in line in what is being said in the Bible, we need to step back and pray for discernment. I think it also helps if we cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit daily, so we can ask the Holy Spirit what they think of the prophecy and the prophetic voice who is speaking it. I think if the prophecy feels just a little bit off, we need to step away and pray for discernment. God is the only one who can judge, so we need to pray and ask God to help us determine if the prophecy is even worth paying attention to and acted upon.

Day 336 Bible Readings – Proverbs 22: 6 (ESV)

Daniel 8, 1 John 3: 11-24, Proverbs 21: 27-31, Proverbs 22: 1-6

Proverbs 22: 6 (ESV)

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Verse 6 from Proverbs 22 reminds me to be grateful to my mom. She loved Christ and tried to instill in me a love of Christ from a very young age. I grew up going to church and watching her pray and trying to be a good person of faith. She didn’t always succeed, but she tried. That early teaching to love God came back to me as I grew older. I don’t think that feeling of loving God ever left me fully, but it took a back seat for many years of my life. And when the timing was right, those early memories of loving God came back and reminded me that God was always there for me in m life.

I thank my mom and all moms for never hiding their love of Christ from their children. Your love of God will influence your children for the rest of their lives.