Month: April 2022

Scripture: 3 John 1:11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.

Observation: What would the people around me say to what I am imitating? Would they say I’m a good man or someone to stay away from? I want to imitate good, but my sinful ways get in the way and I look at what I want instead of what God wants of me.

Application: I need to make up my mind and each day do what is good. If people can’t see me as good and a child of God then my life is meaningless or worse a life that repels people away from my Lord. I need to do good for God and not self-recognition. I’m too busy trying to please myself I forget why I’m here as God’s servant.

Prayer: Dear Lord guide me to do good in your sight. May I be a light in this world that leads others to you. Keep these evil thoughts from me and give me a loving spirit and keep me on course. May I reflect the life of your Son that others may draw nearer to you.

Scripture: 2 John 1: [6] And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

Observation: If I love God the way I say, I will walk in obedience. If you love someone you want to honor them and want them to feel loved. God only asks that I obey Him and His commands are for my own good. He created me and without Him I don’t exist, but He wants more He wants me to stick around forever with Him and He has given me a charge in this world to obey and bear fruit and to help others on the same road as He put me on.

Application: I need to continue to read God’s word so that I know all of His commands. Then I most set out each day to be obedient in everything that I do. God’s commands are not difficult he wants me to love him with all of my heart, mind and soul and to love others as I love myself. I have a great example in Jesus on how to live my life here and how to get prepared for my new home with Him.

Prayer: My Lord I want and need to be a better servant to you. Make your commands clear to my heart and that I will not just simply obey but be obedient with joy and love knowing that I serve you.

Scripture: 1 John 5:[3] This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,

Observation: I tell God that I love Him each day, but talk is cheap. God has told me that He loves me and has given His son to take my place so that I may have eternal life with Him, but how Have I shown my love. When God calls me to act do I do it right away or is there some reasoning on my part? I’m God’s servant and when He commands me I must do what He asks with no question or hesitation. There is nothing He asks that is burdensome, usually there is such a wonderful blessing I should be to the point I can’t wait until He commands me each day.

Application: I’ll never be able to pay back God for all He has done for me and I should be anxious for any opportunity to obey. I know my God loves me, but does my God know that love Him. Seeing how I obey Him normally doesn’t show a loving heart, but a selfish sinner. My life needs to be devoted to doing the things God calls me to do and nothing else.

Prayer: My Father I do love you and forgive me for not showing it at times. You ask so little of me I should be just waiting for your command. Help me be a better servant for you. Your every command should be my wish and honor to do.

Scripture: 1 John 4: [20] If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

Observation: I realize I have a difficult time loving others. My first thoughts normally are negative and during the course of a day I’m thinking hateful thoughts of some people I know. A day doesn’t seem to pass when I think how much I dislike someone, but that shouldn’t matter God commands me to love everyone. God loves me and I have done some terrible things to his children over the years, yet it doesn’t seem to affect the way he cares and loves me. Wouldn’t it be something to be able to love others the way God loves us.

Application: As soon as I think negative about someone I need to think of how God loves me. God doesn’t ask me to just tolerate others, but to love them to put their needs above my own and there is no limitation to whom. If I stop focusing on myself and focus on God and all He has done for me and to see others as God’s children I could love them. The reason I don’t is because I’m comparing them to me or how they affect me and that should have nothing to do with it, I’m called by my Father to love and with His help I can do it.

Prayer: My Lord I know you love me, yet I have no idea why. I know you are love and you call me to this same purpose, but I need your help. I’m a sinner and so many times I let the enemy in. I need your protection and guidance to make it through this life in a way that will please you. Fill my heart and mind with love for others and that the love will come from you.

Scripture: 1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Observation: God loves me so much He calls me His child. The creator of all the things, the lord and Master of all calls me His child. My thoughts wander all the times about what to do, hateful thoughts, misuse of the time God has blessed me with and hardly ever do I think of myself as God’s child. What a privilege I’ve been given, there is nothing greater on this earth or in all eternity to be the child of God. So why don’t I ponder on that? If I did the devil would never get a foothold on me and my thoughts I would be too busy thinking about my Father and not my own personal wants.

Application: I need to wake up every morning thinking of my Heavenly Dad and live a life that would please him. I remember as a child I wanted my earthly dad’s approval and love and rarely received it, but I know now that my true Father has given me everything I need to live a joyful life and a purposeful one. As much as I wanted my earthly father’s approval I must want my true Father’s approval and live a life with Him in the center of it.

Prayer: Good morning Dad. So strange that sounds and I don’t know why. Each morning you wake me up and watch over me during the day. You take care of all my needs and place joy in my heart. You protect me in a way that no one else could and have promised me a special home with you. You have never broken a promise and after all the terrible things that I have done, you never stopped loving me. I love you Dad and I thank you for not giving up on me.

Scripture: 1 John 2:9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.

Observation: I want to walk in the light, I teach a class at the church, I serve at church, I read my bible every day and do this journal so why am I still walking in the dark? Lately any thought I have about others is negative and if I let it, it grows to anger. Not only is my initial feeling negative, but it lingers with me to the point if I see that person again I’m mad at them for now reason. The way I think of others is the opposite of how Jesus would treat them or expect me to treat them.

Application: I need to be convicted right away if I feel poorly about someone and think right away of how Jesus would feel. All the love and grace He has given me and yet I can’ return the favor to others. I need to make the way I treat others a priority I must make a better effort to look at others as my brothers and sisters and children of the Lord.

Prayer: My Lord forgive me for being so mean and hurtful to others in my thoughts. I want to be kind and loving to others and be a representative for you but I’m a sinner. Help me repay the grace you have given me to others and that they would feel loved and important by the way I treat them and my thoughts towards them.

Scripture: 1 John 1: [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Observation: Am I walking in the light? If I am why am I so full of hate and anger at times. Why do I look at people in such a negative light and why isn’t my heart more bent in helping others instead of looking at my own needs. I should be able to look at others as Jesus would, yet my first reaction is to judge and look for something wrong in them. I’m walking on the wrong side of the street.

Application: I’m aware how I am and I need to change. There is no reason why I shouldn’t receive people as children of my Lord. I need to humble myself before my Lord and beg for forgiveness for the way I am and to ask for God’s help to be better.

Prayer: Forgive me Lord for the way I thought about Chelsea, the nurse at work, the way I treated Maritza when she asked for more turkey, the evil thoughts I have for Mark across the street and the way I place myself above others. Humble your servant for these are your children and should be treated with the love and respect they deserve. I love you Lord, help me be that man you desire me to be.