For Reading and Meditation:      1 John 4:17-21;5:1-12Although the love of God is clearly laid out in the Old Testament, why did humankind have to wait so long to have the message spelled out in such clear terms as John uses: God is love? People could not see this sufficiently clearly until they had looked into the face of Jesus. In the life of Jesus is the clearest revelation that God is love. So few of us open ourselves to the love of God. We have more fear of Him than we have love for Him. There is, of course, a godly fear (or reverence), but that is not what I mean. If we fail to comprehend how much we are loved by God, then there will be no energy to turn the machinery of our lives in the way they were meant to turn. When I was a young Christian, whenever I doubted the love of God I was told I should go to Calvary. I never quite understood what that meant until one day I complained to God that He couldn't really love me; if He did, He wouldn't let such things happen as were befalling me. He gave me no answer but showed me the Cross. And as I saw His Son dying there for me, the scales fell from my eyes and I found love for Him flowing out of His love for me. I discovered what the verse at the top of this page meant: "We love because he first loved us." Love for God is not the fruit of labor but the response of our hearts to being loved. It is not something we manufacture; it is something we receive.O God my Father, save me from believing that my problem is I don't love You enough, when the real problem is I don't know how much I am loved by You. Let the scales fall from my eyes right now and let me see - really see. In Jesus' Name. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>John 19:16-30</li><li>Ephesians 2:15-16</li><li>Colossians 1:19-22</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What is the result of the Cross?</li><li>Spend some moments in prayer contemplating the Cross.</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"We love because he first loved us." (v. 19) 

This is the testimony: that God has 
given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. (1 John 5:11)

Christ is never proved to be alive from the 
dead, nor to be Lord, by doctrinal statements. Your statement of faith may 
include the fact that you believe Jesus died and rose again, ascended to heaven, 
and is at the right hand of the Majesty on High, but how are you going to prove 
your statement? What has God given as the evidence of that? You may believe it; 
you may be willing to lay down your life for that faith; you may state it with 
tremendous emphasis, and yet you are not thereby proving it. You will never 
prove anything by saying: "I believe with all my might that this is the case!" 
You will never prove a thing by standing up and declaring it as something which 
you believe. You will never prove a thing by saying: "I believe in all the 
fundamentals of the Christian faith!" and calling yourself by some name which 
indicates that you believe in the inspiration of the Bible. Nothing is ever 
proved in that way. Reducing the whole matter to these two points – that Jesus 
Christ has been raised from the dead, and is Lord of all – you have still to 
prove your statement after you have made it. If you have appealed to the fact 
that the Word of God says so, even then you have proved nothing. Your proof can 
never be by argument, because what argument can build up, argument can pull down, 
and what logic can construct, logic can destroy.

How, then, are you going to prove that this is so? By the expression and 
manifestation of His risen Life, that is all – but it is a mighty "all!" That 
signifies that you are the embodiment of the thing which you declare – that 
besides the doctrinal statement there is the living expression. Thus the 
resurrection and the lordship of Jesus are bound up with this expression which 
is called the "testimony." The testimony is not a system of truth. It is that 
extra factor to the statement and presentation of truth which is the power of a 
Life which conquers death. How, then, will you prove that Jesus has conquered 
death? The proof of it will be a death-conquering Life that expresses itself in 
you.

This devotional contains short daily portions from a selection of Mr. Austin-Sparks' messages. In his own words, “Perhaps this is just like a window opened into heaven. If you get the right window you can see quite a lot. You can see great things and you can see far things. But the best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal to all that ever was before!” Open Windows messages have been selected and compiled by Austin-Sparks.Net from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the editor and did not always appear within the original message.

Open Windows

The Battle For Life - Chapter 5

 The Death-Conquering Life 

This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. (1 John 5:11 NIV)
It entirely depends upon our 
apprehension of the Lord as to what our testimony is. If we are turning to 
teaching, to tradition, to interpretations, to human associations, to 
Christianity, we are going to miss something, but if we are turning to the 
living God, in the realization that He is the living God, we are going to come 
into Life; everything is going to be all living in our experience right from the 
beginning. It is not unnecessary to say a thing like that. We said at the outset 
we wake up, and some of us awoke too late. The thing that kept us asleep – 
though we did not know we were asleep, except that there was a restlessness, a 
sense of dissatisfaction, a turning from side to side, and a sighing and 
groaning – was the fact that we had been associated with Christianity and the 
things of the people of God from so early in our lives. Our Christianity and our 
relationship with the Lord was something into which we were brought in infancy, 
and it had all become a matter of a system of the things of the Lord around us, 
with which we were quite familiar. We had been taught to say prayers, and go to 
meetings, and so on. One day we awoke to the fact that this God was a living 
God. We had been associated with Him in a way for a long time, but He was not 
personal to us, not a living God. 
Forgive me for going back to 
such an elementary stage, if it is necessary to ask forgiveness, for it is just 
possible there are some among us whose relationship is of that kind. Maybe you 
are associated with things related to the Lord, but what about this question of 
your own personal, inward enjoyment of the living God, of His really being to 
you a living Person? We must begin back there, and all this is nothing to you 
unless the Holy Spirit has made it real, or does make it real, in your 
experience. I do know that it is true to fact in the life of a great many, that 
the day comes when, though they have been associated with the things of the Lord 
for a long time, they suddenly wake up to the fact that the Lord is a living 
Person. That contains so much for us as we come to realize it. It means 
everything to us from every point of view. We are the Lord's now! We know the 
Lord!

The Living God

 Knowing Him 

God commanded the man, … “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” § She took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. § If by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. § Since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. § Our Savior Jesus Christ … has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. § For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 I have come that they may have life, and that  they may have it more abundantly. 

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. § God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. § For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. § When He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. § It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. § He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. § As the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will … For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. § In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Happy is the man who finds wisdom … Length of days is in her right hand … She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her. § Christ Jesus … became for us wisdom.

Evening Daily Light

 The tree of life. 

As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself … As the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. § I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep … I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father. § No one comes to the Father except through Me. § He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. § For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

 God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 

11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life,<cr>1</cr> and this life is in his Son.<cr>2</cr>

1 John 5:11

 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life,   and this life is in his Son.  

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life,  and this life is in his Son. 

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life,   and this life is in his Son.  

Bible Verse of the Day

December 22, 2023

1 John 5:11 NIV

Verse by Verse Bible Study

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