September 15 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

1 John 4:

¹Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
²Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
³And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
⁴Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
⁵They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
⁶We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
⁷Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
⁸He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
⁹In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
¹⁰Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
¹²No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
¹³Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
¹⁴And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
¹⁵Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
¹⁶And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
¹⁷Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
¹⁸There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
¹⁹We love him, because he first loved us.
²⁰If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
²¹And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Devotional

How God ever could love us is beyond our understanding. By nature we are his enemies. How any one can love an enemy is incomprehensible to us. But God did just that. "When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." In other words, God loved us, his enemies, so much, that He gave his only Son to die for us. Who can grasp that? But John does not say: We have comprehended the love that God has to us; but, "We have known and believed" it. We know it, when it "is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." "Not that we loved God, but that he loved us." We love him, because He first loved us. We believe it, though we do not fully understand it. And if we love God, we also love our brethren. Love of God and love to the brother go together. "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar." "And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also." And "if we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us." "Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love."

Prayer

Our loving heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the right, the privilege of being called the sons of God. O what manner of love Thou didst bestow upon us, when Thou didst receive us as Thy children! Now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when our Saviour shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as He is. For this we thank Thee. May we then renounce the world and the things in the world, and look forward to the things that eye hath not seen; when we shall awake with Thy likeness, and shall be satisfied. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: Rom. 5:10; 5:5; 1 John 4:10, 19-21; John 4:12; 1 John 4:7-9.

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