Worshipping the Lord

“Jesus answered, ‘ Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.’” ( John 13:10 ).   * “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son cleanses us all from sin” ( 1 John 1:7 ). When we come in faith to Jesus Christ, our Saviour, we receive complete  cleansing – “The vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.” ”Every sin had to go ‘neath the cleansing flow.”    * “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, keeps on cleansing us from all sin” ( 1 John 1:7 ). Coming to Christ and receiving the forgiveness of our sins is just the beginning of our walk in God. Through faith in our Saviour, we become God’s children. Becoming God’s children through faith in Christ is the beginning of our new life in Christ. God is calling us to grow in Christ. He is calling us to become mature believers. How are we to grow in Christ? How ar...

"His dominion shall be ... to the ends of the earth" ( Zechariah 9:10 ). God's purpose was moving on. He had begun with Israel. Their deliverance from bondage in Egypt was a mighty demonstration of His saving power. This was only the beginning. God was moving on to Jesus - "the Saviour of the world" ( John 4:42 ). In Jesus Christ, crucified for us, God was reaching out, in love, to "the whole world" ( 1 John 2:2 ). The Gospel is not only for the Jews: "It is it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek" ( Romans 1:16 ). Jesus is calling us, His redeemed people - empowered by the Holy Spirit - to take His message of salvation to the ends of the earth: "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" ( Acts 1:8 ).

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).  These are tremendous words of faith. They lift our eyes above “our light and momentary troubles.” They set our eyes on the “eternal glory.” When we see our times of suffering in this eternal perspective, our hearts are encouraged in the Lord. Our suffering isn’t the last word. God’s eternal glory is – and we will share in His eternal glory – “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! … Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be li...

" Don’t love the world and what it offers. Those who love the world don’t have the Father’s love in them. 16  Not everything that the world offers—physical gratification, greed, and extravagant lifestyles—comes from the Father. It comes from the world, and 17  the world and its evil desires are passing away. But the person who does what God wants lives forever " (1 John 2:15-17). There are two ways of living - the world's and the Lord's. Each of us must choose how we're going to live. What is most important to us - getting on in the world or  pleasing the Lord?

"The One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). Do not underestimate Satan - he has great power, but make sure that you never overestimate him. Christ is greater than Satan - and Christ in us! We should respect the power of Satan - he can do great harm, but we need not fear Satan. Christ is greater than Satan - and Christ is in us!  "Faith is the victory that overcomes the world" (1 John 5:4). Jesus has won the victory.  He gives His victory to us. We receive His victory by faith. For Jesus, the pathway to victory was the way of the Cross. We will be led in the pathway of victory, as we learn to follow Jesus. He calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him ( Luke 9:23).

1 John 1:1-2:17 We thank You, Lord, that Your Son, “Jesus Christ” died “for our sins” (1 John 2:1-2). This is Good News. It’s great news! It’s the best news we could ever hear – and it comes from You. What love You have for us. Help us not to keep this love to ourselves. Help us to share the Good News – “the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). 1 John 2:18-3:18 We thank You, Lord, for Your gift of “eternal life” (1 John 2:24-25). Our enjoyment of eternal life has already begun – “We are God’s children now.” Our full enjoyment of eternal life is still to come – “It does not yet appear what we shall be” (1 John 3:2). Here-and-now, help us to experience Christ’s victory: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Help us to look beyond the here-and-now, to look ahead to our full enjoyment of Christ’s victory – “When He appears, we shall be like Him” (1 John 3:2). 1 John 3:19-4:21 “God is gr...