Challenge: This week, practice confessing your sin as soon as it happens. Ask God to reveal your sin to you and be faithful to confess it to Him and to others right away. Take note of how this affects your attitude and actions around sin, and also your understanding and belief in God’s grace.
Today’s Scripture: 1 John 1:1-4 (S.O.A.P verse 4)
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
S: 1John 1:4 Thus we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete
O: John’s statement reveals that we can have joy but that it may be incomplete. In the previous verses he writes of the Word of life, eternal life, and fellowship with them – and with the Father … And that he is writing all of this so that their joy might be complete
A: This is a good reminder that my JOY, true JOY, comes from fellowship with the Lord and with His people … the question I must ask myself daily – is do I want to be JOY-FULL or settle for an incomplete joy?
P: Father thank you for Your Word of truth and the Spirit’s faithfulness to teach us – to remind us that Your desire is for us to have COMPLETE JOY. Help me to live to this end – chasing after you, staying in constant and faithful fellowship with you rather than seeking after the joy the world has to offer. Help to remember it will never fill me up.
“John heard Jesus speak words of life with his own ears, saw His glory with his own eyes, and touched His resurrected body with his own hands. He knew Jesus was the real deal. He wanted everyone to experience the same joy planted deep in his heart.” From the LGG Blog
Check out today’s full blog post by the LGG team at https://lovegodgreatly.com/joy-multiplied/
I think of the word Abide when I read these verses. Abide – to live, continue, or remain in. To abide in Christ is to live in him or remain in him. If we do this we won’t be tempted to sway to false teaching and therefore lose our joy. A Christian’s joy is not found in the things of this world. The loss of joy is a great loss and we must do all we can to draw closer to God and reclaim that fullness of joy. The result of fellowship is fullness of joy.
Doubt is a joy killer.
Fellowship begets joy.
Jeanne, I love that perspective – and I think the more we know what steals our joy the more prepared we are to not let it happen