
1 John 1 (HCSB)
Prologue: Our Declaration
1 What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we have observed
and have touched with our hands,
concerning the Word of life—
2 that life was revealed,
and we have seen it
and we testify and declare to you
the eternal life that was with the Father
and was revealed to us—
3 what we have seen and heard
we also declare to you,
so that you may have fellowship along with us;
and indeed our fellowship is with the Father
and with His Son Jesus Christ.
4 We are writing these things
so that our joy may be complete.
Fellowship with God
5 Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 6): Lord, please forgive me for saying for so long that I was following You, when I was really trying to do things mostly on my own; being weak to the flesh.
PROMISE (verse 9): You promise us that if we confess our sins that You are always faithful in forgiving us.
ATTITUDE (verse 6): Father, please help me to stop having a flesh and sin driven attitude. Help me to walk in Your truth!
COMMAND (verses 7 & 9): You command us to not only walk in fellowship with You, but also to confess our sins to You.
EXAMPLE (verse 7): Help me, Father, to always seek and walk in Your light so that I may be cleansed of my sins and have Godly fellowship with others.
*DAILY NOTE: I have struggled so much ever since I was saved in my walk with Jesus and remaining faithful and consistent. I am so grateful that God is merciful and full of grace, because the flesh and sin is so much easier to give into than being faithful yet being faithful is so much more rewarding than giving into the flesh and sin. The "reward" for giving into the flesh and sin is never fulfilling and always extremely short-term and typically in the moment. The "reward" for being faithful to the Lord is ever-lasting and definitely worth every bit of sacrifice that may be needed in order to stay in His will and glorify Him. Help me, Father, to always stay in Your will! Combat the enemy!
*GENERAL NOTE: I always "sandwich" my quiet time with God in prayer and do it in a location that I will not have any distractions so that I can be focused on my quiet time with God. Do not worry about how short or long your journal entries are for that day's quiet time. Just focus on the actual quiet time and relational conversation with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word. The journaling is an enhancement to your quiet time conversation with God, but also to allow you to reflect on things later as you can look back on your journal entries later when you do the chapters again in the future to see how you have grown. See the FAQ for more detail on how I do my quiet time.
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