Day 6

1 John 2:6

Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.

What a dare! What a challenge! Whose ready to take up this challenge?

What does it take to "walk as Jesus did"?

- 1 John 1:5 - "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all....If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another..."

- 1 John 2:3 - "... obey his commands. The man who says 'I know Him' but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in him."

- 1 John 2: 15 - "Do not love the world or anything in the world... The world and its desires pass away but the man who does the will of God lives forever."

- 1 John 2:27 - "... remain in Him."

- 1 John 3:7 - "... he who does what is right is righteous."

- 1 John 3:11 - "... we should love one another."

- 1 John 3:18 - "Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

These are just a few. They don't sound too hard, but in this world, we have obstacles we need to face in order to stay faithful to walking as Jesus did.

-The world is darkness. 

-Satan is powerful.

-We were born with sin.

If we can take up this challenge, it's like fighting the right battle. We are fighting a battle that is worth fighting for and in the end we will be rewarded for it.

Day 4

2 Peter 3:15 

Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means s a l v a t i o n...

How amazing is that. God has extended his invitation for us into his kingdom and he is patiently waiting until those he has chosen to be with him eternally will finally turn their life around to choose eternal life for good.

Sometimes our memories need to be refreshed (1:13), to really remind ourselves that we are not the ones waiting for God to meet with us but instead God is waiting for us to finally go to him for everything instead of this world. He wants us to realize that after turning to every corner of this world, we will never find the life we want until we go to Him. He is giving us the time we need to reflect over our lives and what we need to do to use it to glorify him.  He wants us to realize that "His divine power has given us everything we need for life...(1:3)."

It's all written in the Bible, that we have to 

   "... make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. (2 Peter 1: 5)"

How much greater is that then to be "slaves of depravity -- for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. (2 Peter 2:19)". We want to be slaves to righteousness instead of slaves to sin. We want to add value into our lives and Jesus Christ is the only missing element needed for the value to be complete.

Now, people wonder and ask, God is real, and he breathed into men what to write into Scripture. But people are not perfect so they must've made a mistake when writing this holy book. Not so, because "for prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21)"

There is no way that everything in the Bible could've been a mistake. It was all written the way God intended it to be and just enough for us to understand the concept and just enough information to make us want to yearn for more and to learn more about the truth.

All that we need is in the Bible, and the Bible lets us know that the invitation of grace is extended out to us, how blessed are we!

Day 3

1 Peter 3: 15
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respsect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good beahavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

As I was reading this book, many things stood out to me, but this was in particular.
I remember back then people asked me, "Joan why are you always so happy?" and things of that nature. Or "Joan, why do you really believe in God and go to church every Sunday?"

I used to answer them very blankly. Not really knowing exactly why I did, I knew why but I didn't know how to put it in words. My response to them would be ... blank stare, clueless sort of... and say "Just cus." or ".. Because of God." But those were such vague answers, answers that can not show anyone why I really do what I do, how I feel how I feel and how God can be revealed through that.

So what is my real reason for hope that I have? While I was reading the chapter, I read it again a couple of times to understand the Bible's reason for hope, the reason to always do good and suffer for it.

1 Peter 2:25 --"...By his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."
1 Peter 4:3 --"For you have spend enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do..."

The 2 verses above speak about how we were before we had a relationship with God. We were like sheep going astray. We were doing things displeasing to God. And what I realized was that, none of that had purpose. It wasn't worth it although it was fun at the moment. Where was the value? What are we going to gain from that or how can we help others with that?

We want to "suffer for what is right (3:14)" and we will be blessed.

On top of that, after already knowing the truth, and knowing how important it is to live a holy life, 1 Peter 4:7 says to "be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray."
We have to turn away from things that keep us away from God, so that we are able to go with him just as we are, sincerely and earnestly to pray to God and ask him for his mercy and grace.

When we go to God and pray to him, we have the priviledge of "(5:7) Casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." Doesn't that make us feel so great, to know that we do have a God who truly cares for us.

Lastly, "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? (4:18)"

Man, hearing that kind of makes me scared. I remember someone once told me,
"Joan, if you were to turn bad, what would the rest of world be like."

God entrusted us to follow Him and the least we could do is that.

Day 2

James 5:11

As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered.

Only by faith and my dependence on God will I persevere the goal I have set for myself.

Just like Job persevered and have seen what the Lord had finally brought about. And just like Elijah who prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for three and a half year, then he prayed again and the heavens gave rain.

If we persevere and remain faithful, God will answer our prayers of faith and he will bless us.

Before having the need to persevere, we will have to face trials of many kinds. And this is all so that we may be refined by fire; that our faith may have greater worth than gold. This will prove that our faith is genuine. We need to "Be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:15).

Also if we can persevere in the small tasks God has entrusted us with, then we would definitely be able to overcome the larger ones, and of course, all through the power of God.

Day 1

1 John 5:5

Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

What am I thinking? That I can overcome the world on my own. That I, out of everyone else in the history of mankind can try to fight the world immediately and hope that it will be done. Obviously I learned that I am no where near strong enough because I am definitely using it with my own strength. The best solution: Run away. The Bible says "flee from evil desires."

I never realized how weak I am and how powerful this world is. "The world conquers and masters everyone who is born into it, for indeed we have been born in sin and 'shapen in iniquity'.

Psalm 51:5 -- "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my  mother conceived me."

This means the world is in us the moment we were born, how powerful. 

All this time, I come before God thinking, I'm righteous enough, I'm holy enough and there is not much farther I can strive, but no, "There is none righteous, no not one (Roman 3:10)". And I'm only starting to understand this concept now. The whole world is guilty before God (Romans 3:19), and now I really understand that yes I am definitely guilty before God, the more I search myself, the more is revealed, the sinful nature in me. 

We who believe in Jesus Christ, the son of God has this precious gift and it is called faith. We have the ability to exercise this faith and put it into practice. This faith is a force and strength and power that we do not have on our own but through God alone. 

And through this, we have and are overcoming the world.