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Wednesday 15 February 2017

The Third Chapter of the First Letter of St. John


The Third Chapter of the 

First Letter of 

St. John



¹ See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.


(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verse 1)



Oh God my Father if the world rejected You, it will also reject me, for if it did not listen to the Master it will not listen to the servant or slave. However, this does not discourage me as it did not discourage the apostles and disciples who kept on proclaiming Your name up to the last second of their life. I pray oh God that You give me that fighting spirit that is never discouraged but keeps on fighting in the sense of never stopping spreading Your name Amen.



² Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this; when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. ³ And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.



(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verses 2 to 3)





Oh God my Father this is the third beloved of the morning, and I really appreciate it, for it is best to be loved by You than by the world and its inhabitants. I crave for love at this point in time. I miss the moments when I directly heard Your voice even though I was scared out of my wits. I pray that day by day You continue to reveal Yourself to me my God and Father during these moments of prayer Amen. I thank You my dearly beloved God and Father Amen.



⁴ Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. ⁵ You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.



(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verses 4 to 5) 



 Oh God my Father we are aware of how pure and just You are, as much as we are aware of our own sins, even though we may not admit this especially in the presence of others. When I pray and meditate on the Bible my God and Father, I realize how good you are and how not good I still am.


 
⁶ No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him.



 (The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verse 6)



Oh God my Father, according to this biblical verse I do not have a relationship with You, which is not completely true, for even though I am a sinner You still want to have fellowship with me Amen.


⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. ⁸ Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 



 (The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verses 7 to 8)




Oh God my beloved Father, in truth I consider myself as being a grown up and an adult, however I am still a child in Your eyes. I thank You for accepting me as Your child, who depends on You alone for my care love and well-being Amen.




⁹ Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God's seed abides in them; they cannot sin, because they have been born of God



 (The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verse 9)




Oh God my beloved Father when I was born in the flesh I was born from a material seed that is purely flesh and matter, however, in time You gave me another opportunity to be born of the Spirit. However, these two natures clash within myself and there are times when my behavior is the fruit of the Spirit and at other times my behavior is that of the flesh. I pray that You help me overcome the flesh and subdue it to the Spirit Amen.



¹⁰ The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way; all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters."


(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verse 10) 



Oh God, my beloved Father how great is Your name. Even though I am not fully good in my ways, but You know that at least my intentions are well. Even though I wish to separate from my wife, this is not the fruit of hate but love, so that she would be compelled to work and be free from her online gaming addiction. On the other hand, my daughter would see the model of a working mother instead of a gamer. My two goals would be reached with one intervention. I thank You for such a plan my God and Father Amen. 


¹¹ For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 


(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verse 11)


Oh God, my Father I am aware that if we could not reach this goal of loving each other You would not have ordered us to do so. However since our human nature is as it is, this is not an easy task to accomplish. For to love really and truly as You did means to go against my egotistic nature and be an all giving person to others especially to my wife. However, when that person has hurt me so much it will be only with Your love and grace that I manage to accomplish such a goal, which I feel so weak and cold to do so at the moment. Amen. I feel so decided on starting a new life as a separated person that I do not even feel motivated to love her. I am very sorry my God and Father.



¹² We must not be like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.



(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verse 12) 



Oh God my beloved Father, I believe that as humans, we have both the Abel and the Cain inside of us, however, at times we permit Abel to take control while at other times we let Cain take full control. I pray that it is the power of Your Holy Spirit that takes full control and not ourselves Amen. 


¹³ Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters, that the world hates you.


(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verse 13)


Oh God, my beloved Father, I am getting used to people who hate me because I have this blog and because I spend time in prayer with You. Every time a quarrel takes place, such as that which I had with my wife's father, he insulted me because of my life of prayer, but I am not dismayed for I find my refuge in You and I know how precious these moments of prayer are for me Amen. 


¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death


(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verse 14)


Oh God my beloved Father according to John I am living in a state of death, for I  have no love left for my wife and even for my daughter. I have many hurts that are blocking me from loving them, and this is what makes it more difficult, On the other hand even though I get angry when I think of them if I see somebody hurt them in any way in my presence I would turn a blind eye on them. Therefore in a way I still love them but for my own good, I cannot live under the same roof with them Amen. 


¹⁵ All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them.



(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verse 15)


Oh God, my Father, hate is a negative trait. At times I feel so angry at my wife that I say that I hate her, however, it is this hurt that speaks, because I still feel injured by her actions. Moreover, I still feel angry when I see her, I pray to You to help me control my feelings and heal my wounds Amen.


¹⁶ We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us-and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.



(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verse 16)



Oh God my beloved Father, at this stage of my life, I have never been tested as to lay down my life for others, I am currently preserving my well being from the onslaughts of others. I pray that if and when I am faced with this test You find me ready for it. 


¹⁷ How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?


(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verse 17)


Oh God, my beloved Father, even though I am still a sinful person struggling every day to overcome my sinful self, I still do my best and go out of my way to help and be of service to others. I thank You and praise Your holy Name for giving such a quality even to a sinful person such as myself Amen.


¹⁸ Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.


(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verse 18)


Oh God my blessed Father, it is not good enough to say I love You on valentine's day, only and not meaning it, but for the sake of saying it to the one says I love. It is the action that proves how much one really loves. There is a saying that love hurts and another that says love until its hurt. True love is in giving and not in receiving. May we all aim for this type of love so that we become more like You Amen.


¹⁹ And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will treasure our hearts before him ²⁰ whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.


(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verses 19 to 20)


Oh God my Father, You know that I try to be in the truth and that even though I am still weak in flesh You know that my spirit craves to experience You. I pray that You speak to my heart so that I will remain in Your truth Amen.


²¹ Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; ²² and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.


(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verses 21 to 22)


Oh God my Father, my Father still condemns me for the past but appraises me for the present, for now, the quality of my life has improved and I am freer to praise and worship You and to do good to others Amen. Thank You, Jesus.


²³ And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. ²⁴ All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.



(The Third chapter of the First letter of St. John verses 23 to 24)



Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus our beloved Father, the key of all righteousness is love, and this means praying and loving not only those who love us but those who do not show us righteousness love and respect. When we go against the logic of the world we are going in favor of Your logic my God and Father and this is the right direction for us to take Amen.


I would like to end this third chapter of the 'First Letter of St. John' with the following prayer:


Oh God my beloved Father, as You have told us many times, we are children of the light and not of the darkness, we radiate love and goodness and not hatred and darkness. However, as humans we are clothed with both natures. I pray that in time You remove our evilness and continue to clothe us with the weapons of the Holy Spirit Amen