Doyle Smith Daily

Jude 4 (God's Word) Originally published 08/13/2014 Moral compromise is not unique to our time. "Some people have slipped in among you unnoticed. Not long ago they were condemned in writing for the following reason: They are people to whom God means nothing. They use God's kindness as an excuse for sexual freedom and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ" Jude 4 (God’s Word). Failure to obey the teachings of the Bible about sexual behavior is to tell God that he is not the ruler of the world. Because God is slow to anger does not mean he approves of our choices. Lord, let every choice I make be consistent with your will so that everyone who sees me will know I accept you as my ruler.  

III John 11-12 (God's Word) Originally published 08/12/2014 We are influenced by the people around us, but we have a choice as to how we act. "Dear friend, never imitate evil, but imitate good. The person who does good is from God. The person who does evil has never seen God. Everyone, including the truth itself, says good things about Demetrius. We also say good things about him, and you know that what we say is true" III John 11-12 (God's Word). What would Demetrius think to know thousands of years after his death we are learning he was used as an example of how to imitate Christ. We don't know what this unknown man did, but God honored him. Lord, help me to know you well enough to know how to imitate you in every situation I face today that you might call me good.

III John 9-10 (God's Word) Originally published 08/11/2014 Every church worker will have critics. Even John had them. "I wrote a letter to the congregation. But Diotrephes, who loves to be in charge, won't accept us. For this reason, when I come I will bring up what he's doing. He's not satisfied with saying malicious things about us. He also refuses to accept the believers we send as guests. He even tries to stop others who want to accept them and attempts to throw those people out of the congregation" III John 9-10 (God's Word). Lord, it is disturbing to see someone who thinks they are serving you but are really standing in your way. Please don't ever let that happen to me. Show me how to serve others and not pass judgment on them.

II John 9-11 (God's Word) Originally published 08/09/2014 Ideas of morality change in cultures.  Things that used to be unacceptable are now acceptable, even demanded. "Everyone who doesn't continue to teach what Christ taught doesn't have God. The person who continues to teach what Christ taught has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and doesn't bring these teachings, don't take him into your home or even greet him. Whoever greets him shares the evil things he's doing" II John 9-11 (God's Word). Lord, help me to hold on passionately to what you have taught and not just what my culture has taught.

1 John 5:11-12 (God's Word) Originally published 08/08/2014 The person who has Christ guiding and controlling their thinking and choices will find life in all its fulness. "This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is found in his Son. The person who has the Son has this life. The person who doesn't have the Son of God doesn't have life" I John 5:11-12 (God's Word). Lord, guide my thoughts and my choices today and point out to me the times I fail to listen to you and obey you. Without your help I won’t be able to do this.

1 John 5: 14-15 (God's Word) Originally published 08/07/2014 Prayer must be guided by God and not our human desires. "We are confident that God listens to us if we ask for anything that has his approval. We know that he listens to our requests. So we know that we already have what we ask him for” I John 5:14-15 (God's Word). If our minds are directed by the Holy Spirit, then our desires and requests will be what God wants for us and he will provide that. Lord, help me this day to be directed by your Spirit and see what is important to you and what is useless to you.

1 John 5:3-5 (God's Word) Originally published 08/06/2014 “To love God means that we obey his commandments. Obeying his commandments isn't difficult because everyone who has been born from God has won the victory over the world. Our faith is what wins the victory over the world. Who wins the victory over the world? Isn't it the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" I John 5:3-5 (God's Word).   Obeying God is difficult when we do not really believe that obedience is the best course of action. When we choose to trust God with our lives, we have won the victory over the world. This trust in God allows us to obey even when in our human judgment his plan does not seem workable. It is the faith that is hard, not the obedience.

1 John 5:1-2 (God's Word) Originally published 08/05/2014 "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born from God. Everyone who loves the Father also loves his children. We know that we love God's children when we love God by obeying his commandments" I John 5:1-2 (God's Word). When we believe that someone is in charge of a situation, we respect their authority and do what they tell us. Some people say they believe in Jesus, but they don't try to do what he tells us we should do. If we really think that Jesus was God's Son, we will find out what he has told us to do and do it. Lord, I know a lot about what you have told us to do, so guide me this day to do what I know you want.

1 John 4:19-21 (God's Word) Originally published 08/04/2014 "We love because God loved us first. Whoever says, 'I love God,' but hates another believer is a liar. People who don't love other believers, whom they have seen, can't love God, whom they have not seen. Christ has given us this commandment: The person who loves God must also love other believers” I John 4:19-21 (God's Word). Having experienced forgiveness from one who denied his life in heaven and came to earth to give his life for me and provides for me every day, how can I not do that for your believers around me? Lord, give me the opportunity to serve those who believe in you today.

1 John 4:16 (God's Word) Originally published 08/02/2014 The mark of God: "We have known and believed that God loves us. God is love. Those who live in God's love live in God, and God lives in them” I John 4:16 (God's Word). Followers of Christ have experienced God's sacrificial, self-denying service to them. Everything God does is shaped by this quality. When we act sacrificially with self-denying service to God and others, it is clear that God is directing our lives and doing his work through us. When we are selfish, God is not directing us. Lord, I want to obey you and trust you to take care of me, so I don't have to worry about taking care of myself.

1 John 4:15 (God's Word) Originally published 08/01/2014 This is an amazing reality: "God lives in those who declare that Jesus is the Son of God, and they live in God" I John 4:15 (God's Word). Because I accept Jesus as having the same authority as God and allow God to shape my thinking and choices, then God comes to actually live in me! The creator of heaven and earth lives in me! The wisdom of the one who planned the world lives in me! The power of the one who controls the universe is in me! How can I ever be afraid or overwhelmed? Lord, constantly remind me that it is not I who live but you who live in me. Help me to not depend on what I can do, but what you have promised and what you can do.

1 John 4:9-13 (God's Word) Originally published 07/31/2014 The cost of loving people: "God has shown us his love by sending his only Son into the world so that we could have life through him. This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins. Dear friends, if this is the way God loved us, we must also love each other. No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. We know that we live in him and he lives in us because he has given us his Spirit" I John 4:9-13 (God's Word). God's love is not talk, but self-denying sacrifice for others.  Lord, teach me now to love people as you have loved me, and show me who you have placed me here to love today.

1 John 4:7-8 (God's Word) Originally published 07/30/2014 To understand this I must remember that love is sacrificial self-denying service to others. "Dear friends, we must love each other because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God. The person who doesn't love doesn't know God, because God is love" I John 4:7-8 (God's Word). Lord, if you control my mind and behavior, I must serve those I meet today. Confront me if I try to control others instead of serving them.

1 John 4:4 (God's Word) Originally published 07/29/2014 God's remedy for discouragement and depression: "Dear children, you belong to God. So you have won the victory over these people, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" I John 4:4 (God's Word). Many times things don't turn out the way we think they should. There are times when success  seems impossible. Lord, when these discouraging times come, remind me that you never have lost or been defeated, and give me determination to obey and to be faithful in spite of how things look to me.

1 John 4:1-2 (God's Word) Originally published 07/28/2014 The Spirit of God convinces us of the truth. "Dear friends, don't believe all people who say that they have the Spirit. Instead, test them. See whether the spirit they have is from God, because there are many false prophets in the world. This is how you can recognize God's Spirit: Every person who declares that Jesus Christ has come as a human has the Spirit that is from God" I John 4:1-2 (God's Word).   Lord, don't let me use my humanity as an excuse for my failure to obey you. Make me eager for the changes you want to make in my behavior.

1 John 3:23-24 (God's Word) Originally published 07/26/2014 God gives us assurance of salvation. "This is his commandment: to believe in his Son, the one named Jesus Christ, and to love each other as he commanded us. Those who obey Christ's commandments live in God, and God lives in them. We know that he lives in us because he has given us the Spirit" I John 3:23-24 (God's Word). Lord, affirm your spirit's presence in me by giving me a desire for self-denying service to everyone I meet. May your Spirit guide all I do.

1 John 3:21-22 (God's Word) Originally published 07/25/2014 This is the secret to answered prayer. "Dear friends, if our conscience doesn't condemn us, we can boldly look to God and receive from him anything we ask. We receive it because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him" I John 3:21-22 (God's Word). If we are obeying his commands and pleasing him with our lives, then our prayers will not be selfish. but we will be asking for things that please him and things that help us obey him. Lord, in every choice I make today may my aim be to obey and please you. Give me boldness to ask for everything I need to obey and serve you.

1 John 3:16-18 (God's Word) Originally published 07/23/2014 This is what God intended his church to be: "We understand what love is when we realize that Christ gave his life for us. That means we must give our lives for other believers. Now, suppose a person has enough to live on and notices another believer in need. How can God's love be in that person if he doesn't bother to help the other believer? Dear children, we must show love through actions that are sincere, not through empty words" I John 3:16-8 (God's Word). Lord, open my eyes and heart to those believers around me so that I would love them as you have loved me.

1 John 3:14-15 (God's Word) Originally published 07/22/2014 Proof of a God controlled life: "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love other believers. The person who doesn't grow in love remains in death. Everyone who hates another believer is a murderer, and you know that a murderer doesn't have eternal life" I John 3:14-5 (God's Word). Lord, if you are really controlling my life, I must be growing in the number of people to whom I am giving self-denying service. I must be growing in my self-denial and service that I give to other believers. Teach me to love others today as you have loved me.

1 John 3:9-10 (God's Word) Originally published 07/21/2014 Our lifestyle and choices show who controls us. "Those who have been born from God don't live sinful lives. What God has said lives in them, and they can't live sinful lives. They have been born from God. This is the way God's children are distinguished from the devil's children. Everyone who doesn't do what is right or love other believers isn't God's child" I John 3:9-10 (God's Word). Lord, I do sin, but I want you to control my life and not Satan. Teach me to hate every sin I commit.

1 John 3:4-6 (God's Word) Originally published 07/19/2014 It is easy to get used to disobedience to God. "Those who live sinful lives are disobeying God. Sin is disobedience. You know that Christ appeared in order to take away our sins. He isn't sinful. Those who live in Christ don't go on sinning. Those who go on sinning haven't seen or known Christ" 1 John 3:4-6 (God's Word). Lord, help me to hate sin as you do. Remind me that sin killed you. Show me every area of sin in my life, and give me a passion to obey everything you tell me to do and to stop everything that you don't want me to do.

1 John 3:1-3 (God's Word) Originally published 07/18/2014 "Consider this: The Father has given us his love. He loves us so much that we are actually called God's dear children. And that's what we are. For this reason the world doesn't recognize us, and it didn't recognize him either. Dear friends, now we are God's children. What we will be isn't completely clear yet. We do know that when Christ appears we will be like him because we will see him as he is. So all people who have this confidence in Christ keep themselves pure, as Christ is pure" I John 3:1-3 (God's Word).  Lord, it amazes me that you would call me your child. I do not deserve this, but I want to be pure as you are pure. Give me the will and power to live a life of holiness.

1 John 2:28-29 (God's Word) Originally published 07/17/2014 Do I have God's approval? "Now, dear children, live in Christ. Then, when he appears we will have confidence, and when he comes we won't turn from him in shame. If you know that Christ has God's approval, you also know that everyone who does what God approves of has been born from God" I John 2:28-9 (God's Word). Lord, I need your help to think, choose, and do what you approve. Confront me about the things in my life of which you do not approve.

1 John 2:19 (God's Word) Originally published 07/16/2014 Saving faith does not stop. "They left us. However, they were never really part of us. If they had been, they would have stayed with us. But by leaving they made it clear that none of them were part of us" I John 2:19 (God's Word). Lord, it is easier to trust you when things go well, but when things do not go well, it is hard to keep on doing what you have told me to do. Help me to know what you want me to do, and give me the trust in you that is not controlled by results.

1 John 2:15-17 (God's Word) Originally published 07/15/2014 What would people who know me say that I am passionate about? "Don't love the world and what it offers. Those who love the world don't have the Father's love in them. Not everything that the world offers---physical gratification, greed, and extravagant lifestyles--come from the Father. It comes from the world, and the world and its evil desires are passing away. But the person who does what God wants lives forever" I John 2:15-7 (God's Word). Lord, it is your will that I live in this world, but with all my heart I want to be controlled by you. Show me the difference between the blessings that come from you and what the world is offering.

1 John 2:9-11 (God's Word) Originally published 07/14/2014 Our relationship with other followers of Christ reveals our relationship with God. "Those who say that they are in the light but hate other believers are still in the dark. Those who love other believers live in the light. Nothing will destroy the faith of those who live in the light. Those who hate other believers are in the dark and live in the dark. They don't know where they're going, because they can't see in the dark" I John 2:9-11. Lord, help me to see your followers as you see them and to treat them as you do.

1 John 2:3-6 (God's Word) Originally published 07/11/2014 Our choices reveal our spiritual character. "We are sure that we know Christ if we obey his commandments. The person who says, 'I know him,' but doesn't obey his commandments is a liar. The truth isn't in that person. But whoever obeys what Christ says is the kind of person in whom God's love is perfected. That's how we know we are in Christ. Those who say that they live in him must live the same way he lived" I John 2:3-6 (God's Word). Lord, I want to obey the teachings of Christ and live his lifestyle, but I cannot do that without the wisdom and power of your Spirit. Help me not to resist your Spirit.