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Old 07-08-2009, 07:51 AM
 
6,657 posts, read 8,086,980 times
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Dear friends,

This is how we can know God.

Its not about hate. Its about love. God is love, and whoever loves, knows God.

1 John 1:5 God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 2:9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.10Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

1 John 3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Go love one another and follow God's commands - that is how we can know God.

Peace.
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Old 07-08-2009, 09:26 AM
 
Location: NC
14,691 posts, read 17,023,281 times
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Quote:
Dear friends,

This is how we can know God.

Its not about hate. Its about love. God is love, and whoever loves, knows God.

1 John 1:5 God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 2:9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.10Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

1 John 3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Go love one another and follow God's commands - that is how we can know God.
Thank you, God bless.
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Old 07-08-2009, 10:03 AM
 
6,657 posts, read 8,086,980 times
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Thanks Shana. 1 John is a great book. Every time I read it I learn something new from it and it always inspires me. This is what it is all about: to know God. If we know God, we will know what it is to love, and we will know how to love.

Now look at this verse. This is an important one. It defines what eternal life is:

John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.


WOW! If we know God, we have eternal life! If we truly know love, we know God, and therefore we have eternal life! Its all tied together: Love, God, and eternal life.
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Old 07-08-2009, 11:36 AM
 
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Since eternal life is to know God, and to know love, we should study what love is.

1 Cor 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails.



Verses 1-3 highlight the importance of love. We can have all the knowledge in the world, give away all we have. But if we do not have love, we have nothing.

And then come the familiar verses we all know. But consider this not only as a description of love, but as a description of God. Also consider we are being made in the image of God, and we are to love. This is a description of what we are to become!

Are you always:
- kind and patient?
- not envying?
- not boastful or self-serving?
- not keeping a record of wrongs?
- not easily angered?
- always protecting, trusting, hoping, persevering?
- unfailing?

That is what God is. Meditate on that for a week or a year. How does God not keep a record of wrongs? How is God always protecting? Perhaps the last point is the most important. God will not fail and His love will not fail.

Yes, God is all those things, but furthermore, we will also be all those things eventually! God is forming us in His image. We may as well learn what love is now, as best we can.

Last edited by legoman; 07-08-2009 at 12:19 PM..
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Old 07-08-2009, 12:24 PM
 
8,108 posts, read 6,850,198 times
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Great words, legoman!
Just what I need to read today!

God bless you!

Definitely something to think on and let it sink in, for sure!!!

God's love shines through you today.

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Old 07-08-2009, 12:51 PM
 
Location: Gaston, North Carolina
4,213 posts, read 5,810,322 times
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But there are so many who claim to love but despise Gods commandment.
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Old 07-08-2009, 12:53 PM
 
Location: southern california
61,289 posts, read 87,134,660 times
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then a whole lota people that attend church need to put that asbestos suit in layaway.
im on the list.
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Old 07-08-2009, 01:31 PM
 
6,657 posts, read 8,086,980 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RobinD69 View Post
But there are so many who claim to love but despise Gods commandment.
Then they don't really know love yet, because they don't do His commands.

1 John 2:3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.
4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:
6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

1 John 3:21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God
22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

All of the ten commandments can be fulfilled if we have love. Christ came to fulfill the Law: by love. Christ is love, His act of sacrifice on the cross is out of love. If we are to know God we must live in Christ and be Christ-like. We must know how to love.

If we truly love, then there is no way we can despise God's commandments, because God's commandments are love.

Read all of 1 John until it starts to make sense.
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Old 07-08-2009, 01:34 PM
 
Location: New England
37,336 posts, read 28,084,365 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by legoman View Post
Then they don't really know love yet, because they don't do His commands.

1 John 2:3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.
4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:
6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

1 John 3:21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God
22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

All of the ten commandments can be fulfilled if we have love. Christ came to fulfill the Law: by love. Christ is love, His act of sacrifice on the cross is out of love. If we are to know God we must live in Christ and be Christ-like. We must know how to love.

If we truly love, then there is no way we can despise God's commandments, because God's commandments are love.
I tend to get the feeling when the organized church speak about keeping commandments they are not referring to Love but something else.
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Old 07-08-2009, 01:45 PM
 
Location: Gaston, North Carolina
4,213 posts, read 5,810,322 times
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Now dont got me wrong but there are several commandment which people will not keep yet beleive they have love. They covet what others have yet feel they are entitled. They commit adultry yet feel they are entitled. They commit murder yet feel they are entitled. They dishonor God yet feel they are entitled. These people will twist scripeture to get what they want and feel they are entitle and beleive their choices are above God commandments because they beleive they have love.

I realize they donnot have love but they do have lust and beleive it is love.
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