1 John 2:1-11

If you haven't read yesterday's post, I am writing a bible study on 1 John for all of you! Like I've said, I absolutely LOVE the message of this book of the Bible. Let's jump right in! 

Verses 1-6

"My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin: but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says 'I know him' but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: he who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."

      Right off, John starts by stating, again, his reason of writing: to keep us from sinning. He also reassures us that if we do sin, Jesus Christ paid the price of the sins of the whole entire world. Everybody. Even for those who do not yet believe in Him. John is reminding us to be truthful to ourselves and to trust God. Not trusting God is also a sin. By trusting God more than we trust ourselves, we will not fall into sin. However, if we do not trust God's will, we are often led to temptation. If we do not trust God's will, we are saying that we are more righteous than God, which is SO far from the truth!
       By calling Jesus an advocate for us, this is saying that he speaks our case to our Father, because we may be unable to speak our own. Jesus knows what we go through. He lived on this planet and dealt with the temptations, too.
     This passage also states that by keeping God's commandments, we will know Him. In other words, by believing, trusting in, and obeying Him, we are walking in the light. If we accept Jesus into our lives, he rids all darkness. He IS the light. When we disobey, we are in darkness. Without Jesus' light, we are unable to see and are bound to stumble and fall.
     By being truthful with God, He is able to work within us. If we are not fully on His side, He can not work within us. By living by His word, God is able to bring our love for Him nearer to perfection. By living His word, we can walk in the image of Jesus: we can love as he loved, and act as he acted.

Verses 7-11
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new commandment, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness still. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness still. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and in it there is no cause for stumbling. But he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
  
     Since the beginning, God has always told us to obey Him. By not obeying Him, we are sinning. This is why it is called an old commandment. If we God has wanted us to obey Him from the beginning, what John is telling us is not new. God has never changed His love for us. God has never changed what He wants for us. However, John states that he is writing a new commandment. "Why?" you may ask. Because it is now true in us and in Christ. By Christ's life, death, and resurrection, this has been made true. God has united us with His son. We are one with Him. Thus, it is true in both of us. We are reminded that the darkness passes as we are in the light. When we step out of the darkness, it passes us by if we stand strong in the light of God.
      We read that if we hate others, or even judge others, we are still in the darkness. To be in the light, we must let God do the judging, and love everybody as God has loved us. By loving others, we realize that in Christ we are the same. We are all able to be made clean again. By knowing this, we are less likely to stumble. Our eyes are opened and we love others as God loves us. By living in the dark, not realizing that others are like us, judging them for their sins, we stumble over our misunderstandings. We do not fully understand the truth in God's word. God guides us through His light. If we turn away from that light, we are going to stumble.

Judgement

I logged into Facebook today and this was one of the first posts I saw. THIS is so true. I absolutely love it and had to share it with you all! It may have been someone just taking their anger out, but sometimes that is when the truth comes out.

I have had it with the legalistic judgmental christians in this world! There are people out there that need support and encouragement not condemnation and discouragment . Some christians judge harsher than jesus did to us. After all we don't have the right to be rightous judges toward christian brothers and sisters when God himself has shown us such grace and mercy through jesus and the cross. God is my judge. I'm tired of christians tearing eachother down when we are supposed to build eachother and everyone around us up. This is wrong! And when someone has turned their back on God it is not our jobs to rescue them it is our job to show them christs love. Sometimes actions speak louder than words . Don't force it down their throat , you're only pushing them away. Show them Gods undying love and pray for them. God has a plan for them , remember he is sovereign and his will will be done. Its all part of his grander plan to show them his plan for their life. Do Not Bestow Judment upon other believers . You have not right. Jesus spread his arms for sinners , and we are all sinners folks. Spread your arms for the lost child and give them a hug. Don't condemn the saved. Do what jesus would do ! I'm fed up with it and I'm disgusted that I even feel the need to post this. Should brother turn against brother? Should sister turn against sister? I think not

-Anonymous 

As Christians, it can be easy for us to judge others, but we need to try to stray away from that. Why should WE be the judge of others' faults? That is not our job. That is God's job, and ONLY His job. We are not God. As Christians, as it is stated above, we are to show them God's love and pray for them. We don't like it when we are judged by others, so why should we judge them? Again, we have no right. That is God's right alone. 

 As I like to say, "Don't judge me." Why? Because nobody really can. If they do, it shouldn't matter. God is THE ONLY ONE who can judge you!

1 John 1

I absolutely love 1 John. It is one of my favorite books of the Bible filled with such a great message. I studied it during youth leadership meetings at church a while back, and I just wanted to return to it once again, sharing it with you! I'll start with 1 John 1 for this post, and within the next few days/weeks will touch upon the other chapters!

In 1 John, apostle John is writing to give reassurance to those who are strong Christians, but also to expose those whose conduct does not align with their claims and beliefs. 

Verses 1-4 
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. 
  
Here, John begins by announcing a message: We must testify what we have seen and heard in the Word, truth from the beginning. He announces this message so that others may come to God as we have. 

Verses 5-10
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth; 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 cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

In this section, we read that if you are with God, you cannot also be against him. There is no way you can mix God's light with the world's darkness. By living according to the truth, how the Bible wants us to live, we are living for God and walking in His light. Even if we are living with, say, only one sin in our lives that we cannot get rid of, we are not walking in God's light. You can't say there's a peeing section in a pool, or that having just a tiny bit of poop in your brownies is okay, can you? It's the same with sin. If you continue to sin, you are still walking in darkness. However, verse 9 tells us that if we confess, He is faithful. No matter how dark of a place we are in, if we confess our sins and repent, we are able to walk in His light. God forgives us if we confess. God's word cannot be in us if we do not admit to our sins!

God's Plans for Your Relationships

There's this guy I'm friends with on Facebook who has an absolutely amazing faith, which may have led to the tiny crush I have on him! It's all up to God though! Anyways.....I never really talked to him, although we were both in the band together in the past (he graduated two years ago). One day, he posted about needed someone to talk to, a Godly influence. I felt that was God calling me to talk to him, to remind this guy of God's amazing plans for us and our futures. This is what I told him:

I know I barely know you and I don't know your situation but in Christ we all know each other and I can tell you this for sure: if you give it up to God, great things will happen in His timing. His plans for us can be so different from our own plans for ourselves. When we put our obedience to Christ first, we are able to find so much more happiness. Invest more in God's plans, and less in your own. Pray about every decision you make, because making snap judgements can take you down the wrong path, a path that is of the world, not of God.

He then told me how he tries to trust God and that he knows God has a special plan for him, but with all the pain he was feeling, it was hard to see a plan without his ex-girlfriend. This was my response:

Even when we are broken, we must let God be the glue to put ourselves back together. Sometimes God's plans are hard to accept. I thought I was going to be with my ex-boyfriend for forever. I thought that was God's plan for me. But it ended up being my plan for myself. I know how you feel, I know there's pain. But find comfort in God's love. If you put your faith in a girl (or guy), you will always be disappointed. If you put your faith 100% in God, He will never ever let you down. God's love surpasses all other relationships. Ephesians 3:18 says that His love is deep, high, long, and wide. His love is so deep that it can heal even your deepest pain. His love is so high it can see tomorrow although we cannot. His love is so long that it lasts longer than any other relationship you will ever have. Even when things are falling apart, that is one relationship that will never fail. Maybe His plan is for you to go your separate ways, grow so much stronger in your faith, and get back together. But you'll never know if you let your plans get in the way. Obey God first, and He will honor that. God honors every decision you make in obedience to Him.

I hope that can help someone see that God loves us and wants the best for us. His love never fails - His plans for you are amazing if you obey Him!

My Testimony

Something I've been struggling with for a while is my past, my testimony. After much prayer and after talking with Elaina (@1C3N4Given), I have decided that I must make war with the devil, for HE is who is causing me to be ashamed of something I have been through that must be shared with others to prevent them from doing the same!
I've grown up in the church. My family has always gone to church. Until kindergarten I went to the same church my parents were married in and that my grandparents attended. Then, that church closed and I have been going to the church I currently attend ever since. My story really starts, however, in seventh grade.

Seventh Grade: 
Seventh grade is the first year students at my church can attend youth group. That winter we went to Winter Jam, a weekend-long United Methodist youth conference. That is when I first learned that we must accept God into our lives. We can go to church, but going to church doesn't make us a Christian. I decided that God needed to take over and let him into my heart. It was then that I began living for him!

Eighth Grade:
Eighth grade is the year everything started going down the tubes. I still attended church and youth group every week and loved every moment of it. However, I stumbled upon a website, MeetMe (formerly MyYearbook) and started talking to people. It was on this website I met my first "boyfriend." My parents found out and I never talked to him again, but I kept going on this website, desperate for someone to fill the void, someone to love me. My friends had started getting boyfriends, and I wanted one as well. I wanted that happiness! One of the guys I talked to started sexting me and, although I knew it was wrong, I wanted to feel wanted so badly. I kept going along with it. I eventually left him in the dust as well. Guys came and went through my life for a long time, through my freshman year. I was insecure, and I wanted someone to give me that security I needed.

Freshman Year:
My first year in high school I continued to talk to random guys online, and one of them led me to pornography and masturbation. I soon became addicted.  I loved talking to these guys, doing these things, because they made me feel good. I feel deep into sexual sin.
That Christmas my grandmother passed away after her battle with brain cancer. I was angry with God for taking her from me. She was the person who supported me the most, who I revolved my life around after her diagnosis. After church on Sundays we would take her home with us and have lunch, I would go to youth group, I'd come home and we'd have dinner. After dinner, we took her back to my aunt's house where she stayed the rest of the week. She became my life, the person I spent all of my days making proud. Losing her was probably one of the hardest times in my life, and I still struggle with that loss to this day. Although it was hard I knew she was no longer suffering. I dived into more things at church. I was committed to it more than ever, but I still was not living a life worthy of the Lord, stuck in sexual sin.
A guy from my school was on this website and we started talking. We exchanged phone numbers and talked a bit at school. We went on a date, texted often, but that was it. He had told me he liked me, but then after our date he told me that I was "a sweet girl that [he] didn't want to hurt." I was crushed. Finally someone who went to my school had liked me, but I didn't have a chance with him.

Summer 2010:
The summer after my freshman year I went on a mission trip with my church to Gary, WV. Another church joined us on this amazing experience, and the trip is something I will forever remember. One of the guys from the other church liked me, and, as I was still insecure, I loved the attention. After knowing him for less than a week, he asked me out and I said yes. My first REAL boyfriend. I was so excited, so happy. When we got back home, I didn't see him much - he lived an hour away. He was a bad influence, always disobeying his parents, always getting in trouble. Two months later he broke up with me through his sister in a text message.

Sophomore Year:
The very beginning of my sophomore year I went back to the guy from my school who I had met online.  We hung out a few times and he gave me my first kiss. We went down a path in the woods off the bike path and he tried to get up my shirt. Being naive, I let him. I wanted to feel wanted, and I thought that was the way to get him to like me. However, I felt uncomfortable and knew it was wrong. I told him no and walked away. However, I hung out with him two more times. Both times, he tried the same stuff. Things with him eventually ended and we haven't talked since, although I later found out he had a girlfriend at the time!
Around Christmastime I started having a crush on this guy from my church. That February we started dating, and it was a good Christian relationship.
I still loved church and even was helping in the preschool Sunday School room. I loved youth group and all the younger students looked up to me. Nobody knew my private struggle with sexual sin. Nobody really knows now about it, either.

Junior Year:
The beginning of my junior year, my boyfriend and I were still together and things were going great. Then, he left for college. Within the first month he had cheated on me, but I forgave him and we continued our relationship. I loved him, but I loved the idea of a relationship more. I should have left him then, but I didn't. I just wanted someone to love me, and he did. I let him talk me into seeing that we could be together forever. I thought that we would be for the longest time.
The summer before my junior year my church got a new pastor. His daughter is a year younger than me and we really started to connect. She is absolutely amazing and continuously tells me how amazing I am. I hope she realizes that she, too, is amazing! I have built so many relationships since this change, and I love it. I started singing on the praise team at the new contemporary service, I taught Sunday School, and was chosen by my peers at youth group to be on the youth leadership team. I started to grow in my relationship with God even more, but I still lived in sin.
When my boyfriend came home for Thanksgiving, we feel into having sex. We thought we were forever going to be together, and having sex was the ultimate promise of that for us at that time. We couldn't get engaged, everyone would think we were crazy. I loved him. He loved me.
We continued to have sex almost every time he came home. I knew it was wrong. I asked God for forgiveness after every night together. I knew we were a temptation to each other, especially when we were together alone. For him, it became something our relationship needed. I kept trying on getting him to change his views, but he wouldn't budge. At one point, my period was late and we were afraid I had gotten pregnant. I praise God that I was late only because of stress! There were also many arguments during the last six months of our relationship. For the last three months of our relationship several of my friends, including my pastor's daughter, continuously told me I needed to end the relationship. They could tell that I was not happy, even though I tried to cover it up. I kept telling myself that we had made a promise to each other that we would be together forever. I kept telling myself that we loved each other and that in time things would get better. He always said our promise was not only to ourselves, but to God. We were a Christian couple who had taken each other into sexual sin.

May 2012:
The first weekend of the month my youth group took a trip to Pittsburgh for Acquire the Fire. This event changed my life. One of the speakers talked about relationships. I believe it was comedian John Gray. It felt like God was speaking directly to me through him! He told us that as girls we are daughters of the King. We shouldn't date peasants. We need to wait for a prince to come to us. He told us that our boyfriends, or girlfriends, shouldn't be pressuring us to do ANYTHING, and that if they are, we need to get out! On the drive home I told my boyfriend that I no longer wanted to have sex as a part of our relationship. He became extremely angry. This conference became a turning point for our relationship, and for my life.
When he came home from college, things were different. My mom was talking to his grandma last month, and even she said he had changed. And she didn't like his changes! That Friday was my junior prom, and we were supposed to meet at my house at 5:00 for pictures and then meet at my friend's house at 5:45 for more pictures. His mother called around 5:05 stating that they were ready, but my boyfriend was not. He showed up at 5:30, the time we had to leave to get across town for pictures with my friends. In the car to my friend's house, we got into a fight. He told me that it shouldn't matter that he was late, and that if these people were really my friends it shouldn't matter that they have to wait for us. He told me that if I couldn't get over it that he just wouldn't go. That was the last straw.
The Wednesday after prom we got in yet another argument. He didn't want me to hang out with my friends without him because, to him, that meant that I didn't want to spend time with him. He accused me of cheating on him with a guy friend I had went to the movies with, as friends, with no other intentions, over Spring Break. At that point, I was done. It was clear that we were not happy together. The friend I had went to the movies with was nothing more than a friend, the closest person I had to a brother. He was my go-to for advice, and all-together an amazing friend. He told me that I had to put my happiness before my boyfriend's happiness. So I decided to end the relationship then and there. 
That night he texted me asking if I was sure I made the right decision, if this was what I really wanted. I said yes. 
My youth pastor told me that God would honor my decision. And that He has done!
I asked God to forgive me for having sex with him. I asked God to forgive me for not listening to his subtle hints. If we confess, He's faithful (1 John 1:9)
Although I had asked God to forgive me for those sins, I still was falling every so often to masturbation. I wanted to feel good. I wanted to rid the lonliness.


Summer 2012:
For a while it was hard dealing with being single. I returned to using MeetMe to talk to guys. I met a guy in my area and we started hanging out. I asked him if he believed in God, that was the only way he'd have a chance with me. He didn't go to church so I asked him if he'd go to my church with me. He hadn't gone to church since his step-father had passed away, but agreed to go. We spent almost the whole summer hanging out when we weren't working, and things were going well. Then we started to disagree on small things, and I feared if we started a relationship things would end up like the one I just got out of. If anything, I brought him back to the Lord.
In July I started up my anon account, and it has since brought me closer to the Lord. I had gone months without masturbation, but at times have fallen. Knowing that I follow people on Twitter that can lead me in the right direction is amazing. I love knowing that I am God's voice, and God's example to the world.

Now:
I have fallen at times, but I now ask God for forgiveness. His love is long, deep, tall, and wide (Ephesians 3:18). His love never fails, and I wish for everyone to know his love. I am surrounded by great people of God. I quit praise team in January to focus on school, but have returned. I continue to teach my preschool Sunday School class. I am also still proudly leading the youth group. Recently, I have added serving dinner at the free community weekly dinner to my weekly activities. 
A few weeks ago I tuned into a PurityOverLust conference call in which Elaina shared her story. It made me feel so much better to know that I'm not alone. That both she and Eric have fallen to sexual sin, just as I have. But they are both now made clean and amazing warriors of God. That was just about my final push. I said, enough is enough. I got rid of all temptation. I prayed to God so that He would take over in my life again. But then I fell again. So, I sent Elaina a message on Twitter, telling her my situation, how I am afraid to share my story with others even though I wanted to so badly. She told me that by exposing the things of the dark we are able to live in the light, that there should be no shame if I am forgiven. I need to share what God has done in my life. So, now I am at war with the devil. I hope to lead girls, and guys, into the light. I hope to be an example for others. I want everyone to know that you CAN turn away from sin, of any kind. You CAN become pure again in God's name. I am pure healed because of his never dying love and forgiveness.