Begin with 2 minutes of silence and stillness before God.

John spent a large part of 1 John speaking on God’s love for us expressed through sending Jesus to die for our sins. He also told us he saw Jesus, he touched Him, and he heard His words in person. Jesus was not just a story passed down through the generations. He was God’s only Son, in human flesh. John saw Him and witnessed His perfect life, His death, and most importantly, His resurrection.

John’s words in this letter and his sense of urgency are just as true and important today as they were when he wrote them so many years ago. As Christians, we should continue to tell people of Jesus and His love for us!

Once we come to know Jesus and believe in Him, that is not the end of our story. It is only the beginning! He has a glorious purpose for each of us. We have to pray daily to follow His will. In 1 John 5:14, John spoke of the power of God in our lives. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him.”

God wants us to come to Him with our problems, requests, and concerns. He cares about our lives. He will even answer our prayers. Pray without ceasing! We are to follow Christ’s example, and Jesus prayed all of the time. It needs to be a daily, consistent part of our lives. And without a doubt, God will answer prayers. Not necessarily requests that are purely for our benefit or selfish desires, of course, but within His perfect will, God answers prayers and works miracles every single day.

Take 2 minutes to reflect in silence.

Reflection:

• Do you sometimes feel God has not answered your prayer?
• Remember, there is evil in this world and bad things will happen. But God will prevail! He can use any situation for His Glory! Sometimes we need to have patience and wait and remember that His will for us is better than anything we could have created for ourselves.

Family Devo: 1 John 5

By: Tina Bryant

Today we read in verse 4 that everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world! But what does it mean to be “born of God?”

It means you trust Him with your whole life, and you decide to live for Him in everything that you do, that you believe that Jesus was His Son and that Jesus died so you didn’t have to. You ask God to be your leader every day, and you ask Him to live in your heart too.  

God wants everyone to be overcomers of the world - to be able to say no to sin or darkness and to say yes to the light - but only you get to make that decision for yourself. If you are ready to take that step, you can pray the prayer below. If you aren’t quite ready to take that next step, that’s okay! Let your parents or your KXP leaders know that you have questions.  

Prayer: God, I believe that Jesus was Your Son, and I believe that He died for the things I have done wrong. Please come live inside my heart so that I can be an overcomer too. Amen!