1 John 3:16-25; Psalm 20

1 John 3:16-24
What is love? "We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters."  v. 16  We see here that love is an action, not a feeling. It is selfless and sacrificing. "Giving up our lives for others" rarely means dying for someone. But it often means giving up our time, energy, attention, compassion, money, or material things. It means serving others with no hope of getting anything in return. This kind of love is hard! Only God's grace can produce it in us. "Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God." vv. 18-19

When our sins are forgiven, when we are obedient to God, and when our lives please Him, we can come to Him in confidence that He will hear and answer our prayers. v. 21 So often we focus on the promises of God to hear and answer our prayers, but we don't want to think too much about the prerequisites: confessed and forgiven of our sins, obedient to God, living so as to please God. If we are right with God in these ways, we are unlikely to ask for anything contrary to God's will.

Fellowship with God is not so complicated. "And this is his commandment. We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who obey God's commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us." vv. 23-24

Psalm 20
This psalm is a prayer to help us prepare for any great challenge.

• May the Lord answer your cry.
• May the name of the God of Jacob keep you safe from all harm.
• May He send you help and strength from his sanctuary
• May He remember all your gifts and offerings
• May He grant your heart's desires
• May He make all your plans succeed
• May the Lord answer all your prayers.

May we be right with God so that He can bless us.
May we shout for joy when we hear of others' victories.
May we praise God for all He does!