1 John 5:14-21; Psalm 23:3-4

1 John 5:14-21
Chapter 5 gives us several evidences that a person is a true child of God, a true believer.

• He or she will love the Father, the Son, and other believers. vv. 1-3
• He or she will experience victory over the forces of Satan. vv. 4-5
• He or she will have assurance of eternal life. vv. 6-13
• He or she will have fellowship with the Father. vv. 14-17 How do we do this? First of all we must listen to Him through His Word which is the most reliable way in which He communicates with us. Then we must bring our requests to Him in prayer. The closer we are to Him, the more likely we are to ask for the same things He wants for us. When we ask in His will, we know that He will grant our requests.

The "sin that leads to death" in v. 16 may trouble us a little, but it doesn't really need to. Believers who persist in rebellious sin against the Lord may face an early death because of the judgment of God. See 1 Corinthians 11:27-30 and Acts 5:1-11. Such judgment would not take away a person's eternal life. The only sin that would lead to spiritual death (or loss of eternal life) is rejecting Jesus Christ and what He did for us. He is God's only way of salvation. See John 14:6. We should never pray that someone would lose his or her physical life, and we should certainly never pray for someone to be lost for all eternity. As long as a person lives, he can come to faith in Jesus, and we should always pray for that.

• He or she has God as the "Eternal Security System." God holds us securely, and the "evil one" cannot touch us.  v. 18 We have the freedom to obey God! Unbelievers really don't have that freedom, but they are under the control of the evil one. v. 19 We know the true God, and we have fellowship with Him and with His Son, Jesus Christ. But even as believers, sometimes other things or people can come between us and God. These might be called idols, and John warns us in v. 21 not to let anything or anyone take God's place in our hearts.

Psalm 23:3-4

Remember that we are talking about our Shepherd here. The One who gives us what we need including rest and peace. vv. 1-2

He renews our strength v. 3 This assumes that we will get tired, weary, and probably discouraged too. He is the One who renews our strength. "He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name." He is our Guide. So many times, we just don't know what to do or how to react. These are the times when we need to depend on our Shepherd to guide us.

We don't have to be afraid even though we walk through the "darkest valley" because He is close beside us. Many Bible versions translate this as "the valley of the shadow of death," and death is probably the darkest valley each of us has to eventually face. Its shadow is indeed frightening, and I think it's safe to say that most if not all of us don't really WANT to go through it. But we are truly helpless to avoid it. Only one Person can walk with us through death's dark valley. That Person is the Lord Jesus, our Shepherd, and He can bring us safely through to the other side to spend eternity with Him!