Last one!

5 Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.
We are spokesmen/women for Jesus. We are the only ones who can tell people of him. With that said, on top of doing "good things" because God is watching, do it because non-believers are watching. Everything we do can effect the future choices of non-believers.
The last part of the chapter was a hello/ goodbye for Paul. I like what he says at the end "Remember my chains"... very powerful you know?

DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVOS people. These last 4 books have been the worst, in terms of people actually doing them. lets make the next book A LOT better ok?

-Enjoy!

Love one another
11This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. 13Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world\ hates you. 14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24Those 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.





The thing that stood out the most to me was, "15Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. " This was big becasue today I was really pissed at my brother, not what he did but more that he was just there. I realized that I cant just be like that, but im sure everyone who has brothers can relate,,, This also is talking about friends, not just breothers. We cant just say we love GOD and hate others, but I find that is one of the hardest things to do but i want to try to see GOD in every person. In every loser at school, on the street and otherwise. This verse also makes reference to controlling our tongues and thats one of the hardest things for me.

Hey guys,sry for not posting my devos lately..so i apoligize..

Devote yourselves to prayer being watchful and thankful and pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of christ for which i am in chains. Pray that i may proclaim it clearly as i should.

So in this passage, it talks about prayer. We would pray every time we go to sleep, before meals. etc. There are so many reasons why we pray. First as it says in the passage for watchful and thankfull. We say thanks to God for the things he has done. when we pray we are having quality time with God, and that is good. Praying to God will be the best way to have an answer, not just sitting on r chair and waiting for something to happen. We need to be paitient. Just like God says, be patient, kindness, faithfulness, goodness, gentelness, joy, love, self control. We should have all these word with us. And God will be happy.

AMEN.................

have a good day guys..

Sorry for the late devo..

v.2 "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."
Prayer definitely provides peace. I always pray when I'm in a dangerous situation (like walking outside alone at night) or sleeping (just because I'm scared that I'm going to be kidnapped while sleeping), and just lifting all my worries up to God gives me a sense of security and comfort. But, praying only when I need God is something with which I struggle. God is always there for us, but we shouldn't only give our attention to Him when we benefit from it. "Devoting" ourselves to prayer is definitely difficult because we usually depend on ourselves to get through our tough times. However, always being thankful and directly speaking to God through prayer will really change our lives. He really doesn't care about what we pray, but just that we do. I mean, I pray about the most random things, and I don't really think God minds.

v.6 "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."
I think it's safe to say that we change a little bit when we step out of our church building. Last week, in the bus, I heard a lot of people in our church speaking to each other in really foul ways. I mean, it's not that big of a deal, but I realized that it's so easy to forget about our values- those that we learn through church and the Word. It's difficult to let our "conversation be always full of grace". However, reminding ourselves through devotions and praise that we live for God might be one step into being always conscious of God.

v.10 "You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him."
This verse teaches us to be inclusive. In our leadership and praise teams, people see each other at least twice a week, and it's natural for us to be closer to each other than with other members of our Hi-C. However, as leaders of the church, we have the responsibility to make everyone feel "at home". Wouldn't it be amazing to have our entire Hi-C be as close as our teams are? For me, when I joined the praise team and felt more comfortable in the ministry, I found that the church was one place where I found myself being just the way I am because no one actually judges others. Saying hi to a newcomer or sitting with someone who is alone could bring our ministry a bit closer.

I dunno how to make a new topic so this is FEB 26 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Test the Spirits
1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

4You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit[a] of truth and the spirit of falsehood.




This kind of says to me, dont believe everything you hear, but take it into consideration and test its credibility. It talks about false prophets, this is like other religons, false teachings. It also kind of states the obvious. Obviously spirit of God is from GOD, and one that is not is not from GOD, pretty simple. It speaks of the antichrist again. I like how it says one who is in you is greater then the one who is in the world. With GOD we are more powerful then anything. "They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them, we are from GOD and whoever knows GOD listens to us" I like that because it is saying we live in the world, but we are part of GOD.


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Hey guysss
I really slacked this whole week, but I'm ready to start up my regular devos again!
Hope you're all having a blast at the retreat, and sorry I couldnt make it

5 "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."
This verse really helped me to change my perspective on the way we interact with other people. Becuase we've been interacting with others since the day we were born, its really natural and we dont really think about the purpose, goals, and wishes that we hold in doing so. But I loved the way that this verse called it an opportunity. When we converse with others, we have so many opportunities to shine the light of jesus, but because we don't see ie like that, we don't take advantage of how muchj we can do for God's kingdom. Instead, we find ourselves falling into sinful words, sinful actions.. And calling ourselves Christians, we have the responsability to show that we are different and free from sin, that we shoudl show others whenever we can