Already

“God will never reveal more truth about Himself until you have obeyed what you know already.”
(Oswald Chambers) 

1 John 5:11-21, the Voice

¹¹  And this is the truth: God has given us the gift of eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹² If you have the Son, you have eternal life. If you do not have the Son of God, you are not acquainted with true life. ¹³ I am writing all of this to you who have entrusted your lives to the Son of God—so you will realize eternal life already is yours. ¹⁴ We live in the bold confidence that God hears our voices when we ask for things that fit His plan. ¹⁵ And if we have no doubt that He hears our voices, we can be assured that He moves in response to our call.

¹⁶ In this regard, if you notice a brother or sister in faith making moral missteps and blunders, disregarding and disobeying God even to the point of God removing this one from the body by death, then pray for that person; and God will grant him life on this journey. But to be clear, there is a sin that is ultimately fatal and leads to death. I am not talking about praying for that fatal sin, ¹⁷ but I am talking about all those wrongs and sins that plague God’s family that don’t lead to death.

¹⁸ We all know that everyone fathered by God will not make sin a way of life because God protects His children from the evil one, and the evil one can’t touch them. ¹⁹  Have confidence in the fact that we belong to God, but also know that the world around us is in the grips of the evil one. ²⁰ We also can be sure of the fact that the Son of God has come and given us a mind so that we may know Him as the embodiment of all that is true. We live in this truth, in His Son Jesus, the Anointed One. He is the True God and eternal life. ²¹ My little children keep away from idols.

Just as a child uses flashcards to learn important facts that are needed later in their adult life, so your heavenly Father has some four important flashcards for vital spiritual facts that He needs you to learn:

Flashcard #1: You plus Jesus equals eternal life. (See 1 John 5:11-13 above)  

 Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection. I am life. Everyone who believes in me will have life, even if they die. (John 11:25, Easy-to-Read Version)

“When you live in the light of eternity, your values change.” (Rick Warren)

Flashcard #2:  Your requests must be connected with God’s will. (See 1 John 5:14-15 above)   

“Prayer is a mighty instrument, not for getting man’s will done in Heaven, but for getting God’s will done on earth.”(Robert Law) 

Flashcard #3:  God’s hold on you is greater than Satan’s pull. (See 1 John 5:16-19 above)  

³⁸ So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. ³⁹ There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. (Romans 8:38-39, the Passion Translation)

“Satan knows your name, but he calls you by your sin. God knows your sin, but He calls you by your name.” (FaithTrend.com)

Flashcard #4:  Love for Jesus divided by zero results in friendship with God forever. (See 1 John 5:20-21 above)  

“God is still for you even if you don’t feel it.” (ExtravagantHope.com)

If you trust an elevator (or an airplane) to get you to a particular destination, and are willing to bet your life that you will arrive there safely. Then you can completely trust Jesus with whole heart because He will absolutely get you to your eternal destination of Heaven safely.

Sometimes God purpose for you may involve discomfort as it did for the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (ERV):  But I must not be too proud of the wonderful things that were shown to me. So a painful problem was given to me—an angel from Satan, sent to make me suffer, so that I would not think that I am better than anyone else.  I begged the Lord three times to take this problem away from me.  But the Lord said, “My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power.” So I will gladly boast about my weaknesses.

Then Christ’s power can stay in me.  Yes, I am glad to have weaknesses if they are for Christ. I am glad to be insulted and have hard times. I am glad when I am persecuted and have problems, because it is when I am weak that I am really strong.

Your heavenly Father is able to handle your prayers as He is outside of time and space. God gives every prayer the complete attention it needs and deserves.

God wants all of your heart. He will not accept the part of yourself you are willing to give Him. He will not share any of you with someone else. (Don’t allow anyone or anything to take over your friendship with God.)

 “If even the wind and sea obey Him, shouldn’t we trust Him in the chaos and storms of our own lives?” (Scott Hahn)

The name, Jesus, means “the Lord saves.”[i]

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[i] Inspired by the sermon “Facts Revealed: Revealed” (installment ten, final) Sunday August 22, 2021, Pastor Dave Jansen (CPG).  In-person services are available at all four U.S. CenterPoint campuses. CenterPoint also has an online Sunday morning service (10am) that can be viewed at centerpointchurches.online.church or centerpointchurches.com/live.