Devos 365

Psalm 121 A Song of Ascents. 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. Tomorrow the world will break out in a frenzy of parties and celebrations because the clock chimes midnight on a new year. Because of all the hype, I think that we have become psychologically wired to see that “newness” as a fresh start. In reality, it’s just another midnight. But we like the idea of newness and a do-over. And really, that is such a wonderfully Christian concept ...

1 John 4:12-21 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us . 13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him , and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment , because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear . For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us . 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen...

1 John 4:7–11 7  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Back in the day (about 45 years ago!) we used to sing a song around the campfire that was a direct recitation of these verses. I cannot read these words without hearing that tune in my head and I’ve included a link so that you can hear it too! In fact, if you listen to this track just a few times, you’ll have 1 John 4:7&8 memorized and that is a great bonus. Teach the song to the children in your life and they’ll own these verses for life...