Month: January 2023

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 1 John 3:19-20 In the disastrous consequences of my addiction, I had a tremendous amount of self-loathing. As my life fell apart,…
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Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. . . Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 1 John 3:13-15 My wife and I recently watched one of those classic underdog movies in which the protagonist was an eccentric, awkward,…
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By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not…
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No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. . . By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil. . .  1 John 3:6-10 There are those times in life when…
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See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. 1 John 3:1 As a child, I found my parents to be terribly unfair and I chaffed at all their rules. I was envious of my friends who grew up without the…
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And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 1 John 2:28 In my addiction, I became profoundly ashamed of who I was and what I was doing. My behavior was completely inconsistent with everything I believed. So,…
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Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. 1 John 2:24-25 My wife and I live together in our little…
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Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. . . This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 1 John 2:18-22 It’s much easier to stay in an addiction than it is to stay in recovery. In my…
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For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:16-17 I’ve used this…
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Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15 In my drug use, I would never have said I was in love with my pills. I didn’t have an emotional attachment to them, and I wouldn’t…
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