Month: February 2023

We love because he first loved us. 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 cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:19-20 A few weeks back, my favorite sweatpants disappeared. I knew where…
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Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8 When I turned 40, that didn’t…
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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. 1 John 4:18 While using drugs, I lived in constant fear. I knew what I was doing was wrong and I knew that it could cost me…
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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. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:10-11 Most people understand that they can choose a different physician if they feel…
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Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8 Long ago, while moving out of college at the end of one year, I was on the…
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Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4 In the disastrous consequences of my addiction, I felt as if my life was never going to turn around. I had no one to blame but myself,…
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Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God . . . By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.…
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Whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 1 John 3:22 While addicted to my pills, I prayed many times for God to simply take away my hunger. My plan for sobriety was that God would miraculously change my appetite and then my behavior would follow.…
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