EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/25/2024 8:18 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Assurance to Spiritual Fathers”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 John
2:13a, 14a
Message of the verses: “I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning….I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning.”
I was really hoping to finish this section, and
chapter yesterday, but it was a very long and tiring day, but a good day so
with that said I will get it done this evening.
My October schedule for a person who is retired has been very full and tiring,
but a lot of things have been good thing to do.
Now I have been talking about spiritual growth and
maturity for some time now from my study in 1 John. There are stages of growth that John writes
about in this section and the only way believers can progress on the continuum
of spiritual growth from children, to young men, to fathers is through the life-giving,
life transforming application of the Word of God in their lives. Let us at 2Timothy 2:15 to help us better
understand this. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that
needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (KJV). I have really never had trouble in reading
and studying the Word of God, but I do fall short on the memorization and
meditation on the Word of God, something that I know I should do much better
at. By reading, studying, memorizing,
meditating on, and applying the Bible’s truth in every situation, then
Christians are transformed into the image of God. “18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding
as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to
glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18).
MacArthur writes “As they continue to grow in their
sanctification, the goal of all believers must be to become spiritual fathers,
characterized by an intimate communion with God. In His high priestly prayer for the apostles
and all believers, Christ prayed,
19 “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that
they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.20 "I do not ask on behalf
of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father,
are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world
may believe that You sent Me. 22 "The glory which You have given Me I have
given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected
in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as
You have loved Me. 24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have
given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have
given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 “O righteous
Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these
have known that You sent Me; 26 and I
have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love
with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.’
“Jesus desired that believers would know
God not in a superficial way, nor in an academic sense only, but with
supernatural intimacy, made possible only by lifetime obedience to Him and His
Word.
“John’s
description of the stages of spiritual growth also challenges believers to ‘excel
still more’ (1 Thes. 4:10) in their Christian walks. Spiritual children must move beyond their
initial delight in the Father’s love to a sound knowledge of biblical
truth. Young men must not rest in their
knowledge of biblical truth, but press on to know deeply the God from whom all
truth comes and to whom all truth points.
And even fathers must continue to expand and deepen their knowledge of
the eternal God. As long as saints live
on this earth, they are bound to obey the mandate to ‘grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’ (2 Pet. 3:18a).”
2
Peter 3:18 is the very last words that Peter wrote, and shortly after that he
and his wife were crucified by the Romans.
Peter had to watch his wife be crucified first and then he desired to be
crucified upside-down because he did not want to be crucified like His Lord
Jesus Christ was.
The
next section we will be looking at, Lord willing, is entitled “The Love God
Hates” and this will cover 1 John 2:15-17, and I will quote those verses now
and then again in the next SD.
“15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If
anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that
is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the
boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The
world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will
of God lives forever.”
10/25/2024 8:47 PM
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