Ikthus Dumaguete

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33

When we put the things of God first in our lives, the other things fall into proper order. However, when we prioritize earthly things, we find ourselves anxious and full of worry. God helps us have better priorities.

Ikthus Daily Word | November 30, 2023 | Thursday

1 John 4:16 “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

Seventh, there is a desire to please God and to live a good life because of what He has done for us. The realization of His love should make us not only hate sin, but also desire to live a holy, godly life. If you do desire this, you love God, because our Lord said, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” (John 14:21).

Eighth, we have a desire to know Him better and to draw closer to Him. Do you want to know God better? Is it one of the greatest ambitions of your life to draw closer to Him, that your relationship to Him may be more intimate? If you have within you the faintest desire to know God better and are doing something about it, I say you love God.

I will put the ninth point negatively, and yet it may be the most important of all. I am referring to a conscious regret that our love to Him is so poor, along with a desire to love Him more. If you are unhappy at the thought that you do not love God as you ought to, that is a wonderful proof that you love Him.

My last test is that we have a delight in hearing these things and in hearing about Him. That is one of the best tests. There are certain people in the world—alas, there are many—who find all that we have been saying utterly boring; all that we have been saying would be strange to them. Such people are spiritually dead; they know nothing about this. So whatever the state of your emotions may be, if you can tell me quite honestly that you enjoy listening to these things and hearing about them, if you can say that there is something about them that makes things different, then I say that you know the love that God has for you.

A Thought to Ponder: Is it one of the greatest ambitions of your life to draw closer to Him?

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 29, 2023 | Wednesday 

1 John 4:16 “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

Fourth, I have a sense of sins forgiven. I do not understand it, but I am aware of it. I know that I have sinned; “my sin is ever before me” (Psalm 51:3), as David says. I remember my sins, and yet the moment I pray, I know my sins are forgiven. I cannot understand it, I do not know how God does it, but I know He does it, and that my sins are forgiven.

A sense of sins forgiven leads me to the fifth test: a sense of gratitude and thanksgiving to God. No one can believe that God sent His only begotten Son into the world to die on the cross without feeling a sense of praise and thanksgiving. Think of Saul of Tarsus there on the road to Damascus. The moment he saw and understood something of what had happened to him, he said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6). That is, what can I do to repay You—how can I show my gratitude? Do you feel a sense of gratitude? Do you want to praise God? A sense of gratitude and a desire to praise is further proof of the knowledge of God.

Then sixth, there is an increasing hatred of sin. I sometimes think there is no better proof of a knowledge of God and knowledge of the love of God than that. You know, if you hate sin, you are like God, for God hates it and abominates it. We are told that He cannot look upon iniquity (Habakkuk 1:13); therefore, whatever your feelings may or may not be, if you have an increasing hatred of sin, it is because the love of God is in you—God is in you. No man hates sin apart from God.

A Thought to Ponder: No man hates sin apart from God.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 28, 2023 | Tuesday

1 John 4:16 “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

I shall suggest to you ten tests that you can apply to yourself to know for certain that you know the love of God to you.

Here is the first. It is a loss and absence of the sense that God is against us. The natural man always feels that God is against him. He would be very glad if he could wake up and read that some bishop or other had proved that God never existed; he would be ready to believe that. The newspapers give publicity to anything that denies the faith; they know the public palate. That is why the natural man is at enmity against God; he feels God is against him. That is why when anything goes wrong he says, “Why does God allow this?” And when men and women are in a state of being antagonistic toward God, then, of course, they cannot love God. So one of the first tests, and I am starting with the lowest, is that we have lost that feeling that God is against us.

Second, there is a loss of the fear of God, while a sense of awe remains. Let us approach Him “with reverence and godly fear,” writes the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (12:28). John is going to elaborate on that; that is the rest of the fourth chapter of 1 John. We lose that craven fear of God, but oh, what a reverence remains.

Third, there is a feeling and a sense that God is for us and that God loves us. Now I put it like that quite deliberately because it is so very true to experience. I have lost the sense that God is against me, and I begin to have a feeling and sense that God is for me, that God is kind to me, that He is concerned about me, and that He truly loves me.

A Thought to Ponder: I have lost the sense that God is against me, and I begin to have a feeling and sense that God is for me.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 27, 2023 | Monday

1 John 4:16 “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

How can my joy abound? How can I walk through this world with my head erect? How can I come through triumphantly? Well, here is the main thing: I should know the love that God has toward me. If I have that, I can say that “neither death, nor life . . . nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

Therefore, the questions come to us one by one: Do I know this love? Can I make this statement? It is made everywhere in the New Testament. Paul is particularly fond of stating it: “. . . the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). No man could state the doctrine of the atonement in all its plenitude and glory like the apostle Paul, and yet here he says in essence, “He died for me; He loved me.” This is personal knowledge, personal appropriation. You find this everywhere in the New Testament. For example, “Whom having not seen,” says Peter, “ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8).

Do we know that? These people did not see Him, and so we cannot argue and say, “It is all very well for those first Christians; they saw Him. If only I could see Christ, then I would love Him.” But they did not see Him any more than we see Him. They had the apostolic witness and teaching and accepted this witness and testimony. They loved Him and rejoiced in Him “with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

A Thought to Ponder: They loved Him and rejoiced in Him “with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 26, 2023 | Sunday

1 John 4:16 “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

John has gone on repeatedly writing about the love of God, and you notice how he never tires of doing so. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9). “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14). Now [verse 16] he repeats it again. This is because he knew that in his own day and age there were all those so-called mystery religions or curious cults that talked about the love of God; and they all tried to teach that you can know the love of God directly. That is always the characteristic of mysticism; what finally condemns mysticism is that it bypasses the Lord Jesus Christ. Anything that bypasses Christ is not Christian. I do not care what it is, however good, however uplifting or noble; it is Christ who is the manifestation of the love of God, says John.

I do not hesitate, therefore, to aver and to add strongly as follows: I must distrust any emotion that I may have within me with respect to God unless it is based solidly upon the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him God manifested His love. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Therefore, I say that I must never attempt by any means or method to get to know God or to try to make myself love God except in and through my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I must avoid every other direct approach to God, every direct dealing with God.

A Thought to Ponder: Anything that bypasses Christ is not Christian.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 25, 2023 | Saturday

1 John 4:14 “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.”

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ clearly saves us, in the first instance, from the guilt and the penalty of sin. We are all guilty before God and before His holy law. We are guilty in His presence; so the first thing I need is to be saved from the guilt of my sin. I need a Savior in that respect apart from anything else. I have broken the law of God, and I am under the condemnation of that holy law; so before I can talk about salvation or about being saved, I must be perfectly clear that I am delivered from the guilt of my sin. That is the glorious message that the New Testament Gospel brings to me.

In Christ my guilt is removed. It is no use my facing the future and proposing to live a better life. I am confronted by my own past— I cannot avoid it, I cannot escape it. I have broken the law—I must deal with the problem of my guilt—and I cannot do so. I cannot undo my past; I cannot make atonement for my misdeeds and for everything I have done against God. I must be delivered from the guilt of my sin, and Christ—and Christ alone—can so deliver me.

But having thus had the assurance that the guilt of my sin has been dealt with, I am still confronted by the power of sin. I battle the world and the flesh and the devil; forces and factors outside me are trying to drag me down, and I am aware of their terrible power. The man or woman who has not realized the power of sin all around him or her is a novice in these matters. There is only One who has conquered Satan, there is only One who has defeated the world, and that is this Son whom the Father sent into the world to be our Savior. Jesus Christ can deliver me from the power of sin as well as from the guilt of sin.

A Thought to Ponder: Jesus Christ can deliver me from the power of sin as well as from the guilt of sin.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 24, 2023 | Friday

1 John 4:14 “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.”

The whole biblical meaning of this particular term should be put like this: Christ is the Savior as the result of something that He has done. We must get rid once and forever of the idea that we are the actors or doers and merely receive encouragement from Him. Not at all! The biblical representation is that God sent Him into the world to do something, and that we are saved as the result of something He has done quite apart from ourselves and our own action. He has acted, and it is His action that produces salvation and the way of escape for us.

Now here is something that is utterly fundamental and primary, and unless we are agreed with this statement there is really no point or purpose in proceeding any further. Salvation, according to the New Testament—take, for instance, Colossians 1 where you have a perfect illustration of salvation—is something that is entirely worked out by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is something that has come to men and women as a free gift to them, and they have nothing to do but to receive this gift. It is something provided; it is the righteousness of God that is given.

That is something that is surely basic, and of course there is no phrase, perhaps, that puts all this more perfectly than that great and glorious phrase that was uttered by our Lord Himself upon the cross when He cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30). With His last breath, as it were, He cried out, “I have done it! I have completed the work that You gave Me to do.” It is He who saves, and our salvation comes from Him and is derived from something He has done once and forever on our behalf.

A Thought to Ponder: Salvation, according to the New Testament, is something that is entirely worked out by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 23, 2023 | Thursday

1 John 4:14 “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.”

“And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” The whole Gospel in a phrase! This is the only time in which John uses the expression “Saviour” in the entire epistle. He gives the same teaching, of course, in other places. He says that our Lord is “the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). There is a sense in which he repeats the thought here, but he does not use this precise phrase but describes Him as “the Saviour of the world.”

The word “Saviour” does not merely mean helper. We are not told that the Father sent the Son to help mankind; it does not mean that He is just someone who assists. Nor does it mean that He is just one who teaches or indicates to us what we ought to do; He is not merely an instructor. Indeed, I would go further and say that the term “Saviour” and its connotation must not be thought of in terms of an example or pattern or encourager. I use these terms because so often people speak about our Lord as Savior, and yet if you ask them to define what they mean by that, they say that Christ as Savior is One who is marching ahead of us and is leading the way.

Now the element that is seen in such ideas is that ultimately you and I have to save ourselves, and what the Lord does is to aid and assist us—to give us encouragement and make it somewhat easier for us to do so. Now that, of course, is clearly a complete denial not only of the biblical teaching, but also of the historic faith and creeds of the Christian Church.

A Thought to Ponder: The word “Saviour” does not merely mean helper.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 22, 2023 | Wednesday 

1 John 4:14-16 “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

The apostolic witness is most important. What is it? John, in effect is putting it like this: “The important thing is to know God. But how can I know God? ‘No man hath seen God at any time.’ But we have seen and do testify that Jesus is the Son of God.” That is the statement.

Notice how he puts it. He had not had a vision. What then? Thank God, “we have seen.” He said it all in his introduction: “That which . . . we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life . . . That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you,” said John. No man has seen God, but we have seen Jesus, and Jesus said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (See John 14:9).

In other words, the apostolic vision on which my faith is grounded is this: It is a belief in that which the apostles tell us they saw, and the explanation of their understanding of what they saw is found in the four Gospels. The statements in the Gospels are not simply objective statements; they are statements plus interpretation, and at long last modern man has come back to see that. They used to contrast John with Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They said that John preached, but that Matthew, Mark, and Luke just gave the facts. But they now have to admit that what all four wrote was facts plus interpretation. Like John, the men who wrote the first three Gospels believed and understood that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. They saw and testified; in other words, they saw, and they expounded.

A Thought to Ponder: The explanation of the apostles’ understanding of what they saw is found in the four Gospels.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 21, 2023 | Tuesday

1 John 4:15 “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”

John’s whole case is that you cannot believe that Jesus is the Son of God unless God dwells in you and you in God; that is his argument. “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” And the way in which God dwells in us is by the Holy Spirit. So we can say that the people who do confess that Jesus is the Son of God have the Holy Spirit already within them. Or to put it another way, they cannot believe that Jesus is the Son of God without possessing the Holy Spirit.

Now this is a doctrine that is common to the whole of the New Testament. The apostle Paul puts it like this: “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. . . . But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:7-8, 10).

You see, the whole case can be put like this: Even the princes of this world, the great men of the world, looked at Jesus of Nazareth and saw nothing but a man, a carpenter. They may have regarded Him as a kind of unusual religious genius, but they did not know He was the Lord of glory. Why not? Well, says Paul, because they had not received the Holy Spirit. But you and I, he says to the Corinthians, we understand these things, we believe them. Why? Because God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, the Spirit who searches all things, “yea, the deep things of God.”

A Thought to Ponder: God has revealed “the deep things of God” to us by His Spirit.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 20, 2023 | Monday

1 John 4:13 “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”

How does this blessing come? Well, I do not see any evidence in the New Testament to support what used to be called a “tarrying meeting.” Some people had that idea. God had certain blessings to give, and they thought they had to wait until they received them. But the gift is given by God in His own way and time; this gift does not come of necessity at once. It is God’s gift, and He knows when to give it and when to withhold it.

Do you remember the case of Moody? This was his story. He became conscious of his lack and need, and he began to pray to God about it. He gave obedience to the Word of God as well as he could, and he went on praying for months. Nothing happened to him, but still he went on praying. Yes, he waited for it, but it did not come, and the story is that one day, walking down a street in New York, not in a tarrying meeting, not even in a prayer meeting, suddenly God overwhelmed him with this mighty blessing. It was so mighty that Moody felt he would be killed by it, and he held up his hand and said, “Stop, God!”

God has His own time. God knows when to give the gift, and we must never imagine that by going to a meeting or following a certain procedure it is bound to come. No; the Holy Spirit is sovereign, and He gives in His own way. It may be dramatically or suddenly or quietly; that is irrelevant, because what really matters is that we receive the gift. The essence of it all, I think, can be put very simply: “Trust and obey.”

A Thought to Ponder: God has His own time. God knows when to give the gift.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 19, 2023 | Sunday

Philippians 2:12-13 “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

Are you aware of the fact that God is working in you? “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” says Paul, “for it is God which worketh in you.” This is a marvelous, wonderful thing. It is one of the great tests of the possession of the Holy Spirit. It means something like this: We are aware of the fact that we are being dealt with; it is not that we decide to do things. You see, moralists and religious conformists are doing it all themselves, and that is why they are so proud of themselves. They get up on Sunday morning instead of spending the morning in bed, and they go to church. They do it because they have decided to do it, not because they have been moved. They are in control the whole time; and having done it, they preen themselves with their wonderful, ennobling ideals. How marvelous they are!

But that is not what the Bible talks about. “It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do.” In other words, you are aware of the power of God dealing with you, surging and rising within you, and you are amazed and astonished. Far from being proud you say, “It is not I. This is not the sort of person I am. It is God doing something; it is Christ dwelling within me; it is the Holy Spirit who is in me. I am taken up beyond myself, and I thank God for it.” Is God working in you? Are you aware of a wonder-working power active in you, moving, disturbing, leading, persuading, drawing you ever onward? If you are, it is because you have received from God the gift of the Holy Spirit.

A Thought to Ponder: You are aware of the power of God dealing with you, surging and rising within you, and you are amazed and astonished.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 18, 2023 | Saturday

1 John 4:13 “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”

How do we have knowledge about God? “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us.” How? The answer is, “because he hath given us of his Spirit.” So it all comes down to that in the last analysis. How do I know I have received God’s Spirit? How may I know for certain that I have been given and received something of the Holy Spirit of God?

Are you concerned about these things, and have you a desire to have them? Are you concerned about the life of your soul? Are you concerned about knowing God? I assure you that if you are, the Holy Spirit is in you, for people apart from God “mind earthly things” (Philippians 3:19)—carnal, fleshly things. Are you concerned about immortality and the things invisible and eternal? If you are minding these things, that is a proof that the Holy Spirit is in you.

Do you have a sense of sin? Are you aware that there is an evil principle within you? Not simply that you do certain things you should not do and feel annoyed with yourself because of it. No; rather, I mean that you are aware that you have an evil nature, that there is a principle of sin and wrong in your heart, that there is a fountain emitting unworthy, ugly, and foul things, and in a sense you hate yourself. Our Lord said that the man who loves himself is in a very dangerous condition. The apostle Paul was a man who could say about himself, “In me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing. . . . O wretched man that I am!” (Romans 7:18, 24). If you have ever felt yourself a sinner, and if you have hated this thing that gets you down, that is proof that you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

A Thought to Ponder: If you have ever felt yourself a sinner, that is proof that you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 17, 2023 | Friday

1 John 4:13 “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”

We may know, and should know, that we are in a relationship to God and that we possess His life. That is the nature of the Christian life. “Hereby,” says John, “know we”—we know it, and we are certain of it. John’s whole business in writing this letter is that we may have this knowledge: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13).

Now we all possess this knowledge, and we must never be satisfied with anything less than that. This knowledge is to me the very essence of the New Testament teaching. What the Bible offers us is nothing less than this knowledge that God is in us and we in Him, and we should not rest for a moment until we have it. We have no right to be uncertain—“that ye may know.” Christians who are uncertain of these things are doing dishonor to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to the work of Christ upon the cross, and to His glorious resurrection. We must not rest until we have full and certain assurance, confidence, and jubilation. The whole of the New Testament has been written in order that we may have it, and I argue that this is something that really must be inevitable. I cannot understand anyone who not only lacks this certainty, but who would even be prepared to argue against such a certainty.

As unbelievers we were dead; we had no spiritual life. A Christian must be born again, by faith, in order to have the life of God in his soul. So is it possible that we can have such life in us and not know it? I say that is impossible!

A Thought to Ponder: We must not rest until we have full and certain assurance, confidence, and jubilation.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 16, 2023 | Thursday

1 John 4:13 “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”

We are reminded here of the nature of the Christian life. I am increasingly convinced that most of our troubles arise from the fact that our whole conception of the Christian life tends to be inadequate. I am not referring to people outside the church at the moment, but to Christian people. I speak for myself when I say that there is nothing of which I have to remind myself more constantly than the very nature of the Christian life. We are all the same; the first Christians were the same as well, and that is why the epistles were written. It was because of this constant tendency to think and conceive of the Christian life in an inadequate manner that the apostles were led and moved by God to write their letters with their wonderful instruction.

What is the Christian life? Living as a Christian does not just mean moral living, nor just being good and decent. Of course it includes those things, but that is not the whole of the Christian life. Is it not obvious that there are large numbers of people who think seriously that constitutes the Christian life? There are many people attending morning services in church who say that just because they are not guilty of certain things, they are true Christians. To which I reply, “Hereby we know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit”; then our little morality shrivels into nothing. Morality is essential, but God forbid that we should reduce this glorious life to just a little decency and morality!

Then there are those who think of Christianity just as a matter of religious conformity. But to regard that as the whole of Christianity is to miss the splendor of this great thing that is expounded in the New Testament.

A Thought to Ponder: Living as a Christian does not just mean moral living, nor just being good and decent.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 15, 2023 | Wednesday 

1 John 4:12 “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

God dwells in us. That is one of the grounds of my assurance, my certainty. “No man hath seen God at any time.” Very well, then, do we go on in doubt and almost in despair wondering whether there is a God? No! says John; “if we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

Now, I confess very readily that I approach a theme like this with fear and with a sense of awe. Consider the great statement in John 14 of this intimate union between the believer and God the Father and God the Son, of Their abiding in us and dwelling in us. We are familiar with chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17 of John’s Gospel, and here we have the same thing again. “God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” And John goes on to say in 1 John 4:13, “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit,” and in verse 15, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”

At this point, like Moses, we take off our shoes! We are concerned with something that is glorious and magnificent, and so we have to be very careful as we handle it. The statement is that if we love one another, God—God who is love, God the Almighty, God the eternal—dwells in us. I think that the great thing at this point is to realize that we must not materialize that conception. We must not think of God in material terms; God is spirit. It is God, who is spirit, who dwells in us.

A Thought to Ponder: It is God, who is spirit, who dwells in us.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 14, 2023 | Tuesday

1 John 4:12 “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

Why does God say, “No man hath seen God at any time”? Why does John suddenly introduce this idea of the invisibility of God?

John does not say that we cannot love God except through loving our brethren; that is not his argument. Nor does he say that we can only love God by means of loving our brethren. Rather, he tells us that we are to love God—that we can love God and that we should love Him.

It seems to me that John is here introducing a new theme, a new idea, into his great discussion of the question of loving the brethren. And this new theme I would describe as the theme of assurance of salvation; it is the whole question of our knowledge of God and of the way in which we can know God. In other words, I am suggesting that John here is linking up with that with which he left off at the end of verse 8. Let me reconstruct it to you in this way: “Beloved,” he says, “let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. . . . No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us” (verses 7-8, 12).

“So,” says John in effect, “it is important that you love the brethren from the standpoint of your own assurance of salvation and from the standpoint of your fellowship with God.” John is more like a poet than a logician. Although he tends to arrive at his position in circles instead of straight lines, though there is something of the mystic in his thinking, nevertheless there is firm logic at the back of it; there is a definite line of reason.

A Thought to Ponder: It is important that you love the brethren from the standpoint of your own assurance of salvation.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 13, 2023 | Monday

Romans 7:24 “O wretched man that I am!”

Self-sufficiency, self-consciousness—oh, to get away from the self!

“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). How can I get away from this wretched, ugly self I am always thinking about? Isn’t that the cry of every man and woman convicted of sin by the Holy Ghost? Now the effect of 1 John 4:9-10 is to expose all that, and I really am not prepared to listen to people who tell me that they glory in the revelation of God’s love unless they have dealt with themselves. There is no value in any striving to keep the tenets of the Christian faith unless those tenets have made you see yourself in the world, unless they have flashed upon you in such a way as to make you see the manifestation of self; that is what the love of God always does. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us.” It is incredible that God could love such a person as I have been describing. That is the amazing thing! That is love, says John.

Therefore, if you believe and know all that, it makes you see yourself as you are, and do you see what happens at once? The moment you see yourself like that, you cry with John Bunyan:

He that is down need fear no fall,

He that is low in pride.

John Bunyan meant that when I see myself as I really am, nobody can insult me. It is impossible, because they can never say anything that is bad enough about me. Whatever the world may say about me, I am much worse than they think. When we see ourselves in the light of this glorious Gospel, no one can hurt us, no one can offend us.

A Thought to Ponder: Self-sufficiency, self-consciousness—oh, to get away from the self!

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 12, 2023 | Sunday

1 John 4:11 “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”

The question is, what do you do about those people who seem to irritate you and are a problem to you and who really make things rather difficult? Here is John’s answer: “If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” This means something like this: Instead of giving way to that instinctive feeling that I have, instead of speaking or acting or reacting at once, I stop and I talk to myself. I remind myself of the Christian truth that I believe, and I apply it to the whole situation. Now that is something that you and I have to do. This life of which the New Testament speaks is full of the intellectual aspect. It is not a feeling. You do not wait until you feel like loving other people—you make yourself love other people (“we ought”). According to the New Testament, Christians can make themselves love other Christians, and they are failing sadly if they do not do so.

How do they do it? They remind themselves of this truth: “If God so loved us.” In other words, this is the procedure. The first thing I do when I feel irritated and disturbed and bewildered and perhaps antagonistic is to look at myself. Now that is half the battle. We all know perfectly well from experience that in this kind of problem the whole difficulty is that we are always looking at the other person and never at ourselves. But if I start with myself—if God so loved me—what do I find?

But usually I instinctively feel that I am being wronged, that I am not being dealt with fairly. I feel it is the other person who is difficult. “One minute!” says the Gospel; “stop for a moment and look at yourself and remind yourself of exactly what you are.” The Gospel brings us immediately face to face with this self that is in us that is the cause of all these troubles.

A Thought to Ponder: Christians can make themselves love other Christians.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 11, 2023 | Saturday

1 John 4:9-10 “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

The apostle is anxious to remind us that God is actually manifesting that essential nature of His. He is love, but mercifully for us He has “manifested” that love, He has made it unmistakably plain and clear. So we can put John’s immediate argument like this: “If only you really understood this love, if only you knew something about it, then most of your problems and difficulties would immediately vanish.” So he proceeds to tell us something further about this great and wondrous and glorious love of God.

Surely we all must agree that this is something that is equally true of us. The more I study the New Testament and live the Christian life, the more convinced I am that our fundamental difficulty, our fundamental lack, is the lack of seeing the love of God. It is not so much our knowledge that is defective but our vision of the love of God. Thus our greatest object and endeavor should be to know Him better, and thus we will love Him more truly. Now John’s object is to help these first Christians to whom he writes in just this way, because he is quite sure that once they love God, they will love one another.

This is something we find running right through the Bible; the second commandment follows the first. The first commandment is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. . . . And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:37, 39). But you will never do the second until you have done the first; so we must start with the love of God.

A Thought to Ponder: It is not so much our knowledge that is defective but our vision of the love of God.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 10, 2023 | Friday

1 John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

“God is love.” No one can answer against that; one trembles even to handle it; it cannot be analyzed. I simply want to point out that John does not say merely that God loves us or that God is loving. He goes beyond that. He says, “God is love.” God essentially is love; God’s nature is love; you cannot think of God without love.

Of course he has already told us that God is light in exactly the same way—that was the first pronouncement. “This then is the message . . . God is light” (1 John 1:5); and in exactly the same way “God is love” and God is spirit. This battles the imagination; it is something that is altogether beyond our comprehension, and yet we start with it.

Augustine and others deduce from this the doctrine of the Trinity. I think there may be a great deal in that; the very fact that God is love declares the Trinity—God the Father loves the Son, and the link is the person of the Holy Spirit. Ah! this high doctrine; it is beyond us. All I know is that God, in the very essence of His nature and being, is love, and you cannot think of God and must not think of Him except in terms of love. Everything that God is and does is colored by this; all God’s actions have this aspect of love in them and the aspect of light in the same way. That is how God always manifests Himself—light and love.

“Therefore, because that is the fundamental postulate, because that is so true of God,” John is saying, “that works itself out for us like this: Because God is love, we ought to love one another. For ‘love is of God.’” In other words, love is from God, love flows from God. It is as if John were turning to these people and saying, “God loves, and this love I am talking about is something that only comes from God—it is derived from Him.”

A Thought to Ponder: God, in the very essence of His nature and being, is love.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 9, 2023 | Thursday

1 John 4:7 “. . . let us love one another . . .”

I do not hesitate to say that the ultimate test of our profession of the Christian faith is this whole question of our loving one another. Indeed, I do not hesitate to aver that it is a more vital test than our orthodoxy. I am the last man in the world to say anything against orthodoxy, but I am here to say that it is not the final test. Orthodoxy is absolutely essential; this epistle [1 John] has shown us that repeatedly, and it will show it to us again. We must believe the right things, for apart from that we have nothing at all and we have no standing whatsoever; so the correctness of belief is absolutely essential. And yet I say that when we come to the realm of experience and self examination, the test of orthodoxy is not the ultimate test.

Alas, let us admit it — it is possible for a person to be absolutely correct and yet not to be a Christian. It is possible for men and women to give perfect intellectual assent to the propositions that are to be found in the Bible; it is possible for them to be interested in theology and to say that one theology is superior to another and to accept and defend and argue about it, and yet to be utterly devoid of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the love of God in their hearts. This is a terrible thought, it is a terrible possibility, but it is a fact. There have been men also who have clearly been perfectly orthodox—champions of the faith—and yet they have denied that very faith in the bitterness with which they have sometimes defended it. I repeat, the test of orthodoxy, while it is so vital and essential, is not enough. There is a more thoroughgoing test, and it is this test of brotherly love — love for one another.

A Thought to Ponder: The ultimate test of our profession of the Christian faith is our loving one another.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 8, 2023 | Wednesday 

1 John 4:2 “. . . Jesus Christ is come in the flesh . . .”

What is the apostolic teaching concerning Christ? Now in a phrase in our text John gives us the perfect answer. John does not use words like this haphazardly. Listen to the way in which he puts it: “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God” (1 John 4:2). Now here is the statement: “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.” Jesus Christ arrived in the world “in the flesh.” What does this mean? Let me try to show you how John in putting it like this was countering and answering some of those grievous heresies that had already arisen even in his day in the church, before the end of the first century.

Take the expression “Jesus Christ.” Why does John say, “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh”? Why did he not say that Jesus or Christ has come in the flesh? Ah, that is most important; that is his way of emphasizing the unity of the blessed person. The Lord Jesus Christ has two natures—the divine and the human—and yet there is only one person. The earlier chapters of 1 John make it plain that there were false prophets, antichrists, in the early church, and some of them said something like this: “Jesus of Nazareth was just a man like every other man; but when He was baptized by John in the Jordan, the eternal Christ came upon Him and began to use Him; and the eternal Christ continued with the man Jesus until He came to the cross. But on the cross the eternal Christ went away, back to heaven, and it was only the man Jesus who died. There were two persons— the man Jesus and the eternal Christ.” No! says John; “Jesus Christ,” one person but two natures—the two natures in one person.

A Thought to Ponder: The Lord Jesus Christ has two natures — the divine and the human — and yet there is only one person.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 7, 2023 | Tuesday

Ephesians 2:20 “. . . built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.”

John’s whole purpose in writing his first epistle was to say to the early Christians, “Hold on to what I and the other apostles have told you.”You remember how he began. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life” (1 John 1:1-2). He is referring to the apostles, and he says that he writes these things so that these Christians “may have fellowship with us” (1 John 1:3). Who are they? They are still the apostles.

Now this is something that is absolutely primary and fundamental. The claim of the New Testament is that it alone is authoritative in these matters. It teaches us that the apostles and prophets were the people to whom God, through the Holy Spirit, had revealed spiritual truth, and He meant them to teach it and to write it. The apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:20 that the Christian Church is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” All teaching must derive from them, and so you have this extraordinary claim in the New Testament. These men claimed a unique authority.

Listen to the apostle Paul putting it again in writing to the Galatians; he uses strong language like this: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (1:8). “What egotism!” says someone. No, it is not egotism; it is the claim of a man who has been commissioned by God. God has set him apart; God has given him the revelation. And he goes on to argue in so many of his letters that what he preached was also the message that was preached by the other apostles. This apostle and all the apostles did not hesitate to say that they exhorted these people to test every teaching by their teaching. And you and I are still committed to the same position.

A Thought to Ponder: The apostles and prophets were the people to whom God revealed spiritual truth.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 2, 2023 | Thursday

1 Corinthians 2:12 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”

An important reason for testing and trying the spirits is the evidence provided by the long history of the Church of the havoc that has often been wrought in the Church because people would not try and test the spirits, because they said, “I have received such a wonderful experience, and therefore I must be right.” What we are concerned about is not a matter of sincerity and honesty—we are concerned about truth and error, and truth and error have to be defined.

Is this something only for theologians and professors of theology or for ministers and leaders? Is it only for certain people? The answer is that it is for all. “Beloved”—he is writing to the average church member—“believe not every spirit, but try the spirits” (1 John 4:1). Later on he says, “Ye are of God, little children” (verse 4), and I think he used the expression “little children” deliberately—“you, the ordinary church members, little children—you hear us because you are of the truth.”

It is the duty and the business of everyone examining the name Christian to be in a position to try and examine and test the spirits. Indeed, we are given the power to do so—“greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). We have been given this capacity by God through the Holy Spirit; the Spirit dwells in us, and therefore we have this power of discrimination and understanding. The apostle Paul tells us that at great length in 1 Corinthians. For example, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). That is it!

A Thought to Ponder: We are concerned about truth and error, and truth and error have to be defined.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 1, 2023 | Wednesday 

1 John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

The position of the Scripture is one that faces two extremes: The Spirit is essential, and experience is vital; however, truth and definition and doctrine and dogma are equally vital and essential. And our whole position is one that proclaims that experience that is not based solidly upon truth and doctrine is dangerous.

There is the necessity for testing and trying the spirits. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.” Now some people object root and branch to this process of testing. There are many reasons for that, of course. In the case of some people it is nothing but slackness, indolence, and laziness—a desire for ease.

But there are those who feel that this whole process of testing and trying the spirits is unscriptural. According to such people, the moment you begin to discuss and consider and define, you cease to be a spiritual person. But my reply to this is that we must test and try the spirits because Scripture commands and exhorts us to do so, and for me that is enough. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits.”

Not only that, but Scripture tells us why we ought to do so: “because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” Alas, there are false prophets; there are evil spirits; there is a devil who is so clever and subtle that he can transform himself into an angel of light. If we were confronted with the Holy Spirit only, there would be no need to test the spirits, but the very name “Holy Spirit” suggests other spirits, devilish spirits—and there are such powers.

A Thought to Ponder: We must test and try the spirits because Scripture commands and exhorts us to do so.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 3, 2023 | Friday

1 John 4:1 “. . . try the spirits . . .”

How is this testing to be done? How are we to know whether certain spirits are true or false?

There are those who claim that the gifts of the Spirit are absolutely essential, and that unless men and women are able to manifest certain gifts of the Spirit, they have not received the Spirit. They say, for example, “You have not received the Holy Spirit unless you are able to speak in tongues or have done this or that.” They refer to a particular gift, and they say that if you have not experienced that, you have not received the Spirit, in spite of the fact that the apostle Paul asks the question, “Do all speak with tongues?” (1 Corinthians 12:30). The whole of chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians is designed to show that the gifts are distributed by the Spirit. He may or may not give these gifts, and the manifestation of gifts is not an essential proof of the possession of the Spirit.

But let me go on to particular matters. A very dangerous way of testing or examining the claim to having the Spirit is to judge in terms of phenomena, as in the gift of healing or the particular result of a ministry. These are the tests that are put up. People say, “Surely this man must be right. Haven’t you heard what he has been doing? Haven’t you heard of the cures he is able to bring about? Look at the results he has had.” The test of phenomena, taken alone, is an extremely dangerous one because evil spirits can work miracles; our Lord warned His followers that these spirits would be able to do such marvelous works.

The fact that people are full of fervor does not imply that they have the Holy Spirit. Evil spirits are often very fervent. Great excitement is not a proof of the Spirit; great energy is not a proof of the Spirit; much assurance or confidence is not a proof of the Spirit.

A Thought to Ponder: The test of phenomena, taken alone, is an extremely dangerous one because evil spirits can work miracles.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 4, 2023 | Saturday

1 John 4:2 “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.”

The most important test is conformity to scriptural teaching. “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” How do I know that this is a spiritual test? All I know about Him, I put up to the test of Scripture. Indeed, you get exactly the same thing in the sixth verse of 1 John 4 where John says, speaking of himself and the other apostles, “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” The first thing to ask about a man who claims to be filled with the Spirit and to be an unusual teacher is, does his teaching conform to Scripture? Is it in conformity with the apostolic message? Does he base it all upon this Word? Is he willing to submit to it? That is the great test.

Another test is the readiness to listen to scriptural teaching; to abide by it is always a characteristic of the true prophet. You will find that the other man rather tends to dismiss it. “Ah yes,” he says, “but you are legalistic, you are just a theologian. I have experience, I have felt, and I have produced this and that.” The tendency is not to abide by the teaching of Scripture but to be almost contemptuous of it; that has always been the characteristic of those who have tended to go astray. Read the history of the Quakers, and you will find that such an attitude became a prominent feature—the inner light rather than the objective teaching of Scripture itself.

A Thought to Ponder: The most important test is conformity to scriptural teaching.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 5, 2023 | Sunday

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

The greatest test is that the true Spirit always glorifies Christ. Christ is always in the center; He is always given the preeminence. And the true prophet is not the man who talks about experiences and visions and what he has done and seen, but about Christ. And when you have heard Him you do not say, “What a wonderful man”; you say, “What a wonderful Savior!” You do not say, “What a wonderful experience this man has had”; you say, “Who is the Man of whom the Spirit is speaking?” The attraction is to Christ; the Spirit glorifies Christ.

I now mention what I believe to be the perfect balance in this matter. “God,” said Paul to Timothy “hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). This is discipline, balance. The man who has the Holy Spirit is the man who always manifests balance and proportion. “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18); there is power and balance, but no excess. Speak one at a time, says Paul to the people of Corinth. “But,” they say, “we cannot. Isn’t that quenching the Spirit?” “No,” says Paul; “let all things be done . . . in order” (see 1 Corinthians 14:40). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of order, not of disorder. Doctrine and love are required; experience and power, intellect and mind—the whole person is involved and functions as this perfectly balanced body with no schism, with no rivalry and competition, but with the whole manifesting and ministering unto the glory of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Make sure the Spirit of God is in you, and then make sure that it is the Spirit of God and not some false, evil spirit to whom you are listening.

A Thought to Ponder: The greatest test is that the true Spirit always glorifies Christ.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

Ikthus Daily Word | November 6, 2023 | Monday

1 John 4:2-3 “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”

What is the teaching of the antichrist? It is not a denial of Christ— it is a misrepresentation of Christ; it is a teaching that either does something to Him or detracts something from Him. You remember how John put it; he said these people “went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be manifest that they were not all of us” (1 John 2:19). They were in the church. The antichrists had arisen within the Christian church; they said they believed in Christ. And yet, says John, their teaching is such that we can prove that they do not truly believe in Him.

Now this is a very important principle to grasp. Merely for people to say, “Yes, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; I always have believed in Him” is not enough, until we have tested them further. The apostle Paul says that these people preached “another Jesus.” Ah, yes, they were preaching Jesus, but it was another Jesus; it was not the Jesus that Paul preached (2 Corinthians 11:4). They preached Christ, yes, but what sort of Christ, what kind of Jesus? That is the question.

Therefore we ask this question: How can we decide whether the teaching concerning Jesus Christ is true or false? And here the one answer is given perfectly clearly. Our ultimate authority, our only authority, is the apostolic teaching. That is the whole point of the first epistle of John.

A Thought to Ponder: The teaching of the antichrist is not a denial of Christ—it is a misrepresentation of Christ.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

October 31, 2023 | Tuesday | A Christian Is a Spiritual Person

1 Corinthians 2:12 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God.”

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

October 30, 2023 | Monday | Assurance in Prayer

1 John 3:21-22 “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

October 29, 2023  | Sunday | Confidence in Prayer

1 John 3:21 “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.”

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

October 28, 2023 | Saturday | What is Prayer?

1 John 3:19 “And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.”

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

October 27, 2023 | Friday | Hated by the World

1 John 3:13 “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.”

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

October 26, 2023 | Thursday | The Divine Seed

1 John 3:9 “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him.”

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

October 25, 2023 | Wednesday | Sinless Perfection

1 John 3:8-9 “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. . . . Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.”

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

October 24, 2023 | Tuesday | Look Forward in Anticipation

1 John 3:8 “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

October 23, 2023 | Monday | Our Adversary

1 John 3:8 “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

October 22,2023 | Sunday | A Mighty Battle

1 John 3:8 “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

October 21, 2023 | Saturday | Delivered

1 John 3:5 “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.”

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day