Know Yourself
By this we know…1 John 4:13
In the beginning God created heaven and the earth. Before that, God knew a third of His angels would rebel against Him. God knew they would follow the great rebel. Before God created man and woman, He knew they would join the rebellion falling for the lies of the father of lies. God was prepared for this great fall. He had a plan to redeem those who would follow the Truth. Of course, this plan involved the death, burial, and resurrection of The Son. The plan would restore mankind to the same wonderful relationship of The Father, The Son, and the Spirit have always enjoyed.
God knew those who would believe and be born again would continue to wonder if their change was complete. God knew the great deceiver would not stop. That he would continue his attack on God’s new creatures. God knows, we who believe, need instruction: how do we gain confidence in our faith? Answer: He gave us Himself.
By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit…1 John 4:13. God knows that we are still in this world; still trapped in our flesh. So, He not only gave us His Spirit as a guarantee of our salvation, He gave us evidence of our transformation: fruit of the Spirit. Everyone born does not produce this fruit because most don’t have His Spirit. All who are born of the Spirit produce His fruit.
God chose Paul to instruct us about the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5 and Ephesians 5. We often refer to these Scriptures. We also have come to notice how different we have become. We have become more interested in God, His Son, and His Spirit. We have become less concerned about the trappings of the traditions of religion. We have become more aware of God’s presence in our lives. We have noticed our new and increasing desire to know more about Jesus, our Savior, and the coming King. We have noticed a growing revulsion of sin and a hunger for holiness.
1 Thessalonians 3:13: so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. From your new beginning, your new birth, God has been preparing you to return with Jesus when He comes again. Haven’t you noticed!
