DECEMBER 5, 2023

  “You cannot talk about grit. You have to embody it.

You cannot talk about faith. You have to live it.
You cannot talk about the desert. You have to cross it.” 
― Dragos Bratasanu, The Pursuit of Dreams

DANIEL 5-6

1It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. 3Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. 5Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”(6:1-5) 

1 JOHN 4

9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19We love because he first loved us. 20Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

JOURNAL 

John makes it very clear...We are to love one another and if we don't, then God is not operating, but something dark and outside of God. He also makes the distinction that there is no fear in love. So if we are operating in fear that means we are operating apart from love and therefore apart from God.

Not long ago I was talking with a friend on how reading the Bible every day can be somewhat discouraging. Reason being is that it exposes how far I constantly stray from God and his love. Even in the midst of life-changing truth, my mind will wander into darkness. Yet here is where the power of God really begins to show up in my life and heart. Because when these moments of darkness enter and I choose love instead of fear and hate, then that is evidence of God. 

Every day there is a choice, trust God or not. Daily there are moments when it feels like the whole world is against me. There are days when things do not go my way. What I do in those moments and on those days really matters. When I don't feel like working and I work anyway, when I don't feel like forgiving and I forgive anyway, when I don't feel like reading the Bible and I do it anyway. This is the evidence of God. It is the confirmation  that despite all the negativity in the world and within my own heart and mind...a light truly exists that shines through the darkness and fills dark hearts with love and joy. 

7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

1 JOHN 4:7-8