by George Runyan | Oct 30, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
1 John 2:29 – If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.
The context of John’s writing is to encourage the children of God. In verse 24, John says to “let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning.” What was it that they heard from the beginning?
God’s love for them.
He had promised eternal life to those who believed.
The anointing, which is the Holy Spirit.
John told the believers that he was writing to them because of those who were trying to deceive them. He is addressing the same problem Paul had to address, the Jews who distorted the Gospel. They were teaching the believers that they had to practice certain Jewish customs in order to be saved. John tells them, “You have no need for anyone to teach you; but His anointing teaches you about all things” (1 John 2:27). John was establishing the fact that the Holy Spirit was given to them to teach and clarify the gospel they had received. John was not saying to reject teachers. He recognized the “anointing” was the obvious final word. The anointing is in the believer, and not external to the believer.
John gave believers wise counsel when he said, “Now, little children, abide in Him” (1 John 2:28). Today, many run after all the different teachers and doctrines that are being represented. Some are leading God’s people away from a healthy relationship with the Father and the Son. People run after doctrines, supernatural manifestations, and charismatic personalities. Abiding in Christ is no doubt the wisest decision one can make. Waiting on Him, proving all things, and holding fast to what is true. As we abide in Him, we will have confidence when He appears.
John is not questioning the believer’s position regarding eternal life. He knows all believers will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. In that day, he does not want the believer to be ashamed, but to have confidence because of practicing righteousness. It is not the practice of the works of the law, but the practice of righteousness through faith in Christ that matters.
Father, I thank You for the confidence to stand before You and not be ashamed. Thank You for the anointing that is in me through the Holy Spirit. I pray for You to protect me from false teaching and instruct me by Your Spirit in righteousness.
by George Runyan | Oct 28, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
John 5:37 – The Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me.
The Father gives testimony to all He does. If the Father has called you and sent you, He will bear witness of you. The Father sent Jesus and testified about Him through the prophets of the Old Covenant. All the prophets spoke of Christ, pointing to His coming. Daniel even pinpointed the exact time of Christ’s ministry in his seventy year prophecy in Daniel 9. Isaiah described His suffering perfectly in Isaiah 53. John the Baptist, the last Old Covenant prophet, actually pointed out Christ declaring, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
The Father begins His witness in our lives as we respond to His Son through faith, just as the Father testified of Jesus when He spoke from heaven. “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16). He witnesses of His love for us. He declares it in the Scriptures, He bears witness in our regenerated spirit, and He encourages us through others.
The enemy of our soul tries to discourage us through feelings of unworthiness and rejection. He is a liar! We are not unworthy; for the Son has made us worthy, even though we are in the process of growing up into Him. The Father declares us “accepted”! Our past may try to haunt us through the statements of others. Statements filled with rejection, worthlessness, and failure. Those views of others are under the blood of Christ who declares we are beloved, accepted, worthwhile, darling, successful, purposeful, and important. We are His prize, His darling, and His beloved bride.
Jesus was very direct with the religious leaders whose hearts were hardened and controlled by the devil. Jesus declared, “You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent” (John 5:37-38).
Today, believe His word and His witness about you. Receive His love, acceptance, and forgiveness. The Father is ecstatic over you. We are in Christ and cannot be separated from His love. Rebuke the lies of the enemy that say you’re not worthy. Reject any negative comments from the past. Release those who have spoken poorly of you. Accept the Father’s love and favor. Then allow the Holy Spirit to reveal what He has done for you and in you that others might hear the witness of the Father through you.
Father, thank You that I am loved and accepted by You because of what Jesus has done on my behalf. I receive Your witness of me and want to tell others how You love them because of Your beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
by George Runyan | Oct 27, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
John 5:36 – The testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John.
Most would agree that John the Baptist had a powerful testimony of God’s power used to introduce the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus declares that His testimony is greater than John’s. Jesus’ greater testimony came through the works which the Father gave Him to accomplish. The greatest of the works is found in the cross. Before the cross, Jesus revealed the Father’s work in His ministry to God’s covenant people, Israel.
One of the first works took place in a Synagogue as a man manifested demons. Jesus cast out the demon by rebuking him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him” (Mark 1:25). The demon had said to Jesus, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us?” Jesus would not receive the testimony of the demon, but the work spoke for itself. The people were all amazed and debated among themselves, saying “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even unclean spirits, and they obey Him” (Verse 26).
Another work was the healing of a paralytic through forgiveness of his sins. “Jesus seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven’” (Mark 2:5). Of course, this made the religious leaders angry because they counted it as blasphemy, thinking in their hearts, “Who can forgive sins but God?”
Finally, Jesus raised the dead. Lazarus had been dead four days, when Jesus prayed saying, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me. When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth’” (John 11:41-42).
The Father also equipped His people through the power of the Holy Spirit to do the “works of God.” God has called us to good works. This is why the gifts of the Holy Spirit are made available to believers. The Father has not commissioned us to go and proclaim the good news without also supplying what is needed to accomplish the task. As believers, we have authority and power in Jesus’ name to proclaim the good news of the Gospel and demonstrate the power of the kingdom of God.
Jesus was given the full measure of power to do the works of His heavenly Father. Each believer is authorized to move in the portion of power the Father chooses to give. The works of God usually need to be developed in a believer’s life. Don’t be disappointed the first time you pray for someone to be healed and they’re not healed. Just keep praying for the sick and trust God.
Father, I ask to be used by You to minister Your love to others. I pray for the works of God to be manifested in my life. I pray that Your works through me would witness to others of Your greatness and help lead them to a relationship with You.
by George Runyan | Oct 26, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
John 5:36 – He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
It cannot be emphasized too greatly how important John the Baptist was to the introduction of Jesus and His kingdom reign. John was the prophetic bridge from the Old to the New Covenant. The last verses of the Old Testament recorded in the book of Malachi spoke of John when it said, “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6).
These verses reveal the heart of our heavenly Father. Elijah was the premier prophet of the Old Covenant. He represents the total prophetic revelation of the Old Covenant. John came in the spirit of Elijah. We know these scriptures speak of the time of Jesus’ first coming because Jesus calls John Elijah. Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands” (Matthew 17:11-12).
Prophets are anointed to be lamps to God’s people. John was that lamp, lighting the way for Jesus to enter His ministry. In those days, a lamp was fueled by oil which caused the wick to burn. As John “burned” for Jesus, those hearing him rejoiced for a time. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we too are called to burn for Jesus and to point to the “Lamb of God” who takes the world’s sin away. John’s light revealed Jesus. The light of the Holy Spirit in us reveals Jesus to a dark world as well. People rejoice in that light until they find out what is required to have the light in them. Many reject God’s love because, in order to receive what God has done in Christ, they are required to give up their life and receive His. This is why Jesus said “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).
For the one who receives the testimony of John, they become “greater than John.” “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matthew 11:11). Wow! We are greater than John! How can this be? The greatness of the least in the kingdom of God comes through being joined to Christ in the power of His resurrection and His indwelling Holy Spirit. John was part of the last covenant which looked forward to Christ’s first advent. We are those who are part of the “new” who live in the present reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are waiting for His glorious return, when at His appearing we will be joined with all those who have gone before us.
Father, I thank You for what You have done in Christ. I pray for the oil of the Holy Spirit to fill my life so I might burn like John, filled with light that points to Your great love in Christ.
by George Runyan | Oct 25, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
John 5:39 – You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.
John 5 mentions four witnesses regarding Jesus. They are: the witness of John the Baptist, the witness of works, the witness of the Father, and the witness of the Scriptures. Jesus declares, He can do nothing on His own initiative and if He alone testifies about Himself, His testimony is not true (John 5:30-31).
What Jesus says about Himself is also true for every believer. As a believer, I can do nothing on my own initiative. One of the great challenges of the Christian walk is learning to live out of the life of the Spirit as opposed to drawing from our natural life. Many believers initiate good works, the problem being “they initiate them.” The works which Jesus performed came from the Holy Spirit, not Jesus’ own ideas of how to serve His Father. The witness of Jesus came from other sources. Jesus knew who He was, but He let other sources testify concerning Him.
The witness of John pointed toward Jesus and away from John. The witness of works demonstrated God’s power through Jesus’ life. The witness of the Father is that He sent His only Begotten Son. He spoke many times, through many individuals, and in many different ways concerning the coming of Jesus. The witness of Scripture is in the miraculous way the Law and the Prophets testified of Christ.
The fallacy of the religious leaders was they thought life was contained in the Scriptures. They did not recognize the One of whom the Scriptures spoke. To receive life is not a matter of conversation, but action. The action required in this case was to believe Jesus. Believe not only His words, but His works.
After Pentecost, the witness of all that Jesus did was witnessed in the coming of the Holy Spirit. Eternal life is obtained through the Spirit. As we believe the witness of others pointing to Jesus, as we believe the work of Jesus in the cross, as we believe the Father’s declaration that He sent His only Begotten Son, and as we believe the Scriptures.
As we receive Christ, His life is firmly rooted in us through the power of the Holy Spirit, and then we become part of the witness. The transformation of our life, the witness of our faith through how we now live and share with words, God’s love becomes a conduit of God’s grace.
Father, thank You for the witness You have given of Your will revealed in Christ. Thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to draw me to Christ and the life You made possible through faith in Jesus, the Christ, my Savior, and my Lord. Use me to testify of Your Son that others also may know His life.
by George Runyan | Oct 24, 2016 | Devotional, George Runyan
Colossians 1:29 – For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
Paul tells us in Colossians 1:29 that he was laboring and striving (fighting) according to the Lord’s power which was at work in him. There is a work to be accomplished (labor) and a fight to be fought (striving). The labor is comparable to the one at work in the field preparing for the day of harvest. This includes plowing, sowing, watering and reaping. It is a full time job. There is also warfare, which is “striving” to attain the victory over the enemies of the gospel who want to hinder and destroy the harvest. Our victory is rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ and manifested in the believer by the Holy Spirit.
“Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27). The Gospel calls believers to a certain kind of conduct. It is in our conduct that we reflect the control of Christ in our life through the power of the Holy Spirit. What do people say about our life? Are we convicted of being a Christian or would many be surprised to hear that we are trusting Christ? Paul lists four areas of the believers “striving.”
Conduct yourself in a way that reveals the gospel
Standing firm in one spirit (a unified body)
Having one mind as the body of Christ in your location
Striving together (you do not go into battle alone)
Paul pulls these four areas together around “the faith of the gospel.” As believers, we must contend for the faith. “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3).
“You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives’” (Hebrews 12:4-6).
As believers, we must resist sin. For some it has cost them their lives. That is not so with us yet. In the battle, we strive to please the Lord. At times, it is necessary for the Lord to discipline us because we are “sons,” whom He is developing into mature men and women of God.
Father, I ask for Your help as I labor, striving according to Your power, which mightily works within me. Help me to stand firm in one spirit. Help me to have one mind in Your body. Join me in the battle with other faithful believers. Cause me to be strong and faithful when corrected by You.
