Daily Bread - Jan 18 2007

1 John 5:11 - "And this is the witness: that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son."

The Holy Spirit Himself has come to give testimony to us and on our behalf that we have received eternal life. The most important dimension of eternal life is the quality of life that we have received. The life that we have been given in Christ Jesus is abundant life.

God's life is joy unspeakable and full of glory, peace that passes understanding, and love that never fails. Confidence and faith in His work of Grace is vital to our salvation. It is essential that we trust with absolute certainty that the blood of Jesus has removed every offence and has brought forth the life of God in us.

We must believe that we have been begotten of the Spirit and that He is leading and guiding us into all truth. We must resign ourselves only to believe what the Word of God says. The lies that would attempt to cast doubt on the eternal life that has been given to us must be cast down as the enemies of God.

God who so desires that we would be convinced of this unspeakable gift has given us the greatest witnesses that He could provide: the witness of the Blood, the Spirit, and the Water. He wants us to be certain of the eternal life that has come to us through the testimony of the Blood of Jesus and the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the water of His Word. The certainty that eternal life has come to us through the blood is witnessed to us by the Spirit and the Word (Heb. 9:12, John 6:54, Matthew 26:27). That we have been begotten of the Spirit has been forever settled by the testimony that God has given to us of His Son (John 3:5-8, Gal. 4:29; 1 Peter 1:23, James 1:20, Hebrews 4:12). All of the witnesses of God, the blood, the Spirit, and the water, are one and they proclaim the message of God to everyone who will hear and believe. This message is that God has given to us eternal life.

Blessings,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
abidingplace.org