Again in 3John, John writes about “walking in the TRUTH” -> 3John4,”I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the TRUTH.” As John has written in 1&2John, walking in the TRUTH consistently is one of the ways that God’s Spirit softens and shapes our heart to be increasingly more like HIS Heart, and increasingly motivated by God’s Heart,& n 3John7 The Word tells the impact that walking in the TRUTH had on the people this letter is written to! ->3John7, ”It was for the sake of the Name (for the sake of the Character&Heart of God) that they went out, receiving no help from pagans.” Many Christians can be motivated by so many things other than the Heart of God, which will slowly lead us astray from the peace and joy,& victories that the Lord so desperately desires for us to have in our everyday life amidst all the challenges in our world. But when we are led by HIS HEART/Motivated by HIS HEART, HIS victories for us in these challenges shore up confidences that have an eternal foundation that can not be shaken nor taken away from us by any worldly force. This leads to a humility as we grow in our trust/dependence on Christ for more and more....and our lives imitate the life of Christ more and more->3John11,”Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God( The ONLY genuine source of anything PURELY GOOD is GOD!)”. This is also what the words of an old hymn says ->”When we walk w the Lord in the light of His Word, what a glory He sheds on our way while we do His good will, He abides w us still, and w all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” Satan knows this TRUTH, & he will throw everything at us to get us to sway from “walking in the TRUTH” as we seek to trust and obey with every part of our heart/mind/life! Satan does NOT want us to be “happy in Jesus”, so he will tempt us with anything and everything that will draw us away from “walking in the TRUTH”! One of Satan’s most effective strategies is to turn us away from The Truth/God’s Word/God’s Heart..& get us seeking a truth that is not The TRUTH. When this happens we are veered away from walking in the TRUTH, & our lives are robbed of the joy & peace in Jesus that Christ suffered and died for us to have. We are always seeking truth->a “truth” to be MOTIVATED by! This is why it is imperative for us to be deliberate about seeking God’s Heart in His Word regularly...and following through with application of His Word in our heart/mind/life. If not...we will definitely be vulnerable to Satan’s strategies that will rob us...! Dear Lord Jesus, I praise You for giving me Your Spirit as my Helper...dear Holy Spirit I ask for You to lean heavy on my heart/mind/life with Your TRUTHS..& then i ask for Your Courage;Strength;Discipline;&Heart to enable me to walk in THE TRUTH!

2 John is so brief in words, but loaded with at least 2 imperative lessons about growing in our faith in Christ, & protecting ourselves from all things that would rob us of a sincere relationship with Christ. The first lesson is that we grow in our relationship & strength in Christ as we “walk in the Truth” (2John4, ”It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the Truth, just as the Father commanded us”; 2John6”And this is love: that we walk in obedience to HIS commands. As you have heard from the beginning, HIS command is that you walk in love.”)! By the end of David’s life he had learned the hugeness of this lesson and he urges his son to learn the lesson -1Kings2:2-3”I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man. Keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn...” David had walked outside of God’s Ways many times in his life, and had learned that each time he did so it resulted in life repercussions that were far from what was best, & caused times that personally distanced him from God (not God from David!), & he wanted his son to avoid these repercussions & this walking away from a relationship with God. The bottom line of this lesson is that if we are not walking with God in TRUTH..., we are walking away from God. He does not walk away from us...we walk away from Him! A second lesson of 2John is for us to nurture True Discernment in our lives and even be prepared to defend True Discernment in and around our lives->2John7-11, ”For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far (veers far from Biblical Truth) and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.” This 2nd lesson is calling us to be Biblically Discerning about what & who we allow to have influences in our heart/mind/life...& to not be deceived. John is so emphatic about this that he says deception of any kind that does not “acknowledge Jesus Christ The Messiah as coming in the flesh are deceivers and effectively the antichrist(vs7). Remember from yesterday that the Antichrist will”.... seek world domination and will attempt to destroy all followers of Jesus Christ and the nation of Israel.” These two lessons of 2John are for us to “walk in the TRUTH”according to God’s Instructions, & as we exercise this walking in our heart/mind/life, that we also develop TRUE Discernment to leverage in all relationships and everything we hear,read,experience...&see, so we may guard our mind/heart/life for all that is BEST as only GOD Knows! Dear Lord,a failing of mine is to quickly misuse Your Discernment as a way to quickly judge others, instead of acknowledging the TRUE purpose of Your discernment as not only for my personal conviction;learning;&protection, but also in the way that You call me to love others. Dear Lord, I praise You for the huge patience You have with me...& for never giving up on me, & always waiting for me to return to walking in Your Truth and seeking Your Ways.I pray that Your Strength,Your Encouragement,& Your Discernment be ever increasingly mine as my Trust in You alone becomes more and more a part of everything about me.

1John4:1-3 is a very strong warning about us having a specific discernment that is probably the most important a follower of Christ must have. It says, ”Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” As much as Hollywood, writers and other sources have used “the Antichrist” as subject matter for stories and a less than true representation of the Antichrist in the Bible, we don’t have the Biblical “respect” for who the Antichrist is, nor for the fact that the spirit of the Antichrist has been weaving his ultimate plan throughout history! Here is a description of the Antichrist that I found->”Most Bible prophecy/eschatology experts believe the Antichrist will be the ultimate embodiment of what it means to be against Christ. In the end times/last hour, a man will arise to oppose Christ and His followers more than anyone else in history. Likely claiming to be the true Messiah, the Antichrist will seek world domination and will attempt to destroy all followers of Jesus Christ and the nation of Israel.” Respecting this description of the Antichrist is why the above verses in 1John are meant to be so strong when it says, ”DO NOT....”! And the perspective of John saying “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” was fully understood when written to mean that Jesus is God, coming to be The Messiah that fulfills the Covenant God made with man->meaning that when sin entered the world and humankind broke their part of the Covenant by becoming terminally infected by sin, God Himself was the Only One that could take the penalty of breaking the Covenant in our stead so that we would not suffer the ultimate consequences of breaking the Covenant->Jesus Christ suffered those for us! These verses are saying that anyone that does not sincerely/earnestly/boldly confess in their own heart/mind/life that Jesus Christ IS this Messiah (Fully God in the flesh that fulfills the terms of Covenant for us!) is succumbing to the deceptions of the Antichrist! This means that there is no valid place for any other ideas about being made right with Almighty God...,none! In the world today there is a call for tolerance & broad mindedness, & even acceptance about ideologies &/or religions that do not acknowledge that Jesus is God, The Messiah from Almighty God. These verses emphatically leave no room for this tolerance & broadmindedness in our lives! The rest of 1John4 talks about the Sacrificial Love of Christ, & that His Love lives in those who Trust/Acknowledge Christ’s Sacrificial Love in their lives/through their lives. 1John4:19-21 says that if His Love is in us, then His Love for those around us will be in our hearts as we hurt for those that are being led astray by the spirit of the Antichrist! When Jesus walked the earth He hurt for those who were being led astray by all deception & sin. Because of His hurt for them He found ways to convey His Great Love&Mercy to them that would make every effort for their eyes&minds&hearts to be convinced that He is God & that He is the ONLY WAY to have a loving relationship with God as our Father in Heaven. The bottom line of 1John4 is that we must boldly protect our own mind/heart/life from all ideologies&/or religions that deny Jesus is God/The Messiah in the Bible, & that if His Love is in us then we will hurt for those that believe anything less. Dear Lord,I pray for the Help of Your Spirit and Your Word in shoring up my Faith in You Alone in all areas of my heart/mind/life,& for Your Love living in me to choke out all piety and spiritual arrogance in me so I may respond to the Hurt You feel for those around me that are being led away from You by the spirit of the Antichrist....so Your Love living through me may be a beacon of The Truths of Your Gospel for them.

Just as our physical heart is negatively or positively effected by what we think & do, so is our spiritual heart/our soul effected by what we think & do. Our physical heart is negatively impacted by seeking things that bring stressful thinking into our lives, and also negatively impacted by not applying healthy Wisdom & Discernment to how we eat & what we do-i.e.,how we live. In the same way, what we think & do effectively shapes and changes our soul; our spirit-our heart. When we earnestly trust in the Gospel of Christ to save us from sin and all it’s consequences, Jesus places His Spirit in us to be our Helper; our Encourager; our Courage; our Discernment; and our Guide for all things Genuinely Best for us! He does not become a puppet master, nor a dictator! He becomes our Savior; our Helper; our Encourager; our Courage Giver; our Discernment; and our Guide for our Eternal Best! We can get advanced education in mental & physical health, but if we do not personally assimilate what we study into our lives we will reap none of the benefits of those studies, nor will our lives reflect a personal conviction of what we learn through those studies. In essence, we let our lives be led by something other than what we learn is best for us. When this happens in our life, something bad for us is in essence on the throne of our lives leading & encouraging us to unhealthy mind/heart/life choices. 1John3:18 addresses this when it says, ”Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”! Part of the plea of this verse is for our hearts (the root of how & what we truly love) to be shaped & changed by our “actions” (how we think&live) as we do so “in TRUTH” (God’s Word is THE FOUNDATION OF ALL TRUTH)! We may study The Bible in depth for all sorts of reasons, or even just to check off that we had a “quiet time”. If we are not responding to what God’s Spirit is revealing to us as we study His Word, then we are doing what 1John3:18 is telling us NOT to do! But if we are seeking to change our thinking, & how we live by what The Holy Spirit convicts us/teaches us with as we earnestly study God’s Word then our hearts are being shaped & changed “in TRUTH”! In fact 1John3:19-24 says that if our thoughts & lives are being changed in these ways we then know WHO truly lives in us-“who or what is truly on the THRONE of our life” -> 1John3:29-24, ”This is then how we know that we belong to THE TRUTH, & how we set our hearts at rest in HIS PRESENCE (Jesus on the THRONE of our life), Those who obey HIS commands (wisdom;discernment;instruction,etc.) & do what pleases HIM (knowing HIS Great Mercy&Love)...Those who obey HIS commands live in HIM, & HE in them (His Holy Spirit). &this is how we know that HE lives in us: We know by the Spirit HE gave us”. These verses are not the call of a manipulative dictator, but the Words of a LOVING FATHER desiring everything that is ABSOLUTE BEST for HIS children. Dear Lord, these verses open so many cans of worms in my life of just how much of my life I have been an academic student & not a personal life lesson seeker student of Your Word! I pray for Your Spirit to wake me up to the TRUTHS of these verses and to the  Helping;Encouraging;Courage; Discernment;& Guiding of Your Spirit in my life...&may my mind/heart/life be shaped by Your Heart as with Your Help Your Words are put into action in me.

1John3:1-10 says that if I am not addressing the sin in my life that I am aware of with real change in my heart/mind/life that cleans my life of that sin, then I may not even truly know Christ as my Savior, & at the very least if I am not addressing the sin I am aware of in my life with a sincere seeking The Lord for His Help in cleaning my life of these sins, I am likely fooling myself into a false security of The Mercy of Christ’s Gospel being genuinely a part of my heart/mind/lif -> 1John3:1-10, ”See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God;...we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he (Jesus) appears we shall be like him,... And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he (Jesus) is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness....No one who abides in him (Jesus) keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him .Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he (Jesus) is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. No one born of God (through Christ alone) makes a practice of sinning,...By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”. This doesn’t mean that overnight everything in our lives is going to magically change from darkness to light & we are absolutely sinless in the way we think&live! It does mean that The Spirit of Jesus living in us will inspire and encourage and help us into a lifelong process of sanctification. I found this definition-“sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness. Sanctification is a continuing change worked by God in us, freeing us from sinful habits and forming in us Christlike affections, dispositions, and virtues. It does not mean that sin is instantly eradicated, but it is also more than a counteraction in which sin is merely restrained or repressed without being progressively destroyed. Sanctification is a real transformation, not just the appearance of one.”. Therefore,The evidence of our sincerity with Christ is this process of sanctification in our heart/mind/life being daily to the point that over a brief period of time we should be able to look back and see real changes in the way we think&live that are more and more in line with the Word & Spirit of God! If I am not noticing real changes,then I have likely hit a snag or hold up of some kind that is causing a stagnation in my heart/mind/life...a stagnation that will cause a stench in my life..a stench of discouragement;defeatism;arrogance;selfishness;greed;elitism;materialism;piousness;insensitivity;judgementalism;& many other “attributes” that just plain stink in the life of a true follower of Christ. Dear Jesus, these verses are a perfect hit in my life...as I look back a few days are even a few weeks, it is difficult for me to see the process of Your Spirit transforming me noticeably to a different heart/mind/life that is increasingly in tune with Your Heart! Dear Jesus,help me to be more willing to be in Your Process of Sanctification for my life, & more responsive to the ways You Sovereignly purpose all things to be BEST for this PURPOSE in my heart/mind/life as Romans 8:28 promises.