We can walk in fellowship with God the Father, this side of heaven. We just need to step into His light and let go of our shame and guilt. 1 John 1:7 I share a wonderful bit of wisdom my grandmother wrote in her Bible concerning this passage. What a precious gift this is to me.
Video Transcript (Video Below)
Self%2C God forgives you%2C so I forgive you%2C too.mp4
[00:00:00] Welcome back to Daily Bible promises with a Twist. And if you’re wondering what the twist is, just follow the arrow right here. And that will lead you to an I, click on that icon. You can only see that ‘I’ icon, by the way, if you are watching this on a computer or on your cell phone. It won’t work on a smart TV. If you click on that little ‘I’, it will lead you to a playlist and the very first video on that playlist explains all of this.
[00:00:30] So we’re reading from the New International Version. That’s what these Bible promise cards were written in. And it’s 1 John 1:7
[00:00:42] “If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son purifies us from all sin.”
[00:00:54] So let’s read that in context from the New American Standard Bible. I’m going to be starting at verse 6 and ending at verse 9. And I’ll be using my grandmother’s Bible as I have been doing for this whole series. Today when I opened up my Bible to read the passage, I found some notes my grandmother made. My grandmother accepted the Lord quite late in life, but she was an avid Bible reader, after that fact I tell you the story of her life in the video that is right at the I in the corner. I’ll put the link below in the description on YouTube, so you can click there to find it as well. So, let’s begin.
[00:01:40] First John Chapter 1. verses 7-9. Actually, I’m going to go to verse 6-9. And I’m reading from the New American Standard Bible. “If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
[00:02:30] So let’s.., I want to read my grandmother’s notes first. She highlighted verses 8 and 9 that say.”If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
[00:02:54] My grandmother wrote this, and I think this is really sage advice, so take it to heart. She’s saying this to herself. “Self, Jesus forgives you. And I forgive you too.”
[00:03:11] If you have a hard time forgiving yourself, repeat that prayer. Because if we confess our sins He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Therefore, we must forgive ourselves as well.
[00:03:31] But let’s go back up to verse 6 and verse seven. “If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin.”
[00:03:56] I’ve read this passage many many times. I’ve heard sermons on this passage many many times, but I just realized that verse 7 is not referring to fellowship with the body of Christ; with our brothers and sisters in Christ. At least, I don’t think it is, because most read that whole verse again. “But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light”, speaking of God the Father. “We have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all our sin.”
[00:04:40] I must admit that I struggled with having any sort of relationship with God. God the Father of the Trinity was always kind of distant to me or I put distance between H im and I. But if we walk in the light, because He is in that light drawing us to Himself, we have fellowship with Him, because of the blood that He allowed His son to shed for us.
[00:05:16] So that’s pretty important. He wants us to be in fellowship with Him. But if we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet we hover in the darkness, we try to hide from Him. We keep a step back. There’s areas in our lives that we feel shame about or guilt. And we haven’t brought those areas to the Lord, yet. It is not easy for us to be honest with him. He knows everything. But sometimes it’s very difficult for us to be honest with ourselves and to accept God’s truth about ourselves.
[00:05:54] So let’s read from verse 6-9, and then let’s take my grandmother’s advice or whoever suggested that she say this prayer. Let’s take that advice. “If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” We’re lying to ourselves we’re lying to God and lying to others. “But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
[00:06:48] So, repeat this prayer with me and I’m repeating it because it was in my grandmother’s Bible and whoever helped her to forgive herself, because there were, I’m sure, a lot of things that happened in her life that she wasn’t proud of. So, let’s pray this. “Self, Jesus forgives you and so I forgive you too.
And
The story of my NASB Bible – My grandmother’s story.
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©2018 Katherine Walden
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