Prophetic Prospective Daily Devotional

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

We know that the 40 or more authors of the Bible were all Jewish men, who had "breathed into them" the very Word of God, II Timothy 3:16. Several of the authors wrote more than one book: Moses, Ezra, Solomon, Luke, Paul, and the author of our reading today, John. John the Apostle, who was very close to Jesus, wrote a total of 5 books of the New Testament - the Gospel of John, I, II, and III John, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

In his Gospel, John gives the account of Jesus Christ in His "divine nature". In the book of Revelation, John wrote what Jesus told him to write as relayed to him by an angel. In his epistles, the apostle writes very "practical letters" to Christians.

The book of I John is written that we might "know that we have eternal life", I John 5:11-13. In fact, the word "know" is used 39 times in this letter to believers. By the way, that would be a great approach to studying I John. Just look at all of the "know" phrases in their context.

Today's key verse tells about where we are and how we should live. Don't you just love people who are so direct, right to the point? That is John's method in the writing of this book. "Don't love the world." Then he tells us how we can know if the "love of the Father" is in us.

If we have a love for this world, the love of the Father - God's Love - is not in us. John also reminds us that this world with all of its attractions will one day pass away. But we who do the "will of God" will abide forever, I John 2:17.

John, who will receive the Revelation from Jesus Christ about 5 years after writing this letter, recognized that we are in the Last Days, I John 2:18. This statement was applicable for John's day and much more so for our day. John warns of an "antichrist", but also issues a warning against the philosophy of the times.

I John 2:22 is John’s statement that those individuals and religions of the world, that deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, are of the "antichrist philosophy". This atmosphere will be prevalent during the time of the appearing of "The Antichrist". By reading John's warnings and exhortations, we can realize that we are living in the times that John was writing about.

John concludes this portion of scripture by telling us one of the reasons why he wrote this book. We can recognize those who would try to seduce us, I John 2:26. It is so good to have an author who is so down-to-earth, so real. It is also good to have someone who will deal directly with us about the issues of the day, the Last Days.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you, Lord, for such a practical straightforward manual on "How to Live  the Christian Life." Help me to follow its instructions.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

The apostle John was entrusted by God to be the writer of five books of the New Testament, the one for our devotional reading today, the epistles of II and III John, the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation. There are unique messages in each of John's books but I John has a multi-faceted theme.

John writes about knowledge of great spiritual truths, what true love is and where it comes from and how to have true fellowship. Verse 3 relates to us how to have true fellowship. I am not speaking of a pleasant conversation or a surface relationship, God tells us how to have Biblical fellowship.

True fellowship is found in our relationship with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. When that relationship is right, then, and only then, can we have that same type of relationship with our fellow man.

Then John gets real practical in his thoughts. John adds that God is light – there is no darkness in Him at all, verse 6. The fellowship and relationship, we say we have with God, will be manifested by our walk in light - in God who is light. We cannot walk in darkness and have fellowship with God or others.

For those of us who have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, we are the ones who walk in the light as He is in the light. Thus, we can have fellowship one with another and with Him. At this point in  history, our fellowship is with others in human kind. But one day, when we enter His presence, we will have the same fellowship with Him we experience with others.

John, when writing of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22, mentioned that in eternity future there will be a "tree of life" in the midst of the New Jerusalem which we will eat from, forever, Revelation 22:2.

Stop and consider for a moment. We will eat forever of the "tree of life". When you think of fellowship, what do you think of? Food! Food and fellowship are synonymous terms. What a great thought. We will fellowship together forever - that means fellowship with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

But it also means believers in Christ, not only of today, but from all of history. That includes all of the Biblical characters as well. I can hardly wait to talk to people like Noah, Jonah, Daniel, Joshua and so many others. By the way, if we are going to fellowship forever with believers, why don't we start practicing that today.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me Lord, to walk in the light so that I can have fellowship one with another and with You.

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that  all should come to repentance.

I believe a knowledge of God’s prophetic plan for the future will enhance our prospects for being successful in our adventure to serve Him each and every day of the year.

Our extended devotional reading for today speaks to some issues that must direct our path through the year, and in fact through all the days that the Lord allows us to have on this earth.

In the mind of Jesus it's only been several days, verse 8, since He promised to return to set up His kingdom, on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

There is only one reason that Jesus has not returned to gather us to Himself with His shout, the shout of the archangel and with the sound of the trump of God, calling us to join Him in the heavenlies. At which time we'll be "caught up" to be with Him forever.

There is only one reason He hasn't called for us to join Him and that is because our Lord and Saviour is not willing that any should perish, but wants all of humankind to come to Him as their Saviour, verse 9.

Let me draw your attention to several other truths that this passage presents for us to "remember". Verse 4 speaks of those in the last days who will question the "coming of the Lord back to the earth".

The previous verse, verse 3, tells us why they will doubt that the Lord will come again to be among us, because they will be "scoffers, walking after their own lusts". This statement is referring to both lost people as well as those who may be Christians, not in good fellowship with the Lord.

Verse 5 says they will be "willfully ignorant" of the fact that Jesus created all things, Colossians 1:16. In other words, they will be "dumb on purpose" of the Lord’s work. Verse 6 states that they will deny the "world-wide flood" and verse 7 reveals their denial of a "coming judgment day".

These thoughts must be in our memory as we see current events in today’s world setting the stage for all of Bible prophecy to be fulfilled, we must understand that Jesus is only delaying His return because of the lost that He wants to get saved.

When that last one that Jesus knows will get saved, when that one receives Him, then the shout will come for us to join Him in the air. That could happen at any moment. In fact, the truth be known, each of us could hasten the coming of Jesus Christ.

In the context of verse 12, if we are winning people to Jesus Christ, that will hasten His return. What a great goal for this year, winning people to Jesus and at the same time hastening His return.

Remember - everything else we do will be burned up one day, verses 10 and 11, so let's work to hasten His return.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Dear Lord, please help me to remember the things I should as I eagerly await Your shout for me to join you in the heavenlies and help me to win lost people to You.

For further study - II Peter 2:1-9

For further study - II Peter 1:15-21

For further study - II Peter 1:1-15

For further study - I Peter 5:6-13

For further study - I Peter 4:1-19

For further study - I Peter 3:1-22

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

Right out of the gate in I Peter 2, the apostle helps each of us know how to "grow" in our relationship with Jesus. Peter first informed us of what to "lay aside". The list of items Peter mentions will be the activities that will harm or at least hinder our growth.

These activities to be removed – "malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, and evil speaking" cause a slowdown in our advancement in the Christian lifestyle the Lord wants each of us to have in Him.

Next, Peter exhorts us to "desire the sincere milk of the Word" that we might be able to "grow'. Notice Peter did not say the "meat" of the Word, a real deep study of the Word of God. What he mentioned was the "milk" of the Word. "Meat" is for "grownups" and "milk" is for those young in the Lord. Now, age here is not talking about how long you have been saved, but how mature you and I might be in the Lord.

From verse 2 we look over at verse 9. This is a logical path to follow as we partake of the milk of the Word so that we can "grow." Then we "show" forth the one who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. But please look again at verse 9.

You might recognize the phrasing as something you read in the Old Testament and you would be correct. Just before the Lord met with Moses to give him the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, in Exodus 19 the Lord tells Moses that the Jewish people have a special calling and He has set them aside for His purpose.

Look at Exodus 19:5-6. The Lord tells Moses the Jewish people are a "peculiar treasure", a "people above all people", a "kingdom of priests", and a “holy nation”. It does sound very similar to I Peter 2:9. What God does when His chosen people, the Jewish people, are disobedient and run away from God's plan for their lives, He then turns to Christians to carry forth the message.

There are some slight changes in the 4 descriptions of the people God wants to use to reach the world but the same game plan is in play. When the Jews rejected Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Savior of the world, He set the Jews aside and gave the present-day ministry to Christians. Remember, I said "set aside" not replaced them.

God still has a plan for the Jews as spoken to Moses in Exodus 19. After the Rapture, during the seven year Tribulation Period, the Lord will re-commission the Jews to "show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light".

PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me, dear Lord, to "grow" so that I may "show."

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

I do want you to read all thirteen verses of our extended reading for today; however, we will focus on the first three verses of our devotional for our time in the Word.

Let me remind you, as I reminded myself as I read these verses, that our "new birth", the fact that we have been "born again", that we are saved means that we should live a "lifestyle of holiness".

The first three verses of our extended reading will set us on the way to that kind of a lifestyle. Peter actually gives us five pointed exhortations that should bring us in line with a daily experience of "holy living."

In verse 13 we see the first three exhortations. "Gird up the loins of your mind" is saying prepare your minds for "action". There is much we cannot control in life but we can control our "minds".

Paul told us to "think right", Philippians 4:8. Paul said to think on things pure, true, honest, lovely, good and just. We are to think on these things. When we "think right" we are "girding up our minds", preparing them for "action".

Peter then tells us to "be sober" which means to be "self-controlled". We are to "hope to the end" when Jesus Christ comes back, when He is revealed. His return is our "blessed hope" and that motivation for us to "lay aside" that which is not Godly and "live" that which is "Godly," as we "look" for Him to come.

Verse 14 tells us to "be obedient" to the Lord and don't walk in the lifestyle of the "former lust" that can take us astray. In other words, be not conformed to previous evil desires.

The fifth exhortation from Peter is the central theme of this passage, "be ye holy", verse 15. Holiness is what the Lord expects of each of us. This is true because He is "holy", and we are to be conformed to His image.

Holiness is to penetrate "all manner of conversation". That's not referring only to how we talk but our entire lifestyle should reveal holiness, even as He is holy.

Remember, this is possible as we prepare our minds, live under self-control, stay away from former lust, and look for the coming of Jesus. By the way, that coming of Jesus could be today!

PRAYER THOUGHT: Dear Lord, help me to think right, live self-controlled, stay away from evil desires and be holy as I await Your soon return.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

This fourth chapter of James is a "manual" on how to live in the last days. Please join with me in this devotional reading to learn how to apply the directives for living in light of the sure "promise" that Jesus is coming to call us up to be with Him, and the sure "prospect" that the Rapture will happen real soon, at any moment.

Jesus said, one of the indications that His Second Coming is close is that there will be a time when you see "wars and rumors of wars", Matthew 24:6. James, the half brother of Jesus states that these wars come from the "lust that war in our members", within the soul of each of us, lost and saved.

The "lusts" within each of us must be kept under control lest they take control of us. How wonderful that God gives us the "grace" to have a victory over these lusts. And please notice, God gives more "grace" to those of us who humble ourselves before the Lord and our fellow man, verses 6 & 10.

Many scriptures, and especially in the book of Revelation, speak of the Devil in the last days. The Devil will do everything he can to destroy the Jewish people, he knows if he can get rid of the Jews, the Lord can't keep His promises to them and Satan becomes the "god".

The Devil, also in the last days, will go after Christians, the true born-again believer, in the days before Jesus calls us up to be with Him at the Rapture. James gives us the "how-to's" of what we must do to have victory over Satan, in verse 7.

Notice we are not told to command the Devil to do anything. We are to "submit ourselves to God and resist the devil." Then, on the promise and the authority of God's Word, the devil will flee from us.

To submit is to offer ourselves in full surrender to the Lord. This devotional reading for today is indeed an excellent "manual" for living in the last days.


PRAYER THOUGHT: Lord help me to submit myself totally to You so that the lust of the flesh don't control me and so that the Devil will have to flee from me.

Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

The second chapter of James is a very interesting chapter in the little book of James. Remember, James was the half-brother of Jesus Christ and also the leader of the first Church in Jerusalem.

In essence, the entire book of James has as its theme, "faith without works is dead". This second chapter of James' letter is really focused on "faith" and "works". The word "faith" is used 12 times and the word "works", 11 times.

The phrase connecting "faith" and "works" is used 5 times. You might remember that Paul, when he wrote Galatians, lifted up "faith" as the vehicle through which we come to salvation.

That, of course, is true which Paul reveals to us in another of his letters that he wrote to the Ephesians. Ephesians 2:8-9 is the foundation for salvation, "we are saved by grace... through faith, it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."

Paul in both Galatians and Ephesians draws attention to "faith"; however, please notice Paul's statement about works in Ephesians 2:10. Those who are saved by grace through faith are then "created in Jesus Christ unto good works."

This is where James comes into focus, especially in the second chapter. James believes that it's "faith" but he says that "true faith" will result in works "which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them," Ephesians 2:10b.

God defines "faith" as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen", Hebrews 11:1. Paul, in the book of Romans, chapter ten, verse seventeen says that "faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God." God, through His Word, gives us the faith by which we come to salvation.

James believes that everybody can talk a great case and say that they have "faith", in fact, a "saving faith". James tells us that type of "faith", "real faith" will always result in works.

Please don't misunderstand, in this passage of scripture James does not put "works" before "faith" but "faith" that produces "works".

James 2 is a great chapter to be used as a "check" on our "faith". By the way, James does mention that at the Judgment Seat of Christ, right after the Rapture, the Lord will judge us on our "works", not our salvation.

The conclusion of the Judgment Seat is to determine the crowns we will receive, and also the "righteous acts", Revelation 19:8, that make up our "wedding garment" at the marriage ceremony that will join us, the "bride of Christ" into an eternal relationship with Jesus Christ, the "Bridegroom".

The exhortation from James for us today is, "Lets get to work."

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for the "faith" I receive from Your Word, help me to turn that "faith" into "works" for Your glory.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Have you ever noticed how practical the Bible is? What a foolish question, of course you have noticed that it is very practical if you have spent any time at all reading through it's pages. I must say that our extended reading for today fits the description of being "practical".

Remember the last reading we had in devotions from James was the first twelve verses of James 1, ending with the promise of the prize, the "Crown of Life" given to those of us who endure temptation. Enduring temptation, in other words, is not yielding to temptation. That "Crown of Life" is given at the  Judgment Seat of Christ.

Now as we read this "practical passage" for our devotional today, we see how to stand against temptation, to be able to endure temptation. Our key verse, verse 22, is a great starting point for being able to endure temptation.

Remember what the Psalmist wrote in 119:11, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."

The first step to not yielding to temptation is to hide the Word of God in our hearts. But then we must be "doers" of that Word and not "hearers" only. If we only "hear" and we are not "doers", we have deceived ourselves.

This is very practical. Verse 14 tells us that our "lust" draws us away from the right lifestyle that we must live to be able to receive that "Crown of Life". "Lust" is a craving, a longing, a desire for that which is forbidden by the Lord.

The Apostle John wrote, I John 2:15-16, that a "love for the world" and the "things of the world" causes us to enter into temptation, through the "lust of our eyes" and the "lust of our flesh". Lust starts with the eyes, we must guard our eyes because the Word tells us to do so. Remember, to be a "doer" of the Word, not a "hearer" only.

Every time I select a passage of scripture for our devotional reading I am amazed how much there is contained within that passage for us to be able to appropriate and live out in our lives.

I've barely shared all that is contained in our reading for today. Please spend more time in this passage. As you do you will see how we can prepare so that we will receive the "Crown of Life" for not yielding to temptation at the Judgment Seat of Christ which takes place right after the rapture as we stand face to face with Jesus.

By the way, the rapture could happen today, keep looking up!

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord, for your practical Word given to me. Please help me to be a "doer" of this Word and not a "hearer" only.