A Love Letter from God (1 John 5:11) - Your Daily Bible Verse - August 15

A Love Letter from God (1 John 5:11)
By: Anne Peterson

Today’s Bible Verse: And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. - 1 John 5:11

Today’s devotional is my imagining of what God might say to us about His Word:

Dear Precious One,

I’m writing to you because I’m not sure you’ve read my other letters. Oh yes, it’s true, I’ve written to you before. It’s actually a bunch of letters I left just for you. I gathered them all together and bound them in a book, it’s called the Word, or maybe you’ve heard another name, the Bible.

Don’t worry if you haven’t read it, I know it’s quite lengthy. It’s something to take in pieces, something you read often. You see, I know that it’s hard being in the world. I know because I sent my Son there. And I watched as they mistreated him, railed on him and finally, nailed him to a cross.

It was hard to watch. And why did he do it? He did it because I loved the world so much, I wanted them to one day be with me. You included.

Some of my earlier letters talk about this. When the people sinned, I told them to take a perfect animal, a lamb, and to sacrifice that lamb. Then they would put the blood on their doorpost. And when the death angel passed over, whoever had followed what I said would have their sins covered. That is, until my Son came.

When Jesus came and his cousin, John, was baptizing, he saw Jesus and said, “Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,” (John 1:29).

All have sinned and fall short of my glory (Romans 3:23). And the wages of sin is death, but my gift to you is eternal life through Jesus (Romans 6:23).

I know a lot of people think that they need to work their way to heaven, but it’s not true, that was man’s idea. And while man has a lot of good ideas, this is not one of them.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22). 

Day after day, a priest would stand and perform religious services, which can never take away sin, but Jesus offered up one sacrifice for sin, forever (Hebrews 10: 11-12). Jesus is sitting with me right now.

Did you know Jesus is going to call those who have trusted in him to come to heaven, and that day is coming soon?

It’s true. I only speak truth. But only those who have trusted in what Jesus did are going to be able to come. Salvation is something that is a gift, it’s through faith, not works so man can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). In fact, someone’s faith is counted for righteousness when they are not working for it (Titus 3:5)

If man could work to get into heaven, then it’s no longer a gift, and I love giving good gifts (James 1:17).

I want you to know about something. I used to have a beautiful angel named Lucifer. He was in charge of worship. But one day, he became proud and wanted to ascend higher than my throne. I had no choice, his name became Satan and I threw him out of heaven. He took one-third of the angels with him, who are now called demons.

If you’ve ever heard negative things about me, Satan is the source. You see, his destiny is sure. He can never go to heaven, so his mission is to discourage others. To turn them away from knowing the truth. And if they know the truth, he still likes to cause them to doubt things I have said, promises I’ve made.

If you have ever heard things like:

God doesn’t love you.

If God loved you, he wouldn’t have taken your loved one.

God has left you.

God is not fair.

Oh, my precious one. I want you to read my letters. It’s the only way you will be able to recognize Satan’s lies.

Life is not fair. But I am a just God.

And there has been no greater love than the love I have shown you by sending you Jesus (John 3:16). And allowing Jesus to lay down his life for you, his friend (John 15:13).

Did you know I’m preparing a place for those who have accepted my Son? (John 14:1-6).

I love watching you as you go through each day, but I want you to be with us. I want you to experience what I had in mind from the very beginning. A world without sin, a world without pain. I know you hurt in this world. I’ve kept track of all your sorrows and gathered all your tears (Psalm 56:8).

I want you to know how special you are to me. Yes, there are a lot of people in the world, but there’s only one you. You are unique. You are made in my image (Genesis 1:27).

Well, that’s all I wanted to say for now. I hope you sit down some day soon and open up my love letter. I meant each and every word.

All my love,

For now and forever,

God

Anne Peterson is a poet, speaker, published author of 16 books, including her latest book, Always There: Finding God's Comfort Through Loss. Anne has published children’s books, poetry books and 2 memoirs. She is a regular contributor to Crosswalk. If you are not certain you are going to heaven, sign up for Anne’s free eBook, Real Love at www.annepeterson.com. You can also connect with Anne on Facebook.

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