Happy Easter's Daily Bread From Rock Church's Daily Suggested Reading Schedule w/ Lena's Journalin'

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

John 3:1-24
Living as Children of God
1See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are!
But the people who belong to this world don't know God, so they don't understand that we are his children. 2Yes, dear friends, we are already God's children, and we can't even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. 3And all who believe this will keep themselves pure, just as Christ is pure.
4Those who sin are opposed to the law of God, for all sin opposes the law of God. 5And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, for there is no sin in him. 6So if we continue to live in him, we won't sin either. But those who keep on sinning have never known him or understood who he is.
7Dear children, don't let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it is because they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. 8But when people keep on sinning, it shows they belong to the Devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy these works of the Devil.
9Those who have been born into God's family do not sin, because God's life is in them. So they can't keep on sinning, because they have been born of God.
10So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the Devil. Anyone who does not obey God's commands and does not love other Christians F8 does not belong to God.
Love One Another
11This is the message we have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was right. 13So don't be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, F9 if the world hates you.
14If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to eternal life. But a person who has no love is still dead. 15Anyone who hates another Christian F10 is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don't have eternal life within them. 16We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters.
17But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help—how can God’s love be in that person?
18Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. 19It is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before the Lord, 20even if our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21Dear friends, if our conscience is clear, we can come to God with bold confidence. 22And we will receive whatever we request because we obey him and do the things that please him. 23And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. 24Those who obey God’s commandments live in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Holy Spirit lives in us.
FOOTNOTES:F8: Greek his brother. F9: Greek brothers; also in 3:14, 16. F10: Greek his brother.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~ Lena’s Journalin’ ~
God’s love is unconditional, in that He loves us just as we are and that unconditional love draws us towards Him, filling in the gap that sin made. Sin is a gap maker. It makes a gap in the pure unhindered fellowship of God and man. The point of being rid of sin is to become closer and more intimate inside of the love of God. Rather than feeling judged by the revelation of sin, one can welcome its exposure knowing that fellowship is going to be being restored to our Father the only one who truly eternally loves us so.
God’s love cannot be earned by being good or doing things just so, it is an eternal love that loves no matter what. Yet there are conditions to kingdom blessings of life and great fellowship with God.
It’s like saying, “Hey Tommy, don’t touch the stove honey, it is hot.”
Telling Tommy it is hot is not judgmental in nature, it is protective, it is wisdom given by an older more experienced persons, because the person loves them enough to not allow hurt and pain to come.
The conditions in God’s word are this way and the responses from us are our expression of trust and love for God. When a well meaning Christian says you ought to attend church every Sunday and on Wednesdays also, and cell groups too, they are watching for your soul to be kept inside of Christ. They are loving you protectively.
If you don’t do these words they’ve brought your way, it may not be well with you, you may find yourself spiritually weakened and then later on wonder why. If you are at church on Sundays, Wednesdays and cell groups and your teacher tells you, you ought to read you Bible everyday, along with other exhortations from God’s word for growth, they are promoting your spiritual growth and bringing you to a place where God can use you, which is also bringing you into the reason for even being alive here.
The more you join into the fellowship of the body and learn to know God more and love His people more, the more you’ll have been glad when your time is over here that you did, you’ll leave here with no regrets. The body of Christ’s ministry to you is to lead you to a place of a fulfilled life with no regrets.
When our understanding is completely clear to us, we will want to have known Him more and have made Him known more, we’ll realize that is why we were here.
I was thinking about the love of people, mostly conditional, yet in Christ we are relearning how to love one another without condition. Rebellion says, do not tell me the stove is hot. Wow, then go ahead and get burned and marred and possibly die before the time that you were able to find out why you were here on earth and come into your God purposes. This is how absurd it is to not listen to Godly wisdom. The world is trying to say, if we are being told what to do and how to act we’re not being loved. Wow, what a deception.
When you call out to your child telling them to stay away from the street, are you judging them and loving them conditionally? Isn’t that ridiculous? It’s as ridiculous as us saying people in the churches are judging us when they help us identify sin and save our souls from hurt, pain and eternal judgment.
I was also thinking of how there are people who love to be around people, but say they hate the people in the church. If we hate the people in the churches, we hate God, because this is His body, no matter how imperfected it presently is. They are His children and that is a key word there- children. Children are growing up and do misbehave at times and are doing things unlike their father until they grow up. It is so time to take responsibility for ourselves and begin to show growth, that growth may be nurtured in others also. The church people are being perfected in Christ, by the grace of God and need forgiveness as much as any non church person does.
The difference is they are on an eternal journey. The difference for those who have truly decided with an open eye is, sin will no longer be allowed to be their Master, and if really growing up in Christ they are serving God intently. When we serve God intently, we do not participate in the service of sin, we forsake it on purpose. Some in our churches, are coming and as they hear we pray someday they will get that one, about true love reciprocated. Changing Masters, on purpose.
Not all who come to our churches know this yet, not all know Him yet, not all are saved yet, not all are obedient to Him or His will yet, but I praise God they/we are coming together, maybe our love for Him will show them how much this love can draw them away from Sin’s grip of bondage and the lies it’s had in keeping them slaves!
No we’re not perfect, we’re being perfected In Him, if found in Him, being perfected, if staying in Him, being seen by Him as He is.
Happy Easter!

Daily Repetitive Verses:

John 3:17
You know these things – now do them! That is the path of blessing.