SATURDAY, AUGUST 18
Scripture: 1 John 4:14-17

1 John 4:14-17 states, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.” Isn’t it interesting to note that love has been tel-i-o-tai/‘brought to maturity in us’ when we have boldness in the Day of Judgment? Most of us pass that off until the last days. But if the last part of verse 17 is true, “…because as He is, so are we in this world…”, when was the Day of Judgment for Peter – when he was locked up by Herod with the intent of taking his head off? The Day of Judgment was the day Peter needed judgment. It was not the day of the final judgment seat of Christ. The Day of Judgment is the day we need judgment. How is Jesus right now? He is seated at the right Hand of God as the Judge of all the Earth. Verse 17 says, “…as He is, so are we…” If the church ever really stopped to believe that, we would completely and totally act differently. Do we believe, “As He is, so are we”? That means we have 24/7 access to the judgment seat of Christ. That means if we pray it, declare it and decree it, I suspect things would be different. Do we really believe that as Jesus is, so are we in this world? If we really believed that, we would act very, very differently.