This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions, this is day 5 of our look together
through 1 John chapter 3. We are going to be looking at verses 19-24 today. They
are verses that focus on what do you do when you are confused or you are
discouraged in your faith.

Let me share with you what John has to say about this, verses 19-24. This then
is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in
his presence, whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our
hearts, and he knows everything.

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,
and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what
pleases him. And this is his command, to believe in the name of his son, Jesus
Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands
live in him and he in them.

And this is how we know that he lives in us. We know it by the spirit that he
gave to us. Did you notice that phrase, set your heart at rest in his presence?

That's a phrase for those who are doubting. That's a phrase for those who are
wondering about their relationship with God. That's a phrase for those who are
feeling guilty or disempowered in their Christian life.

You can set your heart at rest in his presence. Now, these verses talk all about
the fact that love is our assurance, but they also talk about the process of
what God does in our lives. It's a process of faith and confidence in your
relationship to God, and it is very important to understand.

In fact, let me show you this process. Let me tell you the four parts of it
quickly, and then we'll walk back through it. Part one is when I love with
action and truth.

We talked about this beginning yesterday, our love with action and truth.
Because of that, he says in the beginning of verse 19, "This is how I know I
belong to him. " So when I love with action and truth, that's an evidence to me
that I belong to him.

Second step of the process. When I know that I belong to him, then I set my
hearts at rest before him. Third step of the process.

If my heart does not condemn me, then I have confidence before God. And then
fourth step of the process. With confidence before God, I experience answered
prayer.

And then that results all in going back to the very beginning. We're loving with
action and truth, and we're more confident that we belong to him. Now let's walk
through this.

How does this work? Verse 19. This is how we know that we belong to the truth
and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn
us.

We have confidence before him when we do what he commands us in verse 23. This
is his command. To believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and to love one
another as he commanded us.

So his command is not only just the things you do, it's also it begins with who
you believe in, who you trust. And out of that trust comes your love. You trust
in Jesus Christ, and out of that comes love.

And when you love with action and truth, then that's how you know that you
belong to him. You see, when you become a believer in Jesus Christ, God changes
your heart, but you can't see that. I can't open up my heart and look in and see
the Holy Spirit living there.

I have to have some evidence in my life. How do I have that evidence? Well, I
have that evidence by listening to God, by doing what he asked me to do.

And then all of a sudden I look at my life and I think, you know what, I'm
acting differently. I'm thinking differently. I'm talking differently.

How did that happen? It happened because God's in my life. That is an evidence
to me.

God is showing me that I belong to him. It's not how I belong to him. This is
important to understand.

I don't get to be a Christian by what I do, but I see that I am a Christian by
what I do. It's okay to notice that. That's what John is saying here.

It's okay to notice that. And when you notice that and you realize, hey, I'm
acting in a different way because I know that I belong to him, John says that
needs to set your hearts at rest. And whatever your heart's condemning you,
Satan loves to condemn.

Like one of the names of Satan is the accuser. He loves to come and remind you
of your past, all the wrong things that you've done. When Satan reminds you of
your past, you remind yourself of God's future, of the future that God has for
you in Jesus Christ.

And you can see that you're headed that way by the growth that's already
happening in your life. You set your heart at rest and whatever your heart
condemns you. Now remember that John is talking to believers here.

He's not saying just to ignore your guilt and then you're going to be okay
before God. He's not talking to an unbeliever. He's saying that a believer
seeking to follow God is either living with a heart that's condemning them or a
heart that's at rest.

And if your heart is condemning you right now, if you're living with constant
feelings of guilt as a believer in Jesus Christ, here's what John says to do.
Number one, notice the differences that God's begun to make in your life. And
then number two, recognize that means you belong to him and let that begin to
set your heart at rest.

Because Satan is no longer your spiritual father. He has no right to be the
accuser in your life. God is your father now.

And God has said in Romans 8. 1, "There is therefore now no condemnation, no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. " Let that set your heart at
rest.

Satan would love to get you involved in the trap of living over and over again
false guilts. Because of that, you're not going to live an effective Christian
life, a joyful Christian life. So instead you live this way that John talks
about here.

Your heart begins to be set at rest. You still committed sins in the past, but
now you belong to God. And because of that, your heart can be set at rest.

And when your heart is set at rest, number three, he says, you have confidence
before God. Something begins to happen in your heart. The New Testament word
that he uses here, confidence.

In the Greek language, it's often translated boldness. It's used to the
disciples, the day they started the church after the day of Pentecost. They saw
the boldness, the book of Acts says, of Peter and of John as they went out to
tell the good news of Jesus Christ.

In fact, it's a very interesting word, this Greek word for confidence. This
Greek word, paresia, especially points to confidence in the way that we talk.
And that leads us straight into the next thing that John talks about.

I've got this boldness that begins to happen in my heart that leads to
confidence in the way I talk about God. But even more, it leads to confidence in
the way that I talk to God. After talking about confidence, he says in verse 22,
and we receive from him anything we ask.

I have boldness in prayer. What John is talking about here is true freedom of
speech. Now I'm all for freedom of speech in our nation, where we can speak our
mind or opinion about anything, but true freedom of speech is the freedom to
have boldness in my request before God.

That's true freedom, to ask of God anything that's on my heart. And what John is
saying here is this, answers to prayer flow out of a life of obedience. You see,
I'm going to have boldness to make requests before God, he says, when I have
confidence in my heart.

And I'm going to have confidence in my heart when I'm living a life of
obedience. This is why Satan would love to get you trapped and living in
disobedience to God, because you stop making bold requests, you stop talking to
your father. You feel like I don't have the right to do that.

And the natural relationship you should have with your father is a relationship
of you asking and him giving. Now why is it that answers to prayer flow out of a
life of obedience? I think there's two things that happen when I live a life of
obedience.

Number one, I pray wise and unselfish prayers. When I'm living in disobedience,
I pray selfish prayers. I pray for what I want.

And God's not going to answer those because he knows how much those prayers
would hurt me. Well, he will answer. His answer will just be no, I'm not going
to do that in your life because I love you.

But when I begin to pray wise and unselfish prayers, I begin to see yes answers
to my prayers because I'm praying for exactly what God wants to do. But a second
thing happens when I live a life of obedience. Not only do I pray wise and
unselfish prayers, but I also pray more.

I have the confidence to ask of my father because I know that he loves me,
because I know of my relationship with him. This is the great and incredible
thing that God wants to do through obedience in your life. Obedience is to
believe in Jesus and to love one another.

And through that obedience, I have confidence in my relationship with God. John
ends this passage by talking about how this assurance is seen in our lives. He
says others see it, that we have an assurance before God because we're obedient
to his commands.

How else could they see it? They know that we're the father's child because
we're doing what the father asks. And then he says we know it.

You can know it because you're living by the spirit that he gave us. We're going
to talk about that more in weeks to come, God's spirit in our lives and how that
assurance comes through his spirit. But as we end today, I want to focus on you
and your life.

I know as you're listening to this, some of you are carrying a very heavy load
right now. And when it comes to knowing him and wanting to follow him, your
heart being assured before him, how do you lighten the load in your life? I love
what Bruce Larson says he used to do in his book Believe and Belong.

He talks about the fact he was in New York and he talked to somebody who was
really struggling in their life carrying a heavy load. He said come and take a
walk with me. And they went out on Fifth Avenue to the RCA building that was
there at that time.

At the entrance to that building there was a huge statue of Atlas holding up the
world. Here's this strong man with the entire world. He's straining to hold it
on his shoulders, barely able to hold it all.

And then Bruce would say now that's one way to live your life. Now let me show
you a different way. And they'd walk across the street to St.

Patrick's Cathedral. And there behind the altar there was a statue of the little
boy Jesus, maybe eight or nine years old. And in that statue Jesus as a little
boy had his hand out and he had the world in his hand.

And Bruce would say to his friend now that's the other way you can live. You can
give him your whole world and find the strength you need but you've got to
surrender everything to him. Here's the question.

Are you trying to carry the impossible weight of the world on your shoulders? Or
are you trusting the one who carries the whole world in his hands? Maybe that's
what you need to do right now.

In prayer right now say Jesus Christ I want to trust you. I've been struggling
with doubt. I've been struggling with a lack of confidence.

I sometimes wonder if I'm even a believer. I recognize right now that maybe the
reason is I'm trying to live the Christian life on my own power. Jesus you said
take my yoke upon you.

My burden is easy. My load is light. You said you wanted to take my life and do
something with it.

And so right now in my mind I get out of the throne of control in my life and I
see you as sitting there. I get out from behind the wheel where I'm driving the
car of my life and I see you as sitting there. Jesus Christ I recognize that you
do hold the whole world in your hand and that includes me.

And so today, right now, I recognize what you and only you can do in my life and
I give my life to you in a fresh new way. In your name I pray Jesus, amen. Next
week we're going to continue our study together in First John.

Join us for chapter four. It's a chapter all about real love in a real world.