1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God.//
Help me to be this kind of dad, Lord.

3 John 1:9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us.//
Loving to be first can prevent me from doing God’s will, including hurting others in the faith. May I love to serve and not love to be first.

1 John 5:5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.//
Jesus has overcome the world and I can do the same by believing in Him.

1 Thessalonians 1:9 They tell how you turned to God from idols.//
Turning TO God requires that we turn FROM other things.   

1 John 3:13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.//
Why am I surprised when the world despises me for doing what is right?

1 John 2:22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.//
A simple litmus test to discern those who have denied Christ.

1 John 1:8-10 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.//
These three criteria are part of the way that we can discern if someone is a Christian.

Psalm 42:2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?//
Give me a passionate thirst for You, Lord. 

2 Peter 3:4-5 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.//
It becomes easy to not believe in God when we forget the great things He had done.

2 Peter 2:2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.//
There are people who will lead believers astray, causing them to fall into sin, and creating a poor image of God’s people to the rest of the world. May I not be fooled, nor lead others into sinful and foolish ways.