Living in the Light of God’S Love: Walk This Way

By Mari Keisling

Abiding may sound passive and inactive, but it is the active process of stayingstaying close to Jesus, focusing on Him, walking with Him, and living in His light. If walking as He did is how our claim to live in Him is realized, then we need to know what He did that we should be doing as well.
Jesus experienced fellowship with His disciples, obeyed His heavenly Father, was humble to the point of death, grew in wisdom and the knowledge of Scripture, and prayed always. God calls each of us to different tasks, places, and purposes, but one thing is consistent for all of us: we cant do any of it or go anywhere without Him. Jesus had His unique purpose in this world as do we, and so just like Him we need to remain in the Father. His life was a living sacrifice, and it is our spiritual act of worship to live like Him.
As we step into Gods light, it will shine truth on our livestruth that is sometimes hard to recognize, hard to acknowledge, and hard to live out. But as we learn to live in His light, He gives us clarity, understanding and transforms us from the inside out. We learn to walk in His light shining it wherever we go. Why?
God loves the whole world, and He loves you. Everything He calls us to do according to His purpose is to show His love to the world and bring glory to Himself. As you work through the disciplines of fellowship, obedience, humility, meditation, prayer, and worship, you will learn how to draw close to the Father, follow the example of Jesus, and shine His light bright for all to see.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 31, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490833323

Mari Keisling

Mari Keisling, author and speaker, is on staff at Northgate Church. She ministers to women regarding topics such as purpose, relationships and discipleship through her various studies and devotional style blog, LYF Moments. Mari and Craig have been married since 1991 and have two daughters. They currently live in Minnesota.

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Copyright © 2014 Mari Keisling.

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked Message are from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Scripture taken from Amplified Bible. Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission (www.Lockman.org). Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

WestBow Press

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-3331-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3333-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3332-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014906368

WestBow Press rev. date: 7/31/2014

Contents

About This Study

Week 1 – Walk This Way: Introduction

The Law of Christ

Freedom in Christ

Walk as Jesus Did

Week 2 – Fellowship: 1 John 1

Called to Testify

A Time to Remember

A Choice to Make

Walk in Fellowship

Week 3 – Obedience: 1 John 2

Our Response

Love One Another

Challenges

Peace Be with You

Walk in Obedience

Week 4 – Humility: 1 John 3

Children of God

Radical Change

Lay It Down

Walk in Humility

Week 5 – Meditation: 1 John 4

Test the Spirits

We Can Know

Have No Fear

Walk in Meditation

Week 6 – Prayer: 1 John 5

Love Overcomes

God’s Testimony

Confidence before God

Walk in Prayer

Week 7 – Worship: Summary

Live in His Light

Walk in His Love

Shine

Walk in Worship

Note Pages

Notes

This study is

dedicated to my brothers and sisters in Christ

who seek to shine the light of Jesus by loving deeply

and living fully in His precious name.

Thank you to my wonderful husband, Craig,

and daughters, Sarah and Melissa, for your love and support.

And thank you to my family at Northgate Church

for your prayers and encouragement.

I’ve been blessed to be on this journey with you.

Living in the Light of God’s Love is an easy-to-use, power-house of a study that gets right at the heart of God chapter by chapter, verse by verse. If you’re looking for a mindless, stay-as-you-are kind of study, this won›t do. God will get a hold of your heart as you walk in the light using this helpful guide. –Steve Perkins, Northgate Church, Ramsey, MN

Living in the Light challenges the reader to consider the full meaning of 1 John through a careful study and practical examples that connect the reader’s heart, mind, and soul to the inspiration behind the text. John defines a path that we as Christians should follow, and Mari lights that path for us – brilliantly. You will gain a deeper understanding of and grow in your relationship with Christ as Mari brings you to the point where you are ready to put your whole self in. – Scott A. Peterson, Producer of The Current from ii Films

In this Bible Study, Mari Keisling explores six facets of the apostle John’s first letter. Mari’s writing cuts these facets like a skilled jeweler brining out the clarity and color of this brilliant gem. Her desire to create this study to be an interactive experience for the student helps to make it both personal and practical. If you wish to deepen your faith, this study is essential. Permit Mari to show you the facets of this gem so that you can ‘walk this way.’ – Dave Heinrich, Conference Speaker, Equipper and Disciple Maker

About This Study

Living in the light of God’s love makes me think of basking in the warmth of the sun—taking it all in and resting. The air is cool, the sun is welcoming, and there is a slight breeze. It’s perfect! But when I first started working on this study, it was titled Getting Back to Basics. It sounded like boot camp. There’s nothing restful about that. I didn’t want to scare anyone away before they even had a chance to get started.

And while we do want to bask in God’s light and love taking it in to overflowing, we must realize it’s not just about us. If we’re to walk as He did, that means we have places to go and things to do. We’re purposed with a mission. We’re compelled to live out our purpose.

Are these two ways of living mutually exclusive? Basking and resting versus purposed and compelled? They don’t have to be and actually shouldn’t be. We may know God loves us and Jesus died for us so we can rest in that truth, but just like Jesus, the peace we receive from that truth doesn’t mean much if it’s never put to the test. Not in testing God but testing our faith in what we believe about God’s promises to us in love.

This study is about remaining: remaining in Christ and remaining with Christ, so we may do what He does. We remain through drawing close to Him and knowing His truth. At the same time, it’s not just about knowing the truth but living the truth, walking out this thing we call faith. God’s given us the ability to know Him and the good thing He’s done through His Son, Jesus.

This study is designed to be used in a group setting. We know that where two or more are gathered in the name of Jesus, He’s there as well (Matthew 18:20). I hope you look forward to the time you’ll spend with each other, knowing that Jesus is joining you in your pursuit to live in the light of God’s love. And His Spirit will be helping you understand what it means to walk as Jesus did.

If you’re doing this on your own, for whatever reason, know that God delights in His time with you and your decision to spend time with Him. I pray that you would be open to hearing His voice and His Spirit would work in your life through this study.

This is a seven-week study consisting of an introduction, five lessons, and a summary. Each week, you’ll have homework, which includes reading, Scripture references with questions, and personal questions designed to help guide you through the application and actualization of what you learn. Before your first meeting, read through the Introduction and answer the few questions. You can also choose to read through the introduction together in your small group before discussing the questions.

I highly encourage you to do all of the homework. This is not a have to but a get to. God’s Word is rich, and I don’t know about you, but often what keeps me from digging into God’s Word is my own feeling of lack. When I do the very thing I think I don’t want to, I realize it was the very thing I needed.

Feel free to underline, make notes in the margins, and record your thoughts as you go. There are note pages available at the back of the book for your personal use. I always keep a journal close at hand while working through a study. God has a way of calling my attention to something He wants to talk to me about when I least expect it.

All Scripture and questions are based on the New International Version Bible, but you can use whatever version you have available. There are some fill in the blank questions and others that may not coincide exactly with other Bible versions, so if the words don’t seem to match up, just write out the Scripture from your version in the margin. Please do not fret over the possibility that your answer is not correct. I’m a perfectionist myself and can get quite caught up in just this thing, but if you’ll let go of your concern, the Holy Spirit will work and teach you all the same. Using and comparing different versions of the Bible can give us a much fuller understanding and a more complete picture of what it looks like to live out the Scripture.

Each question that begins with this symbol * is a discussion question for your group time. Depending on the size of your group and time allowed, feel free to discuss anything else from the lesson that was significant to you as well. You’ll want to stay on task and on topic, but the discussion time is very important. It’s when you can come together, learn from each other, and encourage each other in your walk with Jesus.

As you’ll notice, there are discussion questions at the end of each lesson. Each week, the very first step in this section of homework is to read 1 John through completely. The book of 1 John is five chapters and roughly four pages long. You’ll be intentionally reading it through six separate times, each time looking for different information and seeking to glean new insights. You can get through the questions and lessons without doing this reading, but if you do the reading you’ll be blessed by what God shows you, and you’ll be so glad you took the time to be intentional.

This section of questions is also meant to be experienced, so I encourage you not to put it off. You may want to read through these questions so they’re at the forefront of your mind as you go through your time between lessons. God has shown me such amazing things during the writing of this study. I’m convinced He is going to reveal Himself to you in a whole new way as well through your time with Him.

I have so enjoyed preparing this study for you. I have laughed, cried, and done the happy dance around my office multiple times as God and I have met and worked through this study together. I pray that by the end of the book of 1 John, you not only recognize His light, His love, and the life He offers, but that your deepest desire is to walk in it.

God’s peace and blessings to you, in the precious name of Jesus.

Introduction

Walk This Way

Whoever claims to live in him

must walk as Jesus did.

—1 John 2:6

What does it mean to walk like Jesus? At times, it seems impossible. He is, after all, God, and we are not. But He was human and went through all of the same types of trials, temptations, and troubles we do. Hebrews 4:15 states, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable