Written by bruce r. mills for “God’s group”  @ www.Godsmanforever.com

“The importance of 1 John 1:9 for the ‘born again’ Christian”

1 John 1:9 …  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (NKJV)

This is such a short piece of scripture, and yet it should be written on the hearts and minds of every “born again” Christian…

Once our sins have been confessed before God, repented of, and turned from…we are at that moment in time deemed righteous before a just and Holy God…  I am not speaking about our positional imputed righteousness, where we have been forgiven of our lifetime of sins and imputed with the righteousness of Christ… We as “born again” believers are always positionally righteous in God’s eyes…  I am speaking of our practical righteousness, which becomes unrighteousness, when we have unconfessed sins residing in our hearts…

There are several pieces of scripture explaining the imputed righteousness of Christ…  [See reference 1. Below for a link to 24 Bible Verses about imputed Righteousness]

1 John 1:9  [the confession of our sins before God] should be done after each and every sin the Holy Spirit convicts us that we have committed…  And we should be in sweet fellowship with the Lord, before we engage in any godly activities…  I can think of at least 5 things where 1 John 1:9 should be invoked…A) before we pray…B) before we read scripture…C) before we open our hearts and minds to hearing a sermon in church on Sunday… D) before we share our faith with someone who has not yet been saved by God’s grace alone…and E) before we take part in Communion at church…  But before I go into detail on each of these 5 important aspects of the Christians life…let me explain what confessing our sins before God does “to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”…

When we have confessed our sins before God, we are at that moment in time as perfect in God’s eyes as we can be, until we sin again… Our walk with the Lord is a moment by moment endeavor… The Apostle Paul penned this for the Ephesians who were believers, (and us), in…

Ephesians 5:18…  And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, (NKJV)

Being “be filled with the Spirit”, means we have humbled ourselves to being controlled by the Holy Spirit living within our heart, mind, and soul…  And when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, God gives us the supernatural power to Walk in the Spirit…  The Apostle Paul also penned this, in…

Galatians 5:16…   I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  (NKJV)

When we are walking in and by the FULL power of the Holy Spirit…we will listen to and should obey His guidance…  My friends this is not always easy to do…because we must put aside our own wants and desires, and humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God…  Once we understand that God is sovereign, and that He doesn’t ever make any mistakes…it should be a no-brainer that we always listen to and obey the urging of the Holy Spirit…  But sadly…this process of being conformed into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29), doesn’t happen all at once…  It is a learned experience…  It is called “Progressive Sanctification”, and it is a lifelong process…  [See reference number 2. Below, for an excellent description of “Progressive Sanctification”]

It is the Holy Spirit that God has given to ALL of His redeemed children, that will guide them…teach them…and keep them on a path that God will see and bless abundantly, for every good work…   We see this penned by the Apostle Paul, in…

2 Corinthians 9:8…  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.  (NKJV)

But any unconfessed sin in our lives will disrupt God’s plans for us living in His will…  You see, sin residing in our heart, hinders, and even breaks our fellowship we have with the Lord…  God’s Word tells us that God won’t hear our prayers if we have sin residing in our hearts… Here are 3 scripture verses that confirm this…Psalm 66:18, Isaiah 59:1-2, and 1 Peter 3:12…

Isaiah 59:1-2…  Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. ² But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will nothear.  (NKJV)

This brings me to the first of five reasons that 1 John 1:9 should be written on our hearts and minds, and prayed…

A) Before we pray:

We want God to hear our prayers, but so often we don’t even realize we have hidden sins residing in our hearts…  God’s Word tells us our hearts are deceitful above all things, in…

Jeremiah 17:9…  “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”  (NKJV)

King David knew this, which is why he asked God to show him any hidden sins, so that he could confess them, turn from them, and do what is right in God’s eyes…  We see David’s prayer to God to search his heart, in…

Psalm 139:23-24…  Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; ²⁴ And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting. (NKJV)

I make this prayer virtually every time I am getting ready to pray my morning prayer to God to start my day, because I want God to hear my prayers… God tells us any prayer that is in His will He will hear, in…1 John 5:14…  Of course God will show us any hidden sins that we need to confess before Him if we ask Him…

As we go before the Lord in prayer with any and all sins confessed (1 John 1:9), God will hear our prayers and be free to answer them as He wills…   This is why 1 John 1:9 is so important before we pray to God…

And when we want to pray to God the Father, and just can’t find the right words, the Holy Spirit knows exactly what to pray to God for, even when we don’t…  You see this in the following scripture…

Romans 8:26-27…  Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for uswith groanings which cannot be uttered. ²⁷ Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.  (NKJV)

With at least 4 more reasons for praying 1 John 1:9 before we engage in godly activities, I must stop for now, and continue this post at another time…

Gracious God and heavenly Father…I am so thankful that I can come before You after I confess my sins; and by doing so, You promise to hear my prayers…  I pray Father, that Your living and powerful Word (Hebrews 4:12) would cut right to the bone of those who have come before You in prayer in the past, without first confessing, repenting, and turning from their sins…  I pray Father, that You would etch 1 John 1:9 on the hearts and minds of all Your redeemed children…and that they would be right with You the next time they seek Your face in Prayer…  And Father, I pray that You would bless each and every reader today…so that they would KNOW they were in Your presence…  I pray for hearts and minds to be set “ON FIRE” by You, as the Holy Spirit is sought to take control of the lives of Your obedient children…   I pray for all of these blessings to be fulfilled, in the sweet name of Your Son Jesus, and for His sake…Amen…

Blessings in Christ,  bruce

References:

1. Imputed righteousness-  https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Imputed-Righteousness

2. Progressive Sanctification-  https://www.gotquestions.org/progressive-sanctification.html

P.S.  When there is no other place to turn…turn to God !!  If you’re not a “born again” Christian, is the Holy Spirit urging you to open this link ??  Here is the truth for this most important days writing, about how God’s grace is received to become a Christian in God’s eyes; through understanding and obeying the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ…   https://godsmanforever.com

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“The importance of 1 John 1:9 for the ‘born again’ Christian”  (Part 2)

1 John 1:9…  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (NKJV)

On my first days writing about the importance of invoking 1 John 1:9 before engaging in godly activities…I listed 5 things we should be in right standing before God, before we start…  Here they are again:  1 John 1:9 should be invoked…A) before we pray…B) before we read scripture…C) before we open our hearts and minds to hearing a sermon in church on Sunday… D) before we share our faith with someone who has not yet been saved by God’s grace alone…and E) before we take part in Communion at church…  I am sure there are many more opportune times besides these 5, to seek God’s forgiveness…

Today, I am going to give you reasons for being right with the Lord by invoking 1 John 1:9, B) before you read scripture…and we will see how many more of C) through E) I will get to…

The Bible gives us several reasons unbelievers have spiritual blindness to understand scripture, and the things of God…   To be able to understand the Bible, and other things God wants us to know about His will for our lives, we need the Holy Spirit to illuminate God’s Word for us to be able to understand it… [See reference 1. Below for a good description of what biblical illumination means]

So before we spend time opening the Bible to be spiritually fed by God’s Word (hopefully every day)…we should cleanse our hearts and minds from unrighteousness (1 John 1:9), to be attuned to the Holy Spirit’s help in illuminating the scripture for us to understand…  Jesus told us twice, how important it was for us to be spiritually fed by God’s Word, in…Matthew 4:4, and in…Luke 4:4…  Our heart, mind, and soul need to be spiritually fed in order to grow and mature in our walk with the Lord, just like our bodies need food and water to survive…

Matthew 4:4…    But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”  (NKJV)

Jesus told His Disciples (and us) that His Father was going to send the Holy Spirit down to help them after He was gone, in…

John 14:26…  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  (NKJV)

Yes it is the Holy Spirit that lives within the “born again” believer that God has given to each and every one of His redeemed children, who can guide us in every facet of our lives…if we get out of our own way, and be obedient to His leading !!

So the next time you are going to open and read God’s inerrant Word, the Bible…ask God to show you any hidden sins…and after being filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-20), ask God to illuminate the scripture through the help of the Holy Spirit…  You will be amazed at how clear the scriptures can become when the Holy Spirit illuminates God’s Word for you !!

Let’s now look at C) How to prepare our hearts and minds when we are at church, and are getting ready for Bible study in the Sunday School hour…or to hear the sermon our Pastor has prepared…  Again, just like preparing to read our Bible…it is important to invoke 1 John 1:9 to cleanse our hearts of any sins that will hinder our hearing what God has laid on the heart of our Pastor to preach…

There are several scripture verses in the Bible about God giving us ears to hear…  Jesus often uses the phrase… “He who has ears to hear, let him hear”     I found that www.Gotquestions.org has a very interesting link quoting several verses on ears to hear, that you will find in reference number 2. Below…  One piece of scripture I thought I would post here, penned by the wise Solomon, is…

Proverbs 22:17-19…  Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your heart to my knowledge; ¹⁸ For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; Let them all be fixed upon your lips, ¹⁹ So that your trust may be in the Lord; I have instructed you today, even you.  (NKJV)

When all distraction from the outside world is put aside…and the Holy Spirit has control of your heart and mind…you will be amazed at how your Pastor’s sermon will come alive with God’s living and powerful Word being spoken…  We see scripture penned about this, in…

Hebrews 4:12…  For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  (NKJV)

I hope you can see from my first 2 days of writing, how important memorizing and invoking  1 John 1:9 should be, in order to be right with the Lord…   The Holy Spirit will empower you to help you in prayer…and to open your eyes to see and your ears to hear God’s Word, as it is read by you and preached at Church on Sundays…

Let’s stop here for now…and finish up D) & E) in my next writing…

Gracious God and heavenly Father…I thank You and praise You for who You are…  I am ever so thankful for Your Word…for Your saving grace in my life…and for our life long, live-in Helper, the Holy Spirit that You have given all Your “born again” children, to guide and direct our lives in a way that will bring praise and glory to Your name…  I pray Father, that You would open up the hearts and minds of Your redeemed children…to understand that living a Spirit filled life is so much better than living a life without Your richest blessings…  I pray for each of us to be set “ON FIRE” by You, so that those around us would ask us what makes us different than them…  Bless each and every one who has read to this point with Your richest blessings !!  I pray for lives to be changed by You in the blink of an eye…in Jesus’ most precious name, and for His sake…Amen…

Blessings in Christ,  bruce

References:

1. Illumination by the Holy Spirit-   https://www.gotquestions.org/biblical-illumination.html

2. Ears to hear-  https://www.gotquestions.org/he-who-has-ears-to-hear.html

“The importance of 1 John 1:9 for the ‘born again’ Christian”  (Part 3)

1 John 1:9…  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (NKJV)

On my first days writing about the importance of invoking 1 John 1:9 before engaging in godly activities…I listed 5 things for which we should be in right standing before God, before we start…  Here they are again:  1 John 1:9 should be invoked…A) before we pray…B) before we read scripture…C) before we open our hearts and minds to hearing a sermon in church on Sunday… D) before we share our faith with someone who has not yet been saved by God’s grace alone…and E) [Absolutely the most important of the 5] before we take part in Communion at church…  I am sure there are many more opportune times besides these 5, to seek God’s forgiveness…especially every time the Holy Spirit convicts us that we have sinned…

Today I am going to share D) and E) with you.

1. D) Sharing your faith: 

Here is why you should invoke 1 John 1:9 after the Holy Spirit urges you to share your faith with someone around you that He is urging you to share your testimony and/or the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with…  What ??   You say the Holy Spirit doesn’t urge you to witness to anyone ??  You must first be a “born again” Christian, who has been indwelt by God with the Holy Spirit…  To become a “born again Christian, saved by God’s grace alone…go to P.S. at the end, and seek the Lord while He may still be found…Isaiah 55:6-7…

But once you have the Holy Spirit living within you…you have to be attuned to His urging by invoking  1 John 1:9 every day through prayer, when you are convicted by the Holy Spirit that you have sinned…to be right with God…  [See Day 1. Post]   When you are righteous before a just and Holy God, (with sins confessed, repented of, and turned from)…you will be cleansed by God “from all unrighteousness”, and filled with the Holy Spirit …Ephesians 5:18-20…  Being filled with the Holy Spirit means you have submitted yourself to allow the Holy Spirit to take total control of your life, (for that moment in time, until your next sin), as you humbly submit to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and direction for your life…

Since God never makes any mistakes…I often wonder why any “born again” Christian would ever want to dismiss the urging of the Holy Spirit…  Actually, it is no surprise that the “born again” Christian is NOT listening to the Holy Spirit’s urging… If God is not the most important Person/thing in your life, He won’t force you to obey the urging of the Holy Spirit, because He has given us free will…  I know this for a fact, because for the better part of the first 7 years and 2 days from the time I was graced by God with salvation (at the age of almost 52)…God was NOT first in my life…   I was reading the Bible virtually every day; and going to church every week…but alas, God was NOT most important in my life…  God led me to read a sermon by REV. C.H. Spurgeon from 1859, titled… “Grieving the Holy Spirit”…  This sermon changed my life on 6/04/2009 from that day on…  If God is not most important in your life as a “born again” Christian, I urge you to open Spurgeon’s sermon, and read it !!  God may use this sermon to change your life as well !!    [See reference number 1. Below]

When you are walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), and you ask God to place someone in your path to share the love of Christ…it is the Holy Spirit who will urge you to share your faith…  Did you ask God to place someone in your path today, to be able to share the love of Christ ??  If you don’t ask God, you won’t receive your request…James 4:3…  But rest assured, if the Holy Spirit urges you to witness to someone (a command for ALL believers, by Jesus Himself, with His last spoken words to us before ascending into heaven…Matthew 28:19-20), He will give you the right words at the right time to share your faith…  The Holy Spirit will help you if He is alive and active in your humbly submitted life !!  This is why you invoke…1 John 1:9…  to be right with the Lord, when you are about to share your faith with someone in need of hearing the truth God wants all of us to hear…

1. E)  Before taking Communion:

Being right with the Lord, with all sins, confessed, repented of and turned from…is without a doubt the most important reason to invoke 1 John 1:9 before you partake of Communion at church…(1 Corinthians 11:17-33)  The apostle Paul gives us a warning that we are to examine ourselves before we take Communion…(1 Corinthians 11:28)  For those who take Communion in an unworthy manner (those harboring willful unrepentant sins that they have no intention of turning from- like living in fornication with someone as a “born again” Christian), we are given this most important warning, by the apostle Paul, in…

1 Corinthians 11:29-30…  For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.  (NKJV)

My friends, “and many sleep” means that God has the right to snuff out your life !!!!  I would think this point should be mentioned by EVERY pastor before Communion is partaken of !!  I have talked to several pastors about the need to warn believers living in willful unrepentant sin before taking Communion (if they are NOT going to turn and repent of this sin)…and they are not all on the same page…  Some pastors just urge their members to search their heart before taking Communion…  There is no mention of the warning that God has the right to snuff them out, if Communion is taken in an unworthy manner…  Some pastors mention this warning, if they remember…  But two of the pastors I spoke with, told me that warning believers with willful unrepentant sin that was not going to be turned from, was an extremely important part before taking Communion…  One said he told his members…you can take Communion harboring this sin/sins if you want…  But you take it at your own risk !!!

If we are living in sin, our heart is deceitful above all things…Jeremiah 17:9…  God is not going to even hear our prayers, if we have sin residing in our heart (some that we are not even aware of… [See Psalm 66:18, Isaiah 59:1-2, and 1 Peter 3:12 ]   King David knew this…  This is why he pleaded to God to search his heart, in…

Psalm 139:23-24…  Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; ²⁴ And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting. (NKJV)

Isaiah 59:2…  But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.  (NKJV)

I took Communion for several years, when God was NOT most important in my life…  I wish the pastor had warned me about this MOST SEVERE SIN !!  All those years of prayer, and God didn’t hear them !!     If God is not most important in your life, you are a “lukewarm” Christian… Christ tells us this, in…Revelation 3:15-16… “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. (V.16)   This should bring all “born again” believers to their knees in shame !!  You are sinning through what is called the “sin of omission”, as penned by the apostle James, in…

James 4:17…  Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.  (NKJV)

My friends, if God is not most important in your life, you should get on your knees with godly sorrow, and humbly ask God to take back control of your life…  If you have lost the “FIRE” you once had for the Lord…you should seek the Lord’s face, asking for His forgiveness…and submit your lives again to God’s will, and to the power of the Holy Spirit…  When you’re “ON FIRE” for the Lord…you WILL be blessed beyond belief !!  I spent a day writing about being “ON FIRE” for the Lord (or Not)…that you can read about in reference number 4. Below…

There you have it my friends…  Two more of the 5 reasons for invoking 1 John 1:9 to live a Spirit filled life that will be pleasing in God’s eyes…  I believe 1 John 1:9 is the absolute most important piece of scripture in God’s Word, for the “born again” Christian…  It should be memorized, and used every time the Holy Spirit convicts us of any and all sins…  We should also invoke 1 John 1:9 before we engage in any of the 5 godly activities I have written about…  Here is this most important piece of scripture again, to finish up today’s post…

1 John 1:9…  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (NKJV)

Gracious God and heavenly Father…I am ever so thankful that Your Son Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross at Calvary, to cover my lifetime of sins…  I pray Father, that Your living and powerful Word (Hebrews 4:12), would cut right to the bone of those not now living lives that are “ON FIRE” for You… I pray You change hearts and lives right now…so that believers could benefit from the many promises and blessings that living a Spirit filled life will bring into the lives of those that live in obedience to Your will and Your ways…  I pray for this miraculous change in every readers life, in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

Blessings in Christ,  bruce

References:

1. Sermon by Spurgeon- “Grieving the Holy Spirit”-  http://www.romans45.org/spurgeon/sermons/0278.htm

2. “ON FIRE” for the Lord- or not-  https://godsmanforever.com/2020/08/01/are-you-a-christian-in-gods-eyes-and-on-fire-for-the-lord-or-not/

P.S.  When there is no other place to turn…turn to God !!  If you’re not a “born again” Christian, is the Holy Spirit urging you to open this link ??  Here is the truth for this most important days writing, about how God’s grace is received to become a Christian in God’s eyes; through understanding and obeying the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ…   https://godsmanforever.com