Free Reading Plans and Devotionals related to 1 John 5:11

This 5-day devotion series provides insight into the many ways we can consider God’s Word. The Lutheran Home Association chaplains share devotions focused on different aspects of God’s Word. The devotions give insight to we can follow and understand while reading the Bible.

Is salvation a gift received by faith alone? Or, is it received by faith plus works, or in tandem with an emotional experience, or in some other way? Free grace proclaims that salvation is not earned. It is the free gift of God, the uncompromised and unrestricted favor of God toward sinners. Scriptures teach us that eternal life comes through the simple act of believing in Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

In this plan we will undertake a study of the book of 1 John, in the New Testament. The book of 1 John is the first of three books, written by John the elder to house church believers. The book of 1 John encourages believers to remember that God is light and love and therefore to live lives that reflect that light and love with one another and the world.

The following reading plan will take you deeper into the three concepts of Spirit, Soul, and Body at a steady pace, building on the message of Jesus' finished work. It will stretch, challenge, and grow you as his follower. Make sure to allow the Holy Spirit space to work in you and to shape you. See the impact for yourself. This is the last of four plans.

1 John is one of three letters written by John the Beloved, the same author as the Gospel of John and Revelation. Written as a response to false teaching in the church, John reminds his readers that just as God is both love and light, true believers are to show love and light to the world.

John, the last living apostle, wrote a Gospel. And it seems some people were distorting it. John writes to believers caught in the aftermath, bringing clarity and commentary on what he wrote. He shows them what it looks like to be people of light and life instead of people of death and darkness. This plan takes us through 1 John and how to live in the face of distorted Christianity.

When Jesus said that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, he also provided the initial step for solving this dilemma. “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:37-38, Luke 10:2, NIV). This plan examines how praying “sending prayers,” enables followers of Jesus, to have an impact in advancing the gospel.

Christians are different. They can’t help it. When you’re in Christ and filled with the Spirit, it changes you. This leads to weird ideas and alternate beliefs about reality. This series of 5-day plans uses classic Christian Creeds as a vehicle to explain the Christian worldview compared to the world’s, and help us see reality through Jesus’s eyes.

Sometimes life hurts. Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes life can be dark. And it leaves its mark—like ashes of grief—in the deepest parts of our souls, where no one but God can really see. In this plan, Darcie Stephens, Finding Hope Coordinator for Hope is Alive Ministries, shares some of her own story of loving those in the midst of substance abuse and how God brought her HOPE.

Many people are smiling but hurting inside. I have discovered that God is doing something in everyone's life, and He's doing something in mine, too! I'm loving and praying for strangers like never before, and they are grateful. Sometimes, I even get to share the Gospel! These personal stories in my life are to help you help others move one step closer to God.