“God is Love”
Weekly Outline:
- God is love (1 John)
- God is light (1 John)
- I can become like Jesus Christ (1 John 2:24-3:3)
- Has anyone seen God? (JST, 1 John 4:12)
- I can overcome the world through faith in Jesus Christ (1 John 5)
- Increase in confidence (1 John 3:21-22)
- Any commandments that seem difficult to follow (1 John 5:2-3)
- Spiritual dangers that creep in our lives (Jude 1:3-4)
Improving Personal Study:
Find God’s love. Elder M. Russell Ballard taught, “[The] gospel is a gospel of love—love for God and love for one another” (“God’s Love for His Children,” Ensign, May 1988, 59). As you read the scriptures, consider noting or marking words and phrases that show evidence of God’s love.
Scripture Focus:
FHE idea:
Print scriptures on hearts (or just on pieces of paper) and have your family search for the hearts. Then search for God’s love in your life and home.
Encourage your family to look throughout the day for God’s love and report back.
1 John 4:7, 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:18, 1 John 4:19, 1 John 3:16, 1 John 3:18
The Ensign also has a great idea about writing love letters by writing each family members name on the top of a paper. Then pass the paper to each family member so they can write things they love about that family member.
I can’t wait to search throughout the day to see how God is love
To help your family ponder John’s teachings, gather in a dark room and have different light sources (such as: a birthday candle, a flash light, and the room light). See if you can make it so that the darkness stays with the different sources of light.
No matter how brightly the light shines, darkness cannot exist with light. Light always wins.
How can you be a light? Consider looking up the Light the World campaign and seeing how you can be a light today.
Growing in confidence.
What does it mean to you to grow in confidence?
How do you gain confidence?
When do you feel most confident?
I’m the dictionary it says that similar words of confidence are: trust, belief, faith, credence. conviction, reliance, and dependence.
Opposite words for confidence are: distrust, scepticism, the state of feeling certain about the truth of something.
Example given:
a feeling of self-assurance arising from one’s appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities.
“she’s brimming with confidence”
I feel like the Christlike attribute activity in Preach My Gospel is such a great way to consider where we can improve in confidence before the Lord as we work on an attribute to become more Christlike.
1 John 5 As I exercise faith in Jesus Christ and am born again, I can overcome the world.
1 John 5:3–53 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
“Those who overcome the world develop an all-encompassing love for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Elder Neil L. Andersen’s message “Overcoming the World” (Ensign
or Liahona,
May 2017, 58–62).
“Overcoming the world is not one defining moment in a lifetime, but a lifetime of moments that define an eternity.”
“Overcoming the world is not a global invasion but a private, personal battle, requiring hand-to-hand combat with our own internal foes.”
President Thomas S. Monson has said: “The world can be … challenging. … [As we go to the temple], … we will be more able to bear every trial and to overcome each temptation. … We will be renewed and fortified.”
While reading 1 John 5 I wrote down some of the suggestions I found in overcoming the world. Some of the things I found were: believe in Christ, love the children of God, keep the commandments, and be born of God.
What does overcoming the world look like in your life?
Think about what commandment(s) is hard for you (aka grievous). Could loving God and others help you with that?
Are there any commandments that we consider “grievous” or difficult to follow? How does our love for God change the way we feel about His commandments?
Sing together a song about obedience, such as “Choose the Right Way” (Children’s Songbook, 160). How do we feel when we obey?
Are there any spiritual dangers that have “crept in” to our lives and family? (Jude 1:4). How can we follow Jude’s admonition to “earnestly contend for the faith” and resist these dangers? (Jude 1:3). What can we do to ensure that “peace, and love, be multiplied” in our family? (Jude 1:2).
Come Follow Me in my family 