“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” – 1 John 1:3

Jim Elliott was born in Portland, Oregon in 1927. He came to the Lord when he was six after a church meeting. In 1949, he graduated from Wheaton College. Six years later, Jim and four other missionaries were martyred by Auca Indians on the Curaray River in the jungles of Ecuador. On January 16, 1951, he wrote the following in his journal: “I walked out to the hill just now. It is exalting, delicious. To stand embraced by the shadows of a friendly tree with the wind tugging at your coattail and the heavens hailing your heart, to gaze and glory and to give oneself again to God, what more could a man ask? Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on earth. I care not if I never raise my voice again for Him, if only I may love Him, please Him. Mayhap, in mercy, He shall give me a host of children that I may lead through the vast star fields to explore His delicacies whose fingers’ ends set them to burning. But if not, if only I may see Him, smell His garments, and smile into my Lover’s eyes, ah, then, not stars, nor children, shall matter–only Himself.”

Our primary relationship is to our Heavenly Father. Do you love the Lord with all of your heart, mind and strength? Today in prayer, spend some extra quiet moments loving the Lord and delighting in Him.

“The secret of true obedience is the clear and close personal relationship to God. All our attempts after full obedience will be failures until we get access to his abiding fellowship. It is God’s holy presence consciously abiding with us that keeps us from disobeying Him. I must consciously include the Lord in every thought, activity, and conversation until the habit is established.” – Andrew Murray

God’s Word: “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” – Hebrews 10:22

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2002, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN THE LETTERS OF JOHN pkennedy@devotional.com