November 17th, 2025 Devotional

💧 Living Water Devotional – Monday

“Beloved: Learning to Live as God’s Deeply Loved Child”

📖 1 John 4:13–18

📖 Inspired by Francis Chan’s “Beloved”

📖 Illustrated by the life of George Washington Carver

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🕊 Scripture Focus

“We know that we live in Him and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit…

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them…

There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear.”

— 1 John 4:13–18

In Beloved, Francis Chan asks one of the most important questions a believer will ever face:

“Do you really believe that God loves you?”

Not generally affirmative love.

Not a distant, theological love.

But a real, personal, consuming love —

a love that drives out fear,

heals identity,

and transforms the way you walk through life.

To understand this, we look at a man whose entire life testifies to God’s love:

George Washington Carver.

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🌱 The Love That Found a Frail Boy

Carver was born into slavery in Diamond Grove, Missouri.

Before he was a year old, he, his mother, and his sister were kidnapped.

A German immigrant named Moses Carver searched for weeks to rescue them.

He found only George and his brother, sick and near death, and traded away his prized horse to bring them home.

He raised them as his own.

But it was Moses’ wife Susan who shaped George’s heart.

She held him close and said:

“George, you are one of God’s most special children.”

That one sentence became the foundation of his identity.

Carver believed it.

He believed Scripture.

He believed he was loved.

And perfect love started driving out fear.

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👣 Loved Children Walk Boldly

George was tiny, sickly, and too frail to work in the fields.

But he was curious — endlessly curious.

He saw God in the soil, the flowers, the trees, and the small things most people overlooked.

He wanted to learn.

He wanted to grow.

He wanted to know God more.

But there were no schools for Black children anywhere near him.

So as a young boy, he packed what little he had and walked 10 miles to a town that would accept him.

He slept in barns and sheds along the way.

He didn’t walk that far because he was fearless.

He walked because love carried him.

Love gave him courage.

He knew…

If God loves me, He will make a way.

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🕊 His First Time in a Black Church — and a Miracle

When George arrived in that new town, a Christian family took him in and brought him to their small Black church.

That congregation had been praying:

“Lord, send us someone who can teach us Your Word.”

Most of them were formerly enslaved.

Few could read.

They longed for someone who could open Scripture for them.

George walked in — quiet, shy, carrying his little Bible.

When the pastor asked someone to read from the Gospel of John, no one stood.

Then he looked at that frail teenage boy:

“Young man… can you read?”

George nodded.

He was handed the Bible.

And for the first time in that congregation’s history, the Word of God was read clearly, powerfully, out loud.

People wept.

The pastor cried.

And he said:

“Church, God has answered our prayer.”

George immediately began leading Bible lessons every week.

Not because he wanted recognition.

But because he believed he was beloved,

and love always expresses itself in service.

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🔥 Loved People Become World-Changers

Carver went on to overcome racism, poverty, and rejection.

He became the first Black student and first Black professor at Iowa State University.

He later led the agricultural department at Tuskegee under Booker T. Washington.

But his inventions weren’t just scientific —

they were spiritual.

He prayed daily:

“Lord, reveal to me the mysteries of the universe.”

And God did.

Some of His God-given Discoveries

• 300+ products from peanuts

(dyes, oils, plastics, paints, fuels, rubber substitutes)

• 118 uses for sweet potatoes

(flour, ink, vinegar, glue, synthetic rubber)

• Crop rotation methods that saved Southern agriculture

• Building materials made from farm waste

• Fertilizers and soil restoration techniques

• Artistic paints and stains from Alabama clay used worldwide

• Nutrition programs that fed poor families

He refused to patent most of them saying:

“God gave them to me, so I will give them to the world.”

He lived like 1 John 4 —

love was his identity,

love was his motive,

love was his message.

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🧡 Why Carver Helps Us Understand 1 John 4

Carver’s entire life answers Francis Chan’s question:

What happens when someone truly believes they are loved by God?

Here’s what happens:

• Fear loses its grip

• Identity becomes secure

• Courage rises

• Creativity blossoms

• Hope becomes contagious

• Suffering turns into testimony

• Ordinary people step into extraordinary callings

Carver didn’t change the world because he was brilliant.

He changed the world because he was beloved.

And so are you.

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🌄 Your Identity Today: Beloved

1 John 4 doesn’t tell you to earn God’s love.

It tells you to abide in it.

You are not barely loved.

You are not conditionally loved.

You are not tolerated.

You are beloved.

And perfect love…

• casts out fear

• breaks lies

• overcomes insecurity

• strengthens your heart

• brings boldness

• opens doors

• and reshapes your entire life

Just like Carver, God wants you to live from this one truth:

“God is love, and His love lives in me.”

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❓ Reflection Questions

1. Do I truly believe — deep down — that I am God’s beloved child?

2. Where has fear been louder than love — and what would change if I let God’s perfect love drive that fear out?

3. How can I—like George Washington Carver—use my gifts in humility and love for others this week?

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🙏 Prayer

Father, thank You that I am Your beloved.

Let Your perfect love drive out every fear, lie, and insecurity.

Teach me to live boldly, humbly, and courageously like George Washington Carver.

Help me see that Your love is not just a truth to know but a reality to stand in.

Holy Spirit, fill me with the assurance that You live in me, and empower me to love others as You have loved me.

In Jesus’ mighty name, amen.