1 John, Chapter 4

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  (there are "other" spirits out there.  We need to know that we are listening to God's Spirit!)

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus, is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. (It appears to say that only God's Spirit can help us say that Jesus is God.  But what if they lie to deceive us - can they??...update note:  "confesses" means to actually believe and agree that Jesus is from God, not just to say the words without believing)

You are from God, little children, and have overcome them (spirits not from God); because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  (when we know the Word, and God's character, we can recognize when a false teacher is teaching)

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (perfect love was that God sent Jesus to save us)

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (we are not better than another.  God loved us, and if He can love sinners like us, then we, being sinners, should love one another)

No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.  By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. (we cannot see God, but by His Spirit in us, we know He is alive in us, and His love is perfected in us)

We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
  
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. (Whoever "confesses" means to agree or to concede.  This is just not to say it, but to actually believe that Jesus is the Son of God)

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (if we say we are Christians only because of the fear of hell and judgment, are we really Christians?  That is a motivating factor, but we should also have love and gratitude that God loved us enough to save us from that.  So while we have a godly fear, it should also be accompanied by perfect love)

We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.