10/19/11
John 14
I sidestepped today from my regular reading. Reason? I was sitting on a friends porch, enjoying so many good things, and decided to flip to a random place, so I found John 14 which at it’s heading reads “Jesus comforts his disciples.”
I got soo excited seeing this, as any follower of Jesus should, because we are his disciples too, and any comfort from Jesus is gold. So i read...
He comforts them in several ways.. first he tells them about their own special room that is being prepared for them in heaven.. and that He, Jesus, is preparing that room and would soon come back and take them there...
We all have a room being prepared for us, and Jesus wants us to understand what He does, so that we can seeeeee and feeeeel the glory of this ‘room’. (pleeeease expand your thinking to see it as not a room how we might understand it on earth... challenge yourself).
He does this by painting a beautiful image of the relationship between himself, God, and them.. us, his disciples. He says ‘if you have seen the father, you have seen me.’... then ‘don’t you believe that i am in the father, and the father is in me?’
Wait.. so, the father and him are one being? These words jesus speaks, he says “the words i say to you are not just my own. rather, it is the father, living in me, who is doing his worlk.”
That must be such a warm feeling, knowing at the level Jesus understood, that every word that came out of his mouth was of his father for His purposes.. beautiful.
Well.. Jesus says to us.. “anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the son may bring glory to the Father... ask for anything, and I will do it.” (sooo many thoughts on this verse, no room to go into it, email if you wanna know).
Jesus said this... do we believe in Him enough (seriously..) to reeeeally believe this? We can do what He does? We need to...
He then tells us by what means we will be able to do these things.. “the Spirit of truth”. This Spirit, Jesus says “the world cannot accept, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you will know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
What a gift. :)
**sidenote.. fun song to listen to while reading this chapter**
So, this spirit.. it might lead us to some difficult truths. It’s important to realize this because a person soaked in this spirit of truth, will realize the truth in Jesus’ words because what they “ask” for in his name, are things that the “world cannot accept.” Things that bring glory to His name, things that He cares about... and that is why scripture is so important... learning the things that God wants for us, and learning the life of Jesus... the things He cares about.
“Peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” (v27)
Jesus says that on that day you accept the spirit, you will realize that “I (jesus) am in my father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
The painting gains depth with that verse, because not only does he paint the relationship between him and his father, but now weee, his disciples, are included in that picture.
We in Jesus, Jesus in us (through the spirit)... all in God :)
One organism... all with access to the beautiful gift of His spirit, who will ‘teach us all things and will remind us of everything Jesus said to us.’ (v26).
After painting this beautiful picture of the rooms, and the interconnected relationship between them, God, the spirit and Jesus... He reminds them that he will be leaving them, and he says basically “Guys.. Be HAPPY for me! I get to go be with my Father, live in GLORY, seperate from the pains of this world, preparing a place for YOU! I’m telling you this guys, with this joy, so that you’ll belieeeve, so you’ll remember me and believe, and share with the world of how their room is being prepared too. Show them my spirit.. for I’m not leaving youuu, just this world.” :) (28-29)
The end of the chapter comes with a warning to his disciples... so now that we’re comforted, here’s the warning.
“the prince of this world (satan) is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father..." - Jesus... us too?
He had no hold on Jesus, the ‘prince of this world’. Jesus understood his place in his Father, and was protected.
Accepting Jesus to live inside of us, having faith in His saving power, gives us this protection too!! It’s those moments of turning our hearts from that most beautiful painting - that beautiful place of knowing our place in Jesus, in God - that we allow the prince of this world a connection with us in sometimes the most unnoticeable ways. Rather, let the prince of peace rule, giving peace in all situations, even the most dire... peace rules... because the spirit lives.
So today “let us draw near to god with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith... let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (heb10:22-25)
:)
I was hoping this morning to write about the book of Daniel instead of this. I just read it a few days ago, and if assurance of this ‘peace’ jesus talks about is what you might be needing today... read the first half of that book. Daniel sleeps with lions who were meant to eat him, because he saw himself in that beautiful painting, comforted and protected by God. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.. these dudes walked peacefully into a furnace. No burns.. in fact it says there was a fourth in the furnace with them. I think it was Jesus comforting them... they felt no pain, and the prince of peace ruled. That same power wants to dwell in our hearts, the spirit of truth, bringing peace and guidance to overcome the lions and fires we house internally... Read it.. I hope to write more soon on it.
Be well friends.
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