Category: Devotions

During this season of lockdown we have more time to re-evaluate our faith and our practices as a follower of Jesus.

I have been thinking of the desires of Jesus in his prayer, hours before his death.

John 17 v 6-26

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” V17-19

The Message: “Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth. In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. I’m consecrating myself for their sakes So they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission.”

Jesus prayed it because he wanted it. He still does.

Set within these verses is a desire of Jesus that we are sanctified. The word is ‘Hagios’ which is usually translated as ‘holy’ but the basic meaning is separate as in ‘different’.

I see a Church … that is different.

We are different in 2 ways:

1. Set apart for a special task.
2. Equipped with the qualities of mind, heart and character necessary for that task.

The disciples had been chosen for the spread of the gospel, mighty witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus.

God has chosen us and has set us apart for service. That service is firstly to love Him and then to love others.

This is our purpose.

We are different because God is different. So what does that mean?

In Deuteronomy 10:17-18 God says He, “defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow and loves the immigrant giving him food and clothing.”

This is one of the main things he does in the world. He identifies with the powerless, he takes up their cause. It is this that sets our God apart from all the other ancient gods whose power was always channelled through and identified with the elite of society. Our God was and is always on the side of the powerless and of justice for the poor, needy and vulnerable.

Most people who are downtrodden by abusive power are those who had little power to begin with, God gives them particular attention and has a special place in his heart for them.

Now if God’s character includes zeal for justice that leads him to have tender love and close involvement with the socially weak then what should God’s people be like? If God is so different then surely we should be as different as well? We must be people who are as passionately concerned for the weak and vulnerable as He is. Issues of poverty and injustice must matter, in fact all the many challenges of society are the challenges that the church should embrace. We are not separated from the world but separated/different so that we can engage with a broken world.

May we all know we are separated/different for the special task of loving others.

I see a Church … that is different.

In lockdown we have been amazed by what is possible in terms of the human kindness to one another. We are called to be different. Set apart for good works. To give to the least. To prioritise the last. To find the lost. That is what makes the Church different.

I see a Church …

During this season of lockdown we have more time to re-evaluate our faith and our practices as a follower of Jesus.

I have been thinking of the desires of Jesus in his prayer, hours before his death.

John 17 v 6-26

 “All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them” v10.

Jesus prayed it because he wanted it. He still does.

I see a Church … which knows how to bring glory to Jesus through worship.

Glory has come to me through them. An incredible thing to say!

May our lives be filled with His beauty and character, the Chabod, the weightiness, so that when we lift up His name in honour and praise Jesus receives all the glory.

Of course we can glorify Christ in many ways but the Bible associates worship as the main way we glorify Him. All of our lives is worship but the activity of centring our hearts and minds totally on Jesus in a corporate song or prayer has no compare.

The Bible if full of exhortations to call on the Lord and sing to Him, to praise, to bless and to lift up His Name.

Psalm 29 v2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name; worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.

Psalm 115 v1 Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

I am sure we are all missing being together, singing songs of worship and bringing glory to the Lord. It is quite difficult to do that on zoom!

However during this lockdown and being away from our buildings we have an opportunity to think again about the worship we offer Him. I wonder if the Church has become quite boring. Is it possible that the spiritual discipline of worship has not changed in our lives for some time? There has been no variety. Could it be that the picture of our Church worship has only consisted mainly of standing, sitting, singing and clapping our hands for years? Is the majority of our worship only found in a building?

Now of course worship comes from the heart otherwise it isn’t worship at all. But look what Paul tells us in in Romans 11:33-36

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?”
“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?”
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

And we all cry out AMEN at Paul’s exuberant worship. But then he follows on with this: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (12:1) At a time when heresies like Gnosticism was attacking the church with its belief that the spiritual is good but the physical is bad. Paul says offer your bodies. They are to be used as worship to God. Worship is not just that of the heart and mind, it involves the body. Incarnational worship bringing glory to Christ.

In this lockdown we are not in our church buildings. We are at home. Perhaps we have an opportunity to worship in a way we haven’t for a long time and certainly what we don’t usually do in our buildings on a Sunday.

We know the Bible encourages us to SING: Speaking to one another in Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, Ephesians 5:19. It suggests joy, honour and gratitude in our hearts for God. We also know the Bible encourages us to CLAP OUR HANDS: “Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy” Psalm 47 v1. We do it to applaud God for who He is and what He has done. We also know, using the same verse, that the Bible encourages us to SHOUT acknowledging our victory in God. We know the Bible encourages us to STAND: “Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up.” Nehemiah 8:5. We do it to show respect to God.

But what about the other Biblical positions of worship?

I am a HAND-RAISER but only when I sing songs not when I pray (see Nehemiah 8 v6). It is a sign of deep reverence to His authority. I have an African close friend who I have never seen pray without holding his hands up. I very rarely do that at home in private either. Why don’t I do that?

At home I have no problem KNEELING down, it shows I am bringing a petition with humility to God. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker. Psalm 95:6. The Bible encourages us to take up such a position but the Churches I attend we do more standing and sitting than kneeling. Why don’t I do that publicly?

If I am going to feel nervous kneeling in public worship when everyone else is standing then I am certainly not going to LAY PROSTRATE on the floor. I wonder how many would even if the worship leader instructed us to.  We would get down there but probably not get up! But the Bible encourages us to do so (Ezekiel 9 v8). I will do it at home as it signifies vulnerable and humble submission to God, but it’s not a regular Sunday morning occurrence for me in a Church building.

What about SHOUTING? “Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart” Psalm 32 v11. To acknowledge our victory in God. Home or Building? Maybe neither?!

What about DANCING (more than swaying or toe tapping!) to indicate great celebration? “Let them praise His name with the dance ..” Psalm 149 v3 Home or Building?

Finally a big one! What about SILENCE? “The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him” Habakkuk 2:20 Moving into inner peace, free of all distractions. Home or Building? We certainly have that opportunity in lockdown.

Of course some of these positions of worship are more suitable to corporate settings. For example when I am singing along to some praise song at home I don’t think I ever clap my hands. Clapping for me seems better suited in a gathering. But I’m probably wrong.

But maybe if we practiced some new positions of worship at home in lockdown then come the time we are in our buildings we could be making Sunday services quite different indeed!

I see a Church … which knows how to bring glory to Jesus through worship.

Maybe the good thing about this lockdown is that it gives us all an opportunity to try something new with our bodies because no one is watching us. To worship God with a new position and maybe with the significance in mind could bring further glory to Jesus. Perhaps when we get back to our buildings worship will look different. Maybe that’s a good thing.

I see a Church …

During this season of lockdown we have more time to re-evaluate our faith and our practices as a follower of Jesus.

Over the next few days I want to pause and think a little more of this prayer of Jesus, hours from his sacrifice. I think I can see 5 desires of Jesus in his prayer that are for us today. Let us look at one each day.

John 17 v 6-26

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world” v6.

“I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” v26.

Jesus prayed it because he wanted it. He still does.

I see a Church … That knows the Father.

The ministry of Jesus was to reveal the Father. As people looked at the lifestyle of Jesus, saw his personality and character, they saw the beauty of the Father. Do people see the Father in us? Christ’s passion hasn’t changed now that he is in heaven. It is still his desire for our lives that we know the Father. What kind of Father do people experience from the Church? From you and me?

Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church and said, “Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel” 1 Cor 4 v15.

When the Father is known and when people see the Father in the Church they are soon made aware that He is a sending Father. John has made it clear throughout the gospel and as we will see when we get to the verse in John 20:21 “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

There are two different uses of the word send in verse 21. The first one is in the past tense, meaning, “I have been sent once and for all.” This action has been taken once and is not repeated. Jesus has come once and for all. The second sending is in the present active indicative, meaning a continued action—“I am sending you, and I will keep on sending you until the work is completed.”

He continues to send today. The sending responsibility of the church is not optional or expendable. It is to continue until Christ comes.

Every book in the New Testament was written by a sent missionary. Every letter in the New Testament that was written to an individual was written to a convert of a sent missionary. Every letter in the New Testament that was written to a church was written to a sending missionary church. The one book of prophecy in the New Testament (Revelation) was written to seven sending missionary churches of Asia. The only authoritative history of the early Christian church is a sending missionary book (Acts). The disciples were called Christians first in a sending missionary community (Antioch). The map of the early Christian world is the tracing of the journeys of the first sent missionaries. Of the 12 apostles chosen by Jesus, every apostle, except one, became a sent missionary. The other became a traitor.

The aim of a mission sending father and a mission sent son is to make known the father. It is to make known the ways of the Father. A way is not just a thought, or a perceived attitude about something, it is how one lives their life. It is the customs, institutions and achievements of a particular nation, people or group, it is called culture. I see a Church that understands the culture of the Father that absorbs His character ours.

If the Church wants to know the Father and be known as the Father’s house, then it needs to send again. There are trapped sons today. The fathers will not send, they keep, they want to build empires, to preserve their name. Sons want to honour but they want to go.

John would later write in 1 John 4:14 “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.”

May the world see a Church that knows the Father!

Jesus bids us shine with a clear, pure light, Like a little candle burning in the night;
In this world of darkness, we must shine, You in your small corner, and I in mine.

A beautiful children’s song written well over a century ago and sung throughout has that last line played out in church life and it flies in the face of what Jesus prayed for his us.

Church can end up being something like this: We all try our best at being Christians during the week, then on a Sunday we come together to sing, hear a talk and give, then we go home again. Some Sundays are good, some are not up to expectations and we don’t know if we will go again. Now that we are in the season of digital church we can fast forward bits of church that we don’t like and even delete so that we can get on with our own lives.

You in your small corner and I in mine is not the answer to the prayer Jesus prayed.

John 17 v 6-26

V11 “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one… V20-23 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me… V26 “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

The answer was the second Advocate, the Holy Spirit, falling on the Church at Pentecost and the result was that the people were devoted to one another, Acts 2:42. The actual words are, ‘they continually devoted themselves.’ There is a need to continually devote ourselves to each other because things do go wrong. The way devotion is seen is how Jesus demonstrated it for us. The cross. In order for unity someone has to go on the cross and it is usually the one who isn’t in the wrong.

Who would you not lay your life down for? Jesus did it.

We don’t like sacrifice, it goes against our human nature, our understanding and it seems pointless. It seems weak, there is no return and it just feels like the other person wins and we climb down from what is true. Sacrifice is not a nice word.

The New Testament knows nothing of isolated believers. Wherever you find believers you find them in community. They were certainly not perfect and they needed challenging at times to keep gathering because they tended to drift away (Heb 10:24-25).

Has someone hurt you? Who are you separated from?

Some betrayals need to be allowed to go the way of destruction. Some denials can cause the beginning of a far better relationship. Some desertions can be understood.

We all have the stories of pain.

John Ortberg tells a story of a girl called Beth, she attended a new school when her family moved into a new home, she was desperately searching for a new friend.

In a vast field of isolation Beth found the pearl of great price – a friend; a best friend. Joanne was funny and bright and warm, and in the mysterious alchemy of human beings, two gawky 14 yr olds were alloyed in friendship. That year, Beth writes, the world became a different place for her. She belonged. The cafeteria of the new school was no longer a no-man’s land; someone was saving a place for her. Four years went by; birthdays, pizzas, projects, makeovers and sleepovers. Because of her friend, Beth writes, she learned the music of that era, she learned about boys and secrets and other people’s families and the fine art of passing notes in school.

She told Joanne everything, as best friends do. Her senior year, Beth told Joanne her biggest secret; She had fallen in love. It was an impossible crush. He was a blond haired, back of the bus Big Man on Campus who hardly knew Beth was alive. At best, he would occasionally grunt hello. Still, every night after school, after homework, Beth would call Joanne to tell her the details: where she had seen him, what he had worn or said, whether or not he had acknowledged her with a terse greeting. Joanne was always encouraging: ‘Maybe he likes you?’

‘Really?’

Beth wanted so badly to believe her friend, to think this hero might feel for her some echo of what she felt for him. Beth could not stop hoping, even though he gave her so little reason, even though he didn’t seem to notice her and never said more than a grunt. She could not stop hoping, she writes, until the night Joanne showed up with him at the Prom.

And a friendship that blossomed for 4 years, with the only best friend she ever had, was silenced for 20 years.

 

Maybe you know a similar story. Maybe the ones who you did no harm to but you helped the most were so ready and available to hurt you. Maybe you remember those who betrayed you, who harmed you. Some of those people are now dead, some you do not know where they are living if they are, some are close by but they would not have a clue what you were talking about if you brought it up. But all of them can be found in the deepest parts of your heart. If the moment came, if you were so stirred up, it would still be possible to still feel something of the pain that you had back then. How can it be still painful? How can it still have an effect? It’s the work of Satan. He can cause the greatest harm by using people.

He has a reconnaissance on you. In every community that you live in, in your work, home, neighbourhood, friendship groups, He wants to know where you go and what you do, the people you mix with, your gifts. He is following your movements. The more you love people and value people, the more he hates you and belittles you. The more you are positive to people and influential in their life the more he wants to right you off. He wants you out of the action and in the corner and he will use people to get you there and their words to keep you there.

Will you be the answer to the prayer of Jesus or the fulfilment to the desire of the enemy of your soul? Come out of your small corner.

John 17 v 6-26

For 3 years Jesus and his disciples journeyed together. He had formed them into a band of love. They had shared their hearts, laughed, cried, travelled, worked and argued. Now literally only hours away from Jesus being taken from them, he prays for them.

When Jesus prays He is praying the Father’s will. He is not twisting His Father’s arm. He is not hoping the Father will do what He prays. He prays the answer. When you hear the prayer you hear the promise.

Over the next few days we will see the promises that are in the prayer of Jesus.

Jesus is our protector.

Simeon lived in around the year 390AD and was the pioneer of what was known as the Stylite Saints, a group of extreme monks.

Simeon first lived in a commune but he needed to get away from it all so moved to a solitary life.

But even living on his own he found he was still being distracted from God by his world.

So he lived on a hill tied to an iron chain for 5 years.

But still he wanted to be closer to God and away from it all.

So he built a pedestal and lived on it for 2 years.

Still it wasn’t good enough, so he built a column and then a higher column and then a higher column.

But still he needed to be away from his world so he had a 50 foot column built and he lived on it for the last 30 years of his life. He died having found a way of escaping from his world.

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it (v15-16).

“This shouldn’t be happening to me.” Ever thought that?

The world with all of its problems; the sickness, heartache, disappointments, the greed, pressure, accusations, it is all around us. We live in that world and Jesus prays, ‘Father, don’t take them out of those conditions.”

Do you think of escaping sometimes? Do you fancy building a column?

We do need those quiet, alone times with God, to be still, to silence the noise of our world and to worship Him.

But the world we are called to live in is a world of hunger and pain, the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head, there are times for jumping in the boat and sailing into the storm and times for jumping out of the boat and walking on the water. Tough days are part and parcel of life. You were never meant to withdraw from the pain.

Jesus prayed that we would live in the world and that means facing troubles but with Him.

V11-12 “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”

A news app that I have has a story of an American Pastor who has kept his church services going through the covid-19 crisis because “the virus will not kill you.” The truth is it does and it has and it will. Whether or not you’re a follower of Jesus or not, the protection that Jesus prays for is not the protection over not dying.

Hebrews 11 v37 “Some (believers) were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were put to death by the sword.” Three horrendous types of death.

Some of the followers of Jesus get promoted to glory like Elijah, who just walked away and no one ever saw him again.

Some go the way of Stephen and become martyrs of the faith.

Some go the way of Covid-19 etc.

So where is the protection?

It is from the destruction not the disease. The followers of Jesus have a home that is protected. The enemy will never touch your eternal status.

Jesus has already told the disciples that they are going to face trouble in the world. In a few days he would be telling Peter that he would be crucified.

However, nothing, not even the schemes of Satan can damage our eternal security. Those who die in the faith die in hope and die in peace. There is no fear of what might happen when we close our eyes. The first person we see when we open them is Jesus.

That is our protection. That is what Jesus prayed. What a beautiful promise this is!

So don’t bother building a column. It will all be okay. You can face your world.

Glory

John 17 v1-5 “After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

 

Jesus knew that in the next few hours he would be the only sacrifice for the sin of our lives. He knew the time of fulfilling the prophecies, types and symbols, the time for ultimate triumph over Satan was here. Having just announced that, “I have overcome the world” he now knows. This hour was sanctioned in the depths of eternity. God’s redemptive hour. You can almost hear the drum rolls in heaven, the angels holding their breath, maybe this is the silence of heaven as Jesus looks up from the earth and speaks. “Father this is the hour that I came for, this is what we talked about, the time has come.”

His teaching, His works of compassion, His works of power, were all secondary to this.

The central point of his life was not living but giving it away.

Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

There is no way we will ever understand fully the glory of God this side of heaven.

In its simplistic form it is to see His beauty by way of God’s actions and by His character and nature.

Therefore, Jesus says, “Beautify my life, that I, here on public show, can beautify you.”

He sees these next few hours, his dark night of the soul, as the start of the events of glorification.

“In this human weakness, humiliation, torture, pain and agony of the cross, let your glory be seen in me that I may glorify/beautify you.”

Suffering is the place in which glorification takes place. The suffering of the cross.

I heard a wonderful testimony yesterday. At the end of an online sermon the preacher prayed a prayer centred on the cross and resurrection of Jesus. One hour later someone far away from the town it was broadcast wrote to that preacher to say they had joined in that prayer and after a lifetime of years had come back to God. Yesterday the despairing were given hope, the guilty were forgiven, those in bondage were freed and the hurting were healed. It happened because of the suffering of Christ. It brings glory.

There is a work on earth that we need to finish and it will involve our pain and suffering. We will struggle and it won’t be easy. Whatever you get paid for is not the work I am talking about. If you are retired from the work then it isn’t the work I am talking about. If you are wondering about what kind of work you might do then it isn’t the work I am talking about. We are all in the work as followers of Jesus. The work of doing what the Father asks of us. The work of every day rising to be the best disciple of Christ we can be. Richard, the Bishop of Chichester died in 1253 having only been a priest for 10 years. He lived a difficult life under the oppression of King Henry III. He ended up spending nearly 2 years walking barefoot throughout his diocese, can you imagine that? He wrote this prayer which sums up the work we are all called into until we die:

Thanks be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits Thou hast given me, for all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me. O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother, may I know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly and follow thee more nearly, day by day.

Today, your loved one may have left you. You may feel alone for all kinds of reasons. But you are still here and the work is still to be done.  Know Him. Love Him. Follow Him. Today. Finish the work. Bring Him glory on your earth. For tomorrow there is a glory to come.

Jesus is saying, “I can’t wait to get home.” There is a glory in heaven that Moses longed for and partially saw; that Isaiah saw in the Temple and that John would see in his Revelation, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” (21:23)

Those who are with Jesus in heaven right now are in the fullness of that glory! We will experience that ourselves but for now, here on earth, we finish the work and bring glory to Him who suffered for us.

ASK

John 16 v23-33, “In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. ²⁵ “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” ²⁹ Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. ³⁰ Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.” ³¹ “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. ³² “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. ³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Whatever you do today make sure you have asked the Father for something.

Paul Harvey, who was long considered the most-listened-to radio broadcaster in the world died in 2009. He was called “the voice of Middle America,” “the apostle of Main Street” and “the voice of the Silent Majority” by the media for his flag-waving conservatism and championing of traditional values. He lives on in the many human stories he told.

Here’s one such story:

A three-year-old boy went to the grocery store with his mother. She sternly told him before entering the store, “No chocolate chip cookies, so don’t even ask!” In the store she put him in the little child’s seat in the cart, and they wheeled down the aisles. He was quiet until he got to the cookie aisle. He saw those delicious chocolate chip cookies, stood up and said, “Mom, can I have the chocolate chip cookies?” With a strong voice she said to him, I told you not to even ask. No!” 
He sat down. They went down the aisles but later had to come back to the cookie aisle again. He asked for them again. She told him, Sit down and be quiet. I said no.” Finally arriving at the checkout lane, the little boy knew it was his last chance. He had to do something quick. So he stood up in his seat and shouted as loud as he could, In the name of Jesus, may I have some chocolate chip cookies?” 
Everyone around him began to laugh and applaud that little boy. And because of the generosity of the other shoppers, the little boy and his mother left the grocery store with twenty-three boxes of chocolate chip cookies!

Note how many times in this short passage at the end of chapter 16 the word ‘ask’ is used.

Hours from his death, Jesus is preparing his disciples for what is ahead of them. He tells them he is going away but they will see him again. But when they do things will be different. Wonderfully different and it will be centred on our opportunity to ask.

Who will we ask?

We will ask the same person that Jesus has been asking, the Father. Jesus is instructing us to approach the Father in the same way as he has done and to ask. He is saying (though He is our intercessor which John makes clear on many occasions) we don’t need Jesus to ask for us, we can ask directly ourselves. The reason for this is that the Father loves us! Before we drop this thought because we know it, pause, think. How incredible is this?! How do we know this to be true? It is because we love Jesus and follow Him.

How do we ask?

‘In my name’ which we have seen before what this is.

It is to come to the Father in prayer acknowledging a) we are followers of Jesus; b) we belong to him and c) the glory of God is the most important result of the ask.

Why do we ask?

Jesus says trouble is ahead. For those reading this today then you know in your life you have had all kinds of trouble. You may even be in great difficulty now.

The disciples fail in their first response. Hours later as Jesus is being taken to the cross, the majority have run away in their panic. The trouble has caused them to abandon ship. It was too traumatic for them and they run for their lives. Their action doesn’t change their circumstance but they want to leave as fast as they can. How many of us have done or at least thought of doing that? To leave.

But the disciples came to understand and experience what we have also. Peace from heaven. The circumstance of our life may not change. We may not get 23 packs of chocolate chip cookies! But we remain in situation and we do so with a peace that the world cannot give. A peace which has a foundation on the victory of Christ.

So let us ask the Father today, in the name of Jesus.

And let us receive peace that passes all understanding.

For Christ wins and so do we.

 

 

Now is your time of grief …

 

John 16 v 16-22

“Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” ¹⁷ At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.” ¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”

The hours are slipping by quickly, the disciples are tired, but the agony of the cross is nearing.

The disciples are getting confused and the image is rather funny, v16-19.

Jesus’ mind is on his death and what the cross will achieve. He uses the analogy of child-birth to understand that this is what he has come for, to birth God’s plan of salvation for the world, v20-21.

Then Jesus says what has brought great comfort throughout the generations and across the globe to so many of his followers, v22.

If we could describe this last 12 months it would definitely be for so many a time of grief. Many will wake today in grief. Sadly many will walk into grief today.

There have been far greater people than me who have become experts in understanding grief and helping those through it. But from this one verse I offer 5 thoughts that may help someone today.

Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

1. Grief is no respecter of persons. Even those who follow Jesus will suffer grief.
2. Grief has a time which is held not by the pressure from people for you to move on, but by God who will bring it to an end because …
3. Grief will not be replaced by joy but it will be transformed into joy which also comes in God’s timing.
4. Grief can be held by hope of seeing our loved one again. The separation is temporary. (Read 1 Thessalonians 4 v13-14).
5. Grief is not a surprise to God. He knows. He has told us. That is why He already sent us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit.

 

 

The role of the Holy Spirit part 2

John 16 v 5-15

“ … but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. ¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

The role of the Holy Spirit is to convict your world that you live in of:

• SIN – It is sinful not to believe and follow Jesus, v9. That’s so much simpler than providing lists of behaviour that the Spirit will convict the person for, no matter how much the Church has tried.
• JUSTICE or RIGHTEOUSNESS – It is seen and found in the cross of Christ, 10. The more we understand the impact and result of the cross the clearer we will be regards justice.
• JUDGMENT – There is now no condemnation because the power of the prince has been defeated, v11. The major impact of the death of Jesus was the victory over death and the condemnation of the evil one.

SIN, JUSTICE AND JUDGMENT: That is the role of the Holy Spirit in leading us more into the understanding of each one. Of course the prince of this world though defeated still has a voice. It is not surprising that the evil one also tries to speak confusion into those 3 things also. May the Church silence him and speak the words of the Spirit to a lost world.

The role of the Holy Spirit

John 15 v 26 (Amplified) But when the COMFORTER (COUNSELLOR, HELPER, ADVOCATE, INTERCESSOR, STRENGTHENER, STANDBY) comes, Whom I will SEND to you from the Father, the SPIRIT OF TRUTH Who comes (proceeds) from the Father, He [Himself] will TESTIFY regarding Me.

John 15 v26-16 v4 (NIV)

²⁶ ‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – he will testify about me. ²⁷ And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. ‘All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. ² They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. ³ They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. ⁴ I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you.

The role of the Holy Spirit:

• Is to be SENT to the followers of Jesus, v26.
• Is to TESTIFY to us about Jesus, v26.
• Is to HELP us do the same with others, v27.
• Is to INTERCEDE for us so that we do not fall away, v1.
• Is to ADVOCATE for us when we are rejected, v2.
• Is to COUNSEL us when we are misrepresented, v2.
• Is to STRENGTHEN by reminding you of what Jesus said in His Word, v4.

What do you need today? The Spirit of Truth is right here.