Planted by God

John 12:23-26 WEB

Jesus answered them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. [24] Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. [25] He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life. [26] If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there will my servant also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

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Jesus taught a mentality that modern science may have called suicidal. He calls for us to abhor our own lives in preference for a life in God. The Lord goes so far as to say, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit (John 12:25). Everything we know about having a successful life is nothing in the light of the gospel. According to this passage we are to die. But if we are faithful to serve Jesus, the Father will honor us.

How does the Father honor a person he has told to lay down their life? Once we lay our lives down, he often gives us our lives back. Jesus is the only one who needed to die for the salvation of the world. However, working out our salvation some will be called to martyrdom. Most will not. Most people who commit their whole life to Jesus will prosper. It is impossible to stop wanting goodness and the fullness of life. But with God it is possible.

There are so many ways to lay down our lives. A stable, committed prayer life is a small death to self. Reading the Bible daily is another way to lay our lives down. The same can be said for tithing. It can also be said for going to church every week. Laying down our life could be following the Spirit to a new job. It may be when we humble ourselves to the ungodly for the sake of their salvation. We show others the way to salvation through our righteous behavior and our holy mindset. If we lay our lives down for the sake of obedience, it proves we serve and love Jesus.

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Lord, teach me how to lay my life down for you. Teach me how to humble myself to you in obedience and righteousness. And teach me to lead others to you through love and holiness. I want to love you and others more than I love myself. All things are possible in you, Jesus. I trust you to teach me how to lay my life down. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The Truth about Freedom

John 8:30-32 WEB

As he spoke these things, many believed in him. [31] Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples. [32] You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

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What does it mean to remain in Jesus’ words? It means to continue with Jesus and his teachings. It means staying in the present state of belief and confidence in the Lord. Part of remaining in Jesus’ words is having access to the truth. Having access to truth does not mean you are remaining in truth. Those who genuinely remain in Jesus’ words will be set free by the truth.

It is not those who know the truth that are Jesus’ disciples. It is those who know the truth and apply it to their lives. Jesus’ disciples live his words. Those words are truth and living them releases freedom in Jesus. Only we must not use our freedom to become lazy in the Lord. We are free because we chose to remain in Jesus’ word. We are free because we voluntarily submit to Jesus’ teachings.

Conversely, we can know our spiritual condition in Jesus when we look at our lives. Do we have sin or sickness keeping us in bondage? According to Jesus, we can be free if we remain in truth. So, these things give us a starting point in our prayers. We can look at sin and death’s reign in our lives and let it correct us. We can walk in the truth of Jesus’ teachings and be free.

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Lord Jesus, please help me honestly evaluate my life. Show me where I can walk in more truth and help me be free from the effects of sin and death. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The First to See

John 8:13-14 WEB

The Pharisees therefore said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.” [14] Jesus answered them, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going.

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Jesus came from the Father and was returning to the Father. It was simple for Jesus. He regularly cultivated his relationship with the Father, he knew how to hear his voice (Mark 1:35). Jesus knew scripture. Jesus knew who he was, and he knew what it meant (John 8:22).

The Pharisees could not even properly discern where Jesus was born, let alone anything else about him (John 7:52). Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because of their blindness (Mat 23:26). Jesus did not make excuses for their ignorance. They were the experts in scripture. The Pharisees should have been the first ones to realize Jesus was the Messiah.

Now, we are close to the end of the age. Jesus is coming back. Will we recognize him when he returns? With the modern-day push for all believers to know scripture, the church will be without excuse. However, with all believers educated in the Bible, we should be the first ones to recognize the Messiah.

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Lord Jesus, please help me discern you in the world. If you return in my life, help me recognize you. Protect me from being deceived by the antichrist. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

The Light of Life

John 8:12 WEB

Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

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How do you and I walk in darkness? We keep things hidden. We have secrets. Secret meetings, secret small group gatherings, secret whispers. All of these are the opposite of walking in the light. In the light, we do not keep secrets. We may not tell everyone everything, that would be foolish, but we live a transparent lifestyle.

The word says this transparency proves we do our works in God (John 3:19-21). That means a lot to me. I want to get to the final judgment and be accepted as a citizen of heaven. So, walking in the light feels like a safeguard against secret sin. Hidden sin can be hard to face. It can be hard to tell people something they did not know that makes us look bad. We get trapped keeping our secrets.

Any Sunday we can go to the altar and confess our wrongdoing to a prayer warrior. We can have our walk healed. But. Then the person you prayed with may gossip about you and you could face social repercussions. What do you do? Use wisdom and share with a trustworthy source. And if there is no trustworthy source, tell Jesus. He will never fail you or humiliate you.

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Lord Jesus, forgive me for keeping secrets. I turn away from that practice and choose to walk in the light. Help me live healthy transparency before you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

How Jesus Interacted with the Father

John 7:27-30 WEB

However we know where this man comes from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.” [28] Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don’t know. [29] I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” [30] They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.

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Do you believe you are from God? Jesus did. He believed he was from God (John 7:29), and he believed he knew God well enough to discern his will (John 6:4). He also believed he was sent from God (John 7:28-29). Being sent is a concept we are familiar with today. We get called by God, we get sent from God, we get sent from Church bodies. Jesus believed he was sent from God and that he was doing exactly what the Father wanted.

All practicing Christians long to be in the Father’s perfect will. These verses give me hope it is possible to know God’s will. Additionally, if I want to do the things Jesus did, I need to be familiar with the tools he used to interact with God and accomplish God’s will. Jesus developed a relationship with the Father through prayer (Luke 5:16), fasting (John 4:34), and obedience. I have access to these same tools.

I can pray for as long as I need to hear from God. I can also fast. Finally, with God’s help, I can obey the Bible and the Spirit of God. I can do what Jesus did. I can hear from God and obey. These verses give great hope to those endeavoring to be in the Father’s will. Jesus trusted himself to the Father. He trusted the Father’s motives. From this place of trust, the Lord is able to do great things for the Father.

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Lord Jesus, please give me the grace to seek a relationship with the Father. Help me pray, fast, and obey so that I can learn to discern the Father’s voice, and some can be saved. Help me release my life so that I may enter a healthy relationship with God. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

God’s Will

John 6:35-38 WEB

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. [36] But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe. [37] All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out. [38] For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

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Have you ever heard the belief that you should tell God exactly what you want when you pray? For example, if you are praying for a car include the make, model, color, and any other important features you would like. While there is nothing wrong with telling God what we would like, this is a teaching that turns people away from God’s will. We tell God what we want to do instead of asking him.

Jesus told us clearly how we should pray. In Matthew 6:10 WEB it reads, “Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.” According to this verse, we are to seek God’s will in prayer. Instead, congregants are being taught to tell God what they want. More, believers get entitled towards God. Some will be frustrated because they prayed and believed but God did not bless their prayers. The problem is they were praying for their own will rather than the Father’s will.

It was the Father’s will to send us Jesus. It was also the Father’s will that we believe in Jesus. The Lord has told us that if we believe in him, we will obey him and imitate him. (John 14:12) Jesus did not seek his own will. The one time Jesus asked for something for himself was as he labored in prayer before the crucifixion. Jesus asked God to take away his cup of suffering. But Jesus is also clear, even in suffering, he prefers God’s will to his own. (Mat 26:39)

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Lord Jesus, please forgive me for praying to have my own way instead of praying to know and do your will. Lord, reveal to me when I am praying for my own will and lead me into righteousness. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

Seeing the Father

John 5:19 WEB

Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.

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This is one of those verses that is often ignored. It is a hard verse. How did Jesus see what the Father was doing? If he had supernatural insight, then he is doing something that we cannot do. On the other hand, if this verse can be explained apart from a supernatural event, then we can also see what the Father is doing.

So, how did he do it? How did Jesus see what the Father was doing? I believe he knew God’s written Word and it is from that scriptural knowledge he saw what the Father was doing.  If this explanation is true, then modern believers can also see what the Father is doing. Of course, it may be that Jesus looked at the circumstances and recognized the hand of God. If that is true, then it is also something we can do. Beyond knowing scripture and looking out of himself to see, Jesus also prayed frequently and for long periods of time. I suspect he heard from God in his prayer closet. And this too is something we can do.

We can join the work of the Father because we can see what the Father is doing. Like Jesus, we have the scriptures. One can truly know the Father with the Bible. If we can read scripture and recognize the difference between the culture and God’s responses, we get insight into how God thinks. The Old Testament reveals God’s habit of using the culture of the age to teach timeless spiritual lessons. Even that which is unsavory served the Father in the Bible. So, I can discern that God does not waste anything. Once that truth sinks in it becomes simple to steward resources well. We see what the Father does and then we do things in the same way.

We can also see the Father in the world around us. Jesus noticed. He saw the people around him. He saw events unfolding and recognized the work of the Father. In order to see others, he had to resist thinking about himself. That is something we can do. We can get our minds off our own affairs and see what is going on in the lives of those around us. When we see the hand of God we can partner with God, just like Jesus.

Also, like Jesus, we can pray. This is our lifeline to God. Jesus was dependent on prayer to know and understand God. Like us, he received comfort and grace. Also, like us, he probably spent time listening for the small still voice of God. I do not believe Jesus spent hours telling God everything he wanted. He sought God’s will rather than his own will during prayer.

All these earthly explanations for how Jesus saw the Father are available to us today. We can all read the Bible, pay attention to the lives of others, and seek God through prayer. We appear to have the same tools as the Lord for seeing what the Father is doing. However, Jesus had one more tool for recognizing God. Priorities. Jesus made God’s will and his interests his priority. We can do this as well. We can desire to build God’s kingdom more than we desire to build our own kingdom and then we will “see” what the Father is doing.

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Lord Jesus, please forgive my self-focus and laziness regarding spiritual disciplines. Please increase my desire to build God’s Kingdom. Please help me see what the Father is doing. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

Wellspring of Life

 John 4:11-14 WEB

The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. So where do you get that living water? [12] Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his children, and his livestock?” [13] Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, [14] but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

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Does the well you drink from give you rest or do you have to go to the well to draw over and over? The well of our best thinking will never give us rest. Nor will the well of tradition. The well which gives rest and springs eternal is Jesus. Not the Jesus of our best thinking, nor the Jesus of our forebears. It is the Living Word that comes from a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ which becomes a spring of eternal life.

Are you tired? Do you feel worn out? Does taking a vacation make you feel better or do you come back and find you are still exhausted? If so, something is not right. This is one of those places in our lives where we have a view into the truth of our faith. Isaiah says that our hearts are wicked (Isaiah 64:6). The Apostle Paul also speaks of the wickedness and deceit within our hearts (Romans 1:18). Therefore, most of us cannot see ourselves. Rather, we see what we want to see. What we need is a way of seeing the truth that goes beyond our own idealism about ourselves. The issue of being exhausted versus refreshed is one of those places in our spiritual journey where we can evaluate ourselves.

If you are tired something is not right. You should have a well springing up within you that always refreshes. A living wellspring of spiritual wellness. If not, it’s time to put idealism down and look deeper. What beliefs are your works based upon? Do you take the knowledge you have and demand an explanation? God does not seem to be inclined to explain himself. He has told us a great deal about himself in the Word. However, when we take information about God from the Word and fill in all the missing pieces with our own ideas, we are going to become bankrupt. We simply cannot make up a God in our thinking that refreshes.

We also cannot take someone else’s faith and feel refreshed. Yes, we can be encouraged by others’ faith, but eventually, we need to stand upon our own faith. Do you honor your parents by keeping the traditions of faith they passed down? Honoring our parents is good but relying on tradition rather than the Living Voice of Jesus within ourselves is a work that does not bring rest. Are you reading the Bible to learn how to live? Or are you relying on what you have been taught to make your life decisions? The Bible has the power to go inside and spring up a well within. It must be the anchor of our faith.

How is your prayer life? The ultimate spring of life within is the Voice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We must cultivate our relationship with Jesus in the same way we must cultivate any healthy relationship. We read the Love Letter He left us, the Bible. We also talk to Jesus and listen for the small still voice of His response. We must have both pieces in place or we may fall into delusion. However, it is wrong to avoid hearing the Living Voice of Jesus within because of fear of being deceived. Rather we should be familiar with the Bible so Satan cannot influence our thinking about God, His nature, and our relationship with Him. When this is our truth, we will have rest even as we work for the Lord. He will be a spring of eternal life within, eternal life we can drink from and give others to drink.  

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Lord Jesus, please forgive me for looking in the wrong places for my rest. Please help me read Your Word and pray. Help me enter through the narrow gate to a life of spiritual rest and wellness. Please let my life be a place of refreshing both to me and those to whom I am sent. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

The Mind of Christ Before the Voice of Christ

John 1:3 WEB

All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.

In the first two verses of John we are confronted with the idea that Christ was present with God as the creative voice of God in the beginning. Now, in verse 3, the author comes out right and says it, nothing was made except that it was made through Christ. What does that mean? In the context of what the author is discussing it means that through the voice of Christ everything was created. This is an important doctrine for us to fix firmly in our minds. If we are devoted to Holiness, righteousness, fasting, and prayer, then we have the mind of Christ. So it’s reasonable to take the next step and believe we have a creative voice. Now, I am qualifying that. Without the Spirit of God dwelling richly within yourself how can your voice possibly be creative? In the sense that we are created in the image of God, then yes, even in our wrong relationship to God we have creativity to our voice. That’s why positive affirmations are so powerful to those in Christ and those out of Christ. All people’s words release both life and death. However, if we want to release the voice of Christ, we have to have the mind of Christ. This is a beginning point on the journey of becoming a mature Christian. Weeping has value, but the fervent prayer of the righteous is even better. In this truth we move from being victims to the difficulties of life to being victorious conquerors in all things through Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus, please help me to have the mind of Christ so that I can release the voice of Christ. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Willing to be Deceived

John 2:16 WEB

To those who sold the doves, he said, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!”

There is grievous error in churches that allow speakers to sell material in the house of the Lord. It is easy to be deceived into thinking it is acceptable to turn the Lord’s house into a marketplace. The moment leaders ask God to allow them to market in the church, the deception starts. This is because there is no reason to go to God and ask for permission to market items in the church. We have in the word of God clear direction on this matter. Therefore, attempting to dialogue with God about deviating from what scripture teaches is sin and opens leaders to deception. It is evil. And evil almost always masquerades as light. The scriptures say that Satan comes as an angel of light. The scriptures also say if believers call light darkness that the darkness is exceedingly great. One of the greatest tools believers need to extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy is to know and practice the word of God. Before we talk to God about a matter, we should equip ourselves with the word. Then, once we know what the Bible says, we are ready to go to God and ask for our desire or to ask for willingness to obey. But we should never go to God and ask Him to make exceptions for us so that we can disobey the His word.

Lord Jesus, please forgive me for desiring that which is in opposition to the Holy Bible. Please release to me greater grace to be obedient to You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.