January 30 – A Done Deal

Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” John 20:17 (ESV)

When Jesus, the morning of his resurrection surprised heartbroken Mary she did not recognize Him because she was not expecting in any way to encounter Him alive. She’s desperate to find Jesus’ dead body. Then he opens her understanding by calling her name. Probably in the way only he had ever called Mary’s name. Her reaction is to grab ahold of Jesus. Mary was expressing a desire to hold on to His physical presence likely for fear that she would once again lose Him. Jesus mentions His ascension which suggested that He would only be temporarily with them. Mary intensely wanted Him to stay, but He could not. We notice Jesus told Mary to go “to my brothers” with the news of his soon ascension. Jesus remained with them for only 40 days making appearances before his ascension. But this is the first time Jesus called them “brothers.” The Disciples had been called “slaves” or “friends”, but not “brothers,” until here. Because Jesus’ work on the cross in place of the sinner, was completed, this new family relationship to Christ was possible. Now all that had be promised to those chosen by the Father was a done deal.

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November 12 – Sovereign Over our Lives

  “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” – John 6:37 (ESV)

Some of the promises of God that we find in our Bible are difficult to understand. Why is this?  Mostly it is because the promise conflicts with our own reasoning. It just doesn’t fit the way we think things are or should be. Some think their reasoning supersedes God’s words. Those who believe the Bible to be God’s Word believe that everything the Bible says is true. Even historical accounts in the Bible are accurate. Today’s promise is one of those passages but it is wonderful to accept and believe, if we will by faith. Our verse sheds light on the sovereign will of God in the selection of those who come to Him for salvation. God the Father has predestined all those who would be saved. Based totally on the sovereignty of God, Jesus is absolutely confident in the success of His mission. The security of our salvation rests in the sovereignty of God’s will, because when God promises⸺it’s a guarantee. “All” He has chosen will come to Him for salvation. Whom the Father gives will come to the Son, Jesus Christ. We are a gift of the Father’s love; we are a love-gift to the Son.

 

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October 18 – Direct Access

“For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” – Ephesians 2:18 (ESV)

One precious truth about believing in Jesus Christ that is not offered in any other religion is that we have access to God our Father. No sinner has any right or worthiness in himself for access to God, but believers have been granted that right through faith in Christ’s sacrificial death. The resources of the Trinity belong to believers the moment they receive Christ, and the Holy Spirit presents us before the heavenly throne of God the Father, where we are welcome to come with boldness at any time. We might think of our access as our introduction to the Father. But it seems better to understand that Christ gives us access to our heavenly Father as our Savior and our advocate. This access is also by faith into the grace of God in which we stand (Romans 5:2). In the next verse we are promised standing as citizens with all who are set apart in holiness and therefore in God’s household. We are IN by faith in Jesus through what the Holy Spirit has provided to us, direct access to God. We need no human intermediary, God accepts our prayers, our confessions, our faith one on one.

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April 22 – Following the Teaching

“When I was a son to my father, tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, Then he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live;” – Proverbs 4:3-4 (NASB)

Remember the manner we were taught the ways of life by our parents when we were very young? Our parents taught us what they had learned from their father and mother and life experiences. In our verses today Solomon spoke of this boyhood training when his parents King David and Bathsheba would teach him. He was then their only child, though later he had three brothers. In verse four Solomon quotes his father David and will continue the quote through verse nine. Solomon is was passing the instruction he received from his father to his sons (v.1). Solomon knew the importance of the sound teaching as he had received. The admonition to let “your heart hold fast my words” might be also said as “obey my words wholeheartedly.” That is what we want our children to do when we teach them. That is what God wants us to do when He teaches us. Keeping the commandments of God and loving Him with all our heart is the way to live in righteousness before Him. When we heed this teaching and the rest of this passage, we find and receive great value in understanding and observing God’s commandments.

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April 17 – Discipline Builds Discipline

“It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”  - Hebrews 12:7  (NASB)

Discipline is a two-way street. Every true believer in Jesus receives opportunity to grow through the discipline God sends our way and thrive in spiritual growth, stronger faith, and increasing knowledge of God.  Other’s buck against it and end up going the other way. They refuse to learn the lessons God gives them, causing them to miss the blessing and benefit. In times of adversity, says the author of Hebrews, keep in mind that all our setbacks come from God; He is training us in godliness because He has accepted us as sons and daughters in His eternal family. He wants the very best for us. The difficulties we encounter are blessings in disguise, for behind our difficulties stands a loving Father who is giving us what is best. As God’s children, then, we must always look beyond our trials and realize that God himself is at work in their lives training us to trust Him. Discipline that reproves teaches us to have character that is disciplined. It is a sign of God’s parentage of us. It is a confirmation God really loves us for whom He loves, He reproves and discipline. When disciplined, let’s repent and be zealous. 

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March 30 – I AM the Way, Truth, Life

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” - John 14:6-7 (ESV)

Our promise today is pure, and powerful. For all who hope to live in heaven after our time on earth is over, Jesus is the only Way there. There are no options to having faith in Jesus the Christ. Jesus is speaking to His disciples about His death and departure and they still do not understand. Jesus tells them He is going to be leaving them but one day He will return for them. “You know the way to where I am going.” (John 14:4) But Thomas says, “No, Lord we don’t know where you are going, how do you expect us to know the way?” Thomas needed to understand that “The Way” was not a pathway or route to heaven but the means to receive eternal life, a permanent reservation in heaven, then these words make sense. Jesus the Son of God and God the Father; – to know the Father, is knowing the Son and The Way. No pretense, no self-effort, no “good enough”, no buying our way in; it is only in believing Jesus, His sacrifice and resurrection. If you know Jesus as Savior and Lord, you know God as Father, you know The Way. 

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January 31 – A Direct Open Path

“In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”  John 16:26–27 (ESV)

We learned a couple days ago in Apostle Paul’s first letter to Timothy, that there is only on mediator between us and God Almighty who is Holy and Righteous in all things. Becoming and being our go-between was the essential work and mission of Jesus, the Son of God. Those who believe in Jesus Christ and in what He has done for us, will often think of Him not as a negotiator but as a mediator working on our behalf. The Bible says Jesus does that for us and He is the only one between us and God who can mediate for us. What Jesus did for us by dying on the cross for our sin, and rising from the grave opened a direct pathway between us and God our Father.  That is the promise in today’s verses. Jesus tells us, that believing in Him and loving Him is the way to go directly to God. We are not required to go through any intermediary and we don’t need Jesus to be more of a Mediator than He is. God the Father loves us and gives us the right of in-person audiences before Our Father God. 

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January 23 – His Love In Us

“ O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:25-26 (ESV)

The last meal Jesus had with His disciples was His last Passover meal on Earth. He concludes his prayer with a call to the Righteous Father. The word translated “righteous” here doesn’t occur often in John’s Gospel. It’s significant as it’s His praise of the Father’s work of revelation. God our Father is right (righteous) and the world is in the wrong ("the world does not know You"). Jesus has known, and revealed the Father, and continues as Christians follow His example. The essence of God is love. Jesus revealed the Father and His love to the world in His own death and resurrection. And the Father made known His love for the Son by raising Him to glory. Jesus’ purpose in revealing the Father was that Christians would continue to grow in that love, that the Father’s love for the Son may be in them, and to enjoy the personal presence of Jesus in their lives and “I in them. Jesus has four petitions for believers: preservation (John 17:11), sanctification (John 17:17), unity (John 17:11, 21–22), and participation in Jesus’ glory (John 17:24). This prayer is answered every day with the conversion of each lost soul.  

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August 16 – Living and Walking

“What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. … And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:16,18 (ESV)

There are times when the concerns of the day press on us and we feel lost or left alone. Let us never forget that our great God of the universe has promised to be our Father and to make us His sons and daughters.  God has a great desire to be with His creation. This promise has been given more than once in the Old Testament including today's verse. We have the record of how God began with Adam and Eve. We remember God kept in close touch with them in the Garden of Eden. The Bible reminds us how greatly God desires to be a part of our lives and our experience.  Verst 17, which Is between our verses today God commands us to be separate from those who follow idolatry by clinging to the attractions of this sinful world.  He wants to live with us day by day and He wants us to open up to Him and to trust his promises. Yes, God Almighty, the Lord of the universe looks for us and instructs us to avoid association with the devil.  God seeks to share himself with us.

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August 8 – Our Father, His Sons and Daughters

“...and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” - 2 Corinthians 6:18 (ESV)

From the beginning of the promises God gave to Abram when He called him out of his land and moved him to the land of Canaan promising it to his decedents, God has faithfully kept all the promises He made.  Some are specifically for the children of Israel with lessons of truth for us.  The promise in today’s verse is given to us in more than one place in the Bible. If you have believed and accepted Jesus Christ to be your Savior you are a child of God. You can know that God is your Father. Just as these words are the words God spoke to His people, they are quoted by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the believers in Corinth.  It reminds us how important God considers our relationship to Him to be. He is the one who is so anxious that we always remember this relationship.  Let's remember this today. Remember, my friend, that you are a son or a daughter of the Almighty God. He is all powerful and nothing is impossible for Him.

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June 7 – On the Same Page

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."  John 15:15 (ESV)

We would like to focus on just five words today.  In them Jesus tells his disciples “I have called you friends.” This is our promise.  In the devoti0nal, “Streams in the Desert”  we find a story about an old German professor whose life reflected Christ in all he did. Wanting to know the professor’s secret one of his students hid in the study where the professor spent his evenings.  The student observed the teacher, although very weary when he entered, he spent an hour in Bible study and then again in prayer.  After some time he closed his Bible and said, “Well, Lord Jesus, we’re on the same old terms.”  We, as friends of Jesus, wish to also be on the same old terms with Jesus. Let’s  get to know Him. He’ll watch over and give us the wisdom and guidance we need.  Since Jesus made know to the disciples all that the Father had made known to Him, we too can know these promises through studying the Bible.  With no New Testament to study, only Old Testament books God had revealed to them what He wanted to say in the books and letters that became our New Testament.

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June 21 – Our Father Who Is In Heaven

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” -  Matthew  5:48 (ESV)
You therefore are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. – Luke 11:13 (NASB)

Father’s Day* is observed annually on the third Sunday in June in the United States and by citizens of the USA around the world. As we honor our earthly fathers and fatherhood on this day, we can remember that we have a heavenly Father who is the source of our eternal life and blessings we enjoy, because in faith we have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.  Our first verse clearly states that the heavenly Father freely gives the Holy Spirit to all who believe. This is true since the beginning of the Christian Church on the Day of Pentecost.  We who believe by faith, have received the Holy Spirit from the Father at the behest of Jesus the Son of God.  We are told by Jesus in Luke that we are to be perfect just as our heavenly Father is perfect.  We know such perfection is impossible on our own. It can be done for us only by our heavenly Father and we receive it through the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We remember our fathers today and honor them as we can.  Remember our heavenly Father today and also give to him the honor and glory He deserves.   

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*When and Why Father’s Day

June 19 – In That Day is Today

“In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.  - John 16:26–27 (NASB)

Here is a promise with a bit of clarification.  If you have believed that all your requests to God made in Jesus’ name must go to the Father through the Son, Jesus says here that is not so.  We have direct access to God and that means to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit when we are praying. When Jesus says “you will ask in My name,” it means in His nature.  Praying “In Jesus Name…” is not a magic word and we do not invoke the name of Jesus in that way. We know that this is not a promise that our lives will be free from external complications and challenges. Because we know the Father Himself loves us with perfect love, when we pray it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to intercede on our behalf.  When we do not know how or exactly what to pray for due to the limitations, we have in knowing God right now, the Spirit of God presents our needs to the Father just as they should be presented.  (Romans 8:26-27) We can be in such a relationship with the Father that we are in sync with His perfect sovereign will. 

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Some of this is from “The Golden Book of Oswald Chambers "My Utmost for His Highest”, Dodd, Mead & Company (1935)

June 29 – Obedient Love Reveals Christ

“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”  John 14:21 (NIV)

We realize that we become children of God by faith – by believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior and accepting the free gift of eternal life that He offers to us.  We are saved through faith in what God has done for us and what Jesus did on the cross when He died, was buried in a tomb, and rose again three days later.  It is not by anything we do.  It is clear however from the words of Jesus in our verse that God pays attention to the things which we do in our Christian lives.  Our obedience to His commands is how we demonstrate our love for Jesus.  Our promise today is that as we love Christ and express our love through obedience we are loved by God our Father.   Jesus then shows His love to us and more than that, He promises to show himself to us. Through love and obedience to Him, He is revealed to us each day.  What a promise to count on today and every day.  

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April 13 – Still, Only One Way

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”   John 14:6 (NASB)

Returning today to a verse that might be very familiar to many who follow this blog.  The declarations by Jesus regarding his ministry are in these promise statements about who Jesus is.  God, our Father in heaven, had sent Jesus for a very special purpose.  Jesus came to bring God's human creatures to Himself and Jesus made it clear that is why He came and that He is the only way that anyone can come to God the father.  These words of Jesus continue to show us what He is doing in our day too.  He is bringing us to the Father and into close fellowship with our creator God.  When we come to know God by faith believing in Jesus, He gives us eternal life with the true joy and peace which are a part of it.  It is promised to all that knowing God in a close relationship is done only through believing and accepting what Jesus Christ did to make that way possible.  He is the Way, the Truth, and eternal Life.  

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October 10 – Our True Forever Family

“Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’””  John 20:17 (ESV)

After Jesus died while hanging on the cross, He was buried and then rose from the grave.  Encountering Mary outside the empty tomb He gives her this message to her to deliver to the disciples.  Consider the way Jesus refers to God.  He says “My Father and your Father.” He says this because He wanted His followers to know and fully understand that God in heaven was their Father just as He was His own Father.  They were brothers and sisters to Jesus and He calls them that.  God is also our Father for these words are for us as well.  Yes, our Almighty God is Jesus' Father and He is our Father because when we trust, and receive Jesus with faith believing that He died for us and then He rose from the grave with a new life, He made it possible for us to receive a new nature and to be adopted as legal heirs with God as our Father.  This is the act of being born again as a child of God by the power and authority of God our Father.  Today, this promise might be on our thoughts more than usual, and we might trust Him to help us live accordingly with God our Father guiding our way.  

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June 11 – It is Personal

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”” Romans 8:15 (NIV)

It is when we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior that we enter and become a part of the family of God. Today's verse describes how God brings about this change.  So, who is it that brings a change in our lives when we believe in Jesus? It is the Holy Spirit. He comes to live in us and the result is that we become God's children.  We are adopted into God's family by the coming of the Spirit and this relationship is very personal and a continuing one.  Today, the Holy Spirit makes the relationship real. He is the one who helps us to call God our Father. We can call Him Father in a very personal way like a child calls his or her Daddy.  This is the ministry of the spirit of adoption as our verse says and as we come to understand the true nature of God as revealed in the Bible we might be amazed that He not only allows us, but even encourages us to Call Him by that very personal name as we cry out to Him, “Abba” Father. 

May 13 – Mother's Honor

““Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”” Ephesians 6:2-3 (NIV)

This meditation is prepared for a special day, a day with a special name. We call it Mother's Day and we are glad that it is set aside for this special purpose – to honor our mothers and to show them our love. The writer of this letter to the Church at Ephesus was quoting from the Ten Commandments recorded in Exodus, chapter 20. In the teachings of Jesus, He referred several times to this same commandment. When we honor our Mothers we are obeying God's command. Mother's Day is not just a human creation, it acknowledges what God wants us to do in respect to our parents. God has honored mothers and today we want to do the same in a special way. We take notice that this is a special command by God because with it He gave a promise to those who follow the command. 

April 9 – Sons and Daughters of Him

“And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:18 (NASB)

As we read the New Testament portion of our Bible we find promises which come from words which God said to the people of Israel during the time of the Old Testament. Today's verse is one of these promises. God had used very similar words when speaking to His people before Jesus came into this world.  In  those days he was talking to the descendants of Abraham. In the context of our verse today this promise applies to all of us who believe in Jesus, regardless of our race or nationality and regardless of where we live on this earth. It is a wonderful truth and promise that we can turn to the great God of this universe and recognize Him as our Eternal Father and remembering that He looks at you as His son or His daughter.  This is an encouragement for us as we apply the promise of this verse and believe it. Then we can live it too! We are sons and daughters of God Almighty. Doesn't that lift your spirit today?

March 4 - Sent to Speak and Save

“For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”  John 12:49-50  (NASB)

When Jesus lived on earth, many people followed Him and His teaching. Many believed what He said. Some who believed were not willing to confess openly their belief.  Some did not believe and others challenged Jesus's right to speak the way He did.  Today's verse is a response to the people about the authority of His teaching. Jesus, the Son of God was sent and commanded to bring eternal life and make it available to all people. This was the essence of His teaching. That, of course is what God our Heavenly Father desires – to bring us eternal life. God's teaching was directly through Jesus His Son and much of it has come through prophets and through the apostles as recorded in our Bible.  And that's what we receive when we read the Bible or hear it taught and preached by others. Today, remember that God promises eternal life to those who hear and believe and obey His words.