“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.”
John 19:26-27 CSB
Jesus, while being crucified, makes sure His widowed mother is cared for…Lord help me to be less self focused and see the people around me more clearly. Strength me to help everyone around me regardless of what is happening to me.
“From that moment Pilate kept trying to release him.
But the Jews shouted, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Anyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar!” When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside. He sat down on the judge’s seat in a place called the Stone Pavement. They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?”
“We have no king but Caesar!” the chief priests answered.
Then he handed him over to be crucified. Then they took Jesus away.”
John 19:12-13, 15-16 CSB
It seems like everyone in the book of John except the religious leaders understands that Jesus is someone important, at least. Most people suspect that He is the Messiah. But the power hungry religious leaders are determined to get rid of Jesus. Even Pilate wanted to let Jesus go…but he was swayed by the intensity of the culture and especially the priests.
Lord, help me to stand for what is true and not be directed by the impulse of the culture I am in. Allow me to hold to my convictions if they were authored by You! Help me to love you more than pleasing the people around me!!!
“You are a king then? ” Pilate asked.
“You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
John 18:37 CSB
What an incredible testimony that Jesus gives that His arrest and death are literally what He was born for! This circus of a trial and the ultimate condemnation to death is the very thing God sent Him to earth for. How humbling, that Jesus did all this for me!
God, thank You for stooping to our level to come to us and die for us. It really is the only way that we could possibly have relationship with You! What a privilege to understand that all of this was for me. Help me to love You more!
“Then the servant girl who was the doorkeeper said to Peter, “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you? ” “I am not,” he said.
Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. [The servants and officials] said to him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you? ” He denied it and said, “I am not.”
One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden? ” Peter denied it again.
Immediately a rooster crowed. ”
John 18:17, 25-27 CSB
Peters denial of Jesus is so hard to watch…Jesus tells him it would happen, to everyone’s disbelief. Peter swears it is not possible because he is all in! Then Peter denies even knowing Jesus 3 separate times…
It is so relatable to me, because Peter does what he “needs” to do to accomplish his plan to never leave Jesus. He never once thinks about it because it is “ just” little lies to insignificant people…they are all servants…but they could possibly get in the way of Peter’s goal.
It is not until the rooster crows that Peter even realizes what he has done is the very thing he was adamant could not possibly happen. So absorbed in his own goals, he does the very thing that he passionately swore was impossible.
Lord, You know I have been in Peter’s shoes and have been so distracted by my plans that I miss the significance of my own actions and choices. Help me to follow Your plan, and be focused on what You call me to!
“Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) At that, Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword away! Am I not to drink the cup the Father has given me? ””
John 18:10-11 CSB
I am sure Peter wasn’t aiming for the guys ear…Peter was ready to kill to protect Jesus. But this was Peter’s plan, not what God was asking him to do. Poor Peter is often ready to act on his own ideas…I’m thankful God included Peter in scripture, because it gives me someone to relate to.
Lord, help me to trust Your plans and be willing to wait for Your timing. Lord, I confess that my plans seem so logical, and Yours are often confusing! My plans get me closer to the goals I have, Your plans seem to lead in a different direction…yet they always lead to peace and contentment when I get to the end of the path.
Lord, build my trust in You, in Your plan and in Your love for me. If I know the destination is good…help me to trust you at the start and in the middle of the journey!
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation. I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them.”
John 17:24, 26 CSB
This prayer is adamant about Jesus desire to be with us. That is an incredible reminder that God wants to dwell with us…probably even more than we want to be with Him! Lord, grow my love for You and my earnestness in pursuing You!
“Now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy completed in them. I am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. I sanctify myself for them, so that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”
John 17:13, 15, 17, 19 CSB
In this section Jesus prays for His disciples…He is shortly headed to the cross, but takes a moment to pray that God the Father would amplify the Joy inside His followers. And, also for protection from the Enemy…protection and joy…at the same time as being sanctified.
Sanctification is the reality of being set apart for a holy purpose, and being transformed into a more Christlike person. This is the process of the Christian life…
So, while we are being reshaped and transformed in our holiness, Jesus wants us to experience safety and joy! God, thank You that you don’t want one at the expense of the other. You don’t desire that we only suffer while being made holy, or You also don’t want us to just be joyful and stay in our sin. Both are possible, joy and holiness! You are a good God!!
“This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent, Jesus Christ. I have glorified you on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”
John 17:3-4 CSB
Lord, what an amazing truth that we can actually know You! That You want me to know You. That You allow us to know You. And through knowing You we can, today, begin to experience eternal life.
Eternal life does not start when we die, but rather when we come near to You, to really know You! Lord, help me to seek You, help me to see You, help me to experience Your presence.
Finally Lord, strengthen me to do the work You created me to accomplish so that You would receive Glory! It may not be significant or impressive, but it is Your work specially set aside for me to do, by the power of Your Spirit! Allow me to follow You well and shine the light on Your glory!
“Until now you have asked for nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
John 16:24, 33 CSB
Jesus talking to His disciples right before He is to leave them for the cross. His focus was to care for their emotional wellbeing even though suffering was coming. Not only because of His own execution, but because they would face their own trials and suffering.
God desires that we understand the same things today:
1) we should go to Him with everything.
2) He wants us to experience joy in Him.
3) we will experience suffering, but we are not alone.
4) He wants us to experience peace in every circumstance.
This sounds like a realistic God, not one of fairy tales, but One who cares about each of us individually. A God who desires good things for us and will be with us in any and every situation. That is a God I want to worship, a God deserving my praise and my full surrender!
“So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you.”
John 16:22 CSB
Perfect joy comes with the presence of God. Lord help me to experience your presence!
“Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you.”
John 16:7 CSB
From my perspective today, this is a hard passage to believe. These men had God in person, Jesus…they could talk to Him, ask Him questions. First hand observe miracles and reach out and touch Him. This statement seems impossible, that the Spirit inside of us is better…just sounds crazy.
But, my only experience is that the Spirit is permanently residing in me. There is never a moment where God is not at hand…yet I don’t always listen to Him, ask Him questions or even talk to him. That is the sad reality.
Lord, help me to live as if You were inside of me every moment of every day. Help me to converse with you and observe your works in my life. Allow me to recognize You in me.
“When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father — the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father — he will testify about me.”
John 15:26 CSB
It is shocking to me that Jesus is explicitly telling us as believers that all three persons in the Trinity care about us personally.
- Jesus is sending the Spirit to be our Counselor
- the Spirit comes to reside with us permanently
- The Father sent Jesus to pay the penalty of my sin
It seems like it would have been easier to split the work of caring for individuals. Delegating to one person the responsibility to help each of us, but They don’t, They all care about us in unique ways…
Thank you Lord for loving me, even when I don’t love You well in return. Give me faith to trust You and eyes to see the glimpses of Your work in my life!
“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now they have no excuse for their sin. The one who hates me also hates my Father.”
John 15:22-23 CSB
Just like today, people are offended by the truth. They hate the truth when it causes them to reflect on what decisions are made. Conviction is painful…avoiding the truth is easier than making changes that align with the truth. Ignorance is bliss…but it is deadly.
Lord, help those around me to recognize the simplicity of surrendering to You! Where conviction leads to letting go of sin and clinging to You! Where chaos is replaced by peace and anguish is transformed to thanksgiving. Confusion exchanged for joy!
“You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.”
John 15:16 CSB
Lord, what a privilege that You choose those who follow You. I am not worth being selected on my own. I need Your Spirit inside me to do anything good. If I didn’t have the power of Your Spirit motivating me, I would only be producing fake fruit that does not last…it would take incredible effort and still be rotten. Lord, help me to rest in You, as You produce the fruit in my life!
“Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.
My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.”
John 15:4, 8 CSB
Lord, I pray that I would be surrendered to you so that fruit would be produced in me…by Your power…For Your glory!
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.”
John 14:27 CSB
What is the peace that the world gives? In fact it is no peace at all…but rather something closer to forgetfulness of the stressful moments, or even the hope of peace promised but never delivered for long…often the calm before the next storm.
Jesus peace, though, is internal calm in light of external chaos. It is confident rest in the promises of an all powerful God. It is comfort through the most tragic suffering possible, because God is literally right next to us in the valley of the shadow of death. Peace because we are not deserted or thrown back to the wolves of our condemning mind. No, we are His ETERNALLY!!
The peace that Jesus gives is a gift to us because He has completed the work of our salvation, and there is nothing I can do to screw it up! My biggest failing would be to reject the gift of true peace and embrace the false, fleeting and phony “peace” the world offers. Effectively embracing a life of lies and tragically tantalizing disappointments.
Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him… the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.”
John 14:23, 26 CSB
Placing our faith in Jesus gives us the literal presence of God in our life. The Holy Spirit is with us continually, which is awesome, but He also does the work of a counselor…reminding us of truth and showing us how scripture can apply to our lives.
Lord, help us to remember what a true blessing it is that You are literally with us at every moment of every day. That should motivate us to obedience and thankfulness! When I am feeling weak, low or frustrated, help me to turn to you and find joy and peace in Your presence!!!
“Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.”
“If you love me, you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth.”
John 14:12, 15-17 CSB
The Spirit is the one who enables us to be obedient…I think obedience is the “greater works”.
“Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
John 14:9 CSB
What a convicting statement from Jesus. We are called to be Christlike, and that is a constant process of becoming more like Him. I pray that even in my weaknesses and fallenness others can at least see a glimpse of Christ in me…and therefore a glimmer of who God is.
I am called to be Gods ambassador, and therefore live and interact with others on behalf of Him. Lord, help me to avoid tainting the freshness of Your life giving water as I provide samples to those around me through interactions with them!
“If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
John 14:7 CSB
How incredible that God wanted us to know Him so much that He sent Jesus to show us who He is, what He is like and how He operates. That sounds like a God who desires personal relationship with you and me, not one who holds himself aloof and distant…Thank you for loving me!
