John 14 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: JESUS IS LIVING PROOF OF GOD’S LOVE

Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

That passage is so poignant.  God did not spare his own son but gave him up.  God’s heart must have ached as the cracking voice of his son prayed, “Father, take this cup away.”  God said good-bye to his son fully aware that when Jesus’ cry of despair would roar through the heavens, he would sit in silence.

He gave himself up for us all.  Jesus, though in anguish, would feel no comfort from his father’s hands.  Would you receive this reminder?  God did not spare his son. He gave him up for you.

Read more Six Hours One Friday

John 14

“Don’t let this throw you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.”

5 Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?”

6-7 Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”

8 Philip said, “Master, show us the Father; then we’ll be content.”

9-10 “You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don’t understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, ‘Where is the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I don’t just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.

11-14 “Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do.

15-17 “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!

18-20 “I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back. In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me because I am alive and you’re about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I’m in my Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.

21 “The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.”

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said, “Master, why is it that you are about to make yourself plain to us but not to the world?”

23-24 “Because a loveless world,” said Jesus, “is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we’ll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my words. The message you are hearing isn’t mine. It’s the message of the Father who sent me.

25-27 “I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.

28 “You’ve heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, and I’m coming back.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I’m on my way to the Father because the Father is the goal and purpose of my life.

29-31 “I’ve told you this ahead of time, before it happens, so that when it does happen, the confirmation will deepen your belief in me. I’ll not be talking with you much more like this because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don’t worry—he has nothing on me, no claim on me. But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father’s instructions right down to the last detail.

“Get up. Let’s go. It’s time to leave here.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, April 04, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:1 Peter 5:6–11

So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.

8-11 Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.

Insight
It’s been said that wise choices are the fruit of experience, and experience is the product of poor choices. It could be argued that the wise counsel Peter offers here may have been learned in the darkest night of his life—the night he chose to deny knowing Jesus. The call to humility (1 Peter 5:6) is in contrast to Peter’s prideful boasting that he could face death with Jesus (Luke 22:33). Rather than being alert (1 Peter 5:8), Peter slept when he could have prayed in Gethsemane (Luke 22:45–46). Instead of standing firm (1 Peter 5:9), Peter denied even knowing his Lord (Luke 22:54–62). God’s response to Peter’s failings? Grace (1 Peter 5:10). What if the greatest lessons Peter ever learned were the result of the worst failure he ever faced?

For more, check out “The Wisdom of Peter” at discovertheword.org/series/the-wisdom-of-peter-2/.

Watch Out!
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

I grew up in warm southern cities, so when I moved north, it took me a while to learn how to drive safely during the long, snowy months. During my first hard winter, I ended up stranded in a snowdrift three times! But after several years of practice, I began to feel comfortable driving in wintry conditions. In fact, I felt a little too comfortable. I stopped being as vigilant. And that’s when I hit a patch of black ice and skidded into a telephone pole on the side of the road!

Thankfully, no one was hurt, but I learned something important that day. I realized how dangerous it can be to feel comfortable. Instead of being watchful, I had gone on “autopilot.”

We need to practice that same kind of vigilance in our spiritual lives. Peter warns believers not to glide thoughtlessly through life, but to “be alert” (1 Peter 5:8). The devil is actively trying to destroy us, and so we too need to be active, resisting temptation and standing firm in our faith (v. 9). That’s not something we have to do on our own though. God promises to be with us in our sufferings and, ultimately, to make us “strong, firm and steadfast” (v. 10). By His power, we learn to remain watchful and alert in resisting evil and following Him. By Amy Peterson

Today's Reflection
Where do you need to be more alert? In what ways will you stay vigilant in following Jesus?

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, April 04, 2019
The Way to Permanent Faith

Indeed the hour is coming…that you will be scattered… —John 16:32

Jesus was not rebuking the disciples in this passage. Their faith was real, but it was disordered and unfocused, and was not at work in the important realities of life. The disciples were scattered to their own concerns and they had interests apart from Jesus Christ. After we have the perfect relationship with God, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, our faith must be exercised in the realities of everyday life. We will be scattered, not into service but into the emptiness of our lives where we will see ruin and barrenness, to know what internal death to God’s blessings means. Are we prepared for this? It is certainly not of our own choosing, but God engineers our circumstances to take us there. Until we have been through that experience, our faith is sustained only by feelings and by blessings. But once we get there, no matter where God may place us or what inner emptiness we experience, we can praise God that all is well. That is what is meant by faith being exercised in the realities of life.

“…you…will leave Me alone.” Have we been scattered and have we left Jesus alone by not seeing His providential care for us? Do we not see God at work in our circumstances? Dark times are allowed and come to us through the sovereignty of God. Are we prepared to let God do what He wants with us? Are we prepared to be separated from the outward, evident blessings of God? Until Jesus Christ is truly our Lord, we each have goals of our own which we serve. Our faith is real, but it is not yet permanent. And God is never in a hurry. If we are willing to wait, we will see God pointing out that we have been interested only in His blessings, instead of in God Himself. The sense of God’s blessings is fundamental.

“…be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Unyielding spiritual fortitude is what we need.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Seeing is never believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is that it must be tried.  He Shall Glorify Me, 494 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, April 04, 2019
Focusing On the Falls - #8409

I don't have much time for TV, and when I do, I don't usually watch gymnastics. But some time ago they were showing a sports feature about gymnastics on a plane flight. As usual, I had too much to do to get the headset that carries the audio, but I did occasionally glance up at the video part. It was a gymnastics meet between the U.S. and Russia. You can probably guess who I was rooting for. Now, I couldn't hear any commentary, but I saw some impressive performances by these young athletes. I also saw an occasional replay. But every time they did a replay, it seems like all they showed was the gymnast's mistakes; anything she was marked down for, and they kept replaying it. They had executed some great moves, but no, we don't go over those - just their mistakes.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Focusing On the Falls."

It's not only athletes who have their shortcomings replayed is it? A lot of us are experts on going over and over the mistakes people make; the weaknesses they have. Which is definitely not what God had in mind for how we would use these mouths of ours in the lives of those around us.

In fact, He describes that in our word for today from the Word of God. It's Ephesians 4:29. "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." In other words, talk about the things that will build that person up, and stow the things that will tear them down.

Now think about how you talk to the people that you're around a lot; your coworkers, your friends, your parents, maybe your husband or wife, your children, or the people at church. Could it be that you have a tendency to train your camera on what they do wrong, on their weaknesses, their shortcomings, the problem areas? And do you keep bringing up where they missed it - like those sportscasters replaying the gymnasts' mistakes?

This is a classic problem between parents and children, for example. Let's say your son or daughter brings home four Bs and one D. What do we spend most of our time on? The four Bs? Oh, no, we do most of our talking about the one D. Too often, we do that with every area of their life. Minimizing - overlooking what they're doing right - and focusing on what needs improvement. And we're trying to build them up by showing them their failings and what they need to work on, right? But I wonder if we keep doing that, aren't we actually tearing them down?

People can slowly but surely be destroyed by a person's critical spirit. Could that be happening to someone in your world? Remember the people around you are starved for praise. Yes, part of loving someone is to gently help them see their blind spots and to help them get stronger where they're weak, to help them improve. There's a place for constructive criticism, but you win the right to do that when you spend more time talking about their strengths and what they're doing right.

Replay capability - it's a powerful thing. But if you keep replaying their mistakes where they haven't measured up, well, you're going to be diminishing the people around you. If you replay their good points, you're going to be building up the people around you, which is what God says we're supposed to do. Help the people who you are around a lot see the worth and the value that God sees in them. How do you do that? Well you just keep pointing it out to them.

Maybe you've focused on their falls too much. It's time to start replaying the good moves made by the people you care about!