A Daily Devotional – Personal Faith – Personal Meditation (37)

A Daily Devotional – Personal Faith – Personal Meditation (37)

Comment: Jesus is Thee Way, Thee Truth and Thee Life (He alone is the Father); I have used this objective pronoun (Thee) simply to point out that there is, No other God. Often, if the church we are in is missionary minded, we hear of people groups who worship the spirit world and have what we call ‘witch doctors’ who keep these people groups in fear of death. We need to be careful! Our nation is full of the fear of death and the main reason is that we worship the multiple gods of the modern world. What gods are these, one might ask? Apart from the religions of the world which are idolatry and a distraction from Thee Way, there are the gods of greed and immorality, these are a distraction from Thee Truth. Lastly, we are directed by the philosophical views of man’s intellect that Thee Father/God does not exist.

Devotional: In Jesus who is Thee Christ, God is; He is described as (I AM). He is Thee Father, He is Thee Son and He is Thee Holy Spirit. All three of these Persons of God are revealed in the Person of Jesus who reveals Himself to us by our personal faith through His Birth, His Death and His Resurrection from that death. The details of His Life and Death are recorded for us in the gospels; the writers are eye witnesses of all of the events in the Life of Christ.

Here in the gospel of John 14 through 17, Jesus describes for His disciples (you and me) the LOVE of the Father that is revealed through the Son of the Father, also this LOVE is realized by His disciples (you and me) by the Spirit of God, which is given to all who will believe (trust). Trusting God begins with understanding that in knowing Jesus Christ by personal faith, this alone is sufficient to knowing the Father, because both the Son and the Father are ONE. It is the Spirit of God who reveals this Truth, God is a Spirit and those who seek to worship Him, must do so in the Spirit; see John 4:24.

The apostle Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians makes this statement that is often applied to marriages; the whole passage 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 becomes misleading since it is not the intent of the apostle for these verses to be directed at marriage, but at the greatest gift offered to mankind by the Father who is the Son and who is Love, verse 13. Personal faith of mankind, meets the LOVE of God and provides the hope in us to be confident that God is who He says He is. More tomorrow.

A Daily Devotional – Personal Faith – Personal Meditation (36)

A Daily Devotional – Personal Faith – Personal Meditation

Comment: Words written in Proverbs 30, provide a personal concern of the heart of man in the struggle to know Divine ‘wisdom’, wisdom that gives understanding for living, (not dying). While in search for this ‘knowledge’ of the Holy One, we learn that these are attributes of God, yet, by His grace He is willing to share a bit of His wisdom and knowledge with man. (see Deuteronomy 29:29) This is not to say that mankind has no intellect, he does; but all of man’s wisdom, his understanding is base and temporal. Take a look around, all that mankind has made or developed, everything accomplished by man will either be revised in a few short years from its original, become unrepairable or tossed out as obsolete. Psalm 19 describes Creation as ongoing, never ending, Psalm 19 also describes the Word of God as alive and in keeping or laying hold of the Word (Wisdom) and Work (Creation) of God our lives which are a part of God’s Creational Plan, is in complete and eternal in Him.

Devotional: Some may say; “Well this sounds good, but there must be more to it?” Well not really, but there is further explanation to help us understand. The first five verses of John 1, reveals that the Word of God is literally Eternal, meaning it had no beginning and it will have no end. Also the Word is a Being, a Person, He is Called God, Jesus/Messiah, He is Thee Wonderful Counselor and Thee Mighty God (see, Isaiah 9:6) He has eternal existence as well as human existence… for unto us a Child is born. He is Jesus the Christ! Personal faith in Him reveals the Divine Wisdom and Knowledge that supersedes our finite knowledge.

His human birth was temporarily cut off (Daniel 9:26) and Isaiah 53:1-12 and John 3:1-36), but He is risen from the that death, He alone is victorious over sin and death. Now seated (returned) to His Kingdom position of maintaining His Created world and sustaining His Eternal Word. Now there is an added element that resulted in His Death and Resurrection. Those who believe His all sufficient Work for their soul will be with Him eternally as He has returned to Heaven and at the present time, He is preparing a mansion for you in His Father’s House. See John 14:1-6.

All of the mansions of God’s children are in God’s House, think with me for a minute… Mansions are quite large yet all of these will fit in God’s house. Now the heavens declare the glory of God and we have not yet seen His House, we have only seen what He has revealed to us through His Son, Jesus/Messiah.

A Daily Devotional – Personal Faith – Personal Meditation (35)

A Daily Devotional – Personal Faith – Personal Meditation

Comment: God is ALWAYS trustworthy, even when we fall short of trusting Him. God is ALWAYS faithful, even when we fall short of faith in Him. I am sure, even as you are that the list of attributes of God are PURE, HOLY and ETERNAL and will never change. If the eye of our personal faith is directed at Him, then the eyes of our flesh are blind to the world. In the remaining chapters of John’s gospel, we will seek to understand the faith that Jesus; in His humanity, has in His Father as He obediently goes to the cross, this may help us to put on the LORD Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, see Romans 13:11-14.

Devotional: John 13:1-4: Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from the supper table and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.

Jesus always relied on the Will of His Father even in other chapters of the gospel of John this truth is revealed. See John 5:24-30, Jesus could do nothing of Himself, He relied totally of the Will of His Father, and in contrast to the Personal Faith of the Christ in His Father, notice what the LORD Jesus says to you and me; John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” Please read the context of John 15:1-8.

In His humanity, Jesus faced all the problems we face daily, communication with His Father was always understood by Him to be His Father’s Will. His Words were of the kingdom of God, and the understanding of His disciples and followers was of this present world. The language was the same but the understanding was different. We read the Holy Scriptures and seek to follow our Savior, we are very much like the disciples and followers of Jesus in His day, we seek to understand Him in our present fleshly condition and the result is failure after failure! Why? John 13:8 – Peter said to Him (Jesus) “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash your, you have no par with Me.” Also, note John 4:21-26. We worship what we do not know, we must worship in Spirit and Truth and He says; “I that speak to you AM HE”

What we know and experience in part, does not compare to what Jesus knew and understood in full. When He taught His disciples, He did so by example to teach a spiritual truth. The event that follows these first four verses of Chapter 13 is more than an annual ritual accomplished by various religions. While some seek to gain a warm spiritual glow from washing another person’s feet the truth of this event in the lives of Jesus and His disciple’s fades, and we miss the opportunity to follow in the Will of Christ (Romans 13:14). 

There is much more in this chapter to look at so we will try again tomorrow. I seek to do a devotional Monday through Friday, but the older I get the more difficult it is to do this, so this is my disclaimer, “I may miss a day here and there, but is not my intention to miss any day.”