Abide and Ask

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 15:7

Abide in Jesus.

Live in Him.

Draw your strength,

Draw your life,

Draw your future,

from His amazing grace.

Hear His word,

Believe His truth,

Live following Him,

and run the race.

Abide in Jesus.

Ask of Jesus.

Pray in His name.

Ask from the Father

by the authority of the Son

praying in the Holy Spirit

and know His power.

Believe He answers,

Trust His provision,

Boldly pursue Him,

each day and each hour.

Ask of Jesus.

at home with us

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

John 14:23

In relationship with God through Jesus Christ we love and keep (obey) what God’s Word says. That is a central core commitment as a Christian. We believe and trust the gospel for eternal salvation. We keep God’s Word because we love Him and want to please Him. We seek to glorify God by worshipping Him in obedience to Him.

But this is not a rote, letter-of-the-law, legalistic, rigid kind of adherence. It isn’t that way at all. It is a liberating relationship entered into and kept by faith. God meets us in our love and obedience. He joins us in the journey of faith, making His home with us along the way, even as we obey looking toward the day when we are in our eternal home!

We gain intimate relationship with God and Christ. His Spirit brings us peace and assurance as God lives with and in us (John 14:26-27). Loving God brings God close to us. Obeying His commands is an intimate journey with Him alongside. It is not a distant, fearful, “obey or else” kind of dread. God becomes our friend in Jesus. He is our Guide and Helper with His Spirit with us. He is at home with us. And being at home with God Almighty is truly the peace, purpose, and provision our lives need.

how we keep His commands

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

John 14:15

This has always been true of God’s people. They are called to love God and obey Him. It was what was asked of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It is what determined the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is what the Law that Moses brought down from Sinai demanded of Israel. To love God we respect and do what He reveals. We keep His commands.

When Jesus asked His followers to do the same, He gave them a new means to do so. His death would supply His righteousness so that our sins would not keep us from a holy God. And the gift of the Holy Spirit to be our Helper (John 14:16) would provide the way for us to keep His commandments. By the Spirit of God given by God we can forever obey God’s commands. We have a capacity to keep His commands because of the forgiveness provided by the Son. We have the capacity to obey in relationship with God’s Holy Spirit. And we have access to acceptance of the Father by the gifts of His grace in sending His Son to save us and His Spirit to live in us.

We are not left alone to try to figure out how to obey. Through the Spirit we are drawn to keep faith and love God. He seals us until the day of our redemption. And Jesus will love us and be made known to and in us (John 14:21). We love Jesus and keep His commands not because we are so great, but because He is, and He has provided all we need to do so!

Christ’s authority

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

John 14:10

Jesus is Who He is because He is God. There is no debating that the gospels show us that Jesus claims to be God. This is one of the most vivid examples. Jesus teaches about His deity to the disciples who were closest to Him. His closeness to the Father is because Jesus is God, just as the Father is God. And He submits to the Father’s authority, only speaking, and only doing, what the Father would say or do. Whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father. Whoever has heard Jesus has heard the words that God has spoken. Whoever has seen the works of Jesus has seen what the Father does.

Jesus’ authority is God’s authority. That is why regularly reading the gospels is so important for Christians to do. We need the constant reminder of what Jesus says and does so that we too can see and hear from God. We need exposure to our Savior. We need God’s authority in the words of Jesus. We need God’s authority in the works of Jesus. We need to see God at work in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Today, Lord, may I keep my eyes on You. As I see You, Jesus, I see the Father. As I hear and heed Your voice, I surrender to the authority of God. As I worship You and Your saving work by faith, I am changed to glorify God the Father through the work of His Son.

Amen

all glory to Jesus

If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.

John 13:32

These words, spoken by Jesus, are part of His teaching to His disciples about His upcoming atonement. So much of John is devoted to the last night Jesus had with His followers before His arrest, trials, and crucifixion. John records five chapters of lengthy discourse by Jesus. These words about the glory of God in His upcoming death are at the very beginning. Jesus makes some claims about His death that only He could make.

God is glorified in the atonement. What Jesus would offer would not only satisfy His Father but also bring glory to Him. The act of giving Himself in obedience to the Father to atone for the sins of the world was also an act of worship. It honored and uplifted a holy God for Jesus to be lifted up in sacrifice for us.

God will glorify Jesus. Not only is His Father glorified, but so is the Son. God the Father will lift Jesus up because of His sacrifice. The resurrection will be the historical proof of this. And the Father will glorify the Son in Himself. Because Jesus is one with the Father, this will be a mutual glory together.

The glory to Jesus is immediate. God will show His acceptance of the sacrifice of His Son. At the crucifixion this was evidenced in earthquakes, in a supernatural darkness, and in a vast number of Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in that moment. And three days later with an empty tomb and resurrected Lord, the glory of Jesus will be apparent for all to know. The One Who obeyed to death is crowned with glory and honor!

ALL GLORY TO JESUS

All glory to Jesus begotten of God
The great I Am is He
Creator sustainer but wonder of all
The Lamb of Calvary

To think that the guardian of planets in space
The Shepherd of the stars
Is tenderly leading the church of His love
By hands with crimson scars

The King of all kings and the Lord of all lords
He reigns in glory now
Some day He is coming earth's kingdom to claim
And ev'ry knee shall bow

my place

Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

John 13:16

I know my place, Lord.

     Although I crave recognition

     all honor should only be Yours.

     I am not in the position

     to receive the applause.

I know my place, Lord.

     I am the servant.

     You are the Master.

     To reverse this is arrogant

     and the way to disaster.

I know my place, Lord.

     With the gospel message

     by You I’ve been sent.

     It is You that save

     and I’m Your servant.

I know my place, Lord.

     You are the Great One.

     I worship Your glory.

     You are the Father’s Son.

     I tell Your story.

I know my place, Lord.

     What Your give me

     I will share.

     As You live in me

     I will care.

I know my place, Lord.

     Your kingdom has come

     to rule over me.

     You are the Saving One

     Who is remaking me.

peace & friendship

Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name.

3 John 15

“Sometimes you wanna be where everybody knows your name…” Yeah, that was a theme song for a TV show about a fictional Boston bar, but given the ending admonition to the third letter of John, it kind of captures what the church is supposed to be. There are two things in these three short sentences that show us how warm the relationships with believers in the church should be.

First, the church is a place of peace. We should have an experience of peaceful unity when we meet together. Gathered Christians know peace because Jesus has made peace with God for us. And gathered Christians should know peace because Jesus Himself is our peace and broken down barriers between us. When we truly center around Him we can know peace and unity. It is beautiful.

Secondly, Christians should know one another. The admonition to “greet the friends” is more than a brief nod of “Hi, how are ya?” It is a connection of care. We care about friends. We know friends. We want to be with them. We are in involved in their lives. We enjoy them. We love friends. It is a warm relationship that strengthens us, builds us up, gives us joy, and provides a culture of care and peace where the gospel thrives in the church. It attracts those seeking to see Jesus. We know one another as friends. And it is Jesus Who exclusively makes this possible.

God,

Save Your church from superficiality in our connection. Make us legitimately, intimately connected as friends in Jesus, with one another so we will know Your peace together, know Your love together, and know one another well! Be our peace. Be our friendship.

Amen

into the world as light

I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

John 12:46

I notice four profound observations from this simple declaration Jesus has made. First, Jesus came into this world. He came from the presence of God the Father, down from heaven’s throne room, to enter into this world. He was born a human, yet God. He chose to enter this place. But Jesus is not from this world. Heaven invaded earth when Jesus came into the world.

Secondly, Jesus came into the world and lit this world. He is the light. And just as light is the first creation God spoke into being in the universe, so Jesus as light is the beginning of all new creation that He does. We must be drawn to His light before we can see Him as Lord or know His saving grace. Jesus is the light!

Third, Jesus calls us to believe Him. Not just that, but to believe IN Him. His words are truth. And Jesus Himself is the truth. He is Who and what we believe. Jesus is what corrects what is wrong in the world. The world offers no useful perspective on Jesus, but rather, we believe Him for perspective on everything else. It is central to Christianity to have faith in Christ adjust our view and understanding of all the rest of life.

Finally, Jesus dispels the darkness. By believing Jesus, Who came into this world as the light, we see clearly and are no longer in the dark. This also means that what is outside the light is indeed hopelessly dark. We see the darkness we once were in and go toward the light! We reject the dark and follow what the light reveals. And in the bright life that Jesus shines on us we rejoice and live confidently in His revealed truth as we believe Jesus and now walk in the light that is Him!

that you may know

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

1 John 5:13

God’s Word is explicit

with truth that will show

Jesus is Savior and Lord

that you may know

Faith has a confidence

so you are not slow

to believe Jesus saves you

that you may know

Belief in Jesus

Builds your commitment to grow

daily you walk with Him

that you may know

Grace, mercy, and peace

God will always bestow

in the name of the Son of God

that you may know

You look always to Jesus

as you live here below

knowing eternal life is yours

that you may know

witness to resurrection

The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness.

John 12:17

In John’s account of the Triumphal Entry he adds this detail on the motivation of the enthusiastic crowd. A large portion of those waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna!” to Jesus as King of Israel were also present in Bethany when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. They had witnessed Jesus perform a resurrection. Now they were hoping for a resurrection of Israel’s own kingdom.

Moreover, this group of people “continued to bear witness”. That’s John the apostle telling us that they couldn’t stop talking about how Jesus raised a man from the dead. It was spreading all over Jerusalem among the crowds of pilgrims in the city to celebrate Passover. It was the talk of the town. And the crowd kept growing around Jesus to the chagrin of the Jewish religious leaders because new people kept hearing that Jesus had done this miracle.

Today we are still drawn to the One Who gives life. Of course the Triumphal Entry is the start of Passion Week… the events that led to the trial, crucifixion, and eventual resurrection of Jesus. This would lead to an even greater hope… not just that One Who raises the dead would be on the throne in Jerusalem… but that He would rule our hearts as more than Messiah of Israel… Jesus is Savior of the world!

Jesus,

Because You raised the dead and were raised from the dead, we have hope and assurance that death is only the door to eternal life in You! And in that truth we rejoice and bless Your great name!

Amen

living with God

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

1 John 4:15-16

To believe and proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God is to live in the love of God and live with God. God lives with us and in us by faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only Savior. And faith in the gospel is more than just wishful thinking. It is life… life from God… life with God… now and forever.

For more than half a century I have had God living with me. I distinctly remember what life was life without Jesus. Although I was just a a child, Jesus was totally absent from my family. And then my parents believed the gospel and Jesus came to live in our home. And it wasn’t too long after their conversion when the newness of the gospel captured my seven year old imagination and I realized that I too was a sinner, I needed God’s forgiveness, I believed Jesus is the Son of God Who gave Himself a sacrifice for my sin, I believed He rose from the dead, and I trusted and confessed Jesus as Savior and Son of God.

And now, from that time on God abides in me. I believe the love that God has for all of us. I’ve trusted it, confessed it, and lived in it. I want my life to always confess the gospel! And God lives with me… and will be my God forever!

Resurrection power and the glory of God

Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

John 11:40

With this question and call to believe God, Jesus does what only God can do. He raises His friend Lazarus from the dead. His reminder to Martha to believe is the last thing He says to comfort family before bringing them the unthinkable power of God. They all firmly believed Jesus. Yet their grief was also very real. It was a grief so strong that Jesus wept beside them. And then He turned death into resurrection because Jesus is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25-26). Martha was firmly convinced Jesus was the Messiah… the Son of God. He would soon prove His deity and power beyond all sorrow. And because Martha believed, the glory of God would soon be all that anyone would remember… beyond all the pain, sorrow, death, and loss! Resurrection power shows God’s glory.

All through scripture there are hints at Jesus as the resurrection and life. Enoch never dies but is snatched away into God’s presence. Later, so is the prophet Elijah. Elijah brings a widow’s son back to life. So does the prophet Elisha. And even the bones of a dead and buried Elisha display the power of God to resurrect a corpse thrown upon them. The prophet Ezekiel foretells the resurrection of the Exiled Israel in the vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. There the bones join together to form skeletons, flesh, organs and skin are grown on them again, and a nation is raised from being wiped out. God specializes in bringing life again. And in Jesus all of that is focused in the gospel for God’s glory. Every person who believes the gospel is born anew and raised to new life. Every Christian baptism pictures an old dead life raised to walk anew in Christ. Resurrection power shows God’s glory!

Thank You, Jesus, that You are my resurrection and life. I am alive in You! I am dead to sin, alive to God in Christ. I will live forever with You. You are my resurrection and life… for the glory of God! Amen

What to do when the world hates you

Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.

1 John 3:13

John’s admonition which was true two thousand years ago when instructing the first generation of disciples is still true in this present generation. We should not be surprised that Christ and His people are hated by the world. Just as Cain hated and killed his brother Abel because God saw Abel as righteous, so a wicked world, afflicted and consumed with the worship disorder of selfish desire that rages against God will also hate and seek the destruction of Christians. Evil always hates what is good.

So I am not surprised that honoring Christ as holy is hated by the world. Christians are portrayed in the world as self-righteous, willfully ignorant, backwards, intolerant, hateful, racist, sexist, and narrow-minded. Jesus and His church are mocked, maligned, maliciously ridiculed, vandalized, litigated, and hated by many with power and influence in our culture. Even as religious freedom is celebrated in virtually every other pagan and world religion, at least in the West, Christianity is now suffering under tightening revisionist history and a general disdain from institutions as far-flung as the press and media, from the legal system, from academia, and from the entertainment industry in particular. The world hates us. We should not be surprised.

What should our response by to this hate? We do not go on the attack and we do not hate back! We love sinners with Christ’s love and keep faithfully proclaiming the gospel, no matter what it may cost us. Jesus sets our example. His words call us to action against a world that hates us: “But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father Who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Like our gracious God we are unchanging in our love and care for those who need Jesus… even when they hate us. We know that the grace of God ultimately wins and we are not surprised that we are hated until that day.

righteousness and love

By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

1 John 3:10

There are two signs

I have been born from above:

When I do what is right

and I live in love

I turn from my sin

live by faith, not by sight

and with His Spirit within

learn to do what is right

I turn from my self

see my Savior’s love

And transformed by His grace

My brother I love

Righteousness rules what I think

And love fills up my heart

So in Christ I am complete

And from His truth won’t depart

Righteousness and love

mark the life that I live

holiness and Christian family

the purpose to which I give

Jesus is righteous

He gives me His grace

God is love

so I seek His face

These two signs

which I can’t live in enough

change my heart and my actions

in righteousness and love

life IN Christ

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

1 John 2:28

Right now we are to abide in Christ. Our life is to be in, of, and for Jesus. He is our life and our reason for living. He is our Savior and our substance. We live in Jesus… right now… not is some dreamy distant future day that we hope will happen… but RIGHT NOW. Now… little children… abide in Christ.

One motivation for living in, of, and for Jesus right now is because He is returning. And on that day, if we have not lived in Jesus, we will know a shame of wasting our lives. Living in Jesus NOW gives us confidence for eternity. Abiding in Christ now gives us the experience of what our forever future will be. We want to truly live in Jesus right now because it is what He saved us to do forever.

Lord Jesus,

I want to live in You today. I rest on Your saving grace. I seek to follow You, know You, serve You, obey You, and live in You! I seek to center all I think, feel, believe, know, and do in You, my Lord. And I look forward to the day You will return because I will then never have another impediment to abiding in You! Draw me near as I seek to be close to You.

Amen

one flock, one shepherd

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

John 10:16

Jesus hints to His Jewish audience in this passage that He will be shepherding a flock drawn from others outside of Israel. He knew the gospel would go wide and deep into the world. He had already seen it do so in His own ministry. And even as the gospel of John records a growing opposition from the leadership of Judaism in Palestine to Jesus, it also records an acceptance of Jesus among the neediest, the displaced, and the sinful who simply turned to Him. And Samaritans and gentiles were among them. Jesus would transform an exclusive, bigoted society.

Jesus transformed His world by creating ONE FLOCK. This flock was made up of followers who though predominantly Jewish, were mostly common folk. Even His twelve disciples were rough cut and mostly rural… with the possible exception of Judas… and we know how that ended. The flock Jesus drew together reached to Samaria where no self-respecting pious Jew dared to set foot. It cared for lepers who were considered untouchable. This flock enfolded God-fearing gentiles. Jesus made that flock into one flock in unity around Him.

Jesus transformed His world by being ONE SHEPHERD. He is the center of the Christian faith. For millennia now popes, potentates, preachers, protesters, and pop stars have tried to steal the center spotlight from Jesus and have failed. Jesus is the only Good Shepherd. He is our Savior, our worship, and our God. And all our attention as Christians should be drawn to one shepherd. The scriptures teach about Jesus, our worship sings to Him, our obedience is for Him, and our goal is to be transformed by Jesus to be like Him for His glory!

sins forgiven

I am writing to you, little children,

because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake.

1 John 2:12

Knowing my sins are forgiven by God the Father because of the death and resurrection of Jesus His Son and confirmed by the indwelling of His Holy Spirit is the basis for my Christian faith. Without that fact… without that certainty… I am without any hope in this world. The reality of Jesus Christ as my Lord and my Savior gives me perspective, purpose, and meaning. There is no other hope or truth. There is no other comfort in a world soaked in evil and senseless in its rush to live godlessly. I know in the forgiveness of Jesus that I am forgiven, made new, and on the path of life.

All of this was done for all sinners everywhere. For all the world Jesus is the same hope and life-giving Savior. Other people enjoy the same assurance and hope I have in Christ as fellow members of His Body, the Church. And we are called to proclaim his saving forgiveness to all who have not yet believed in Him.

Lord Jesus,

You have forgiven my sin… the greatest need I have. And You are still saving others. Thank You for being a Savior Who loves this world… and me.

Amen

God is light.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

1 John 1:5

God is light. It is no secret that God is light. You cannot hide the sun at noon day! Light was the first creation that God spoke into the universe. “Let there be light” is God’s first revelation. He made light and made Himself known in the light. The universe began with His burst of light. And that illumination continues to this very moment. God is light.

In Him there is no darkness. God does not hide Himself in shadow, though sometimes in our fog and twilight we feel distant from God’s light. God has no darkness… no sin… no wrong in Him. He is light and in His is no darkness at all. So even in dimming experiences, even when my soul is in night, God is not. Sin and sin’s suffering may be all around us, but one look at God and we will see light! 

Jesus is the light. He proclaimed Himself the light of the world (John 8:12). He calls us to walk with Him, walking not only IN the light but WITH the Light. And in Jesus all my life is lit up by bright grace, by His shining glory, by His redeeming work, by His glorious resurrection life. Thank God, He is light!