Are you digging deeper? In
His Word 7-13-2020
Sometimes we have to live beyond the surface, read beyond the surface and walk deeper with Christ.
The disciples were concerned as things were about to change, things were no longer the way they had been and as they feared, things would never be the same again. Everything they had known was changing! Everything they lived their lives for prior to Jesus showing them the Way, their very livelihoods had changed. Many of them had left their job, home, and even family to follow Him. Now He was about to leave them and go someplace they could not go? They changed their lives to walk with this King, but it was not going to be the way they thought it would.
Jesus said to his disciples,
“Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I
wouldn’t tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place
for each of you. After I have done this,
I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together. You know the
way to where I am going.”
Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t even know where
you are going! How can we know the way?”
“I am the way, the truth, and the life!” Jesus
answered. “Without me, no one can go to the Father. If you had known me, you would have known the
Father. But from now on, you do know him, and you have seen him.” Philip said,
“Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need.”
Jesus replied: Philip, I have
been with you for a long time. Don’t you know who I am? If you have seen me,
you have seen the Father. How can you ask me to show you the Father? Don’t you
believe that I am one with the Father and that the Father is one with me? What
I say isn’t said on my own. The Father who lives in me does these things.
Have faith in me when I say that the Father is
one with me and that I am one with the Father. Or else have faith in me simply
because of the things I do. I tell you
for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am
doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father.
Ask me, and I will do whatever you ask.
This way the Son will bring honor to the Father. I will do whatever you ask me to do. John
14:1-14
If the disciples of Christ
did not know who He was then how come, we do? What was the deciding factor in
our lives that they did not yet have?
Well, we have the Holy Spirit
for starters, but with that comes a stronger faith I believe. Since when Jesus
left earth for heaven, left being man for all God, and we know He said that the
Comforter, or Helper would be left with us. See below and you will know this is
the Spirit of Truth, or God as well.
“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give
you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but
you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to
you. John 14:15-18
God the Father, sent the Son,
who left the Spirit yet, all of these are Himself. When I worked with kids I
would tell them that the 3 in one God is like an egg, there is a yoke, a white
and a shell, but it’s all the same egg. It
is a funny way of explaining God, and has a lot of issues, but we know that God
has three parts, and that the Holy Spirit stays with us. As Jesus said He would
not leave us orphans but would come with us and stays with us always.
So with the Holy Spirit we
know things now that the followers of Christ in the days He walked on earth did
not yet know right away. Peter knew that HE was the Christ, that was via the
Holy Spirit, so we know He revealed Himself to him. So, it was possible to know
the Holy Spirit part of God prior to Christ dying on the cross. The really cool
thing is that we get Him at that first moment we believe!
Sometimes when we read
through a passage for a daily read we don’t take enough time to think on what
we have read. Or maybe we just read that one verse and think oh that was good!
My challenge to you this week is to dig deeper! Look into the daily read you usually do and find out what the words mean that you only kind of think you
know. Click on the ‘compare’ option and compare versions to see what the author
is trying to say. Why did God put that scripture there and how can you use it
in your life application are other thoughts to ponder each day!
We should be growing closer
and stronger in Christ my friends, with each new read we need to be gaining
strength, we need to be gaining direction, we need to be gaining understanding
of what God wants from us in this life and how can we attain it. We also should
be gaining understanding of what happened back then that is different from
today. So, stop and think about that this week!
Heavenly Father, show us how
we differ from those in the Word, help us to grow closer to You, and know You
more so that we may love one another as You love us, and love You with all our
heart, mind, soul and strength! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Suggested reading, John 14:1-31,
James 4:1-17 and Luke 14:1-35