Devotionals for September 28, 2022
Mark your calendar for our Night of Worship on Saturday, October 15 at 6:30pm!
READ
JOHN 14:15-26
If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you
another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. 20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will
love them and reveal myself to each of them.” 22 Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?” 23 Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. 24 Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. 25 I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. 26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you
another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. 20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will
love them and reveal myself to each of them.” 22 Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?” 23 Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. 24 Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. 25 I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. 26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
REFLECT
It would be nice if the way we should love God and others was always readily apparent and easily attainable. Unfortunately, we know this is not always, if not rarely, the case. And It would be so easy if the way in which we know we should love in any given moment were in full agreement with how we wanted to interact with God and others in those moments. Doubly unfortunate, many times we simply want to respond in ways that are antithetical to the response that God’s love would demand. So what do we do in these times? What happens when what we want to do is opposed to what God calls us to do? The simple, yet not very easy, truth is that we change. See therein lies the rub of loving a being who is never wrong. When I want to do A, and God (aforementioned being of never-wrongness) wants me to do B, my love for God leads me to obedience to God which means I change my mind to agree with God. And then I do B. Full stop. If we love him, we will obey him. That means we will change from doing what might be and feel natural to us, to doing what is right and just to Him.
APPLY
Q: How does Jesus say we will know what the will of God is and how we should obey him? (vs. 16-17)
Q: Are there ways in which you have been resistant to walking in obedience to God? What is God asking you to do/not do, lay down in surrender/pick up in trust, change/continue to grow in?
Q: Have there been times recently where you have felt God leading you to love someone in a particular way that you have been unwilling to, or are avoiding? Ask God to empower you to do that today.
Q: Are there ways in which you have been resistant to walking in obedience to God? What is God asking you to do/not do, lay down in surrender/pick up in trust, change/continue to grow in?
Q: Have there been times recently where you have felt God leading you to love someone in a particular way that you have been unwilling to, or are avoiding? Ask God to empower you to do that today.
SING
PRAY
"Give us today our daily bread."
God, I thank you for always meeting my needs. Even when I was disobedient and unfaithful. I need your grace and strength today to follow your commands. Give me the faith to trust that when I am obedient to you, I have nothing to worry about because you have promised to provide all that I truly need. Thank you, Jehovah Jireh, for your constant provision. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
God, I thank you for always meeting my needs. Even when I was disobedient and unfaithful. I need your grace and strength today to follow your commands. Give me the faith to trust that when I am obedient to you, I have nothing to worry about because you have promised to provide all that I truly need. Thank you, Jehovah Jireh, for your constant provision. In Jesus’ name, Amen.