Every Day with Jesus (30 page)

Today, open your Bible and read it as though the Lord was speaking to the deepest part of you—because He is.

October 17: God Is in the Simple Things

John 14:7

If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

John 14:7

To know Jesus is to know the Father. This is not only because Jesus did exactly what He saw His Father do, but also because Jesus was God in the flesh. He wasn’t made in God’s image and likeness as Adam and we are (Gen. 1:26); He was “the express image of his person” (Heb. 1:3), which means He was exactly like God in every way.

The disciples didn’t realize that seeing Jesus was seeing God. They were expecting something more. Many times we miss God in our lives and circumstances because we are looking for something spectacular. Although God is totally awesome, He doesn’t always choose to manifest Himself that way. He spoke to Elijah, not in the fire, wind, or earthquake, but in a still, small voice. (1 Kings 19:12.) Jesus didn’t come to this earth in a grand way but was born to poor parents in a stable. Isaiah 53:2 says that Jesus had no form nor beauty that would make us think He was anything more than a mere man.

Paul reveals in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 that God chooses to do things this way so that no flesh will glory in His presence. He wants us to focus on Him through faith and not concentrate on the physical things He uses. In the Old Testament when He did use visible instruments to release His power, the Israelites made idols out of those things.

Just as the disciples saw Jesus but didn’t realize that what they saw was God, you may be missing Him because your focus is on what is going on around you instead of what His Spirit is communicating within you. You may be looking for Him to do something stupendous, like raise the dead, when He just wants you to speak a kind word to someone who is having thoughts of suicide. He wants to use you in great ways, but He also wants to use you in the little things. Keep that in mind as you follow Him today.

October 18: God Is Your Comfort

John 14:16-17

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.

John 14:16

Again, Jesus said these things to His disciples so they would not be offended or cast down when He was crucified and buried. Now He is telling them about the Holy Spirit who is the Comforter. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is the front line of defense against the devil and his devices of defeat. The phrase, “the God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3), carries the idea of a divine comforter who encourages, refreshes, strengthens, aids, assists, and is an ever-present help in the time of need.

The ways God chooses to comfort are not always the same. In a tough situation He may deliver you, remove the cause of the affliction, or comfort and strengthen you to endure it, giving you hope for the future. He may send other believers to share their faith by prophesying, fellow laborers who will serve and strengthen you. He uses the body of Christ as a means to comfort you with exhortation and prayer. The point is that the source of all comfort is God, no matter what channel He chooses to use.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9 God revealed to Paul that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Paul, who had experienced God’s comfort in a way that perhaps no other believer has, revealed how the Lord accomplished this. It was through the power of the Holy Spirit. True Christianity is not the absence of trials, but the strength and comfort that Jesus through the Holy Spirit will bring us through them.

You cannot withstand the pressures of everyday life apart from the comfort of the Holy Spirit. He is there to give you wisdom, courage, and compassion when you encounter all the difficulties of this life. He is also there to keep you humble when the victories come! For everything you need today, just look within you.

October 19: Jesus in the Flesh

John 14:28

Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

John 14:28

Jesus declared His divinity and His union with the Father so clearly that He was accused of blasphemy more than once. In this verse, He said the Father was greater than He. How does this statement not contradict His other claims?

A key to understand this statement is given in Philippians 2:6-8, where Paul says that Jesus didn’t think it robbery to be equal with God but humbled Himself, taking on the form of a servant, which refers to His humanity. Jesus was equal to God in His divine nature, but He made Himself inferior to the Father in regard to His humanity. Jesus didn’t lose any of His deity when He became a man, but He was clothed in flesh and had to submit to its limitations. In this sense, the Father was greater than Jesus.

Jesus was the pre-existent God who chose to become a man so he could redeem us by His own blood sacrifice. When He became a man, He was still 100 percent God in His spirit, but His physical body was 100 percent human. His body was sinless, but it was still flesh and subject to the natural things we all experience. The physical Jesus had to grow in wisdom and in stature just like we do in the natural sense.

When Jesus was born, His physical mind did not know all things. He had to be taught how to talk, walk, eat, and so forth. He had to learn that He was God in the flesh and accept that by faith. His physical mind grew in awareness of who He was by faith—the same way we do when we believe who we are in Him.

Jesus’ mental comprehension of His deity was something He learned and accepted by faith. He had to become aware of His true identity through revelation and knowledge. Today, you must do the same. Isn’t it nice to know that you serve a Lord who has gone through everything you are going through?

October 20: Let God Prune You His Way

John 15:2

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

John 15:2

Purging has been interpreted in many ways. The illustration Jesus used was pruning, and some have said purging is a very painful process. The Lord cuts away our flesh and carnal habits with things like sickness, death, poverty, and other forms of tragedy. Then we will bear more fruit. This teaching not only promotes problems as being good and from God but makes them necessary to bear more fruit.

That thinking is not consistent with the rest of God’s Word or even the context of this verse. The text makes it very clear that the purging Jesus spoke of is done through the Word that He has spoken unto us. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, that God’s Word was given to us “for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” That is God’s method of pruning us, and He doesn’t need the devil’s help! His Word will make us “perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

If you mistakenly think God is bringing tragedy into your life to make you more fruitful, then you will not resist the enemy, the one who is really bringing them. You can learn from God through trials and tragedy because He is always with you, but that is not His schoolroom. Today, He will teach you through His Word by His Spirit, gently leading you and guiding you through whatever you face.

October 21: Your Life Is in Him

John 15:4

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

John 15:4

This is a profound truth that is the key to bearing fruit, but it is so easy to forget. Because the fruit is borne on the branch, it is easy to credit the branch with the fruit. However, it is the vine that drew the life from the earth and channeled it through the branch. Likewise, since we are the branch through which the life of God flows, we sometimes think it is our own holiness that produces the fruit. The moment we think that way, we are no longer abiding in (trusting in; clinging to) the vine. We will become fruitless if we persist in this mindset.

This truth is a great relief to believers who understand and apply it properly. It puts all the responsibility on Jesus. Our only responsibility is to respond to His ability. In the same way that we have never seen a branch travailing to bring forth fruit, so all we have to do is labor to enter into His rest. (Heb. 4:11.) We simply depend upon and completely trust Jesus as our source for everything. If we abide and live in Him, fruit will come naturally.

Like the life of a plant is found in the soil, a branch in a vine, or a fish in the sea, your life is found in your union with Jesus Christ. Your faith in what He did for you saved you, and your faith and trust in Him is what will allow you to enjoy the full benefits of salvation today. Just rest in Him, commune with Him, and follow Him. You will find all kinds of fruit start manifesting in your life!

October 22: Embrace the Holy Spirit

John 16:7

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

John 16:7

The Greek word translated expedient means “to be an advantage; profitable.” How could any situation be more advantageous or profitable than having Jesus physically with you? However, when Jesus walked on this earth in His physical body, He was subject to many physical limitations. For instance, He could not always be with every one of His disciples all the time. Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit He could.

The list of advantages of having the Holy Spirit in us compared to having Jesus with us in His physical body goes on and on. Instead of dealing with one Jesus, Satan saw 120 “little Christ’s” (that is literally what the word Christian means) come out of the upper room on the Day of Pentecost, and three thousand more were born again after Peter preached that day.

Jesus taught His disciples as no teacher ever had, yet they had very little understanding because they were not born again. After the Holy Spirit came, He led them into all truth and even showed them things to come. The advantages can all be summed up in that Jesus’ power is now complete (Matt. 28:18) and no longer confined to one physical body.

You cannot live a victorious and satisfying Christian life without a moment-by-moment, hour-by-hour, day-by-day dependence upon the Spirit of God inside you. He is there to teach you, guide you, comfort you, and strengthen you. Draw upon His ability today in everything you do.

October 23: Be a Witness, Not a Judge

John 16:8

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.

John 16:8

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reprove sin. It is not our ministry. We are simply witnesses. A witness is not the judge or the jury. A witness simply relates what they have experienced, thereby providing evidence to the truth of something. We are to witness in word and deed to the truth of Jesus being alive in us. Then we step aside and let the Holy Spirit be the one to convict.

In their zeal, some believers have gone beyond the witness stage and have tried to bring people under conviction. Assuming the job of the Holy Spirit not only frustrates their witness, but also it drives many people away from God. We make a very poor Holy Spirit! We should stick to our job of being witnesses and stay out of the Holy Ghost’s business.

Just before Jesus ascended to heaven, He declared that the Holy Spirit was given to empower us to be His witnesses, and He specified where we should witness. (Acts 1:8.) We start in Jerusalem (where we are), then Judea (those nearby), then Samaria (other religious and racial groups), and finally the uttermost parts of the earth (other countries). There are some practical reasons for this. Jesus said that a prophet is honored everywhere except in his hometown. (Matt. 13:57.) Typically, the hardest place to witness is to family and friends. Starting with those who know us best will cause us to humble ourselves and give God all the glory. Any rejection tempers us and our witness, so that we will be more effective and more resilient when we go to the other peoples of the earth.

Today, be mindful that you have a responsibility to share the Gospel as the Holy Spirit leads you, but then it is all up to Him. Knowing this takes all the pressure off you, and if you are rejected, you know they are rejecting Jesus, not you. You can continue to have a great day knowing you have done the Lord’s will.

October 24: Experience Eternal Life

John 17:3

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

John 17:3

In order to fully understand what eternal life is, it is helpful to understand what it is not. Eternal life is not living forever. Everyone lives forever in either heaven or hell. Also, eternal life is not living forever in the blessings of heaven after physical death. John 3:36 and 5:24 show that eternal life is a present tense possession of the believer.

In John 17:3, Jesus defines eternal life as knowing God the Father and Jesus Christ. The word know is speaking of intimacy and revelation instead of mere intellectual knowledge. Therefore, eternal life is having an intimate, personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus the Son.

According to John 3:16, this intimacy with God is what salvation is all about. Forgiveness of our sins is not the point of salvation; forgiveness of our sins is the means of obtaining our salvation, which is intimacy with the Father. We cannot be intimate with a holy God if we are unholy sinners. Sin was the obstacle that stood between us and God. It had to be dealt with, and Jesus did; but if our salvation stops at being forgiven, we miss out on eternal life—an intimate relationship with God.