"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places, if it were not so, I would have told you; for I am going to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. " John 14:1-3
Did you know you can sit down, and just allow Jesus, the soon coming King to talk to you? All you have to do is read the red letters in the New Testament of Jesus speaking. We all have the ability to follow Jesus through the Scriptures while He was here on earth as a man and as God. If you want to hear God speak to you personally, just read His Words He spoke through the Son to us. It is all there and complete. All you need to know you can find in the incredible book we know as the Bible. But it isn’t just a book. It is alive and it gives life. It is filled with the hidden mysteries of God that can only be revealed spiritually by the Holy Spirit. It can be read academically, but all you gain is head knowledge without the wisdom to apply the knowledge, or the power to live it out apart from the Holy Spirit.
Now living in a time when the foundation of our nation is crumbling I find great comfort, and I hope you will too in opening your Bible and listening to Jesus speak to you concerning the times. His words bring life. He tells us not to let our hearts be troubled. He then commands us to believe in Him and His Father and the promises. He tells us He is leaving to go and prepare a place for us, and there is room for everyone. He tells us He will come again and receive us to Himself, and that where He is we also are going to be.
Do we believe this? Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Listen to Jesus speak to you from Scripture. It is much more important for us than listening to the continuous distractions we are intentionally bombarded with to keep us from the very thing that will enable us to triumph in this present time. It is truth. He is the only way, the truth, and the life. There is no other way to go where He is. We are all eternal beings, and we are all going to spend eternity in one of two places. God’s truth will stand forever.
Jesus then tells us in John 14:15:
"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."
If we don’t know the commandments how can we keep them? If our children aren’t taught the commandments of God, how can they keep them? There is such peace in our lives when we obey God and surrender our own will for His perfect will. There is where we find true freedom. Our children need to know the truth while living in this world full of lies.
Then Jesus promises not to leave us as orphans, but He will send a Helper. In verses 16-18 we read:
"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. "
What a wonderful gift the Holy Spirit is to all of us who belong to Him. He is called the Spirit of truth by Jesus. Only true disciples of Christ come to know the Holy Spirit. He becomes all things to us. He is our Teacher, and He will guide us if we allow Him to. He comforts us, He empowers us, and is a constant presence in our lives forever!
In John 14:24-26 Jesus declares;
"He who does not love Me, does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you."
I pray I will be able to say with Jesus the words I speak are not my own, but His as I try to live out my life accordingly. He is our example we are to follow in every way. As we sit before Him reading His Word we must be mindful we are to rely on the Holy Spirit to teach us all things and enable us to remember what Jesus has said to us. This gives me great hope, and I hope it does for you. We know we have a Teacher who will reveal the hidden mysteries of God which is all truth pertaining to all things! We are equipped with all we need for the future.
I am going to conclude listening closely to the final Words of Jesus in John 14:
"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. You heard that I said to you, I go away, and I will come to you. If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me, but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here."
Allow Jesus to comfort you as He did His disciples long ago before facing the crucifixion and resurrection. Receive the peace only He can give that comes from truth. Again we are told not to let our hearts be troubled. Let’s try to obey this command. Jesus declares the Father is greater than Himself. He is going to obey the Father fully because He loves the Father more than Himself. He gives us revelation of the future so as we see it happening we will believe. His children have to walk by faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Let us purpose in our own hearts to proclaim with Jesus we will do exactly as the Father commands us to. Let us get up, and go from here encouraged from the life and words of our wondrous Savior!
In His love.
Teresa Roberts
Masterpiece Fitness
276-237-6680
So thankful for the constant reminders of God’s presence in our lives. Photos taken on a bike ride yesterday with my biking buddies on the New River Trail. How I love the seasonal beauty we are immersed in and sharing it with others!
