6-19-2022 Devotion: Promises Day 26

 John 15: 16: "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain...."  Jesus does not mean that His disciples exercised no will of their own; they did choose to follow Him. Rather, He is indicating that the first initiative, the original and saving choice, was His. Had He not chosen them, they would not have chosen Him. The immediate reference is to service as apostles, but the principle applies to many other matters including our election to salvation. In case any pretense might exist among the disciples in terms of spiritual pride because of the privileges they enjoyed, Jesus made it clear that such privilege rested not on their own merit, but on His sovereign choice of them. This is so important. If you are saved, it is not because of any goodness in you. It is because He chose you. Yes, you responded to His call. However, without His call, you never would have chosen Him. Thank Him for choosing you.

6-18-2022 Devotion: Day 25

 John 15: 14: "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." Just as Abraham was called the “friend of God” because he enjoyed extraordinary access to the mind of God through God’s revelation to him which he believed, so also those who follow Christ are privileged with extraordinary revelation through the Messiah and Son of God and, believing, become “friends” of God also. It was for His “friends” that the Lord laid down His life. Obedience is not what makes believers Jesus’ friends but what characterizes Jesus’ friends. We must understand that the Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life for the elect, not for the lost. This must be true. If the Lord Jesus Christ paid for the sins of those that reject Him, then they couldn't be lost. If their sins were paid for, they must go to heaven. This is the doctrine of universalism, i.e. everyone is saved. This is heretical. The Lord Jesus Christ only died for His sheep. This is not a cause for pride, but rather of deep humility. The Lord died only for those whom the Father chose before the foundation of the world. Stop and ponder this fact.

6-17-2022 Devotion: Promises Day 24

 John 15: 7: "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Both Jesus and Paul emphasized the importance of prayer, noting that people ought always to pray. Prayer includes asking and getting answers from God. But it is more than just asking; it is confession, adoration, thanksgiving, and fellowship with God. By its nature, prayer is talking with God. It is the basis of the successful Christian life, and is so important that not praying is considered a sin (1 Sam. 12:23). When we pray, we should follow the model prayer Jesus gave His disciples and address it to our heavenly Father—beginning with adoration, including thanksgiving and confession of sins, making reconciliation with others, praying for our needs and the needs of others, and concluding in Jesus’ name. When we meditate on the verse today, we see the power and privilege of prayer. When we embrace our Lord's words and keep them in our minds and hearts, we can approach prayer not with an attitude of dread and boredom, but rather, we can pray with faith and hope. We can trust the Sovereignty of God, always.

6-16-2022 Devotion: Promises Day 23

 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." No branch that is Christ’s can be wholly fruitless. But branches that belong to Christ will bear fruit, and undergo the pruning necessary to increase. Failure to produce fruit can be caused by a failure to be obedient to God. These Old Testament discussions of the vine and its fruit, combined with Christ’s command to love in this chapter, indicate that “fruit” refers to a Christ-like life produced by the Holy Spirit, rather than to the number of people converted under a believer’s ministry.  Salvation is of the Lord. You are not considered fruitless just because you are not an evangelist preaching. You are fruitless when your life does manifest the Spirit of Christ in your life. This is why God removes all things in the believer’s life that would hinder fruit-bearing, i.e., He chastises to cut away sin and hindrances that would drain spiritual life just as the farmer removes anything on the branches that keep them from bearing maximum fruit. Be thankful that He is still working on you.

6-15-2022 Devotion: Promises Day 22

 John 14: 27: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." "Peace" was a common Hebrew salutation used in greeting or farewell. Jesus gives it a new and deeper sense that reappears in the salutations of the New Testament letters. Jesus’ peace is true reconciliation with God, purchased with His death. It is the supreme remedy for all fears, and the legacy Jesus left for His heirs. The word “peace” reflects the Hebrew “Shalom,” which became a greeting to His disciples after the resurrection. At the individual level this peace, unknown to the unsaved, secures composure in difficult trouble, dissolves fear, and rules in the hearts of God’s people to maintain harmony. The greatest reality of this peace will be in the messianic kingdom. Only real believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have this peace. This peace trusts in the Sovereignty of God and that He is in control. There are many (means most) in the church that are unsaved religionists. Their faith is only good when their lives are the way they want them. As soon as anything happens they don't like, watch and listen to their words. They don't have peace and they don't have Jesus as their Lord. 

6-14-2022 Devotion: Promises 21

 John 14: 26: "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."  The Holy Spirit energized the hearts and minds of the apostles in their ministry, helping them to produce the New Testament Scripture. The disciples had failed to understand many things about Jesus and what He taught and when He taught it; but because of this supernatural work, they came to an complete and accurate understanding of the Lord and His work, and recorded it in the gospels and the rest of the New Testament Scriptures. It is the Son who sends the Spirit. The Father and Son concur in this sending. All things that they needed to know for their mission would be shown to them. Remember the New Testament Scriptures had not been written yet. They would have to depend on the Holy Spirit to help them remember Christ's teachings and help them communicate that truth to others. Today, we have the completed canon of Scriptures. We depend on the Holy Spirit to illuminate those words to our inner spirit. This is not voices in our heads but as you read and study the Word, He will guide you.

6-13-2022 Devotion: Promises Day 20

 John 14: 18: "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." Jesus refers primarily to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, since the mutual indwelling, “you in me, and I in you", will not await the Second Coming of Christ. But these words are also appropriate for the hope of the body of Christ today. Jesus will return to take the redeemed with Him at the Rapture. Initially, He was referring to His resurrection, after which they would see Him. There is no record that any unbelievers saw Him after He rose. In another sense, this has reference to the mystery of the Trinity. Through the coming and indwelling of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Jesus would be back with His children. The Lord knew that in a few hours the disciples would be scattered. They would be afraid and unable to see Him. This promise from our Lord was designed to provide some comfort when He said it, and much more later when the Holy Spirit would come to abide with all believers. Today, there are many groups that try to create a lesser type of Christian. They divide the believers as followers: those with the Holy Spirit and those without. All believers have the Spirit of Christ. There are no lesser Christians. If you think about it, you will now know why Satan wanted to cause this confusion. It minimizes the Gospel: Christ crucified, Christ buried, Christ resurrected, Christ ascended and Christ coming again. Ther bad theology that says you can have Christ and not the Holy Spirit seeks to undermine the true gospel. Think about it.