The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – John 5:1-24 (day six)

You don’t walk away from this story thinking how sweet Jesus is; you shouldn’t. This is no cuddly Jesus; he is all power and authority. The kind of man who knows how to walk into trouble. The kind that commands decrepit old legs to get up and walk. The kind that demands, “Stop sinning.” And when confronted by the “powerful” he didn’t back pedal, or debate with them, he said plainly, “That’s right, I’m working on the Sabbath, just like my Father is working.”

Sometimes our Jesus is so cuddly and sweet, there is no need to obey him all the time or take him all that seriously. Just like a teddy bear we cozy up with from time to time, but give little thought of the rest of our day.

Maybe our view of Jesus needs to change. John would certainly insist on it. Oh, and so would Jesus.

Re:Verse passage – John 5:1-24 (day five) When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?” John 5:6 

Same remarkable facet of the nature of Jesus we read in John 4 last week- the knowledge of Jesus. Come meet the man who told me all the things that I had done. Jesus knew the paralytic perfectly well. Jesus knew the woman perfectly well. Jesus knows each of us perfectly well. There is no occasion for Him to discover more about us.  No need to better understand us. No information lacking to diagnose us.  He already knows it all. And He acts perfectly with all His knowledge and understanding.  With wisdom and grace, Jesus questions, challenges, convicts, convinces, encourages, and empowers. 

This should fill us with awe, so that we sin not; with courage, so that we fear not; with delight, so that we mourn not. -Spurgeon. 

Re:Verse passage – John 5:1-24 (day four)

Why did Jesus choose the veteran invalid to be healed?  38 years is a long time to be sick.  A long tenure of illness often times breeds a sense of hopelessness for ever being well again.  Jesus asked the lame man if he wanted to be made well.  There was no expectation of the man that Jesus was about to heal him.  He appears to know very little about Jesus and did not even know his name when questioned by the Jews. Surely there were others on the porticoes trying to be healed, yet we only have a record of this one man being healed.  The only explanation for his healing is the sovereign grace of God.

In verse 19, Jesus says that He can only do what He sees the Father doing.  Jesus acts in like manner to the Father.  It was the choice of God the Father to heal this lame man.  Not because he was more worthy…not because he had pleaded with the Lord…not because he demonstrated great faith…it was God’s sovereign choice.  This miracle was one more sign of the integral relationship between God and Christ.  Does your life demonstrate that type of relationship with God?

Re:Verse reading–John 5:1-30 (day three)

“Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

We don’t know what the man by the pool was thinking after Jesus healed his body. But in the light of his subsequent encounter with Jesus, one could reasonably draw this conclusion: He didn’t want to get well, he just wanted to get by. Jesus had plenty to say about seeking God’s minimum requirements: a man with an evil spirit who cleaned up his act but failed to act cleaned up; a son who faked obedience to get his father off his back; a man who was all yoke and no ox when it came to working the field. The only life that remains unharmed by disease and suffering is the actual life of Jesus. It is our learning to live that life which is the purpose for every single miracle he did.

Re:Verse reading–John 5:1-30 (day two) 

“Do you wish to get well?” vs. 6b

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:5

The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them. Isaiah 9:2

“I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” John 8:12

It is the question that comes to us all. Do you want to be well? When we are in darkness, we feel as though we can hide our sin from the world, and even from God. The truth is he still sees, but is also still seeking to shine his light of truth into your life.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come. He has come to make you new. I hope you will take time to read Luke 2 to your family sometime today. Merry Christmas.

Re:Verse reading–John 5:1-30 (day one)

“After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. . .and Jesus saw him. . .and asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’ “–v 1, 6.

Christmas Eve, 2018.  I hope  you and your family will be in worship tonight.  It is a holy day.

John 5 presents Jesus in a similar setting.  The Lord delighted in the feast days that celebrated the saving acts of God.  God’s word instructs families/culture to carry and teach “His story” to each succeeding generation.  Even with the growing danger in Jerusalem, Jesus journeyed to be present.

While there (once again, John’s gospel has the “feel” of an eye-witness account) Jesus “saw” a man in desperate need and engaged him with life-giving words.

We do well to cherish the same hope.  Tonight, when we gather, the Lord will be there and will see our need and speak life to us.

It is a holy day.

Re:Verse reading–John 4:4-30, 39-42(day seven)

(our text this week is John 4, however, for Christmas, we will consider Luke 2 today)

And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
Luke 2:13-14

I hope we do not lose the last phrase of the angel chorus and I hope we do not lose the peace reserved for those with whom God is pleased.  I think we sometimes read John 3:16 and forget that though God’s love is for everyone, not everyone receives it.  There are a couple of other passages in John that help clarify God’s love.

He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. John 14:21

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
John 15:10-11

God’s offer of love is universal, our response is not.  May our God find us obedient to him and share His love, joy, peace, and hope with us in the new year.

Re:Verse reading–John 4:4-30, 39-42 (day five)

“So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?””

The woman at the well had an encounter with Jesus that radically reshaped heart and life. Her priority of getting water was now not as important (left her waterpot) as telling others about Jesus. She began inviting others to investigate Jesus actually being the Christ. Don’t overlook the fact that she was now engaging people that she previously was trying to avoid (came alone in the afternoon). She had a new burden for others to encounter Jesus like she had. She had been set free from the sins that had held her captive and had defined her. They were now a small part of the larger story of the grace and power of Christ. 

Has your heart changed like this?  An encounter with Jesus through the Holy Spirit will cause it. 

Re:Verse reading–John 4:4-30, 39-42 (day four)

In our family, we call it CTS…Change the Subject.  When the conversation starts going a direction you don’t want to go in, you discreetly CTS.  (We always get caught, but we keep trying!)  The Samaritan woman tried it too.  Jesus’ questions about her husbands were not comfortable.  The conversation was getting too personal…let’s CTS!  Jesus was not put off track…He kept the focus of the dialogue on the woman and her relationship with God through Christ.  His persistence resulted in much fruit.

Stay the course…do not be deterred.  When sharing Christ with an unbeliever, don’t be distracted by questions or comments meant to CTS.  It’s the hard questions, that we often avoid, that may lead to the most introspection and result in the most beneficial life change.  Jesus gave us the example of keeping the important things the important thing.  Keep your focus when sharing the gospel.  You never know…a whole city might come to know Christ!