The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – John 19:1-30 (day two)

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”  18:38

For today’s post I backed up a few verses in this Passion narrative to talk about one of the most chilling and prescient verses in this story. Pilate’s question to Jesus sounds like it could have come straight from a Twitter feed this morning. Although not new, this concept of “finding your own truth” has gained much traction over the past two years. It sounds so affirming, doesn’t it? Find what works for you and go that direction. What happens when your truth collides with the person right next to you? What about if your truth changes based on age or perspective? Are we all universally leading lives that have no unifying truth to them? NO! When we become morally bankrupt and seeking only “truth for the moment” we end up standing beside Pilate pushing the redeemer of the world towards the cross. If there is a truth for Jesus, there must be the same truth for me. And if for me, for you, and for the world. Frankly, it is too exhausting trying to keep up with my own truth and everyone else’s as well. I would rather have Jesus.

Re:Verse passage – John 14: 15-31 (day seven)

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. John 14:27

Jesus reminds us that in the Holy Spirit we will find a peace that passes all understanding. It is more than the cessation of war, but a calm on every side.  The Holy Spirit will bring the sleep of the innocent at night and the boldness of the righteous at daybreak.  We who believe in Christ Jesus have a newfound peace unavailable to the world.

The world has often offered peace, but she has never been able to deliver long-term as George Beasley-Murray writes, “A striking example…is the famous Ara Pacis, altar of peace, erected in Rome by Augustus (January 30, 9 b.c.), the first of its emperors, to celebrate his establishment of the age of peace proclaimed by the prophets; it still stands in Rome, a monument to the skill of its sculptors and to the empty messianic pretensions of its emperors.”

Re:Verse passage – John 14:15-31 (day six)

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” -Jesus, John 14:18

Jesus promised them His presence, even though he would no longer be present. He said, “…the world will see me no more, but you will see me.” Enter the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our helper in that He enables us to truly see Jesus, to know His presence, until He comes again. It’s really no surprise then, that the Holy Spirit would bring to remembrance all that Jesus had said to them. It wasn’t a peculiar feeling that the Holy Spirit would give them, or even us now; no, it wasn’t like that. It was more than a feeling; it was Jesus’ very words brought back to them. Right there, in the memory of truths and promises spoken, they saw Jesus in all His beauty and goodness.

This is the reason we read God’s Word, to see and savor the beauty and goodness of Jesus by the power of the Spirit. So, if you want to see and experience Jesus’ presence in your life, you must be in His Word.

Re:Verse passage – John 14:15-31 (day five)

“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.” 14:25-26

Jesus’ words reveal how the scriptures would be written and protected- with and through the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul will write later, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit.”  1  Corinthiams 2:12-13

The Holy Spirit would remind and make clear to the disciples the words and actions of Jesus. The Spirit inspired John to remember and teach what he had seen and learned.

We should come to the scriptures amazed and expectant. Ask the Spirit who inspired their writing to illuminate their reading. 

Re:Verse passage – John 14:15-31 (day four)

There is a direct correlation between obedience and love.  Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  Over the course of ‘disciple training’, Jesus taught the disciples many truths…how would they ever remember it all?  God, the Father, took care of that…He would send the Spirit of Truth to remind them and explain the truths Jesus had taught.  One of the fruits of the Spirit was true peace.  Peace would follow obedience to God’s commands.  Love brings obedience, obedience brings peace, and the Spirit brings an abiding relationship.

Love is the basic ingredient for this abiding relationship.  If you are having trouble with obedience or if there is no peace in your life, or if your prayers seem to be mundane at best, maybe there has been a shift from God in your heart.  There are symptoms of a heart that is shifted from God.  Go back to the basics…Jesus asked Peter, “do you love me?”

Re:Verse passage – John 14: 15-31 (day three)

“He has no hold on me.”

Consider the human being: a brain with enough memory capacity to store the entire Internet; a mind possessing the ability to communicate complex ideas across centuries through literature and the arts; a spirit with the capacity to envision justice; and a means to form alliances with other persons to build cultures that carry out those ideals of justice. Such is a human being at his or her best—and most hypothetical. In the actual world, disease and aging ravage the body. Flawed character clouds noble ideas and artistic expression. Greed corrupts attempts to maintain justice. Lust for power and penchant for war destroy cultures. What would a human being look like if never touched by these sin-infused signatures of spiritual sepsis? That person would look like…Jesus. His is the life we must learn.

Re:Verse passage – John 14: 15-31 (day two)

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. Vs. 27

Not as the world gives. I have a suspicion that when people pray for something such as peace for their lives they have an expectation of a kind of peace they have already seen or conceived. See the problem? That is not what Jesus promises. His peace is not of this world, and therefore will likely not come in the way you expect. That should not discourage you if you are truly seeking some sort of comfort or peace. What it should do is release you from trying to force God’s timing and plan. The first step is to always trust him. Fully. Then he will come in ways you never expected…and always better.

Re:Verse passage – John 13: 1-17 (day seven)

Godincidentally, I was listening to Donald Miller’s podcast, Building a Story Brand, this week, and I  stumbled upon an episode from November with Andy Stanley.  It just so happened that they brought up the foot washing scene from our text this week.

As the story goes, Stanley was given the opportunity to preach at President Obama’s pre-inauguration service in 2013, and Stanley used John 13 as a focal point. He preached that when you realize that you are the most powerful person in the room, Jesus would have you leverage that power for the benefit of the other people in the room.  You (addressing POTUS) need to get down on your knees like Jesus and wash feet.

While I hope that struck a chord with the President, the same message rings true for us in far lesser roles of authority.  As Jesus said, “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”John 13:14