The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – John 16:5-16 (day six)

Sorry for the late start, friends.

I’ve been in New York City for almost a week now. It’s an incredible place—teeming with life, a constant rhythm of movement, and the hustle and bustle of every nation under heaven. Right now, I’m sitting outside a bagel shop on the Upper West Side. People are on the move—coming and going, laughing with friends, couples sharing breakfast, cyclists weaving by, runners, dog walkers, shop owners opening up for the day.

New York City is a microcosm of humanity in a way San Antonio is not. And it is good. It gives me joy.

Joy, because for a few days I’m among a dense crowd of people who—by their very existence—reflect the glory of God. Just being human. The imago Dei. And yet, most are far from God.

This week, I’ve been reminded of God’s deep love for people. We know that love because He sent Jesus—who died and rose again—to call people back to Himself. To walk with Him.

In John 16:8, Jesus says that God loves people so much that He sends the Holy Spirit to help them see reality clearly:

To recognize sin, to see righteousness revealed in Christ, and to know that a choice must be made about which kingdom they’ll belong to.

And here’s the amazing part: the Holy Spirit works through His church. We are His presence here. His light in places like New York City.

Wherever we are—in the bustle, the quiet, or the in-between—He’s inviting people home. Through us.

Re:Verse passage – John 16:5-16 (day five)

“But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.”
Jesus senses that the hearts of His disciples are heavy and saddened. So, He carefully and wisely chooses His next words. Looking to strengthen and encourage them, He promises and discloses the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. That work- convicting, guiding, and glorifying is “to our advantage”.  That work also stretches and challenges us in our finiteness and humanness. The Lord’s economy is always seen and understood more clearly from an eternal perspective rather than a temporal one. It is the eternal things that matter most to the Lord. And they should to us as well. Our task and privilege is to think and remember His words (verse 4). So, daily if not more, we read, recite, and remind ourselves of the Scripture (His Words) that produces the eternal perspective of joy, wisdom, hope, strength, and courage.

Re:Verse passage – John 16:5-16 (day four)

Jesus said to them, “A little while, and you will no longer see me; and again a little while, and you will see me.” He seems to hold a loose definition of “a little while,” doesn’t he? We might agree that it was only a little while between when Jesus said this and when he ascended to heaven. But seeing him again? It feels like more than a little time has passed.

When I look at the world around me, I long for Jesus to return. The reality of sin and death can feel like too much to bear. I want Jesus to return in “a little while,” which is about the same amount of time I mean when I say “these cookies only need a little while longer in the oven.” But I operate in a finite, earthly sense of time, the Lord does not. When Jesus says “a little while,” he’s not talking about our earthly sense of time, but rather heavenly time, the fullness of time. He promises to return exactly on time, but this sense of time is too wonderful for us to understand on this side of heaven.

We hold to this promise, though, in verse 22, “Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”

We only have to wait a little while.

 

Re:Verse passage – John 16:5-16 (day three)

“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”

The Lord tenderly cares for you. He doesn’t overwhelm you, but remembers you are dust, as the Bible says. That’s not patronizing or disdainful. Rather, God’s care for you points to how deeply he treasures those whom he has made, as an artist would treat his or her works with great caution and alertness. When the Lord says the time is not yet right for you to experience this or that, he’s cherishing your existence, lest what comes harm you. When the time does come that the Lord allows you to see and know what’s next, that’s the time that he knows you can live fully in that moment with great strength. He knows how he made you, and he stands by his work with confidence.

Re:Verse passage – John 16:5-16 (day two) 

But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. v. 7

How often have you come to a place of transition and been afraid of what comes next? You may have been very prepared, educated, and trained, and, yet, there is trepidation about what comes next. Graduation season is a great reminder of this feeling. Many students are eager to jump into the next phase, but with each milestone there comes a level of comfort in known, and uncertainty about what’s next. With each transition we may have more that we are giving up, and more things and people counting on us to succeed and provide. It is in the preparation that we find the courage to move forward. Jesus from the very beginning of his ministry was preparing the disciples. He taught them, he demonstrated his authority, he challenged them, and he cautioned them about what happened next. This transition was inevitable, and Jesus made sure they were prepared. It would take some time, but they slowly began to understand what all that preparation was for. Transition is coming. It may be for a new season of life, a job, a family, or a transition from this life to the next. All of these require preparation. How are you preparing? Are you in the Word? Are you in fellowship with other believers? Are you serving the Body? Are you preparing?

Re:Verse passage – John 21:1-19 (day seven)

And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.” John 21:17b

Today we honor over two dozen graduating seniors. You, church family, have loved them and poured into them to get them to this point. That is a part of why we honor them. We want you to celebrate with them in all that they have accomplished in their time with us.

Train up a child in the way he should go,
Even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

The other part of this day, and maybe most important, is we are commissioning and sending these students out into their next stage of life to spread the Gospel to all the world. We have trained them so that they don’t depart from Him, but we also have trained them so they know the expanse of who Jesus is and will hear His calling to “Tend My Sheep!” Pray with me that they answer that call. Pray that they stay close to Jesus in the days ahead. Pray that they will be a part of revival!

Re:Verse passage – John 21:1-19 (day six)

Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. — John 21:13

What a moment. By now, it was clear that Jesus wasn’t spending every day with his disciples. His appearances were fewer—but every moment carried more weight.

This was the third time they had seen him since the resurrection, and the wonder had not worn off. How could it? He had walked out of the tomb. They could only stare at him in awe.

Things were starting to make sense—especially after the last encounter when he opened the Scriptures to them. But here, on the shoreline, came something unexpected. The risen Christ was making breakfast. And then he served them.

Even after conquering death, Jesus served his friends.

What a needed reminder: the greatest power in the cosmos is still found in humble love. The risen King didn’t demand to be served—he cooked and passed the bread. That’s the kind of power the world can trust. That’s the kind of Savior worth following.

Re:Verse passage – John 21:1-19 (day five)

What could have been an overwhelmingly impossible circumstance, becomes a moment of restoration and redirection. For Peter there was the potential for every morning for the rest of his life to be a reminder of failure and sin. Crowing roosters (which never left the region) were most likely a daily alarm of his past. Probably crowing on this morning as well. Jesus had a “charcoal fire” going on shore. Only other time those Greek words were used, were to describe the fire burning when Peter denies Jesus (John 18).

What Jesus teaches Peter (and us) is, that a failed believer isn’t a finished believer. When Jesus has our hearts (our love and desire for Him more than anything else we want or need), He then assigns mission and ministry. He will use our past to remind and direct us to the path (through confession and repentance) where we can live at peace with Him, in joyful obedience, and with the strength and courage of His daily presence.

Re:Verse passage – John 21:1-19 (day four)

Scripture holds a lot of beautiful symmetry. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he called fishermen to follow him (Matt. 4:19). He took the small world that they knew and expanded it to reveal the vastness of the Kingdom of God. Now, after the resurrection, he’s calling those same fishermen into increasingly expanding possibilities.

Now that Jesus has appeared to all those closest to him, he takes the time to remind them that there is more to come. All that they had experienced with him – his ministry, death, and resurrection – were just the beginning. They are now being sent out as fishers of men to build his church. He sums up their calling with the phrase “tend my sheep.” The entirety of the apostolic calling is boiled down here to discipleship.

We share this same calling. Who has tended to you in the way Jesus describes here? Who are you tending to?