Category Archives: John

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The Secret To Uncontainable Joy

Being With Jesus:
John 15:11-14 (NLT)

I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.

Several times throughout this Gospel, Jesus has tied true discipleship and authentic love for him to our obedience to his commandments. That is a message our current brand of Christianity needs to hear—and frankly, it is some tough medicine. The truth is, you cannot claim love of Christ while doing whatever feels good to you. Real faith requires the surrender of your will to God’s. It is this simple: If you love Jesus you will obey his commands.

By our definition of love, that doesn’t seem too loving. Love and obedience or love and commands usually aren’t terms we link together. But what we must realize about Jesus is that his commands are not oppressive. In fact, the Apostle John reminds us in I John 5:3, “Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.”

On the contrary, Jesus’ commands are the gateway to our joy. And not just joy, but Jesus described the gladness that would well up within us as overflowing. Jesus’ equation for authentic faith was that obedience to him would equal organic, unstoppable, spilling over joy in us.

But there was a particular kind of obedience that Jesus said would lead to this special kind of joy: Loving one another. And not just a brotherly love, but it was to be the same kind of love that Jesus demonstrated for his disciples. What kind of love was that?

It was proactive. Jesus actually searched out his disciples to be the object of his love. He didn’t wait to see if they were loveable or even if they would love him in response. His love went out of its way to find them, and then he poured out his love upon them—even on one of them he knew would end up betraying him.

It was unconditional. His disciples did nothing to deserve his love, and they certainly could do nothing to earn his love. In fact, the often did just the opposite. They fought with each other. They selfishly jockeyed for position with him. At times, they didn’t listen to him and often they didn’t understand what he taught them. They left him in his hour of trial. They even betrayed him. Yet he stubbornly loved them.

It was sacrificial. Jesus laid down his life for them. Yes, he ultimately died for their sins, but he also died to his own rights in order to serve them. He told them that even as the Lord of all creation, he didn’t come to be served, but to serve and give his life to redeem them. Nowhere do we see a more powerful and clear demonstration of sacrificial love than in Jesus giving up in order to give to his disciples.

It was inexhaustible. Nothing in their past, nothing they did when they were with him, nothing they could ever do in their future (because as the Omniscient Sovereign Lord of life, Jesus knew what was in their future) could or would diminish his love for the disciples. Since God is love, and since Jesus was God, we find in him that true love cannot be extinguished.

Jesus said that if we would decide to act toward one another with that kind of love—and make no mistake, Jesus made it clear by his life that divine love was a choice, an act of the will—it would unleash from deep within us an inextinguishable flood of uncontainable joy. While our flesh, along with the Evil One, supported by the philosophies of this world continually lie to us that joy comes from what is done for us, Jesus says it comes by what we do: proactively, unconditionally, sacrificially and inexhaustibly loving others!

Who can you love like that today—and every day from here on out? What person can you seek out to love as Jesus has loved you? What would be a way to love them unconditionally—in a way they did not deserve and could never repay? How might you offer love that is costly to you—and not necessarily in terms of the money you spend? And as you love them, can you—or will you—do it with a commitment to sustain that love indefinitely?

Fair warning: Choose to love like that and you are choosing to unleash the unstoppable joy of Jesus in you life. Good luck!

“Real love is an unconditional, sacrificial, proactive love that seeks out unworthy objects. It is a holy and righteous love; it is a tough love; it is an unchanging love. It is this love that is the essence of God’s being. And it is especially visible when it is on display in you. When you love with no thought of love in return; when you go out of your way to love; when you love in response to hurtful and hateful actions; when you suffer, but patiently love; when everyone else has given up but you stubbornly love anyway…when that kind of love in action is displayed in you, there God is seen.”

Getting To Know Jesus: Not that your love should be limited to one person, but who are you being led to love as Jesus has loved you? Specifically identify that person.

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How To Get What You Need—And Want

Being With Jesus:
John 15:7-8(NLT)

But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

Have you ever been around fruity Christians? Not the kind you are thinking. I’m talking about the believer who seems to enjoy more of God’s blessings than the ordinary Christian? They tend to get more prayers answered than you, live in a greater degree of Divine favor than you, appear to have more of an inside track with the Almighty than you, overflow with a lot more joy and definitely produce a ton more spiritual fruit than you.

They’re fruity—their lives produce much fruit.

In my younger days as a believer, I had a friend who was the most spiritually passionate person I had ever met. She talked about Jesus constantly, lived in complete dependence on God, and prayed about everything. And I mean everything—all her needs and even every single one of her wants. She prayed about things I wouldn’t have bothered the Almighty with. When she wanted a better car—she was even specific about the year, make, model and color of the exterior and interior—she asked God. And she got it—the year, make, model and color car she prayed for miraculously showed up one day not long after—I kid you not. When she decided a trip to the Holy Land was in order, she prayed for the funds to go. Guess what—she got it. She went on an all expense paid trip to Israel—and I stayed home. That was just her life as a believer—she was a fruity disciple.

Perhaps you wish you could live her kind of blessed life, but secretly feel a little selfish in asking God for it. Don’t feel selfish one second longer. God wants you to experience that kind of abundant life, too. In fact, Jesus said the God-blessed life is arguably the best proof that you are his disciple. Furthermore, he pointed out that your fruitfulness as his disciple is what brings much glory to his Father. The fruitier you are, the greater glory that goes to God. The more God answers your prayers, the more he receives the praise. That’s how you make God look good!

Wanting to live the God-blessed life is not selfish at all. It is no more selfish than God wanting to be glorified by giving you your blessings. It is simply the rule of God’s kingdom to ask for his favor and to live in his blessing.

That’s what God wants for you. So stop feeling weird about asking and start asking expectantly. What do you desire for your life? Ask for it. If you are connected to Jesus—and make no mistake, that is the key to receiving—the Father will allow you to bear not just a little, but a whole bunch of fruit. That what he wants for his disciples, and that includes you.

Now the proviso is, of course, use the fruit he grants you to glorify him. This isn’t about satiating your flesh. It is about reflecting the abundance of God’s grace in your daily life. Make sure that is your organic desire.

If you are not at the level of fruitiness that you would like to be, that ought to be your first prayer today.

“Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, ‘above all that we ask or think’. Each time, before you Intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!” (Andrew Murray)

Getting To Know Jesus: Speaking of asking the Father for anything you want, why not ask him for much fruit!

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Unconditional Love—With Conditions

Being With Jesus:
John 14:15,21,23-24(NLT)

“If you love me, obey my commandments…Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them… All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me.”

Three times as Jesus speaks to the disciples about his going and the Holy Spirit’s coming, he repeats this phrase: Your love for me will be indicated by your obedience to me. Obviously, it was very important to Jesus that his disciples understood this.

It still is. In an age where love has become a very squishy concept, Jesus still wants those who claim to follow him to demonstrate their love not just in language, but in action. Now the fact that love calls for proof in no way diminishes the doctrine of unconditional love—love with no strings attacked. It simply clarifies what unconditional means. To love unconditionally means the love you have and express toward another is not dependent upon their worth or the work. Rather, that love emanates from the core of your being. That love is there—it is the subject; but a noun needs a verb as well as an object to tell the full story of what love is. And what love is cannot be told without showing what love does.

The Apostle Paul taught that in I Corinthians 13, the great love chapter, when he writes “love is…” But Paul defines “love is” by demonstrating what love does: It acts. It works. It affects. It produces an outcome.

Jesus says the outcome of love for him is obedience: The one who loves him will obey his commandments. If they accept his demands, they will prove it by obedience to those requirements, thus authenticating their love for him. They will do what he says. Jesus can’t be any clearer than that: love for God has conditions—it obeys.

Furthermore, the God who loves us unconditionally sets some conditions upon his love for us and our loving response to him; some “if…then’s”: I love you, and if you love me by doing what I says, then I will give you another Advocate (John 14:16); If you obey my commandments then my Father will love you and I will love you too and reveal myself to you (John 14:21); If you love me then my Father and I will come and make our home with you. (John 14:23).

Love doesn’t work to be love; it works because it is love. That is very clear when you look to the source of love, the Being who defines what love is by demonstrating what love does. God is love. His love is not the sloppy, vague, anything goes kind of love our world knows. It is not the ever-changing love that rises and falls with one’s current emotional state that far too many people today understand love to be. It is not the selfish kind of love that loves to the degree that love is requited. No—God’s love is an unconditional, sacrificial, proactive love that seeks out unworthy objects. It is a holy and righteous love; it is a tough love; it is an unchanging love. It is this love that is the essence of God’s being; it is energy of what God does. It is the outcome of where God has been and is. God is love—not just love the noun, but love the verb.

And when you have truly embraced God’s love, it then goes on display in you. It can’t help it. Like God, you love with no thought of love in return; you go out of your way to love; you love in response to hurtful and hateful actions; you suffer, but patiently love; when everyone else has given up, you stubbornly love anyway. When that kind of love in action is displayed in you, it is obvious that God’s unconditional love got to you.

And when it comes to your love for God, love is…love does. It obeys. It does what he says. Not to earn more of his love, but to express love in response to what you can never earn. That is the condition of true love: it loves unconditionally.

“When love and skill work together expect a masterpiece.” (John Rushkin)

Getting To Know Jesus: Express your love for God by loving someone else today—surprise them with love. Do it generously and in a way they cannot repay, perhaps even doing it anonymously so ensure they can’t. And love in a way that leaves a definite imprint that God has been there.

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God’s New Temple On Planet Earth

Being With Jesus:
John 14:12-14 (NLT)

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!”

“You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it.” That is a pretty amazing promise Jesus made to his disciples—and by extension—to you and me!

Jesus was laying out his succession plans for God’s kingdom. He told his disciples that he needed to go back to the Father, and in his absence, they would carry on his works in the world, extending the kingdom wherever they went. And although he would no longer be with them physically, he would be with them—and more importantly, live in them and work through them, by the indwelling Holy Spirit:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you” (John 14:16-18)

Literally, to his followers who would completely yield their lives in obedience to his word, commitment to his purposes, and availability to his work, Jesus promised, “My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.” (John 14:23) Make his home in them!

What a thought: through the initial infilling and ongoing indwelling, the Holy Spirit—the third person of the Holy Trinity—would actually take up residence within Christ’s followers, making their lives, body, mind and spirit, the new temple of God on Planet Earth.

Those words are from the lips of Jesus himself, and they are meant for you! As you go about your life—wherever you go, whatever you do, whoever you are with—you are God’s temple on Planet Earth, the dwelling place of God’s presence. Do you believe that? If you do, Jesus’ words will transform you to the core of your being. They will radically alter the way you perceive yourself and interact with your world. And they will lead you to have the kind of impact for Christ in this world you have always dreamed of having.

The story is told of a private in the army of the Greek general, Alexander the Great, who ran after and retrieved the general’s runaway horse. When this lowly soldier brought the animal back, Alexander offered his appreciation by saying, “Thank you, Captain!”

With one word the private had been promoted. When the general said it, the private believed it. He immediately went to the quartermaster, selected a new captain’s uniform and put it on. He went to the officer’s quarters and selected his bunk. He went to the officer’s mess and had a meal. Because General Alexander had said it, the private took him at his word and changed his life accordingly. He was simply now doing life in the authority of Alexander.

Why don’t you take the word of Someone far greater than Alexander and change your life accordingly. If you will, greater works will you do!

“We are Jesus Christ’s; we belong to him. But even more, we are increasingly him. He moves in and commandeers our hands and feet, requisitions our minds and tongues. We sense his rearranging: debris into the divine, pig’s ear into silk purse. He repurposes bad decisions and squalid choices. Little by little, a new image emerges.” (Max Lucado)

Getting To Know Jesus: Offer this prayer for radical alteration: “Lord, I believe what you said. On this day, I ask the Father, as you have commissioned me to do, to empower and embolden me to do the very kingdom works that you would do if you were in my place. And may all glory go back to you!”

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The Wheelbarrow of Ruthless Trust

Being With Jesus:
John 14.1 (NLT)

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.”

In his book, Ruthless Trust, Brennan Manning tells the story of ethicist John Kavanaugh, who traveled to India to work with Mother Teresa in “the house of the dying”. Kavanaugh was searching for what to do with the rest of his life, so he asked Mother Teresa to pray for him that God would grant him clarity. She refused, saying, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.” When Kavanaugh protested that Mother Teresa seemed to have such great clarity, she responded, “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust.”

Manning goes on to say that it is trust—the simple but ruthless childlike trust that we place in God—that is the defining spirit of authentic discipleship. I agree. That is what Jesus called his disciples to in the first century—to trust in God, to trust in him—and that is the challenge that Jesus lays down for his would be followers in our age.

No matter how you slice it, the basic minimum requirement for following Jesus always comes down to this: Will you give him your total trust? If you will, you are on your way to the most exciting and rewarding experience of life a person will ever have—walking with Jesus. And from what Jesus said in John 14:1, we can deduce that one of the basic blessings of placing our trust in God is trouble-free heart. Not a trouble free life, mind you, but a heart (and a mind, Paul adds in Philippians 4:7) that is guarded by Jesus himself.

However, if you won’t give God your total trust, your Christian experience will never get out of the harbor and set sail on the rewarding voyage of risky discipleship. You will find yourself nursing a troubled heart and travelling a less than satisfying journey with God.

“Trust in God,” Jesus says, “and trust in me.” So are you? When your faith is boiled down to its basic elements, will we find there, in spite of life’s circumstances and in scorn of the consequences of living out your faith, a simple but ruthless childlike trust in God? Or is trust something that merely gets talked about but never fleshed out?

A lot of people talk about trusting God, fewer people actually place the totality of their lives in the Father’s hands and unequivocally say, “into your hands, I commit my spirit. May your will be done.” If you are one of the courageous and committed few who do, you have given the greatest gift a human being can place before the God who has everything—the rare trifecta of extreme dependence, radical faith and resolute obedience. Nothing brings a smile to the Father’s heart like that.

One of the best examples of this kind of ruthless trust came from the life of the famous tightrope walker, George Blondin. In the 1850’s, for a publicity stunt, Goerge decided he would walk across Niagara Falls on a rope that had been stretched from one side of the falls to the other. Crowds lined up on both the Canadian and American sides to watch this unbelievable feat. Blondin began to walk across, inch-by-inch, step-by-step, and everybody knew that if he’d make one mistake he was a goner. He got to the other side and the crowd went wild. Blondin said, “I’m going to do it again.” And to the crowd’s delight, he did. Then, to everybody’s amazement, he crossed again, this time pushing a wheel-barrow full of dirt. He actually did this several times, and as he started to go across one last time, someone in the crowd said, “I believe you could do that all day.” Blondin dumped out the dirt and said, “Get into the wheelbarrow.”

In a very real sense that is what God is saying to you and me. Our talk alone is cheap. At some point, we need to get in the wheelbarrow of trust and prove that our discipleship is real.

“Trust is our gift back to God, and he finds it so enchanting that Jesus died for love of it. … Unwavering trust is a rare and precious thing because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on the heroic.” (Brennan Manning)

Getting To Know Jesus: Pray this honest and humble prayer: “God, I trust in you. Help my lack of trust!”

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Unconditionally Loved

Being With Jesus:
John 13:2,38 (NLT)

Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus… “Very truly I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”

It is hard to fully fathom and completely embrace God’s immeasurable, inexplicable, crazy love that is revealed in this moment as Jesus washed his disciple’s feet. The story, which connects us to Jesus’ final hours before his sacrificial death on the cross, begins with this shocking statement in verses 1-2: “Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end.”

What makes that so shocking is that Jesus knew full well that not only would his love for these disciples not be reciprocated, there were two in that group who would publically deny him and actually betray his love: Judas and Peter. Verse 2 goes on to say, “It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.” Verse three adds, “Jesus knew…” what the Father had put before him. In verse 38, Jesus responds to Peter’s promise to stand with him through thick and thin, “Actually Peter, the truth is that before the rooster crows, you’ll deny me three times.”

Now with that in mind, let’s go back and explore what “full extent of Jesus’ love” looks like in what Jesus did in that intimate setting for his disciples—and more importantly, by extension what he did for you.

For one thing, the full extent of his love means you are fully loved, when from a human perspective, you aren’t fully lovable. Verse 2 says, “It was time for supper, and the devil had already enticed Judas to carry out his plan to betray Jesus.” Verse 11 adds, “Jesus knew who’d betray him”; that Judas would hand him over to the Jews later that night. I don’t suppose we could think of anyone any more unlovable and unworthy than Judas—yet Jesus loved him nonetheless.

He humbly knelt as Judas’ servant to wash his feet, knowing everything in his past, present and future, yet Jesus still showed him the full extent of his love! What that means is that if Jesus loved Judas, then knowing everything about you—past failures, present junk, future sin—he’ll still stubbornly love you. If Judas was worthy of love, then certainly you’ll always be the object of Christ’s unstoppable love. In fact, you don’t have enough sin or darkness to even slow his love down! You are fully loved!

That leads to another thing that you ought to know about the full extent of Jesus’ love for you: It is a love that is rooted in his nature, and is not dependent on yours. Verses 4-5 say, “Jesus got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him.”

Now think for a moment about those whose feet he washed. Of course, there was Judas, whose betrayal Jesus knew was just moments away. But there was also one he knew would deny him—in spite of that one’s insistence otherwise. And of course, there were ten others around that room he knew would desert him in his hour of greatest need before the night was out.

Not their character—nor yours—motivated his love; no, it flowed out of his. That’s why you can always depend on being the recipient of the full extent of his love.

Finally, what you ought to know about the full extent of Jesus’ love is that it will transform your worst nature so radically that you, yourself, will become a conduit of his love. Jesus said in verses 34-35, “So now I’m giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I’ve loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you’re my disciples.”

That’s what the “full extent of his love” will do—if you let it! Again, that love flows from his character, not yours, but when you surrender to it, you can then enter what will be your most satisfying experience in life—to yourself becoming a conduit of his full love to others.

And that is the answer to the deepest longing of your innermost heart: To know the full extent of God’s unconditional love and become the conduit of that inexhaustible love to others!

If nothing could stop Jesus from loving Judas and Peter, certainly nothing will prevent Jesus from showing you the full extent of his unconditional love.

“We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.” (Brennan Manning)

Getting To Know Jesus: Take some time today to enjoy God’s love. And if that is hard to imagine, just visualize in your mind Jesus, arms stretched wide as he hangs on the cross, saying to you, “I love you this much!”

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What Makes You Blessable

Being With Jesus:
John 13:17 (NLT)

“Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.”

If we are going to be the kind of Christ-followers that God can bless, our behavior will have to align with our beliefs. What we “know” must become what we “do.” Specifically, we will have to live like Jesus lived, which means serving like Jesus served. Jesus made that perfectly clear when he said,

“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. (John 13:13-15, NLT)

So how did Jesus serve? Well, an entire book could be written on that, but among the many characteristics of the servanthood of Jesus, he was simply available to people. And thinking about my own life and the lives of most people I know, my sense is the critical need for most of the people who will read this devotional is reorienting their busy schedule to make serving Jesus by serving others the top priority in their life.

Think about how Jesus did that. Matthew 20 tells the story of Jesus walking to Jericho when some blind men start yelling at him: “‘Lord, have mercy on us!’” And it says, “Jesus stopped and asked. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’”

Now think about that: Jesus stopped! God turned aside to make himself accessible to those society had cast aside. Jesus did that a lot! Do you realize that most of Jesus’ miracles were interruptions? What we see as intrusions, Jesus saw as invitations—an opening in his schedule to serve God’s purpose by serving God’s people. If you and I are to grow into a Christ-like ministry mindset, that is the attitude we will have to cultivate. And here is what that means:

First, we will have to realign our crowded calendars. Matthew 6:33 says, “More than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants. Then the other things you want will be yours as well.” What that means is that if you will make God’s concerns your priority, he will make your concerns his priority. In other words, that will make you blessable.

Second, we will have to refocus off of ourselves and onto others. Philippians 2:4 says that in becoming like Christ, you have to, “forget yourself long enough to help other people.” That is truly the preeminent attitude of Christ-likeness. And it is one of the things that leads to a truly satisfying experience of life—giving yourself to others. Again, that is what will make you blessable.

Third, we will have to relax our perfectionism. Too many Christians wait for perfect circumstances to serve: when life isn’t so hectic; when the right ministry comes along; when other stuff gets done first. Ecclesiastes 11:4 says, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.” Christ-like servants do the best they can with what they have for Jesus today. Like Jesus, they are available when the opportunity presents itself! By definition, a servant makes himself available at all times to his master, and that is what will make you blessable to the only Master that matters.

Jesus served because at the core of who he was there was a consuming desire to connect people with the grace, mercy and love of his Father. Serving was the primary means of that. Since, as a Christ-follower, you are being transformed into his character, that must be characteristic of you, too.

God has made—or more accurately, remade you—to serve him by ministering to others. Actually, “you are God’s workmanship, made to do good works that God himself has prepared in advance specifically for you to do.” (Ephesians 3:10)

Interestingly, and quite deliberately, the Greek word in that verse the Apostle Paul chose for “workmanship” is poiema. We get our English word poem from that. You are God’s poem, and when you serve in the mindset of God’s Son, you’re poetry in motion.

And when you do, you are at your most blessable!

“Just as a servant knows that he must first obey his master in all things, so the surrender to an implicit and unquestionable obedience must become the essential characteristic of our lives.” (Andrew Murray)

Getting To Know Jesus: There is one vitally important question you musts answer after you have been saved: Where are you loving God by serving others?