SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/8/2016 8:52 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Comfort comes From Trusting Christ’s Presence
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 14:1
Message of the verses: “1 "Do not let your heart be troubled;
believe in God, believe also in Me.”
We have
been looking and writing about the roller costar ride that the disciples of
Jesus were on as we went through chapters twelve and thirteen, how Jesus rode
into Jerusalem and all though that He was going to be their conquering King,
and then He tells them that He was going to die. Next the humiliating foot washing event, and
then Jesus telling them that there was a traitor among them. Judas was the traitor and once he left Jesus
began to minister to the remaining eleven disciples at the end of chapter
thirteen, and this will go all the way through chapter sixteen. Judas was not alone in believing that Jesus
was going to conquer the Romans and set up the promised kingdom, for all of the
other disciples believed this too. “"But
we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides
all this, it is the third day since these things happened (Luke 24:21).” Judas was the traitor and because of his
actions in betraying our Lord he would end up killing himself, but the other
eleven who thought the same thing about Jesus bringing in the kingdom would
soon understand that the Scriptures had to be fulfilled which told of the death
of the Messiah. The sermon that Jesus
gave in Luke 24 to two of the followers of Jesus showed this truth.
So now we
can better understand the difficulty that the disciples were having and so
think about this, that Jesus was soon about to die and yet He was ministering
to these men, giving comfort to them in their time of need, and so we see what
true love is all about. Jesus tells His
disciples not to be troubled, and the fact was that they were already troubled,
and so Jesus is telling them to stop being troubled. MacArthur writes “Troubled translates a form
of the verb tarasso (‘to shake,’ or ‘to
stir up’). It is used to describe the
literal stirring up of the pool of Bethesda (5:7) and, figuratively, or severe
mental or spiritual agitation (Matt. 2:3; 14:26; Luke 1:12; 24:38; John 11:33;
12:21; Acts 15:24). As always Jesus knew
the disciples’ hearts; He understood their confusion and concerns. Ever the compassionate Savior, He sympathized
with their sorrow and grief (Isa. 53:3-4; Heb. 4:15). Even though the disciples were oblivious to
His pain, He felt their and sought to comfort them.”
So what we
see in the first part of this verse is a command not to let your heart be
troubled and then the next command is given to the disciples “to believe in God”
and then He goes on to say “Believe also in Jesus.” Jesus is confirming His deity is making this
statement making Him on par with the Father.
As we have studied the OT we have seen that although there were times
that Israel went into idolatry for the most part they believed in God. An example of this and one that is appropriate
for the disciples at this time comes from the pen of David in Psalm 56:3 “When
I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.”
There are many other examples of being afraid and trusting in the Lord
in difficult times found in both the OT and NT.
Remember after Jesus was resurrected from the dead and came to the
disciples minus Thomas and Thomas wanted to see Jesus before he would believe
and so Jesus came again to them with Thomas there and Thomas believed, and
Jesus told him that those who do not see Him, yet believed were blessed. We don’t have to see Jesus physically to
believe in Him, for He is seen in the pages of the Scriptures and in the hearts
of those who have believed in Him. Why
would so many believers give up their life because of their belief in Jesus if
He was not real to them?
Another
reason for believers to receive comfort from our Lord is a promise that Jesus
gives to them and all who believe in Him as found in John 14:16-18 “16 "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper,
that He may be with you forever; 17 that
is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see
Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in
you. 18 "I will not leave you as
orphans; I will come to you.” Now the
highlighted part speaks of another of the same kind showing that the Holy
Spirit is God as Jesus is God and He is another of the same kind as Jesus.
John
MacArthur concludes this section by writing “The presence of Christ is enough
to calm the believing heart in whatever perplexing, troubling situation it
finds itself. As the godly Puritan John
Owen noted, ‘A sense of God’s presence in life is sufficient to rebuke all
anxiety and fears; and not only so, but to give, in the midst of them solid
consolation and joy’”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: On a day when many believe that the country
we all love will perhaps end in the existence that it has been since its
foundation the words of John MacArthur and John Owen are very uplifting.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Pray that God’s hand of
blessing will be on our country, and trust Him no matter who He has chosen to
put in as our next President.
Memory verse for the week:
(Romans 6:16) “16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to
someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey,
either sin resulting to death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “The cup represents the blood of Jesus” (1
Corinthians 11:24-25).”
Today’s Bible question:
“Why did Ahab not like the prophet Micaiah?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/8/2016 9:48 AM
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