Tag Archive for John 14:24

Constantly, Completely Dependent

2016-10-27 Devotional with Hymn, One with Our Father No comments

from the book, ONE WITH OUR FATHER 

John 5:44; 6:26-29

When I read about Jesus in the gospels, it seems that He always knew everything and could do absolutely anything. But then I listen to what He said about Himself:

“Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does . . . By myself I can do nothing.” (John 5:19, 30, NIV)

“These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” (John 14:24, NIV)

Jesus’ wisdom and power, His words and His actions, were not His own. He had emptied Himself (Philippians 2:5-7). He was completely, constantly dependent on You, Father, for everything He said and everything He did. He listened. He obeyed. His total dependence on You was His great strength and constant sufficiency. His power was made perfect in His weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Jesus was what He was by faith. His strength was not in His own abilities but in His relationship with You, Father. He trusted You. You were His only light, His only source of life, wisdom, power, peace, love, and holiness. Because He was empty of all else, You flowed through Him unhindered. He was constantly full of You.

Father, I cannot be capable, holy, wise, or loving any other way. You were the only source for Jesus. You are the only source for me. Jesus wants to share with me His relationship with You. Father, that is what I want as well.

When I feel a need, I want to eliminate it.
But my neediness is permanent and pervasive.
I can never eliminate it.
Instead, Lord, help me to rest in
my sufficiency in You.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Each Moment by Faith
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Words That Never Pass Away

2015-12-27 Devotional with Hymn No comments

John 14:24; Matthew 24:35 

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” (Matthew 24:35, NIV)

Have you ever stopped to consider these words of Christ? How incredibly, unbelievably bold a claim!

In August 2010 Google estimated that there were nearly 130 million different books in the world. Millions more are released each year. That’s right, millions! Visit any used bookstore, and you’ll get a tangible, sobering view of the fate of most published words. Walk past the dusty shelves and peruse the dated, decaying books. Welcome to the graveyard of human “truth”! With lots of focus, hard work, and “luck,” publishers occasionally get a book that survives in active circulation for a few decades. Rarely does anything last beyond that.

Here is a Jewish peasant in a tiny corner of the world, never published, never holding any position of influence in society, many centuries before the printing press, with absolutely no means of mass communication, simply speaking words out into the air. Only a handful of His closest friends were listening, and in society’s eyes they were as unlettered and unimportant as He. Yet He claimed that His words would never pass away, even when heaven and earth were long gone. Not even the greatest human classics could pretend to such a status.

How could He say that?

“These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” (John 14:24, NIV)

Jesus’ confidence was in His Father. He knew that the word of the sovereign Lord of all reality would never pass away. He speaks, and it is so. Matter obeys His will. No force can oppose Him. No change touches Him. As long as Jesus spoke the Father’s word, His words would never pass away.

God’s Word is our confidence as well. The very best of human “truth” is permeated with ignorance and weakness, selfishness and change.

Do not put your trust in . . . human beings, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing. (Psalm 146:3-4, NIV) 

God’s Word is pure, sovereign, and unchanging. As we trust Him, we are on immovable ground.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Your Sovereign Word
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