1 Ch 12:32Of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their kinsmen were at their command.
The sons of Issachar were intelligent men, who understood the signs of the times, well versed in political affairs, and knew what was proper to be done in all the exigencies of human life; and who now perceived that it was both the duty and political interest of Israel to advance David to the throne.Today we seek sons and daughters of Issachar, men and women who understand the times we are living in and know what is to be done in all the exigencies of human life to advance King Jesus to His throne.
This blog is devoted to seeking Biblical truth related to current world events.
Showing posts with label Christian living. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian living. Show all posts
Today we
find ourselves living in a world of turmoil, lawlessness, wars and rumor of
wars, evil being called good and good being called evil, corruption, deceit,
hard economic times, persecution, plagues, and hunger. It is easy in these days
to become depressed, hopeless, even despairing. Many hearts are troubled these
days. Even if you are coping OK then I know that you have relatives, friends, neighbors
or coworkers that are having a hard time dealing with life right now. But there
is a God who knows where you are, and where they are. He knows your pain, your
anxieties, your fears, and your troubled heart. Read these scriptures as a
personal letter to you and share then with others you know who are having a
hard time right now. This is a Word of the Lord for
you today!
1“Don’t
let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.2There
is more than enough room in my Father’s home.aIf
this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place
for you?b3When
everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with
me where I am.4And
you know the way to where I am going.”
Jesus is coming very soon to
take all true believers to our home in heaven where we will be with Him
forever.
5“No, we don’t know,
Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know
the way?”
6Jesus told him,“I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.7If
you had really known me, you would know who my Father is.cFrom
now on, you do know him and have seen him!”
Knowing and trusting in Jesus
is the only way to get to The Father’s House. The only way to get to
heaven.
8Philip said, “Lord,
show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
9Jesus replied,“Have I been with
you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who
has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?10Don’t
you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I
speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me.11Just
believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe
because of the work you have seen me do.
The man Jesus is the revealer
of God the Father to mankind. To be saved is to believe that Jesus is God in
the flesh (The Son of God). The fullness of the God Head bodily dwells in our
Lord Jesus (Col. 2:9).
12“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.13You
can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring
glory to the Father.14Yes,
ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
Believing in Jesus and making
Him the Lord of our lives gives us the right to approach the very Throne of
God in heaven. We have been given the authority to ask the Father anything in
Jesus’ name and He promises to do it. Anything that is that Jesus would ask
for.
Jesus Promises the
Holy Spirit
15“If
you love me, obeydmy
commandments.16And
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,ewho
will never leave you.17He
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.f18No,
I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.19Soon
the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also
will live.20When
I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are
in me, and I am in you.21Those
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.”
We prove our love for Jesus by
accepting and obeying His commandments. If we do this Jesus will come to us,
not in bodily form to live with us, but as the Holy Spirit to live in us. And
He promises to love us and reveal himself to us.
22Judas (not Judas
Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are
you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?”
23Jesus replied,“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.24Anyone
who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own.
What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me.25I
am telling you these things now while I am still with you.26But
when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy
Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have
told you.
The Holy Spirit living in us
is our advocate, our teacher, our comforter, our counselor, helper,
intercessor, and our strengthener. He is the power by which we exercise our
authority as sons and daughters of God to be what God wants us to be and to
do what He asks us to do. To not receive this gift of the Holy Spirit is to have a form of godliness, but deny the power
thereof (2
Tim. 3:5).
27“I
am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a
gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.28Remember
what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you
really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, who is
greater than I am.29I
have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen,
you will believe.
We are not to be troubled or
afraid because Jesus has given us a gift. A gift of peace of mind and heart.
This peace does not depend on worldly circumstances; it is a supernatural
gift of His presence with us, and His promises to us. Note that He tells us
things before they happen (the prophetic Word) so that when they do happen,
we will believe, trust Him, know that He is in control, and know that they
are all a part of His great plan to take all true believers to be with Him in
heaven and to establish His Kingdom on earth.
30“I
don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of this world
approaches. He has no power over me,31but
I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I
love the Father. Come, let’s be going.
Never before have these words be so
true. The evil ruler of the world, Satan and his bodily manifestation on
earth the Antichrist, approaches. The signs are everywhere. We are to do what
Jesus did. He was obedient to the Father. Let us also be obedient to God in
these last days, doing what He asks of us for His Glory!
Come;
let us be going about the Father’s business!
In today’s world many have “troubled hearts”. Financial, social, political, war, lawlessness, terrorism and world instability situations are taking a toll on a lot of people. And for those in the Middle East, the daily events of war are taking a terrible toll. Stress, hopelessness, discouragement, sickness, and a host of other issues are in some degree affecting all of us. How do we cope with all of this, much less live victoriously in such times as these? This seems to me to be the question of the hour, especially for Christians as we are supposed to be the “light in a dark world”. An indeed, the world is getting dark and it will get darker in the days to come.
Jesus answers this question directly in the book of John. Let’s see what He has to say.
Jhn 14:1 "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
The basic fix for a troubled heart is to believe in God and in Jesus. But what does this “believing” really look like in our lives? In this chapter of John, Jesus is going to telling us what really “believing” looks like. Let’s see if we can find the keys.
Jhn 14:2 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
First Jesus tells us that heaven (My Father’s house) is a real place and that He is going there to prepare a place to live, a dwelling place or home for all true believers.
Jhn 14:3 "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, {there} you may be also.
Jesus then reassures us that He will personally come back to the earth to get us and take us with Him to the Father’s house and our own dwelling places. This is a clear promise to believers of the rapture of the Church (1 Thes 4:16-18; 1 Cor 15:52).
We are supposed to know how to get to our dwelling place. But do we?
Jhn 14:5 Thomas *said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?"
Even Thomas did not know where Jesus was going or the way to get there.
Jhn 14:6 Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Here is the bedrock of our faith, of true Christianity. Jesus is the only way to the Father’s house, to heaven. Further, He is truth. Truth is not found in intellectual pursuits, it is found in Him. This is why truth is so elusive. We seek it in men’s intellect and pursuits, in books and research, in philosophies and studies, even in intellectual studies of the Bible, but even here the scriptures only testify of Jesus (John 5:39).
Jhn 14:7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him."
Jesus says that if we really know Him, we know the Father and if we have seen Jesus, we have seen God! For those that saw Jesus in the flesh, they actually saw God with their own eyes.
Jhn 14:8 Philip *said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."
Like Philip, many of us are still looking to see the Father.
Jhn 14:9 Jesus *said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and {yet} you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how {can} you say, 'Show us the Father'?
Jesus says to Philip, and I am afraid to many of us today, “I have been around you for a long time yet you still do not really know Me”. The issue was they still did not recognize that Jesus was God in the flesh, the Messiah.
Think about this. We know about a lot of people. We real books about them, study their lives, even write paper or books about our favorite people. But, can we say we really know them. No, to really know someone you must spend time with them, live with them, experience life with them. You do not write about them. You write about the times you have or had together, the joys and sadnesses you have shared, the adventures you have had together, and the relationship you have with them. And the longer you share life with them, the more you really know them.
What this tells us is that we need to stop just learning about Jesus and start living life with Jesus. It is not hard for little children to live with an invisible friend or playmate. We seem to lose this ability as we become adults, after all it is so childish, even psychotic. What a shame. Maybe this is part of what Jesus was referring to in Matt, 18:3. "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus is our invisible friend and He wants us to live every moment of our day with Him. This is how we are going to come to really know Him.
Jhn 14:10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.
Jesus clearly says that God the Father is in Him. He is God in the flesh. Further, it is God in His fullness that works through the flesh in both the words Jesus speaks and the works that He does.
Jhn 14:11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.
Jesus says that the words that He speaks and the works that He does prove that the Father is in Him. Think about this, if we say that we “have Jesus in our hearts”, then the words we speak and the works we do should show, even prove that God is in us. This can only be true if the words we speak change lives and the works we do are things that cannot be done in the natural. In other words, they are miraculous. There is precious little miraculous in most churches today and many even shun anything miraculous.
Jhn 14:12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater {works} than these he will do; because I go to the Father.
Here is a key to what really believing in Jesus means. The person (he) that really believes in Jesus will do the works that He did, and even greater works. This is getting scary. How many of us are doing even greater works that Jesus did?
Jhn 14:13 "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
We ask a lot of things “in the name of Jesus”, but how many of these things really happen? What is wrong with this picture?
Jhn 14:14 "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do {it.}
Jesus promises, ask Me anything in My name and I will do it. Is Jesus just kidding us here, or is there something wrong with “our asking”? The implication is that this will be true if the one asking really knows and loves Jesus. So the keys to receiving what we ask for in Jesus name, and if fact “not having a troubled heart”, are to really know and love Jesus. So how do we know if we “really know and love” Jesus? As I commented before, much will be revealed by the way we talk about Him and by the words we speak and the works we do.
Jhn 14:15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
First clue, we will keep His commandments. Here we must first ask ourselves, what are His commandments? And then we must ask, do we keep or live by them?
Jhn 14:16 "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
The implication in this interesting verse is that we probably do not really know or at least understand His commandments and that we probably cannot keep them without some help. And Jesus tells us here that God the Father will give us a Helper, to be with us forever that we can know and keep Jesus’ commandments.
Jhn 14:17{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.
This verse is the Key! God is going to give us the Spirit of truth (the Holy Spirit) to teach us truth, to enable us to really know and understand Jesus’ commandments, to be able to keep these commandments, to do greater works that even Jesus did while He was on the earth, and even to really know and love Jesus. Note that the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit because it does not see Him or know Him but the disciple knew Him (the Holy Spirit) because He abided or lived with them in the physical or flesh as Jesus. Even more, Jesus tells these disciples that later the Holy Spirit will be in them.
Jhn 14:18 "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Here Jesus clearly tells the disciples and us that the Holy Spirit is none other than himself, Jesus. If the Father is in Jesus, and Jesus is the Holy Spirit, and Jesus is in us, then we know that the fullness of the Godhead, the Trinity, is in fact in us as Spirit if we really know and love Jesus.
Jhn 14:19 "After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you {will} see Me; because I live, you will live also.
Jesus tells us here that after He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, that the world will no longer see Him. This is the condition of a lot of the world today. But, the disciples were to see Him because He was going to be in them. And because He is living in them, they would really live also. Life without Jesus, the Holy Spirit living within us is not really living at all, it is just existing.
Jhn 14:20 "In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
The picture here is that for those that really know and love Jesus, the fullness of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, comes to live within the true believer.
Jhn 14:21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."
This indwelling of God will be true for those that know and do (keep) Jesus’ commandments. For these, Jesus promises to disclose or reveal Himself to them.
Jhn 14:22 Judas (not Iscariot) *said to Him, "Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?"
The point here is that Jesus has promised to disclose or reveal Himself to some, but not to the world. Judas, like many of us asks why, or what does this mean?
Jhn 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
Again, the key to all of this is repeated. To those that really love Jesus and keep His word or commandments, the promise is that God in His fullness will come and live within such as these.
Jhn 14:24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.
It is clear, the one that does not keep Jesus words does not love Him and God, in the person or form of the Holy Spirit, will not come and abide in them. Therefore they connot know God, or truth, or experience real life, or have real peace in the midst of the storms of life (they will have troubled hearts).
Jhn 14:25 "These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.
Jhn 14:26 "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.
Again the Lord emphasizes that it is the Holy Spirit that will teach us, that will cause us to know the Lord’s commandments and be able to do them, and even do more miraculous works that the Lord did while He was on the earth in physical form.
Jhn 14:27 "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.
Do no let your heart be troubled or fearful for God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are within you. This is Peace, this is security, this is power and authority, and this is truly living.
Jhn 14:28 "You heard that I said to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
Even though Jesus was God in the flesh, the Father (the fullness of the Godhead) is greater that Jesus was while He was in the flesh as He voluntarily came down from His throne to live among us as a servant for a little while that we might be lifted up to live with Him in His fullness and Glory forever.
Jhn 14:29 "Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.
God does reveal the future to us so that when it happens, we may believe. The prophetic scriptures reveal the future to us even to the very end of the age. But do we know these scriptures, believe them, and then prepare to respond appropriately when the events happen? Not very well I am afraid.
Jhn 14:30 "I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me;
Jesus forewarns the disciples that Judas and the religious rulers are coming to arrest Him (clearly Satan’s workmen). But he reminds them, and us today, that Satan has nothing in or over Him. God is in control no matter what it might look like temporarily. This is a very good point to remember today.
Jhn 14:31 but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.
I like the Lord’s final words. They are the word of the hour for us today.
Do exactly as the Father tells us to do.
Now, let’s get up and move out. The final battles are on!
Summary
To have an untroubled heart:
·Believe that there is a real heaven and that Jesus is preparing a real dwelling place for each true believer.
·Believe that Jesus is coming personally to take all true believers to his or her dwelling place.
·Know that Jesus is the only way to get there.
·Know that ultimate truth is found not in human endeavors but in the person of Jesus.
·Know who Jesus really is. Know that God the Father is in Jesus and when we really see and experience Jesus we are seeing and experiencing the Father.
·To really know God, we must know Jesus, not just about Him, but know Him in relationship as a close, but invisible companion.
·For those that really know Jesus and the Father, expect your words to change people, expect to do miracles, expect to more miraculous things that even Jesus did while He was on earth and know that it is not you that are doing these things, but God within you doing these things.
·If you really know Jesus, expect that what you ask in His name will be done. This will be so when the things asked for are things of and from God and not from self.
·We prove we really know and love Jesus by knowing and keeping His commandments. We prove that we do not love Jesus by doubting and not keeping His words.
·Receive the Holy Spirit (who is Jesus in a spiritual form) who the Father will send to those who ask, to be your teacher and give you the ability to keep Jesus’ commandments.
·We must have the Holy Spirit within us to know truth and to have the things of God like security, peace, power, authority, and an untroubled heart.
·We are to expect Him to reveal the future to us so that we are not surprised and are prepared.
·We are to be obedient, to do what the Father tells us to do and we are to get going and move on from where we are.
