John 17:1

John 17:1 says,  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.  After Jesus finished telling His disciples what was going to happen, He then looked to the Father in submission.  He asked the Father to glorify Him.  We don't often think of being glorified as being beaten and nailed to a cross.  Yet, this is what Jesus was submitting to when He made this statement. He was doing it so that after His death and resurrection He would be glorified, and that would bring glory to the Father.  We need to be as submissive today.  We may be called on to suffer in the world to bring glory to God, and if so, we need to say the hour is come and ask that God may be glorified.  Verse two adds, As thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him.  This does not mean that God gives some people to Jesus for eternal life and not others.  This means that some accept the gift of salvation and others do not.  Jesus has the power and paid the price to bring forgiveness to all flesh, or all mankind. We simply have to ask forgiveness, accept the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, then, under the power of the Holy Spirit, live for the glory of God.  Verse three continue, And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.  Once again, as His followers, we are not waiting for everlasting life with God, but we are living it.  This body may die and be totally destroyed, but the spirit lives forever.  As followers of Jesus, we have life everlasting with God.  If we do not believe, we still have everlasting life, just not with God.  We are given a clear choice.  Only through the cross can we be saved.  Jesus made it possible to know the one true God.  On this fact we cannot waiver.  People of the world may call us narrow minded, but in this case, we must be.  There is no other way to salvation but through Jesus Christ.

John 16:29

John 16:29 says, Lo, now speakest thou plainly and speakest no proverb.  Jesus had said the time was coming when the disciples would understand what He had been telling them.  After He then said in verse twenty-eight that He came from the Father into the world and was about to leave the world to go to the Father, they said now we understand.  They were now saying that Jesus was speaking plainly enough for them to understand.  There may be times in our lives as followers of Christ that we suddenly think we realize what God has been telling us for years.  As with the disciples, it just seems clear suddenly.  Verse thirty adds, Now we are sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe Thou comest forth from God.  Jesus did not tell them anything new, but suddenly they understood what He was saying better.  When we comprehend something about God that we may have questioned for a long time, it will never be because the truth of God has changed.  Also, we need to be careful that we do truly understand and are not just thinking we do.  The disciples said they now understood.  Verse thirty-one continues, Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe.   Verse thirty-two concludes, Behold, the hour cometh, yea is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone: yet, I am not alone, for the Father is with Me.  The disciples were beginning to have faith in their own understanding instead of still relying on the revelation of Christ.  We may at times feel that we understand what the Bible teaches us clearly, but we need to make sure that we are following the leadership of the Holy Spirit as we come to a particular understanding.  Jesus told the disciples they still didn't truly understand and would even abandon Him when the hour was come.  If we are relying on our own strength and understanding, when things go badly, we may not stand firm in our faith.  We must make sure it is God's truth that we are following.  Verse thirty-three states, These things have I spoken unto you, that ye might have peace.  In the world, ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.  Again, we are only promised peace in tribulation, not a lack of tribulation, but we are to be of good cheer, because we are saved through Christ.

John 16:25

John 16:25 says, These things I have spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.  Until the coming of Christ, all scripture about His coming had been in prophesies, but after His resurrection, all would be based on facts.  Much of what Jesus said to His disciples was indeed in proverbs, but even the things He told them directly they didn't understand.  After His ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit, they would be in direct contact with God at all times.  We need to realize that as His followers, we are not told that the Holy Spirit will be with us just in time of great need but will indwell us.  Everywhere we go and everything we do God goes with us.  Verse twenty-six adds, At that day, ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I shall pray unto the Father for you.  We have direct access to God.  We must first go through Christ for salvation, but then we have a personal relationship with God.  We don't need anyone to intercede to God for us, because the Comforter, the Holy Spirit that indwells us, makes intercession for us.  Verse twenty-seven continues, For the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and haveth believed that I came out from God.  God loves all of His creation, but through Christ, we have a special relationship with Him.  We can claim the promises of God because we believe in the salvation made available through Christ.  We believe, as did the disciples in that day, that Jesus is the Christ come from the Father. Verse twenty-eight concludes, "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." Only one person has ever left Heaven and come to earth, and that is Jesus, the Christ.  We may speak of babies as little bundles from heaven but though they are gifts from God, they do not come from Heaven.  As followers of Christ, we will one day go to Heaven to be with Him.  Yet, to borrow a line from a John Denver song, we will be going home to a place we've never been before.  Jesus alone went home to a place He had been before.  As Jesus told the disciples, we now have the Holy Spirit indwelling us to lead us to the truth in any situation, so we don't have to unravel parables.  We are God's people forever, not some day after we die, but from the moment we accept Christ as our Savior.

John 16:23

John 16:23 says, And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name, He shall give it to you.  Once Jesus had been crucified and ascended to the Father, the Holy Spirit would be with them.  They would no longer have to ask Jesus questions about Who He was.  We do not have to strive to understand the message of the cross if we are His followers.  Again, Jesus said they could ask anything of the Father in Jesus' name and the Father would give it to them. Again, the key is to ask in Jesus name, which means that we are to be submitting to His will.  As long as we do this, we will not go to God with a shopping list of things we want and say that we are asking in the name of Jesus.  We are to ask for our daily bread, not for a gourmet feast.  We often speak of what we deserve from God as His people, but all we ever deserved was death for our sins.  If we trust God to meet our daily needs, then we will be free to do the work we are called for, which is to proclaim Christ and love our neighbor.  In verse twenty-four adds, Hitherto, ye have asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.  What makes the joy of a Christian full, the things of this earth or the things of God?  The disciples so far had followed Jesus without asking for anything, but now that He was about to leave them, Jesus said ask.  When we have a question about God, we need to ask.  When we need something to carry out our mission for Christ, we need to ask.  If we want a bigger television or house or want our team to win a ball game, this is not what Jesus meant and we should not ask.  This is my understanding of what it means to ask in Jesus's name.  If we are truly asking in His name, we will have asked for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to make sure that what we are asking is truly for the advancement of God's Kingdom. As long as we see this promise as God fulfilling all our wants, our joy will always be full.  The things of this earth can never bring us joy. They will soon lose their luster, but the things of God will give us joy forever.

Just a brief follow up about the election and Christian responsibility.  My hope is that you are praying for the president elect, and praying that he will be the best president in history.  We as followers of Christ need to pray that the nation will come together in an attitude of love for our fellow man.  Donald Trump is not the Republican president elect, but the American president elect.  All Christians need to daily pray for his success.

John 16:16

John 16:16 says, A little while, and ye shall not see Me: and again a little while and ye shall see Me, for I go to the Father.  After His crucifixion, the disciples did not see Jesus while He was in the grave. After His resurrection, they saw Jesus for a time.  After His ascension, they received the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus's truth to them. Jesus went to the Father for a time, but He is coming again.  We today as His followers live in the time of the Holy Spirit, but we will see Jesus, whether in this life or the one to come.   Verse seventeen says. Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?  The disciples questioned what Jesus meant when He said this.  Sometimes, as we go through life, there may be times when we do not fully understand what God is telling us, but the Holy Spirit will lead us to the truth and empower us to do what we are called to do.  The disciples would soon understand what Jesus meant, but not until after His resurrection.  Verse eighteen continues, They said therefore, What is this that he saith, a little while?  We cannot tell what he saith.   The disciples really expressed their confusion.  I believe we can say the same today about the Second Coming of Christ. Every generation, even the early disciples, thought Jesus's return was to be soon.  We, like all other Christians, must simply rely on the power and indwelling of the Holy Spirit to keep strong in our relationship to Christ even when we do not understand everything.  Verse nineteen states, Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask Him, and said unto them, Do you inquire among yourselves of that I said, a little while and ye shall not see Me: and again a little while and ye shall see me?  We are never going to catch God by surprise with our questions.  He knows even before we do when doubt or confusion come.  Verse twenty adds, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.  At the cross, the world, those who did not believe that Jesus was the Christ, rejoiced, but at the empty tomb, joy came to the disciples.  When we are following Christ, even when the world rejoices at our suffering for Christ, we need to remember our ultimate joy in Him.  Verse twenty-one continues, A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.  Jesus used the analogy of a woman giving birth.  She endured the pain, but when the child was born, she forgot the pain and rejoiced in the child.  Verse twenty-two concludes, And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. That promise is still in effect.  No man can take our joy in Christ from us.

Today is election day.  I believe we as followers of Christ need to consider what this means to us.  First, I think we need to realize that we have a responsibilty to vote.  We often criticize the government, and elections are our day to do something about the government.  The Bible tells us that as Christians we are to submit to the authority of the government, to pay our taxes, and to remember that God is in charge.  We also need to be informed when we vote.  We cannot rely on statements made on social media to be our main source of information.  A lot is posted there that is totally false or based on half truths at best.  In that same thought, we as followers of Christ need to make sure that what we post or repost is true.  We also need to encourage others to vote.  The idea of Christians skipping or boycotting the vote in my opinion is simply not Biblical.  When we are encouraging other Christians to vote, we need to encourage them simply to pray and vote their conscience.  I do not believe that I can say how every Christian should vote.  If I am the one to say how every Christian will or will not vote, then I have assumed the position of God.  That is between God and them.  If they do not vote the way I do, that does not make them wrong and me right.  There are many complex issues to consider in elections, but if we follow what we feel is the way the Holy Spirit is leading us to vote and cast our ballot accordingly, then we have done all we can do.  Finally, once the ballots are counted, we have a responsibility as Christians to support those who are elected.  We need to pray for them daily, and if we feel that they are wrong about issues, we need to work to change the issues.  Again, I think we need to do it all out of a love of God and all those around us.  We are not called to hate and anger, but to love and peace.  As followers of Christ, we need to get out today and vote, and tomorrow we need to support those elected today.