Month: October 2024

The Word in Eternity and Time (1:1–5)…

John wastes no time in introducing Jesus to his readers as the Word of God, the Son of God, and the Lamb of God.

Unlike the writers of the three Synoptic Gospels, John introduces Jesus at the age of thirty and includes no information about his birth.

1:1 In the beginning was the Word. He did not have a beginning Himself, but existed from all eternity.

As far as the human mind can go back, the Lord Jesus was there. He never was created. He had no beginning.

(A genealogy would be out of place in this Gospel of the Son of God.)

The Word was with God. He had a separate and distinct personality.

He was not just an idea, a thought, or some vague kind of example, but a real Person who lived with God.

The Word was God. He not only dwelt with God, but He Himself was God.

The Bible teaches that there is one God and that there are three Persons in the Godhead—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

All three of these Persons are God.

In this verse, two of the Persons of the Godhead are mentioned—God the Father and God the Son.

It is the first of many clear statements in this Gospel that Jesus Christ is God.

It is not enough to say that He is “a god,” that He is godlike, or that He is divine. The Bible teaches that He is God!

1:2 Verse 2 would appear to be a mere repetition of what has been said, but actually it is not.

This verse teaches that Christ’s personality and deity were without beginning.

He did not become a person for the first time as the Babe of Bethlehem.

Nor did He somehow become a god after His resurrection, as some teach today.

He is God from all eternity.

1:3 All things were made through Him. He Himself was not a created being; rather He was the Creator of all things.

This includes mankind, the animals, the heavenly planets, the angels—all things visible and invisible.

Without Him nothing was made that was made.

There can be no possible exception. If a thing was made, He made it.

As Creator, He is, of course, superior to anything He has created.

All three Persons of the Godhead were involved in the work of creation:

“God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).

“The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2).

“All things were created through Him (Christ) and for Him” (Col. 1:16b).

1:4 In Him was life. This does not simply mean that He possessed life, but that He was and is the source of life.

The word here includes both physical and spiritual life.

When we were born, we received physical life. When we are born again, we receive spiritual life. Both come from Him.

The life was the light of men. The same One who supplied us with life is also the light of men.

He provides the guidance and direction necessary for man.

It is one thing to exist, but quite another to know how to live, to know the true purpose of life, and to know the way to heaven.

The same One who gave us life is the One who provides us with light for the pathway we travel.

There are seven wonderful titles of our Lord Jesus Christ in this opening chapter of the Gospel. He is called

(1) the Word (vv. 1, 14);

(2) the Light (vv. 5, 7);

(3) the Lamb of God (vv. 29, 36);

(4) the Son of God (vv. 34, 49);

(5) the Christ (Messiah) (v. 41);

(6) the King of Israel (v. 49); and

(7) the Son of Man (v. 51).

The first four titles, each of which is mentioned at least twice, seem to be universal in application.

The last three titles, each of which is mentioned only once, had their first application to Israel, God’s ancient people.

1:5 The light shines in the darkness.

The entrance of sin brought darkness to the minds of men.

It plunged the world into darkness in the sense that men in general neither knew God nor wanted to know Him.

Into this darkness the Lord Jesus came—a light shining in a dark place.

The darkness did not comprehend it.

This may mean that the darkness did not understand the Lord Jesus when He came into the world.

Men did not realize who He really was, or why He had come.

Another meaning, however, is given in the NKJV margin: the darkness did not overcome it.

Then the thought would be that man’s rejection and enmity did not prevent the true light from shining.

As christians, we are all called to be God’s conduit of his light and his LOVE into all the dark areas of this WORLD.

If people want to know what God is like, they can look at Jesus.

If they want to know what Jesus is like, they should be able to look at His followers.

SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)
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Thursday, Oct 31
cFaith Devotions

THE WORD IS GOD
by Tim Davidson

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
— John 1:1

The Word of God is alive.

God has given us a written record of the things He has spoken to mankind, so we may know Him and have a relationship with Him.

But is His Word just a letter printed on paper and left for us to figure out what it means?

No, God’s Word is actually God Himself.

That means that everything we read in the Word of God, God stands behind and is ready to perform today.

The Message Bible says: “The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. The Word was God.”

The Word of God is God’s will for us revealed.

We can know and understand what God wills for our life by reading the Word of God.

A man’s word and a man’s will should be one. Yet, men can lie. But God cannot lie.

When God gave us His Word, He gave us Himself.

God and His Word are one. You will never know God, or know anything about Him, apart from His Word.

God has not left us helpless or hopeless. He has sent us Himself. The vehicle He uses to share Himself with us is His Word.

Today’s Thought to Take With You:

I will know God by the Word of God. The Word of God is God speaking to me.
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John chapter 14 starts out by telling us that Jesus is preparing a place for us and so we are told NOT to let our hearts be troubled…

Verses 12-14

The Answered Prayer
12 “Most assuredly, 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 My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
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Our ministry for Christ begins with faith, follows through by imitating the perfect model, and then through the Holy Spirit spreads out around the world.

14:12. This is one of the most interesting verses in the Bible. Interpreters have pondered what Jesus meant by telling his disciples that they would do greater things than He, the Son of God, had done.

But perhaps the best way to understand the verse is to take it literally, exactly as Jesus said it.

The promise is not that disciples of Jesus will perform works that are greater in value or significance than His.

Rather they are greater in scope and number, in these respects:

1) Because He was crucified, Jesus’ earthly ministry was limited to only a few years, but after the Resurrection and Pentecost, His ministry was and continues to be multiplied through Spirit-empowered believers.

2) Our works include the preaching of the gospel, resulting in the blessings of justification, reconciliation, and the gift of the Holy Spirit coming to humankind—all post – Resurrection manifestations of Christ’s reign (see 5:20).

14:13 Prayer offered in the name of Jesus is in accord with His revealed nature and purpose and has the full weight of His authority behind it.

What a comfort it must have been to the disciples to know that, even though the Lord was leaving them, they could pray to the Father in His Name and receive their requests.

This verse does not mean that a believer can get anything he wants from God.

The key to understanding the promise is in the words in My name—whatever you ask in My name.

To ask in Jesus Name is not simply to insert His Name at the end of the prayer.

It is to ask in accordance with His mind and will.

It is to ask for those things which will glorify God, bless mankind, and be for our own spiritual good.

In order to ask in Christ’s Name, we must live in close fellowship with Him.

Otherwise we would not know His attitude.

The closer we are to Him, the more our desires will be the same as His are.

The Father is glorified in the Son because the Son only desires those things that are pleasing in God’s sight.

As prayers of this nature are presented and granted, it causes great glory to be brought to God.

14:14 The promise is repeated for emphasis and as a strong encouragement to God’s people.

Live in the center of His will, walk in fellowship with the Lord, ask for anything that the Lord would desire, and your prayers will be answered.

Praying in Jesus’ name means praying with His authority and asking God the Father to act upon our prayers because we come in the name of His Son, Jesus.

Praying in Jesus’ name means the same thing as praying according to the will of God,

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask ANYTHING according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).

Praying in Jesus’ name is praying for things that will honor and glorify Jesus.

Genuinely praying in Jesus’ name and for His glory is what is important, not attaching certain words to the end of a prayer.

It is not the words in the prayer that matter, but the purpose behind the prayer.

Praying for things that are in agreement with God’s will is the essence of praying in Jesus’ name.

SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)
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Monday, October 14
From Faith to Faith Daily Devotional

THAT GLORIOUS NAME
by Kenneth Copeland

And I will do [I Myself will grant] whatever you may ask in My name [as presenting all that I AM,] so that the Father may be glorified and extolled in (through) the Son.
— John 14:13, The Amplified Bible

In Jesus’ Name. It’s more than a phrase we tack onto the end of our prayers.

All that God is and does is represented in the Name of Jesus.

The Amplified Bible says when you ask in His Name, you present your requests to the Father on the basis of all that Jesus is.

So you can boldly expect to have those requests granted—not because you’re worthy, but because He is!

What’s more, the Name of Jesus carries authority over all other names.

In Philippians 2:5-11, the Apostle Paul tells us,

“God also hath highly exalted him [Jesus], and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.”

In spite of all the Word of God has to say about the power of the Name of Jesus, most believers don’t seem to put much stock in it.

They’ll pray in the Name of Jesus, then turn right around and say, “I sure hope God answers that prayer.”

They don’t realize that if they only had the faith to believe it, Jesus’ Name alone carries enough clout to guarantee their prayers will be answered.

They even let religious slang rob them of the power of using that Name.

I’ve heard many a well-meaning believer end his prayer with the phrase, “For Jesus’ sake.”

But Jesus didn’t say to pray for His sake. He said to pray in His Name.

I used to make that mistake myself.

One night I was praying because I was suffering from a stomachache.

“Oh, for Jesus’ sake,” I prayed, “heal my stomach.”

After I’d said that a few times, the Lord spoke up on the inside of me.

Wait a minute, He said, whose stomach is hurting here, Mine or yours?

“Mine!” I answered.

Then He very plainly said, In that case, pray for your stomach’s sake, in My Name!

Jesus’ Name. Dig into the Word and find out just how much power and authority it really carries.

Then use that power every time you pray. Stop hoping God will answer and start expecting Him to cause every circumstance in your life to bow its knee in honor of that glorious Name! Ame
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