Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

John 16:25 "These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father.”
What are “these things” about which Jesus had spoken to them of the Father in figurative language? He had used the agricultural illustration of the vinedresser as the Father. It was the figurative language needed at that hour. But Jesus encouraged them that another hour was coming when He would tell them plainly of the Father.
The hour of which Jesus spoke was only seconds away because in the next few verses, Jesus spoke plainly to them of the Father. We can be grateful for Jesus’ figurative language regarding His Father. We learned that this is our Fathers world, and He has planted one true vine in the world—His Son—who is the way of life for the branches so they can display the fruit that pleases the Father. We can also look forward with great anticipation to Jesus telling us plainly of the Father.
Until tomorrow, let’s live in gratitude by receiving from Jesus all that He has for us to display His love in this world, and look expectantly toward the future when we will have a greater understanding of the Father’s love.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 16:24 “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.”
Until “now.” Up to that point in history, no one asked for anything in Jesus’ name. To what does “now” refer. I think Jesus was referring to the time after the cross and the resurrection—after Jesus returned to His Father. Minutes earlier, remember what Jesus had said in 14:12-14. “… because I go to the father. Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments.“
Having received the commandment to love from Jesus and knowing He went to the Father to give them access to the Father (make a place for you) through Him (who is the way), the disciples then had a reason to ask in Jesus’ name. His name is now the way to love, which is the new and excellent way to live. In speaking of love Paul wrote, “I show you a still more excellent way.” (1 Cor. 12:30)—the way of love.
Fullness of joy comes when we ask for the grace to love in Jesus’ name, and Jesus loves through us. May that be our experience today as we live to love with Him.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 16:23 “In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.”
Jesus knew that the disciples had many questions regarding all that He had told them about His relationship with His Father and His going to the Father and His sending the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name. They would carry those unanswered questions until they saw Him in His resurrected body. The day they saw the risen Jesus Christ, they knew they had access to God, the Father, through the finished work of Jesus on the cross. His intercession on their and our behalf has opened the door for us to ask the Father directly for anything we need to know to love with Jesus in this world.
To ask in Jesus’ name is to approach the Father through Jesus’ work. His work is represented when we call in His name. We can ask our Father for whatever we need to love with Jesus because Jesus commanded us to believe in Him and love as He loves us. We also know that His command came from our Father. So we can have confidence when we say to the Father, “I need help loving in this situation as You commanded me in Your son. How do You want to love through me?”
We can be confident when we ask our Father for the grace to love in Jesus’ name, that He will give it to us. Let us rejoice and be glad today. Because Jesus lives, we can ask our Father for whatever we need to love with Him.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

This month we celebrate our country’s 250th anniversary. Since my word of the year is truth, the basis for our declaration of independence caught my attention.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

The founders believed it to be a self-evident truth that God created all men equal and gave each one the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. They maintained that since those rights were given by God, they could not be taken away by any government. Therefore, the responsibility for securing those rights falls upon the people when a government fails to honor God and the rights of the people. I intend to springboard off of these self-evident truths and zero in on God’s provision of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in and through Jesus Christ.

“In Him was life.”

John 1:4: “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”

John 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.’”

1 John 5:11-12: “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”

The idea the Founders had in mind when they used the term life certainly referred to bios or mortal life. If God creates and gives life, it is self-evident that no one has the right to take or destroy that life. The verses above refer to eternal life, one which swallows up mortal life (2 Cor. 5:4). Mortal life is valuable and to be protected, but God has allowed it to be taken away by the devil and his agents, whether they be governments, parents, or enemies. The life that no one can take away is the life of Jesus Christ. If God gives eternal life to someone, that right to life is eternally secure. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John10:27-30). This is a life worth pursuing.

Yes, we, the people, should protect the right to life in this world because it is true that God created each individual at conception and gave them bios, mortal life. We have the right and responsibility to elect people to offices of government that promise to secure that right. I hope you will take that responsibility seriously. However, the bios life you have received from God is not eternal. It will be taken from you. David penned in a psalm the temporal nature of life on this earth. “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them” (Ps. 139:16). Earthly life is limited.

I hope this July 4th, you’ll consider celebrating this Truth: Jesus is the life, eternal life. Do you have it? If you have Jesus, you have the life we should all pursue and celebrate.

John 16:22 “Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”
Let’s imagine the joy of the disciples when they first saw the risen Christ. Unspeakable joy must have filled their hearts. Peter and the rest of the disciples saw Jesus, risen from the dead, on the third day after He spoke these words. Peter spoke of this joy when he wrote about our new birth through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, “and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet. 1:8-9).
No one can take away this inexpressible joy any more than they can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. I hope you’ll take a moment and join the disciples in that moment that Jesus appeared to them for the first time after His death. For them and us, it means that our all sin has been removed, death has been conquered, we are never to die, and we know we will forever be with the Lord. We are the beloved of God. May our hearts be filled with His love and joy today so we can love others with Him as a testimony that Jesus lives!

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com