A Personal Promise
Over the last number of months as we have been waiting on the Lord, He has revealed that He is in the process of doing a new thing. We are standing on holy ground. He is getting us ready for all that he is about to r Perhaps we may have been unsure what that looks like. In this word the Lord lays out exactly what we are to expect.
This month I received a really strong word from the Lord ….. but when I shared it I could see that it was not resonating with the people that I was sharing with…… and the Lord showed me that some words are for us in particular and they are not for others.
Some Words are given quite specifically to the ones he is addressing and this morning I want to talk about one of those words.
In the New Testament gospel of John, Jesus shares with his disciples on the evening before his arrest. Nearly one third of the book of John covers the events of this one night.
As we read we see that hear Jesus makes the same promise to his friends, not once but 4 different times ….
14:14 You may ask for anything in my name and I will do it.
15:7 Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you
15:17 Whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you
16:24. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete.
Jesus wanted his friends to know that he wouldn’t leave them alone. He was going to send the Holy Spirit as His Advocate 14:14. And it would be the Holy Spirit would undertake the role that Jesus had been playing teacher and Counsellor. It would be by the power of the Holy spirit that promise that Jesus was making would be fulfilled.
The obvious question to follow as I was contemplating this word was why are you giving us this word now Lord.
God has been declaring to his people all around the world that they are to get ready for all that he is about to pour in it by his spirit and so that we don’t get it wrong He is bringing us back to the moment when a similar outpouring took place …. When; not once, not twice or three times but 4 times he told his disciples just ask and you will receive.
Jesus relationship with his disciples was unique. These were men who had given up everything. Today there are also those who have given up everything to follow him and it is to such as these he is calling out in this moment.
In case the disciples should be unclear as to what being his friends looked like he laid it out for them.
If we want to experience the presence and the power that he promises we need to remain in him. In the passage John 15:4 we read that Jesus is the vine. He calls us to remain in him so I also will remain in you. These men had been living with Jesus day and day out and he was telling them this ought not to change. If you are to receive the power that will flow when the spirit is given …. You must remain in me.
In case there be an confusion as to what remaining looked like Jesus laid it our clearly;
If you remain in me and my words remain in you …. We remain in Him as we continue to be thoroughly soaked in the word. Jesus told his disciples that his word cleanses you. John 15:3 and then again in his letter to the church in Ephesus Paul teaches us that by his word in us we are continually being cleansed from the impurities of the world. We are being washed with the water of the Spirit ‘through the word’. (Eph 5:26) In one of my recent messages I shared that God is calling us as His vessels to remain cleansed. As the vessels of God each time we spend time in his word we are being washed as we spend time bathing in His word. It brings new meaning to the term being soaked in the word of God. We are in a very real spiritual sense being cleansed from the impurities of the world as we spend time in God’s word. (Eph 5:26)
Jesus had called his disciples to love him. To love him we must learn to obey him You are my friends …. ‘if you do what I command’. (John 15:14). Simon do you love me more than these, Feed my lambs; take care of my sheep; feed my lambs. In these last days of the last days Jesus is calling us to forsake every other voice except for his own. Be fully given over to him.
Finally reminds his friends to be doers of the word. (Jn 14:12; 17:4) When we are told to go we are to do just as Jesus did. Trust the spirit going ahead of us. Remain in in Him so that even those who walk in our shadow will know the power of God. Jesus chastised the Pharisees because although they knew the word, they demonstrated that they were not doers of the word. It was our Lord that said that ‘I bring glory to God by doing what he sent me to do” (John 17:4)
Why NOW?
Why did Jesus share this word with them in this way at this time. Why now? Because he was leaving them. In John 14:15 Jesus told his disciples, I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and he will teach you all things and he will remind you of what I’ve said.
Jesus is now by his Spirit reminding us of his promise … He is saying just as I was telling my friends before I was about to send my spirit in power, so I am telling you now.
Now is the time !
I have told you this so that when it happens you will believe. Look at the parallel. The Lord has been telling us that he is about to send his Spirit in power. He has been telling us to ‘get ready’ in anticipation of his pour being released through his spirit and the spirit is reminding by taking us back to a different time when exactly the same thing took place.
The spirit is reminding …. By directing our attention to the place where Jesus repeated the promise not once but 4 times.
‘Just Ask’. When it happens; when the spirit is poured in power as it is about to be; you will be able to look back and you will remember that it was Jesus who said …. ‘I told you so”. ……. Now will you believe.
What a word ! What a promise! What a God!
