Yesterday's passage was deep and powerful. Today, we're going to prayerfully reflect on that passage, praying for wisdom and understanding as we try to tackle this big concept and apply it to our lives. 15 “If you love me, obey[d] my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,[e] who will never leave you. 17 He 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.[f]
Lord, we thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit within us. Help us to seek him, to hear him, to listen to him, to recognize him so that we can glorify you here. 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. 20 When 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. 21 Those 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.” Help us to connect to you, Jesus, as you dwell within us. Help us to accept what it is you ask us to do, and help us to do your will because we love you. When we fall short, Lord, forgive us. We are trying, but we are so small compared to you. Keep working within us, please remind us that you love us anyway and continue to pursue our hearts so that our eyes and ears will be turned to you. 22 Judas (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?” 23 Jesus 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.24 Anyone 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. 25 I am telling you these things now while I am still with you.26 But 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. We have been chosen to know you. We've welcomed you into our hearts and we yearn to know you more deeply. God, please reveal yourself to us so that we can reach the world around us so that they might know you and find peace with your spirit. Move us to action, Lord, so that you might glorified. 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.28 Remember 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. 29 I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe. This world can never leave us satisfied. We will always yearn for something more, and that something more can never be filled with anything worldly; only you. Lord, thank you for the peace of mind and heart that we have in knowing that we will someday live with you in eternity. That promise gives us the courage to live our your call for us here, for there is nothing to fear when God has given us a gift so great. 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, 31 but 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. We love you so much, Jesus. Because we love you, we cannot help but move. We will do what you have asked, to the best of our abilities, because we love you and want to show the world that love. Be with us on this journey. Amen.
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