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Monday, August 28, 2023

Short Reflection from John 15-21

[Originally posted in a WhatsApp group (KD) as a daily reading update (reflection) from each chapter of the Bible]

๐•๐•†โ„โ„• ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ:๐Ÿœ-๐Ÿ

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. ‘I am the vine, you are the branches; สœแด‡ แดกสœแด แด€ส™ษชแด…แด‡s ษชษด แดแด‡ แด€ษดแด… ษช ษชษด สœษชแด, สœแด‡ ส™แด‡แด€ส€s แดแดœแด„สœ า“ส€แดœษชแด›, for apart from Me you can do nothing.’"

We love to sing the hymn, "Abide with me" but here it's Jesus who is telling us to abide in Him.

How do we abide? By obeying His commandments (v10) To what extent? Even to the point of treating your slaves like friends, and dying for them (v12-13)

Why? ษชแด›'s า“แดส€ แดแดœส€ แดŠแดส แด›แด ส™แด‡ แด„แดแดแด˜สŸแด‡แด›แด‡! (v11)

๐™ฐ๐š‹๐š’๐š๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š’๐š— ๐™ฒ๐š‘๐š›๐š’๐šœ๐š ๐š’๐šœ ๐š—๐š˜๐š ๐š‹๐šž๐š›๐š๐šŽ๐š—๐šœ๐š˜๐š–๐šŽ.

๐™พ๐š‹๐šŽ๐šข๐š’๐š—๐š ๐™ฒ๐š‘๐š›๐š’๐šœ๐š'๐šœ ๐™ฒ๐š˜๐š–๐š–๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐š–๐šŽ๐š—๐š ๐š’๐šœ ๐š—๐š˜๐š ๐š‹๐š’๐š๐š๐šŽ๐š›.

๐š๐šŠ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ๐š›, ๐š’๐š ๐š’๐šœ ๐š๐š˜๐š› ๐š˜๐šž๐š› ๐™น๐™พ๐šˆ!

๐š‚๐šŽ๐šŽ! ๐™ท๐š˜๐š  ๐™ถ๐š˜๐š ๐š’๐šœ ๐šœ๐š˜ ๐š’๐š—๐š๐šŽ๐š›๐šŽ๐šœ๐š๐šŽ๐š ๐š’๐š— ๐š˜๐šž๐š› ๐™น๐š˜๐šข ๐š’๐š— ๐™ท๐š’๐š–!

๐“ฃ๐“ธ ๐“ซ๐“ฎ ๐“ฑ๐“ช๐“น๐“น๐”‚ ๐“ฒ๐“ท ๐“™๐“ฎ๐“ผ๐“พ๐“ผ ๐“ฒ๐“ผ ๐“ซ๐“พ๐“ฝ ๐“ฝ๐“ธ ๐“ฝ๐“ป๐“พ๐“ผ๐“ฝ ๐“ช๐“ท๐“ญ ๐“ธ๐“ซ๐“ฎ๐”‚!

 

๐•๐•†โ„โ„• ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿž:๐Ÿ›๐Ÿ›

"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

1. In Christ is Peace.

2. In World is Persecution.

I am both in Christ and in the world. And yes, there's peace in Christ, and a measure of persecution in this world.

So, when trouble comes, I shouldn't be surprised, rather, I must be courageous because I am on the side of victory!

Christianity is not a lost cause. Mission is not a lost cause. Church is not a lost cause. Even if I as an individual die, Christ's Church will still prevail. And one day the dead in Christ will attain resurrection and see the last defeat of Satan and the world, and shall reign with Christ!

All because of Jesus!

๐“Ÿ๐“ป๐“ช๐“ฒ๐“ผ๐“ฎ, ๐“œ๐”‚ ๐“ผ๐“ธ๐“พ๐“ต, ๐“ฝ๐“ฑ๐“ฎ ๐“ถ๐“ฒ๐“ฐ๐“ฑ๐“ฝ๐”‚ ๐“š๐“ฒ๐“ท๐“ฐ ๐“ธ๐“ฏ ๐“—๐“ฎ๐“ช๐“ฟ๐“ฎ๐“ท!

 

๐•๐•†โ„โ„• ๐Ÿ™๐ŸŸ:๐Ÿก

"I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours."

Interesting Revelation! That Jesus wasn't praying for the world, but only for His disciples (btw, that includes you and me), He prayed for us. Look at verse 20.

God told Jeremiah to stop praying for the rebellious people of Judah (Jer.14:11).

Apostle John tells us not to pray for "such" group of sinners (1 John 5:16)

But for today, instead of asking why, let's rejoice that Jesus prayed for you and me! ๐Ÿ˜‡

 

๐•๐•†โ„โ„• ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ :๐Ÿœ๐Ÿ˜

"So they cried out again, saying, “Not this man, but Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a robber."

The crowds of Jerusalem would have anybody but Jesus.

This world will have anybody but Jesus.

While we, Christians say, "We would rather forsake everything but Christ!" However, let's not forget Peter, he said that, and he failed every time he was challenged.

๐“œ๐“ธ๐“ป๐“ฎ ๐“ต๐“ธ๐“ฟ๐“ฎ ๐“ฝ๐“ธ ๐“ฃ๐“ฑ๐“ฎ๐“ฎ ๐“ธ ๐“’๐“ฑ๐“ป๐“ฒ๐“ผ๐“ฝ! ๐“œ๐“ธ๐“ป๐“ฎ ๐“ต๐“ธ๐“ฟ๐“ฎ ๐“ฝ๐“ธ ๐“ฃ๐“ฑ๐“ฎ๐“ฎ! ๐“ž๐“ท ๐“ซ๐“ฎ๐“ท๐“ญ๐“ฎ๐“ญ ๐“ด๐“ท๐“ฎ๐“ฎ๐“ผ, ๐“˜ ๐“น๐“ป๐“ช๐”‚!

 

๐•๐•†โ„โ„• ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿก:๐Ÿœ

"Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.”

Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. He knew Jews were hypocrites. He knew Jews were jealous of Jesus. He knew Jesus would never rebel against him or challenge him. He knew Jesus was a simple, ordinary, law-abiding, quiet citizen. He even "wanted" to save Jesus.

But Pilate handed Him over to be crucified.

Many implications to think through, but this one for today comes to me strongly. Knowledge is not enough, Courage is needed. Conviction is not enough, Action is needed. Pilate wasn't courageous, and He didn't act righteously.

Lord, help me to be courageous in standing firm for the truth. Help me to not only be informed but to be transformed too.

—Courage in Action—

 

๐•๐•†โ„โ„• ๐Ÿš๐Ÿ˜

๐š€. ๐š†๐š‘๐šข ๐š ๐šŠ๐šœ ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐™ถ๐š˜๐šœ๐š™๐šŽ๐š• ๐š˜๐š ๐™น๐š˜๐š‘๐š— ๐š ๐š›๐š’๐š๐š๐šŽ๐š— ๐š๐š˜๐š›

๐™ฐ. ๐š‚๐š˜ ๐š๐š‘๐šŠ๐š ๐š ๐šŽ ๐š–๐šŠ๐šข ๐š‹๐šŽ๐š•๐š’๐šŽ๐šŸ๐šŽ  ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š™๐šŽ๐š›๐šœ๐š˜๐š— ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐š ๐š˜๐š›๐š” ๐š˜๐š ๐™ฒ๐š‘๐š›๐š’๐šœ๐š, ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐š’๐š— ๐š‹๐šŽ๐š•๐š’๐šŽ๐šŸ๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š ๐šŽ ๐š–๐šŠ๐šข ๐š‘๐šŠ๐šŸ๐šŽ ๐šœ๐šŠ๐š•๐šŸ๐šŠ๐š๐š’๐š˜๐š—!

๐šŸ31 "but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name."

๐š€. ๐™ณ๐š˜๐š—'๐š ๐š ๐šŽ ๐š‘๐šŠ๐šŸ๐šŽ ๐š•๐šŽ๐šœ๐šœ๐šŽ๐š› ๐šŠ๐š๐šŸ๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŠ๐š๐šŽ ๐š˜๐š ๐š‹๐šŽ๐š•๐š’๐šŽ๐šŸ๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šŒ๐š•๐šŠ๐š’๐š–๐šœ ๐š˜๐š ๐™ฒ๐š‘๐š›๐š’๐šœ๐š ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š ๐š˜๐š›๐š”๐šœ ๐š˜๐š ๐™ฒ๐š‘๐š›๐š’๐šœ๐š ๐š‹๐šŽ๐šŒ๐šŠ๐šž๐šœ๐šŽ ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ๐šข ๐š ๐šŽ๐š›๐šŽ 2000 ๐šข๐šŽ๐šŠ๐š›๐šœ ๐šŠ๐š๐š˜?

๐™ฐ. ๐™ถ๐š˜๐šœ๐š™๐šŽ๐š• ๐™น๐š˜๐š‘๐š— ๐š’๐šœ ๐š ๐š›๐š’๐š๐š๐šŽ๐š— ๐š๐š˜ ๐šŠ๐š—๐šœ๐š ๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š‘๐šŠ๐š ๐šŸ๐šŽ๐š›๐šข ๐šš๐šž๐šŽ๐šœ๐š๐š’๐š˜๐š—. ๐™ผ๐š˜๐šœ๐š ๐š˜๐š ๐š‘๐š’๐šœ ๐š˜๐š›๐š’๐š๐š’๐š—๐šŠ๐š• ๐šŠ๐šž๐š๐š’๐šŽ๐š—๐šŒ๐šŽ ๐š‘๐šŠd๐š—'๐š ๐šœ๐šŽ๐šŽ๐š— ๐šŽ๐šŸ๐šŽ๐š— ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š›๐šŽ๐šœ๐š ๐š˜๐š ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐™ฐ๐š™๐š˜๐šœ๐š๐š•๐šŽs, ๐š๐š˜๐š›๐š๐šŽ๐š ๐šŠ๐š‹๐š˜๐šž๐š ๐šœ๐šŽ๐šŽ๐š’๐š—๐š ๐™น๐šŽ๐šœ๐šž๐šœ. ๐™ท๐šŽ ๐š ๐š›๐š˜๐š๐šŽ ๐š๐š‘๐š’๐šœ ๐š™๐š›๐š˜๐š‹๐šŠ๐š‹๐š•๐šข 60 ๐šข๐šŽ๐šŠ๐š›๐šœ ๐šŠ๐š๐š๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šŠ๐šœ๐šŒ๐šŽ๐š—๐šœ๐š’๐š˜๐š— ๐š˜๐š ๐™น๐šŽ๐šœ๐šž๐šœ. ๐™ฐ๐š—๐š ๐™น๐š˜๐š‘๐š—'๐šœ ๐šŠ๐š—๐šœ๐š ๐šŽ๐š› ๐š’๐šœ ๐š๐š‘๐š’๐šœ "๐š’๐š'๐šœ ๐š–๐š˜๐š›๐šŽ ๐š‹๐š•๐šŽ๐šœ๐šœ๐šŽ๐š ๐š๐š˜ ๐š‹๐šŽ๐š•๐š’๐šŽ๐šŸ๐šŽ ๐š ๐š’๐š๐š‘๐š˜๐šž๐š ๐šœ๐šŽ๐šŽ๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š๐š‘๐šŠ๐š— ๐š๐š˜ ๐š‹๐šŽ๐š•๐š’๐šŽ๐šŸ๐šŽ ๐š˜๐š—๐š•๐šข ๐šŠ๐š๐š๐šŽ๐š› ๐šœ๐šŽ๐šŽ๐š’๐š—๐š"

๐šŸ29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are those who did not see, and yet believed.”

I haven't seen Christ, have never heard anything from Him, haven't felt or touched Him. I haven't seen Him in dreams (even if you see, how do you know it's Him? ๐Ÿ˜‰ For many times we had stupid dreams!), but I believe Him and believe in Him!

 

๐•๐•†โ„โ„• ๐Ÿš๐Ÿ™:๐ŸŸ

"Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for he was stripped for work), and cast himself into the sea."

Judas Iscariot committed suicide full of remorse.

Jonah the disobedient prophet wished to be drowned in the sea.

Peter dived into the sea, surely, not to be drowned nor to experience the miracle of walking on the water again, but to run to Jesus.

A true believer runs to God for fellowship, (which had been disturbed/broken by sin), for reconciliation. Yes, with mixed feelings of joy and sorrow, repentance and faith!

As I grow older in Christ, I have learned to come quickly to Christ in repentance and worship, but I still need to be quicker.