Daily Inspirations

Good morning. Remember we ended last time with Jesus saying that the world hated Him before it hated the disciples. Why does the world hate us? If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. This is talking about us too; not just the original disciples. We are in the world, but not of the world. Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master; if they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. That makes me feel warm and fuzzy – not. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. You cannot say that you love God but hate Jesus. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, ...

Good morning. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. That’s a very high bar. Very few of us would be willing to attain to that bar. It would be hard enough to do it for family, much less a fellow brother or sister; and yet Jesus did it for us. You are My friends if you do what I command you. There He goes again. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you. That was not only true of the apostles, but also of us. In their case, everything had to come together just right for this to work. He had to have the right men, all at the exact right time. He even had to have the traitor too. I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command yo...

Good morning. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My Commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. There’s that keeping His commandments thing again. Ya think His mentioning it over and over again indicates that it might be important? These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. Keeping His commandments gives us joy? Actually it does. Little children may get upset and rebel against their parents’ “Commandments“, but inwardly they are actually happy to have the boundaries set; or so they say. Christians are the same. We may get upset and rebel against God‘s Commandments, but inwardly we are glad to have the boundaries set. OK, so what are His commandments? Let’s see that long list. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. That’s it? Sure sounds easy. If Christians had loved one another as ...

Good morning. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. No matter what “great“ thing we do or how perfect we live, we can take no credit and cannot brag. It is all Jesus! If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. Whoa! That sounds ominous. Want to get your prayers answered? If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. That sounds simple – but not easy. As I said before, people are looking for some formula to get their prayers answered. This does not mean just reading the Bible every day and going to church on Sunday morning. You have to stay constantly in tune with Him. That along with allowing His word to become a part of you means that you don’t have to worry about asking something that is not in His will. When we know and follow Him as we...

Good morning. I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. First note that the branch He’s talking about is in Him. He is not talking about an unbeliever. If it does not bear fruit, then the Father takes it away. It does not say that they will lose their salvation, but it is kind of scary. Even if it does bear fruit, it gets pruned - ouch. But it is not because He’s being mean; it is in order that it may bear more fruit. This is true with natural branches. When my neighbor has someone trim her crêpe myrtles that are on the boundary of our property, they are next to nothing but stumps. When spring comes, they explode to new heights. That is what God wants with us. Instead of using pruning shears, He uses the word of God. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. I believe I have talked to you before about the t...

  Good morning. So Jesus tells them He’s leaving – that is stressful! Then He says, peace I leave with you. Peace? Dude, You just said You’re leaving us here all alone. How can we have peace? My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. Notice that He said do not “let“ your heart be troubled nor fearful. The natural reaction of the heart in stressful situations is to be troubled or fearful. We have to resist the natural inclination of the heart to be troubled or fearful. If anyone had a reason for His heart to be troubled or fearful, Jesus was it. He knew He was about to suffer scourging and crucifixion on the cross, and yet His heart was not troubled nor fearful. You heard that I said to you, I go away, and I will come to you. If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may...

Good morning. He who has My Commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. Here we come back to this again: if you love Jesus – you will keep His commandments. It’s not what you say; it’s what you do. Lord, what has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world? Again it seems that the disciples are hearing only one thing. They still have not addressed the issue about keeping His commandments. But Jesus is not going to let the issue drop. If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me, does not keep My words. Jesus was actually being a logician there. Just because you say if A, then B, does not automatically mean that if not A, then not B is true. In other words, just because Jesus said, if you love Me, you will keep My word does not logically mean t...

Good morning. So Jesus has good news and bad news for the disciples. The bad news – He is going away. Good news – I will ask the Father, and He will give you another helper/comforter, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. Of course that was not comforting to them. Most of them had known Jesus for three years, and no one could replace Him. But God had thought of everything. As we said before, if Jesus had stayed, He could only be in one place at one time. He could not have helped each individual to live the Christian life, as the Holy Spirit could. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Most of us do not know what it feels like to be an orphan – feeling like you don’t belong to anyone or anything. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that d...

Good morning. Now a verse that seems incredibly impossible. 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 the Father. I think we would settle for works much less than Jesus did – forget about greater ones. Jesus had to go away. If he had not, He would’ve only been able to be in only one place at any one time. He had to ascend to the Father so that He could send the Holy Spirit in order that we could do greater works than He did. 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. That seems pretty clear; but why are we not doing it? We do the first part all right – ask in His name; but why doesn’t He do what we ask? We are all looking for some little formula that will make everything work. So we ask Him for something in His name, and nothing happens. If that were all that there ...

  Good morning. Then Jesus says, if you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him. Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. They still didn’t get it; but neither would we have, had we been there. Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say show us the Father? People today want to see God. They want to see what He would do here own earth. They don’t realize that all they need to do is look at Jesus, and what He did, and they would see what God would do if He were here on earth. They would rather have a set of cold, dead rules to follow than to have a flesh and blood example of love and compassion like Jesus. After all, they might be able to slide around the rules; but they can’t slide around what Jesus said and did. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own init...

Good morning. Jesus just told His disciples to not let their hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. The king James says mansions, but that is not a good translation. That does not mean that they are buildings; though they could be. We won’t need any physical dwelling places, since we won’t have a physical body. It does say that they are many of them. Perhaps it is our resurrected bodies - they would indeed be mansions. As an interesting side note, the Greek word for house is spelled “oikos”. That is the name of one of the Greek yogurts. The name not only can mean house, but it can also mean family. Back to Jesus – if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. That should have been comforting to them; but again they were thinking in the natural - that Jesus was leav...

Good morning. After all that Jesus just said, Peter says, Lord, where are You going? I just noticed - Peter didn’t say anything about the one who was going to betray Jesus, nor did he say anything about the new commandment to love one another; he simply wanted to know where Jesus was going without him. Jesus answered, where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later. Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You. It’s easy to criticize Peter for what he did later; but we have all said similar things, and when the situation actually came up, we did not follow through either. Will you lay down your life for Me? I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times. The gospels disagree as to whether it was once or twice that the rooster was going to crow. Just because they disagree on some point does not mean that we cannot trust them. They completely agree on the things that matter. Most of them are depending on eyewitnesses, an...

Good morning. Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me, and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you; where I am going, you cannot come. Of course Jesus was talking about ascending to heaven; but the disciples did not catch on. Besides, they were expecting Jesus to remain forever. As an interesting side note, John uses the phrase little children a lot in his letters. A new commandment I give to you. Jesus did not normally go around giving them commandments – after all God had   given them the 10 Commandments. That you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. That’s actually pretty tough to follow. It’s easy to love Jesus, but that dude that sits in the pew over there, he’s pretty hard to love. I guess that’s partly why it’s a commandment. If it were a natural, easy thing to do, Jesus would not have to give a commandment - it will follow naturally. I guess it’s kind of like loving your relatives, even when you ca...

Good morning. Remember that Jesus had just given Judas the morsel. Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, what you do, do quickly. Now no one of those at the table new for what purpose He had said this to him. [Now here comes another reason why I think this was not the Passover.] Some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, buy the things we have need of for the feast; or else, that he should give something to the poor. First of all, you were supposed to stay in the room all night, because it represented the first Passover, when the angel of death came in Egypt. Now I don’t know if that meant till daybreak, or just until midnight. Either way, if it were permissible for him to leave, then the Passover was over; it would be too late to buy anything for the feast. Also the Jews would probably have stoned anyone who was selling things during the Passover night. And the verse says that some thought that Judas was going to buy some ...

Good morning. I pray that your family is doing well. Jesus had just said that not all of the disciples were clean. He became troubled in spirit, and said, one of you will betray Me. That would be very troubling. He had known it for a very long time, but now the fact became magnified. Suppose you were in a group of friends at a meal, and the leader of the group just said something like that. What would you think? The disciples were thinking the same thing you would have. They were looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. If He had told them who it was, what do you think they would have done to Judas? What do you suppose Judas was thinking when He said that? This would make for a perfect one of those “want to get away?“ commercials. There was leaning on Jesus one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. That is a curious designation, since we would think that Jesus loved them all, especially since most people believe that John was talking about himself. So Pet...

Good morning. We were with Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He had said, not all of you are clean. Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, or so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. I gave you an example that you should also do as I did to you. A slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. In other words, if Jesus did it, we should not think it beneath ourselves to do it to our brethren. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, he who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me. If we knew that someone was going to betray us, we would not allow them to be with us, much less eat our food. From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass,...

Good morning. Now [before] the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. I bracketed the word “before” to emphasize that it does not say during the feast. During supper: notice that it does not say during the Passover meal. People have said various things to try to make these verses and the ones that follow to agree with the other gospels that this was the Passover meal. Some have said that this was referring to the Passover meal, and others that they ate something prior to the Passover meal; which to me does not make sense. Back to John: during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. He then b...

Good morning. Back to the Light: I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word that I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. (earlier He said that people would be raised from the dead on the last day, and now He says some will be judged at the last day.) For I did not speak on my own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me. Jesus took His charge from the Father seriously. He knew that He could not deviate at all from what He was to say. If that were you or I, it would put us under a lot of pressure to make sure we said the exac...

Good morning. Remember that the people were wondering who the Son of Man was. Jesus avoids the question; instead He goes back to a metaphor that He has used before. For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that the darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light. Jesus then hides Himself from them. Although He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him (remember Nicodemus), but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. We have the same situation today. Christians are afraid to say anything positive about Jesus and the church for fear that their boss or coworkers will be against them; possibly even l...

Good morning. Then Jesus said, Father, glorify Your name. So what is everyone expecting when He says that – nothing. It is just a perfunctory statement. Boy were they in for a shock! Then a voice came out of heaven: I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. Then everyone said, wow, God just spoke to us from heaven – not. Some said that it thundered, and others that an angel had spoken to Him. This voice has not come for My sake but for your sake. Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself. He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which he was to die. But this contradicted all of the teaching that they had heard from their spiritual leaders. We have heard out of the law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Their spiritual leaders had told them a partial truth about the Son of Man. ...

Good morning. Philip and Andrew came and told Jesus that the Greeks were seeking Him. The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. If Jesus had not died and risen again, He could have only been in one place at a time, and He would have been the only child of God. Because He “fell into the earth and died“, He was multiplied many times over. That’s like a single grain of wheat or corn growing into a plant that bears many grains just like itself. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. Too many Christians love their blessings and prosperity in this life so much so that they are in danger of losing their soul over it. That does not necessarily mean they won’t go to heaven, but they will be tormented inside while they are alive because they can never be satisfied with the things of this life. If anyone serves M...

  Good morning. Now we’re getting ready for Palm Sunday, which ties all of the other Gospels together about Jesus being just across the Jordan River from Jericho when He got the news about Lazarus. A large crowd which had come to the feast of Passover, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him and began to shout Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it. The other Gospels say that He sent disciples to a nearby village to find a colt. That does not mean that it is a contradiction; John just left out the details. His disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. They were caught up in the excitement of the moment, and did not realize the significance of what they were doing. The people who had seen H...

  Good morning. Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus. The chief priests and the Pharisees wanted people to report if they saw Jesus, so that they might seize Him. Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to where Lazarus was. They were having dinner, and Lazarus was dining with Him. Martha was serving. In Luke we have where Martha was upset because Mary was not helping her. It is in the middle of Luke and not at the end, so it may have been a different situation. Sometimes different gospels have episodes in a different order. Mary took some very expensive perfume and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. Judas wanted to know why it was not sold and the money given to the poor. He didn’t really care about the poor; he just wanted to steal some of the money since he carried the money box. Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day ...

Good morning. The chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council and were worried because Jesus was performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. They weren’t concerned for the truth about who Jesus was; they were only concerned about themselves. One of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year (my Bible says that he was the son-in law of Annas, who had been deposed from the high priesthood by the Romans. The high priest was supposed to be for life - he couldn’t be deposed.) You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish. Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who a...

Good morning. Well, it’s time to get Lazarus out of the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus told them to remove the stone. Martha told Jesus that by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days. A note on the four days – many Jews believed that the soul remained near the body for three days after death in the hope of returning to the body. In other words, he might have been “merely dead“ à la the wizard of Oz instead of “most sincerely dead“. That didn’t deter Jesus. Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? How are you going to argue with that? Jesus raised His eyes and said, Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me. He cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth...

Good morning.   Martha now goes back to the house to get Mary. Secretly she tells her, the Teacher is here and is calling for you. Now the Bible does not say that Jesus was calling for Mary - perhaps she said that because Mary did not go with her when she went to greet Jesus. When Mary heard that, she got up quickly and was coming to Jesus. Those who were with Mary thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there, and so they followed her. When she got to Jesus, she said the exact same thing that her sister had said: Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. This seems to confirm the idea that they had said this to each other over and over again during the four days since Lazarus had died. As I said before, she did not add the second part that Martha did – even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You. When Jesus saw her weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled. Where have you laid him? This is what anyone would say in the sa...

Good morning. Martha goes out and meets Jesus and says, Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. As we will see in a little bit, Mary says the exact same thing. That implies that this was not the first time that they said this. You can imagine them sitting in the house mourning the loss of Lazarus and saying, if Jesus had just been here, our brother would not have died. Martha, however, adds something that Mary does not. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You. What exactly did she mean by that? It sounds like she believes that Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead, but the next few verses seem to contradict that. Your brother will rise again. I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Does that mean that she does not believe that Jesus will bring him back to life right then, or is she just asking Him to be more specific? Note when she believes the resurrection will occur – on the last day. That must’ve been the co...

Good morning. Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep. This is the terminology used throughout the New Testament when someone dies – that he or she has fallen asleep. Remember that Jesus waited two days, but when He got there Lazarus had been dead four days. In other words, if He had left immediately after they had told Him about Lazarus and had gone at the same pace, He still would’ve been two days too late. He is just across the Jordan River from Jericho. Even if He left right now and did not stop to spend the night with Zacheus, it would not of taken four days to get to Lazarus’ house. The disciples thought He was talking about literal sleep and that if Lazarus was asleep, it was a good thing. Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him. (Doubting) Thomas said, let’s also go, that we may die with Him. So they get there four days too late, and there are a lot of people...

Good morning. After what Jesus said last time, they tried to seize Him, but He slipped away again. He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there. As we said before, there were two places where scholars thought this was located. However from the things I’ve said before in the other Gospels and the fact that Palm Sunday happened shortly after this, I believe that this was the one near Jericho. So as far as the crow flies, this was not too many miles from where Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived. Lazarus was sick, and Mary and Martha sent to Jesus telling Him “he whom You love is sick”. And so Jesus began bawling and squalling and saying “oh how terrible”. That’s the RPV (revised perverted version) of the Bible. He actually said, this sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Our reaction would’ve been the first one. The next statement seems strange to us. Jesus love...

Good morning. Remember that Jesus just said, “I and the Father are one”. The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. I showed you many good works from the Father; for which one of them are you stoning Me? For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; because You being a man, make Yourself out to be God. That was the true significance of Jesus’ statement. He could not be one with the Father unless He were God. Has it not been written in your law, “I said, you are gods”? If he called them gods (I read somewhere that the Mormons use this verse to justify their claim that they are or will be gods), to whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, You are blaspheming, because I said, “I am the Son of God “? I don’t know if it is still true, but at one time there were some believers who said that Jesus never claimed to be the Son of God. I know that is the case, because I had someone say th...