Daily Inspirations

  Good morning. Jesus stayed in Galilee instead of going to Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. The Feast of Booths was near. It is a celebration of the harvest season. This is one of the feasts where all of the males were expected to go up to Jerusalem. His brothers encouraged Him to go into Jerusalem so that His disciples could see His works which He was doing. No one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world. For not even His brothers were believing in Him. They did not understand His mission. They were thinking in the natural. My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. The word used for time here is not the one that means clock time. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come. Having said these things to them, He stayed in Gal...

  Good morning. Father, we ask in Jesus name that You extend Your healing hand to the reader; that You bring about a miraculous healing quickly Lord - that You make him/her whole and complete quickly. In Jesus’ name we pray amen! Jesus’ disciples were complaining about His statement of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. This emphasizes the importance of God’s word - if you want to have life, follow the word. There are some of you who do not believe. He is saying this to His disciples (not just the 12 who also were apostles but also others who were following Him). They were not just people in the crowd who happened to be there when He said these words. I guess you could say it was crunch time. Now we can see who truly believed and who just wanted part of the...

  Good morning. Jesus’ response to their question about how can a man give us His flesh to eat made them even more confused, since they were thinking in the natural. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. That made one think of cannibalism. Not only that, the Jews were extra careful to not consume the blood of any animal, since that was condemned by God. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. There’s that last day thing again. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he will also live because of Me.This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats is this bread will live forever. This really got the people upset, and it is understandable, since they were think...

 G oo d mo r ning . Jesus continues: everyone who has hea r d an d lea r ned f r om the Fathe r , come s to Me. Not tha t anyone has seen th e Fathe r , except the On e who is f r om God; He has seen the Fathe r . It says in anothe r place tha t no one can see Go d and live. S o is Jesus talking abou t be f o r e His inca r nation that H e saw God? The r e a r e severa l places in the Ol d T estament whe r e it appea rs that God , not an angel, was interacting with humans. W as tha t actually Jesu s befo r e He became a man? T ruly I sa y to you, he who believes has ete r nal life. Again it is not he who does something that has ete r nal life. I am the b r ea d of life. Y our fathers at e the manna in th e wilde r ness, and the y died . This is the b r ead which come s down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living b r ead tha t came down out of heaven; if anyone eats this b r ead, he will live fo r ever ; an d the b r e...

  Good morning. Yesterday Jesus said that He came down from heaven not to do His own will but the will of Him who sent Him. So a good question would be, what is that will? This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. OK, so we might need a little more clarification. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone will beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day. Again it is the believing that brings about the eternal life – not the doing of something. When is the raising up? It is on the last day. The people that were listening to Him were upset because He said that He was the bread that came down out of heaven. Of course they knew better: is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, I have come down out of heaven? They however did not know the full story, and Jesus was not about to explain it to them. No...

  Good morning. So now the people ask Jesus, what then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? Are you kidding me? Jesus just fed 5000 people with almost nothing, and you want to know what sign does He perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, he gave them bread out of heaven to eat. Truly, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father Who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that (He) which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world. They of course are still thinking in the natural. I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. You have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not (it is a double negative - emphatic negative) cast out. That means we can be confident that Jesus will never turn His b...

  Good morning. Jesus and His disciples go to the other side of the sea of Galilee. There was a large crowd because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick. The Passover was near. This is the feeding of the 5000 which we have talked about before; so I won’t go into the details. When the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “this is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” They were looking at this sign only as a way to get plenty of free food. Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone. Then we have the incident where Jesus walked on the water. The next day the people came looking for Jesus – after all it’s breakfast time! They find Him on the other side of the sea and ask when did He get there. You seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. They were not seeking Him because He had performed ...

  Good morning. And the Father who has sent Me has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent. You can know a lot of scriptures, even quoting them, without knowing the One who wrote them; nor letting them change your life. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me. They “knew“ the Scriptures, and “knew“ exactly how it would be when the messiah came; but since  Jesus did not fit the pattern they envisioned, they completely overlooked Him as being the Messiah. It is very possibly the same today. People “know” what is supposed to happen during the end times. They could easily overlook what happens, because it does not fit the pattern they have envisioned. And you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. Since Jesus did not fit their pattern of the Messiah, they refused to trust ...

  Good morning. I can do nothing on my own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. It is hard for people to judge honestly because their own will a lot of times seeps into their judgment. Jesus judges fairly and honestly. If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true. John testified about Me; but the testimony which I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. John was revered by many; so his testimony was highly received. He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. John has already called Jesus the Light, now Jesus calls John the Baptist the lamp. Both were lights of God. That should be enough to settle the issue; but - the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the w...

  Good morning. Hi ho hi ho it’s off to work we go. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgement because He is the Son of Man. If He had not given judgment to Jesus as the Son of Man, people would say how can God judge us - He doesn’t know what it’s like to be human? But Jesus, as man, did know what it was like to be human; and He was able to keep the law with perfection. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to resurrection of judgment. Notice the difference between this verse and the verse we talked about yesterday. Both said “an hour is coming“, but the one yesterday also added “and now is“. That sounded more imminent than this one does. That one said that those who hear will live. That implies that some wo...

  Good morning. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgement to the Son . That’s a pretty scary statement for all those who have been hostile to Jesus. So that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. How would we feel if we owned a business, and sent our child to negotiate with someone from another company, and they disrespected our child? It would be just like they disrespected us to our face. He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Now that is awesome! Of course that does not mean that we won’t die physically. An hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. The phrase “now is“ does not sound like it was going to be 2000 years later, but rather in the near future from when He said it. It sounds like some will hea...

  Good morning. Remember that it was the Sabbath, and the man by the pool did a horrible thing – he was carrying his pallet on the Sabbath. Hey don’t look at me, man. That dude who healed me told me to do this. Who was he? I don’t know. It says that Jesus found him; not that he found Jesus. You have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you. It doesn’t say anything about him becoming sick because of some sin that he did. I do notice that nowhere in the story does he give glory to God for healing him. Instead he goes straight away and tells the Jews it was Jesus who made him well. That got them stirred up; and they started persecuting Jesus because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. We will see next time that Jesus’ response made them even angrier  OK so the Jews were upset because Jesus was “working“ on the Sabbath by healing someone. Jesus’ response – My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working. That really got them upset; so muc...

  Good morning. After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. It does not say which one, but it must’ve been one of the major ones that expects all males to go up to Jerusalem. The beginning of the next chapter has the Passover at hand; so unless John skipped a whole year, this was not the Passover. There is in Jerusalem a pool, which is called Bethesda. Because he said “is” and not “was”, some argue that the gospel of John was written before the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. However, John likes to use what is known in the Greek as the historical present. He uses the present tense instead of the past tense to describe an event - to draw you into the scene. It’s like someone telling a joke and saying, a man goes into a bar and… instead of a man went into a bar and…. You feel like you’re right there in the bar. So this very well could have been why John used the present instead of the past tense. There was a multitude of people around the po...

  Good morning. From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified about Him. This is what is supposed to happen to us. We share what God has done for us with others, and then they believe in Him through our testimony. Jesus then went back to Galilee. He testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. They received Him because they had seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast. They did not believe because of His words; they believed because of the signs He did. He returns to Cana where He turned the water into wine. A royal official from Capernaum heard that Jesus was in Galilee. His son was sick, so he implored Jesus to come and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe. Like any normal parent, he ignored Jesus’ criticism - please come before my child dies. Jesus simply said, go, your son lives. Most of us would’ve said, but You do...

  Good morning. I know that messiah is coming; when that One comes, He will declare all things to us. I who speak to you am He. Jesus did not declare that He was the Messiah in front of the Jews – they would’ve gotten very angry. The disciples return, and the woman goes into the city. She tells them to come see a man who has told her all the things that she has done. This is not the Christ, is it? They went out of the city, and were coming to Him. The disciples had gotten something to eat, and so they encouraged Jesus to eat. I have food to eat that you do not know about. The disciples, as usual, were thinking in the natural. No one brought Him anything to eat, did he? My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. Now comes the verse that is similar to the one we looked at in a different gospel. Do you not say, there are yet four months, and then comes the harvest? I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields that they are white for harvest. It ...

  Good morning. Thanking in the natural, the woman at the well said “give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all this way here to draw”. Call your husband. I don’t have a husband. You have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband. I perceive that You are a prophet. Deflecting, she now brings up the bone of contention between the Jews and Samaritans: you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. God had said that Jerusalem was the place where the temple was to be built, and where worship was to occur. After the kingdom was divided, the northern kingdom worshipped in the mountains of Samaria. An hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. (He didn’t say for the Jews - leaving us out). An hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; for...

  Good morning. We are with Jesus and the woman at the well. If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, give Me a drink; you would have asked Him, and He would’ve given you living water. In the book of Numbers, it talks about adding flowing or living water to the ashes of a sacrifice. The Holy Spirit is not like a lake or a pond just sitting there. He is living and moving and active in and through you. Of course the woman was thinking in the natural. Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? When the present well was cleaned out in 1935, it was found to be 138 feet deep. Did they have to dig that far to hit water, or was it that over time they had to keep digging and digging to keep getting water? In either case that is a desperation for water. That is the way we should be going after the Holy Spirit! You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us this well? Everyone who drinks of this water w...

  Good morning. Jesus left Judea and went way again into Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria. Remember that a lot of times the Jews went across the Jordan River to avoid having to go through Samaria. He went through Samaria because He was on a mission from God. Things did not happen to Him or by Him by coincidence. He came to a city near the land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus being weary from His journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. We don’t think about Jesus getting tired and thirsty. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water, Jesus said to her, give Me a drink. She said, how is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) people normally drew water at the end of the day; but as we shall see, she was not what one would call respectable. My Bible says that the phrase Jews have no dealings with Samaritans implies the meaning “do not use dishe...

  Good morning. John speaking of Jesus: what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. Jesus didn’t make stuff up; He only said and did what the Father told Him to say and do. He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. (it’s not that this person gets a little bit, and this other person gets a whole lot!). The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. The Father did not hold anything back from the Son. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey (or believe) the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. So that’s the big question – do you believe in the Son? Some Christians are so focused on the wrong thing that this person or that person is doing. They try to get that person to stop doing it. But that’s not the problem – the problem is they do not have the Son. The o...

  Good morning. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. We see this very much today with all that’s going on in Washington and elsewhere. There are a lot of cockroaches afraid right now of being exposed to the light. They hide or try to misdirect the press. As we have seen many times in the past, those that condemn a particular sin the most are quite likely doing the same or worse in their own lives. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. Jesus and His disciples went to the land of Judea and were baptizing. John the Baptist was also baptizing. John’s disciples had a discussion with someone about purification. They told John that Jesus was baptizing, and everyone was coming to Him. They were th...

  Good morning. Continuing with Jesus and Nick at night. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. There was a plague, and whoever looked at the metal serpent that Moses held up was healed. Now this statement would disturb most Jews, because they believed that the Son of Man would live forever when He came upon the earth. They did not realize that He had to die on the cross. Whoever was hung on a tree was cursed. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Of course that is impossible for us to conceive of; that someone would give up their only child to save people who not only did not care about the one giving his/her child but even hated the one giving. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is...

  Good morning. We are still with Nick at night 😇 . Do not be amazed that I said to you (singular); you (plural) must be born again. So Jesus was not just talking to Nicodemus alone. Everyone must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. How can these things be? Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? There is in the Greek a definite article “the” in front of the word teacher; so he was not just any old teacher of Israel. I don’t know if that applied to just one person, or to several. In either case, I infer that that meant Nicodemus was not a young person. He had probably been in Jerusalem during many Passovers, especially the one where the 12-year-old Jesus was in the temple asking questions and answering the spiritual leaders. That was almost 20 years before; so he probably would not have been the teacher of Israel a...

  Good morning. While Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. Jesus was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men. Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. It doesn’t say, but I assume it is still during this time of the Passover. This man came to Jesus by night. Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do the signs that You do unless God is with him. It just said that the people believed in His name because of the signs He was doing; yet it does not say what those signs were. Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. That is why unbelievers cannot tell what is of the kingdom of God and what is not – they’re not born again. Nicodemus doesn’t have a clue. How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he? Unless one is born of water and the Spirit ...

  Good morning. The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. John puts what will follow at the beginning of his gospel, and the other gospels put it at the end. Since John was there, then I believe he is the one that is right. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Of course it was necessary to have all these things, but not in the temple. People needed the animals to sacrifice; but it would’ve been a big hassle to bring them with them. People also had to have the right type of currency, and of course you could only get it here. But here should not have been in the temple. He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple. He poured out the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables. Stop making My Father’s house a place of business. The Jews were upset with Him. They wanted to know what sign do You show us as Your authority for doing these things? Je...

  Good morning. Now there were 6 stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing 20 or 30 gallons each. My Bible says that Jews became ceremonially defiled during the normal circumstances of daily life, and were cleansed by pouring water over the hands. Jesus told the servants to fill the water pots with water. They filled them up to the brim. That means that there was somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons of water. He then told them to draw some out and take it to the head waiter. I have no idea what type of vessel they carried the water in. I say that because I don’t know when it became evident that it was no longer water. Did it happen as they carried it, or when the head waiter tasted it? The headwaiter called the bridegroom. Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now. Have you ever wondered what the servants were thinking? The headwaiter did not...

  Good morning. Remember that we were with Nathaniel yesterday. Jesus saw him coming and says to him first, “behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” How do you know me? Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” Under a fig tree in the heat of the day is where an Israelite would dream of the coming of the Messiah to get their freedom from the Roman soldiers. Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these. You will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. That reminds one of Jacob’s ladder. On the third day from when all of this started, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. (This was actually Nathaniel‘s hometown); both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. Cana was not far from Nazareth; so at least Jesus’ mother...

  Good morning. The next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, behold, the Lamb of God! The disciples followed Jesus. Jesus wanted to know, what do you seek? They went with Jesus and spent the night there. One of the two that followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter‘s brother. It does not say who the other one was; it could’ve been John. Instead of keeping everything to himself, Andrew found Peter and said to him, “we have found the Messiah.” This of course is the way we should all be. When we come upon something so miraculous, we should share it with those who are closest to us. Andrew brought him to Jesus. It does not say whether or not Andrew had told Jesus about Peter. Jesus said first to Peter, “you are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas - Peter. It’s kind of like Jesus first saying his name to Zacchaeus later. Jesus found Philip and said to him, follow Me. Philip then found Nathaniel. This is the way spiri...

  Good morning. The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is He on behalf of whom I said, after me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me. I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water. Here John is telling us why Jesus was water baptized - it wasn’t because he needed to repent from sins He had done. Even John did not recognize Him (as being the Messiah), and they were related. We do not know how much interaction they had with each other, nor how old John was when he went to live in the desert; after all his parents were old when John was born. I have seen the Holy Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. I myself ...

  Good morning. Back to John: remember that some men had come from the Pharisees to question John the Baptist. Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet? I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The reason it was designated as Bethany beyond the Jordan is because Bethany was also the home village of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. It will also help us locate where Jesus was when the messengers from Mary and Martha came to tell Jesus that Lazarus was sick. It will be called the place where John was first baptizing. Father thank You that all is well when we are in Your love and care. Help the reader to feel that love today and every day.

  Good morning. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. Remember that no one can see God and live. Remember when we were talking about the letters that John wrote, he was fighting the heresy of Gnosticism. They said that Jesus was just a man before the Holy Spirit came upon Him after being baptized; and that the Holy Spirit left Him when He was on the cross before He died. John is saying here that not only was Jesus God, but also that He was begotten. He became man also. Here John is also saying Jesus is presently in the bosom of the Father. This would not be true if Jesus were merely a man. When the religious leaders asked John the Baptist, “who are you?” He said that he was not the Christ. They had not experienced anyone in their lifetimes acting and speaking with the power and authority of God like John was. They were trying to put him in a box, just like people do today, so they would know how to deal with ...

  Good morning. John testified about Jesus and cried out, saying, “this was He of whom I said, He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.” Now that is an interesting statement that Jesus existed before John, because John was actually born a few months before Jesus. He was again proclaiming the fact that Jesus was the Son of God - remember that He was in the beginning with the Father. For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. The letter of the law kills, but the Holy Spirit gives life everlasting! Father thank You that You give only life. Thank You for giving that life and all that goes with it to us and our family.