Daily Inspirations

  Good morning. We left Jesus being questioned by the high priest about His disciples and His teaching. I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret. Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said. When He had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, is that the way You answer the high priest? The same thing happened to Paul in the book of Acts. He got a bit upset then. As a reminder, this was Annas, the true high priest - not the one put into place by the Romans. If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me? Of course he had no answer. So, Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the (Roman designated) high priest. Now Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, you are not also one of His disciples, are you? In Greek you can ask a question which expects...

  Good morning. Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest. Most people believe that this other disciple (who was the same one designated as the disciple whom Jesus loved) was John. One may rightly wonder why a fisherman would be known to the high priest. They would not normally mingle with the same group of people. Remember that one of the gospels talks about James and John, their father, and the hired servants. Their father would have had to have had a pretty good fishing business to have to hire servants. He could have been wealthy and run in the same circles as the high priest. But Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in. Then the slave girl who kept the door said to Peter, you are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you? He said, I am not. This was the first denial by Peter. ...

  Good morning. I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way, to fulfill the word which He spoke (in the upper room), of those whom You have given Me I lost not one. Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus. John did not say anything about bringing a sword, but it did mention it in Luke. Jesus had said whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one. The disciples said here are two swords. And He said “it is enough”. John is the only one who says that Peter is the one that cut off his ear, and John is the only one that tells the slave’s name. John does not say that Jesus healed his ear. Put the sword away; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it? As I said before, John does not talk about Jesus struggling in the garden with the cup that God had given Him. But it would make sense that it had happened by these words that Jesus said. So they arreste...

  Good morning. Remember I said that John did not elaborate upon what happened in the garden. If you take it at face value, almost as soon as Jesus and the disciples arrived at the garden, Judas and multitude arrived to take Him into custody. So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, “whom do you seek”? He knew what was about to happen, and yet He did not run and hide like we would have – in fact we would never have come to Jerusalem. They answered Him, Jesus the Nazarene. He said to them I am He. The “He” is in italics, so it is not actually in the Greek. So literally He said “I am“. That is reminiscent of Moses and the burning bush. God said to tell the children of Israel “I am“ sent you. And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. So when He said to them, “I am He“, they drew back and fell to the ground. That of course does not sound like a normal reaction to a statement. Did they do this of their own will, or wer...

  Good morning. It wasn’t just to be with Jesus here on earth for the original disciples. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundations of the world. It was forever. O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. Remember that several chapters ago Jesus and said “let us be gone from here”. When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, in which He entered with His disciples. What is interesting is that this is the same way that King David went when he was being pursued by his son Absalom who wanted to kill him. Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesu...

  Good morning. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. Again, He did not put us into some kind of shelter – He sent us into the world where there was possible harm that could come to us. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. Remember He just said that God’s word was truth. Now a verse that says something extremely important to us. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word. That is we He’s talking about. And why did He ask this – that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one. So this is another thing – Him giving us the glory – that helps us to be one. What is a major way that the world will know that what we say about Jesus is true? I in them and You in M...

  Merry Christmas! I pray you have a really great one with friends and family. The following is without comment. Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee call Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was very perplexed at the statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." Mary said to the angel, "how can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel answered and...

  Good morning.  Jesus continues: but now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy make full in themselves. It is not a joy because of; but rather a joy in spite of. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. The word separates us from the world. If we follow the word, we will come into conflict with the people of the world. It would be bad enough that they do not want to follow the word; but they deliberately oppose those who do. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. If we wanted to keep our children safe, we would remove them from the situation where they might get harmed; but God deliberately keeps us in this world so that we can share His gospel with the people in the world. The word “one“ is in italics meaning that it is not actually written in the original. The word “the“ is in the original. You would not...

  Good morning. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You, Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the scripture would be fulfilled. While Jesus was with the disciples, He was the one who was guarding them against harm. Now that He was leaving them, they needed someone e...

  Good morning. Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. We normally think of something eternal as very lengthy. This indicates that there is also a quality to it - that is, knowing God and Jesus. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Again Jesus only did what God wanted Him to do. Now Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory that I had with You before the world was. Remember the first part of John that Jesus was with God in the beginning. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. There were many names for God throughout the Old Testament. In fact when Moses asked God wha...

  Good morning. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I’m leaving the world again and going to the Father. His disciples finally catch on: now You are speaking plainly and not using a figure of speech. Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God. Do you now believe? Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. That went directly counter to their beliefs. They believed that they would stand and fight for Jesus, and not abandon Him. In fact Peter had said so; then Jesus told him he would deny Him three times. 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. We need to keep that in mind today. Our strength and safety is not in the things of the world, but in C...

  Good morning. In that day you will not question Me about anything. They had been asking Him about His statement that in a little while they would not see Him, and then in a little while they would see Him. After He rose from the dead and they saw Him, they knew what He was talking about. If you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. That is not just some simple formula to get what you want. It’s not a matter of simply tacking on “in Jesus name“ to get what you want. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from ...

  Good morning. But when He the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth; but He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He is the Spirit of truth. That means that whatever He says, we can trust. He will also guide us into all the truth, if we let Him. He is constantly listening to the Father as to what He should say. If we listen to Him, we will know what is about to come upon us. However too often we just want to do it our own way. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me. Those are actually two different Greek words translated “see“. It sounds like double talk; at least that’s what the disciples thought. You will weep and lament, but the world will r...

  Good morning. But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, where are You going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. It’s kind of like a friend or relative saying that they’re going to move far away from us. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. It would not matter if that friend or relative said that they were sending someone to you that you would really love, and that he would help you when you needed him. We would still want that friend or relative to stay. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. Because Jesus was leaving the earth, people woul...

  Good morning. So Jesus was going to leave the disciples all on their own – right? Wrong! When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning. These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. The Holy Spirit takes the words of Jesus and uses them to help keep us from stumbling. If we listen to His urgings, we will not sin. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. Unfortunately the same kind of thing will happen again in the future. People will be so wrapped up in religion that they will think that the true believers are enemies of God, and will do their best to remove them from society. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. But these things I have spoken ...

  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 d...

  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 comman...

  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...

  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 a...

  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 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 b...

  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 me...

  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...

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 the...

  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 initia...

  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 ...

  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...

  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 yo...

   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...

  Good morning. 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 Peter asked John to “get the skinny” o...

  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 p...