Blogging Through The Gospels: John 16 (Unstoppable Joy!!!)

John 16--another chapter of Jesus' wonderful, beautiful farewell-I-need-to-tell-you-everything-I-can-before-I-die message. Mainly, Jesus talks about the work of the Holy Spirit and how the disciples' grief will turn to joy.

Before I get on with my SOAP, however, I need to give you a little "pre-shower". ;)

1. "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come." ~John 16:13

Jesus promised his disciples--and us, too--that when he left the earth, he would send the Spirit of truth. Also known as the Holy Spirit, this Spirit of truth comes from God, and tells us only what God wants us to hear. Sometimes we may hear the Spirit of truth as a still, small voice whispering good things in our ear. Other times, the Spirit of truth may impress us what a certain Scripture passage may mean to us.

I don't know about you, but I think that this Spirit of truth is pretty cool. Even though Jesus isn't physically with me anymore, Jesus has sent this Spirit of truth to tell us what He would say if He was here. That's awesomely cool!

2. "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." ~John 16:33

This has to be one of my all-time favorite Bible promises! Jesus is telling his disciples--and us--that he has told us all this stuff so that we could have peace. Now, on our own we can't have peace. Even Jesus says that in this world we will have trouble! But Jesus does say that we can have peace in him. If we stay, if we remain in him and have a good relationship with him. (Remember yesterday's post, anyone???) Jesus knew that we would be saddened when he said that there'd be trouble in the world for us. But he doesn't stop there! What does Jesus say immediately afterward?

"But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Good! Jesus encourages us, endows us with bravery and courage. Jesus has overcome the world! If you're on his side, what is there to be afraid of? Is the world--even death--something to be afraid of? No! Check out Matthew 10:28--

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body"

Wow. That's awesome, veeeery cool!!

Okay. Onto our SOAP of today!

Scripture:

"Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy." ~John 16:22

Observation:

As I look through the rest of John (specifically chapter 20!) and even into the book of Acts, I can see time and time again how true this prophecy was. Jesus' disciples sure were sad when he told them this, and they were devastated when he was crucified. But when Jesus rose from the dead, no one could take away their joy. Even after Jesus had ascended to Heaven, the disciples had unstoppable joy. Imprisonments, beatings, the rigors of travel, hunger, even being stoned wasn't enough to deter the disciples from spreading the word. "Jesus is alive!" they eagerly cried. "We saw him, he is alive, and is pleading on your behalf in heaven now! Jesus is alive! Jesus is alive!"

Application:

We generally talk about things we are excited about. I think we would all agree that the disciples were genuinely excited about Jesus' resurrection! Yet it seems at times that I only see pastors get excited and talk about Jesus. Now no offense to pastors; we have three totally top-notch ones at our church! But sometimes I wish we--the church, not just pastors--would talk about Jesus. In other words, get excited about Jesus.

Now we all will not get excited and talk about Jesus the same way. Some may feel called to speak up front; others may feel like they should talk one-on-one. Still others may feel called to an Internet ministry and talk about God there.

But how we talk about God isn't my point. My point is that we need to get excited and talk about Jesus more!

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, thank you so much for letting me read some more of your beautiful promises and teachings today. I surrender myself wholly to you, Jesus--please, fill me with excitement about you! Help me to talk about you, to share you more than I have been. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P.S.--To learn more about this blogging-through-the-gospels program, or if YOU would like to join yourself (you're more than welcome-jump right in!!) go to: http://www.momstoolbox.com/