Jewels from John and Lessons from the Kings

Devotion # 14 The King Is Coming Again For the Audio Version click here:  The King is Coming Again “They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!’” John 12:13 (NIV) “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” John 12:15 (NIV) The multitudes of people who gathered that day, came for two reasons – one was to see Jesus, but the other was also to catch a glimpse of Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.  The crowds did something spontaneously that day, unaware that they were actually fulfilling the prophecy found in   Zechariah 9:9 … “Behold your King is coming to you; He is just and having Salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (NKJV). Indeed Jesus was the King - the King who came to save (that’s what Hosanna means) His people from their sins. He was al...

Devotion # 13 What Are We Counting? For the Audio Version click here:  What Are We Counting? “But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” John 12:4-5 (NLT) (Read John 12:1-8) Most of us might have attended a Memorial Service of a loved one who passed away, but Jesus was invited to a ‘Thanksgiving Supper’ to celebrate the new lease of life He had given to Lazarus when He raised him from the dead. As Lazarus reclined at the table with Jesus, Martha served, Mary anointed His feet with a very expensive perfume, and each of them expressed their gratitude to Jesus in their own way.  However, there was something exceptional about what Mary did. She took a twelve ounce jar of exorbitant perfume, anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped it with her hair. It was probably, as some say, a huge part of her inheritance, and extremely precious to her. Mary...

Devotion # 12 There's Hope Beyond The Grave For the Audio Version Click here:  There's Hope Beyond The Grave “Jesus said to her,  “I am   the resurrection and the life.   He who believes in Me, though he may   die, he shall live.    And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”   John 11:25 (NKJV) Lazarus, Mary and Martha were close friends of Jesus, and He loved them dearly.   However, when the news that Lazarus was sick reached Jesus, He did not panic or hurry to visit him but rather chose to stay on where he was for two more days. There was a reason for this calmness in Jesus. He knew that, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” John 11:4 (NKJV) . At the outset this statement may seem contradictory, for Lazarus indeed died from the sickness, and he was also buried, and when Jesus went to visit Mary and Martha, Lazarus had already been i...

Devotion # 11 The Shepherd of Our Souls For the Audio Version click here -  The Shepherd of Our Souls  “I am the good Shepherd.  The good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”   John 10:11 (NKJV) The Prophet Isaiah explained the condition of mankind this way, “All of us like sheep, strayed away.  We have left God’s path to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.” Isaiah 53:6 (NLT).   It was to this lost and sinful world that Jesus chose to come down, and decided to be that Good Shepherd, who willingly laid down His life for us, His sheep. Ever wondered what makes Jesus the one and only Good Shepherd?  Here are some qualities listed in John 10.  He has a personal relationship with us, which is real and vibrant; not only does He know us by name, but we can also know Him.  He goes before us, and His word promises in Psalm 32:8, that He will instruct us and teach us in the way we should go.’ Wh...

Devotion # 10 When the Blind See What Others Fail To For the Audio Version click here:  When the Blind See What Others Fail To Then Jesus said, “I have come into this world to judge: Blind people will be given sight, and those who can see will become blind.” John 9:39 (GW) Read John Chapter 9 for the entire account. When Jesus healed the man born blind, there was an uproar among the people. Some of his neighbours and people who had seen him begging earlier, even doubted his identity, and totally disbelieved the miracle.  The Pharisees on the other hand questioned him, and disbelieved Jesus for the sole reason that He healed the man on the Sabbath. Strangely, the parents of the man who knew all about their son’s condition from birth, were unwilling to stand with him, only for fear of the threats of the Jews, to excommunicate anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ. In the midst of all of this confusion, the blind man who was healed, was firm ...

Devotion # 9 God Enables the Disabled For the Audio Version click here:  God Enables The Disabled Jesus answered,  “His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents’ sins.  He is blind so that God’s power might be seen at work in him”  John 9:3 (GNB) Jesus and his disciples encountered a man who was blind from birth.  The question that first popped up from Jesus’ disciples was,  “Teacher, whose sin caused him to be born blind? Was it his own or his parents’ sin?”  John 9:2 (GNB)  This question is a strange one for two reasons; firstly, the reality of the matter is, none of us is without sin, as Paul says in  Romans 3:23,   “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”  (NKJV) , and secondly, there is no way a person could sin before being born. However, Jesus categorically declared to His disciples that their premise was faulty.  He then explained to ...

Devotion # 8 No Finger-pointing Please For the Audio Version click here:  No Finger-pointing Please John 8:7 , “So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”(NKJV) Read John 8: 1-11 for the entire account. Jesus was at the temple, early in the morning, teaching people who had come eagerly to hear His words. The Scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery.   Their only aim was to trap Jesus and to check whether He would keep the Old Testament law as given by Moses (Leviticus 20:10), which actually commanded that both the man and the woman be put to death, but for some reason only the woman was brought to Jesus. They thought they were putting Jesus in a spot, as they awaited His verdict.   Strangely, Jesus spoke nothing, but simply bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.   No one knows for sure...

Devotion # 7 God’s Perfect Timing For the Audio Version click here:   God's Perfect Timing   Jesus said to them, “The right time for me has not yet come. Any time is right for you.” John 7:6 (GNB) As long as Jesus was here on earth He was totally focused on living and fulfilling the will of the Father who sent Him. In doing so, Jesus was ever so often pressured to do things that didn’t really fall in alignment with the Father’s will and timing, but He didn’t succumb to the pressure. In John Chapter 7 , we read how the brothers of Jesus themselves did not understand this or believe who He really was, and were pushing Him to go into Judea and do great things, so He could make a name for Himself. That is when Jesus responded to them and explained that His work was in total submission to His Heavenly Father’s timing.   He reiterated this again in John 7: 8 , where he said to them, “For my time has not yet fully come.” We are living in a very fast-paced ...