Let’s enjoy some time in John 15:1-11
Reading 1
?As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. (John 15:9 NIV)
Remain in my love. Stay near me. Resist the bent invitations to “better” places that are an empty lie. Remain in the love that is real.
Reading 2
I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! (John 15:11 NLT)
Jesus speaks these words of love and abiding because he wants me to be as joyful as he is. Do I think of Jesus as profoundly joyful? It?s true.
I'm so grateful that Jesus wants me to be joyful. It is in his heart for me to know this overwhelming sense of well-being and buoyancy in communion with him.
Reading 3
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15:7 ESV)
It's this "my words abide in you" phrase that feels like the invitation from Jesus for today. I ask that your Spirit would recall this invitation often through this day. I imagined myself asking in a particular moment, "What scripture would help me or help this one I?m with right now?" I want scripture to abide in my memory, in my thinking, in the words I say, in my attitudes and my way of life today. There are other things that have been abiding in me that aren't as fruitful. May your word of love, joy and peace fill me so that these false abiders are floated out of me more and more. Amen.
