The Word of God for wisdom:
Proverbs 15:31-32 (NLT)
31 If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise.
32 If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding.
The Word of God for inspiration:
Psalm 119:18 (ESV)
18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
The Word of God for encouragement:
John 13:33-35 (HCSB)
33 "Children, I am with you a little while longer. You will look for Me, and just as I told the Jews, 'Where I am going you cannot come,' so now I tell you.
34 "I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another.
35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
My observation:
Jesus was only with his disciples for a brief period of time. The time that he spent with the disciples was significant because of its brevity and because of its significance. He wanted to prepare them for his departure, and equip them for the mission he would give them.
Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment. The psalmist expressed the prayer of my heart every time I open my bible.
Psalm 119:18 (TLB)
18 Open my eyes to see wonderful things in your Word.
What Jesus commanded his disciple to do is a wonderful thing. Jesus said that if his people obeyed this new commandment that it would mark them as Christ followers to the world. Love for one another is the distinguishing mark of the genuine believers in Christ.
It's there for us to see in John 13:34. Lord, open our eyes that we might see it, believe it, and obey it.
Jesus gives us this command as the highest priority, the pattern, and the power to carry out the commandment.
The priority is to love one another, the pattern is to love like Jesus loved us, and the power to accomplish this is his gift to us of the Holy Spirit, who is love.
Romans 5:5 (HCSB)
5 This hope will not disappoint [us], because God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
My prayer:
Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I stand in awe of the amazing love of God. I know that in my flesh that I am incapable of loving others the way that you love me.
Father God, I am so grateful for the gift of the Holy Spirit that you give to every believer that enables me to fulfill the command to love others in the way that you have loved us. Father, I thank you for pouring out your love into our hearts. Hallelujah and Amen!
Romans 8:9 (HCSB)
9 You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
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John 20:30-31 (ESV)
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
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