Hello, my brothers and sisters in Christ. Today's reflection will come out of John 14:12-17, and I usually do a video on YouTube, but today I feel not so good because I have been pushing hard lately with my studies and ministry. Maybe the Lord indicates that I need to take a break and enjoy today's reflection; in Christ, love Jared.
John 14:12-17
"Most assuredly, I say to you, 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 My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you [a]ask anything in My name, I will do it. 15 "If you love Me, [b]keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another [c]Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
I love how in v. 12, it indicates the "GREATER WORKS," here, we see what Christ is saying: how He will work through mere humans after Pentecost will be greater than any signs and wonders that Christ Himself performed when he walked the earth so long ago. These works and wonders are attested to in the Book of Acts, and the Book of Acts is one of my favorite studies because it is a blueprint for how we should conduct our Churches. In the Book of Acts, we see how the gospel was spread worldwide, along with miraculous healings and raising people from the dead. In v.. 13-14, Christ tells those who pray in My name that He will do. Christ is saying that we should be careful of attaching His name to our prayers if we are praying according to our will, but instead, He is calling us all to pray according to His. The Orthodox Study Bible gives us a great example, just like an emissary of a king can only be said to be speaking in the king's name, and if he says what the king would want him to say, so for us to be conveyed only to be praying in the name of Christ we are than to pray according to what He wants. So, our purpose is not to get God to do our will; instead, the lesson for us all is to learn to pray correctly according to the will of God (Matthew 6:10).
Jesus mentions in v. 16, "I will give you another Helper (Greek, parakletos)." This refers to the Holy Spirit; the title also means Comforter, Counselor, and Advocate. Jesus also speaks of the Holy Spirit in v. 17 as the Spirit of Truth, which is in each believer, and we are called to know Him and His ways. The Holy Spirit, according to Jesus, prays in us and also for us when we don't understand how to pray ourselves, and this enables us to pray in Christ's name (John 14:13, 14; and Romans 8:26), and this gives us the words of a witness when we speak the gospel (Mark 13:11).
In Christ, love Jared W. Campbell
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