Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.
Do you have a place you call home? Maybe you have a second home . . . a lakeside cottage or a cabin in the mountains. In John 14, Jesus talks about two homes.
He said, “My Father’s house has lots of rooms. I’m going there to make a place for you. And you know how to get there” (v 2-3).
“Not so fast,” said Thomas. “We don’t know where your father’s house is and we don’t know how to get there” (v 5).
Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (v 6). That’s odd. How can a person be the way to a place?
Then Jesus introduced a second home by saying, “Those who love me obey my teaching. My father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (v. 23).
Jesus isn’t coming alone. He’s bringing his father. And someone else is coming with them. Jesus said, “The father will send the advocate, the Holy Spirit, to teach you and remind you of everything I’ve told you” (v 26).
Advocate? That’s the word for a lawyer, for legal counsel to defend me in court, or press my case against my enemies. Why does my spiritual life need a lawyer?
Perhaps because of another guest at the party. “The prince of this world is coming,” warned Jesus (v. 30). That prince is Satan. The devil is on his way. He’s a lawyer for the prosecution, exhibiting our sins in court, accusing us of being fake Christians.
The Accuser (Satan) and the Advocate (the Holy Spirit). Talk about opposing forces in my life. Opposing forces in the world. Opposing forces in cosmic history.
Meanwhile, we know the story ends happily, because Jesus is waiting for us in his father’s house, where he’s preparing our forever home.
Until then, Jesus and his father and the Holy Spirit Advocate live in us, protecting us from Satan the Accuser, showing us the way home.
Let’s pray.
O Jesus, you have gone to prepare a home for us. And you came to make your home in us.
Sometimes I feel you at home in me. Sometimes I feel the father’s love. Sometimes I hear the Spirit’s gentle promptings.
But often the loudest voice in my life is the Accuser who says, “You’re not good enough. You don’t love God with all your heart. You’re a phoney, not a serious Jesus follower.”
O Jesus, help me live more fully in the knowledge and power of your life in me. Help me hear more clearly the voice of your spirit offering help and forgiveness and hope. Help me live more wisely as a child of the father.
Amen.
I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.
YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube.
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