MIDWEEK MEDITATION

"All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’  Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things."

John 16:1-6

It was unraveling before their eyes. 

The disciples had left everything to follow Jesus. They did so because they felt God’s call on their lives. They followed Jesus and, slowly, they began to glimpse who He really was and what He was here to do. Jesus wasn’t just a popular teacher: He was the Messiah, He was God, and He was on a mission. 

The mission of bringing in God’s kingdom had once filled them with enthusiasm and pride. Now it filled them with fear because Jesus was about to leave them. When all things seemed to be going against them, when they were on the run with their very lives at stake, He was going to leave them. Failure seemed imminent. 

Jesus was leaving them, but He wasn’t leaving them alone. 

Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come to permanently reside in them and that, though it was hard to believe, this would be better for them. God the Holy Spirit was going to give the wisdom and the power to continue the work of Jesus who revealed God like a light in a dark place. 

How will the kingdom of God expand when the King is leaving? They didn’t have what it takes, and neither do we. The Holy Spirit comes upon us when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and works through us to accomplish God’s plan. When we walk in the Spirit, we participate in bringing God’s kingdom to the dark places around us. 
 

Holy Spirit, may You use my life to bring about Your work of restoration. I pray for divine encounters this week. Give me eyes to see and courage to step into what You reveal.