The Book of John

  John 4:16-18 Not only does Jesus provide living water He also provides a light...yet in doing so this light exposes what we have chosen to hide.  Here Jesus exposes the woman for what she was in her relationships with men....and she's willing to admit the truth to Jesus. Lord Jesus, as You shine Your light on our lives expose the dirt that is there and help us to clean it up.  In Your mighty name. Amen

  John 4:10-15 Jesus was vulnerable and asked for a drink but now He turns it around and tells the woman He has living water to offer her.  How often do our differences come from not knowing the other person? and not knowing what the other person has to offer us. Lord Jesus, we want to know You.  Please teach us about Your living water.  In Your mighty name. Amen

  John 4:9 We seem to naturally hang out in a group that thinks and acts like us but here we see Jesus breaking out of the cultural norm and risk being rejected because he asked someone from another culture for help. Lord Jesus, please help us to ask others for help, even if they are not from our inner circle and then help us to listen to where they're coming from.  Help us to fear You more than people, and people's reactions.  In Your Mighty name, Amen.

  John 4:3-8 Here we see Jesus as a real human.  He heads home to Galilee, taking the short cut through Samaria.  He said He had to go there so maybe God led Him that route so He could have a special encounter.  No matter, this special encounter started with Jesus being human and being thirsty.  It's interesting to note that He asked for help. Lord Jesus, help us to ask for help; even when we know we can help the other person.  This two way relationship seems so important in developing trust.  Give us the courage to be vulnerable.

  John 4:1-2 It's interesting how Jesus handles popularity.  For instance, in this case, when His disciples are baptizing more people than John's He left the region! Lord Jesus, help us to handle popularity the way You handle popularity.  Help us to walk away from it so we're not tempted to be guide by the masses and so that folks depend on You not us.  In Your mighty name. Amen

John 3:31-36   Jesus is higher than people from earth because He came from heaven Jesus testifies as to what He's seen and heard but it's so heavenly people don't believe Him If people do believe Jesus they'll know God is truth The Spirit gives Jesus His words so His words come from God God, the Father, loves Jesus God, the Father, has placed everything into Jesus hands Whoever believes in Jesus has eternal life but if they don't believe in Him God is not happy with them. Lord Jesus, thank You for giving us John to help explain You.  You are amazing.  Please help us believe as our faith is weak.  We want to believe, help our unbelief.  In Your mighty name.

  John 3:22-30 Jesus is now baptizing and John's disciples are wondering about this.  John, however, says this is great news because He is greater than he is.  John equates this to a groom and his best man.  The best man is happy for the groom. Lord Jesus, help us to decrease and You to increase.

  John 3:21 If we live by truth we won't fear the light.  In other words, we have nothing to hide.  In case we do have something to hide Jesus gives us His Holy Spirit to help us clean up our mess. Lord Jesus, thank You for helping us to clean up the dirt that the light exposes.  Help us to have the ears to hear Your prompting and the faith and courage to do what You want us to do.

  John 3:19-20 Light exposes what is done in darkness so the question is do we want the light? If we live in truth we have no fear of the light.  Jesus is truth and He through the Holy Spirit help us to clean up the mess of darkness. Lord Jesus, search us and know us; find if there is any wicked deed in us and show us what to do about it.  Then give us the courage to carry it out.  In your Mighty Name.

 John 3:17-18 We are condemned but Jesus came to save us from condemnation.  All we have to do is believe in Jesus; although in doing so the light of Jesus will expose our sins. In other words, Jesus convicts where as satan condemns.  The difference is condemnation is general "You can never do anything right, you're a looser, ..." Where as Jesus convicts with very specific actions "You need to apologize to Mary, you need to pay back what you owe, ..." Lord Jesus, help us to trust Your love as we come into Your light, that exposes the sins of darkness.  You are a great and awesome God and we need You to clean up the mess in this world, starting with ourselves. Please help us not to fall into satan's trap of condemnation but allow the Holy Spirit to convict us with just what we can handle.  Lord Jesus, I pray for those who have left the church because they couldn't distinguish between condemnation and conviction.  Please bring them back and help us as a ch...

  John 3:16 God loves us enough to have sent His Son; knowing that jealousy, lying and pride would turn into murder and His Son would die a cruel death on the cross. Yet God also had a plan that goes beyond our sin.  His perfect Son became the lamb that would save us from our sins.  It all starts with believing in Him.  This is the ticket to eternal life. Lord Jesus, we pray for our family and friends who don't know You.  May they come to a loving understanding of who You are such that they will believe in You and inherit eternal life.  In Your mighty name.

  John 3:9-15 Nicodemus still didn't understand Jesus when He talked about being born again.  Jesus said, look and listen to our testimonies but he still did not understand.  Then He told him something profound.  He told him He had to die for our sins.  Just like the snake on the cross saved the Israelites so He on the cross would save His people. (Note: our allergy symbol has the snake on the cross; could this be a reminder for us today?) Lord Jesus, thank You for attempting to explain Your truths to Nicodemus so we can read about Your explanations and in hindsight get some understanding of what You were talking about.  Thank You for demonstrating Your love for us through Your interaction with Your people and thank You for dying on the cross for our sins.  We don't deserve it but You did it anyway.  Thank You

  John 3:1-8 Nicodemus knows about religion but he's trying to find out about Christ; a relationship with Jesus is the start of this amazing journey.  The journey continues under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is saying just as we are physically born we need to be born spiritually, yet this spiritual journey is a mystery.  Just as we see the affects of wind we see the affects of the Holy Spirit but we don't understand where either ultimately come from. Lord Jesus, move in this land by Your Holy Spirit.  Bring this nation back to You.  Fill each of us with Your Holy Spirit so that we may represent You and Your kingdom well.  In Your mighty name.

  John 2:23-25 Jesus had a passion for His Father's house but He's having trouble finding people with the same passion it seems.  He is going about performing miracles and people are amazed at what He's doing but He knows their hearts.  When the going gets tough they will turn against Him.  Jesus handled this by knowing Himself and where He came from so He didn't need the praise of people. Lord Jesus, it's hard to let go of the things of this world like the appreciation of people.  Give us the courage and the understanding of ourselves to do what is right even if we don't get the praise of people. In Your mighty name.  Amen

  John 2:18-22 Jesus cleared the temple of the buyers and sellers so the Jews question Him..."by who's authority do you do this?" Jesus response didn't make sense to the Jews, or the disciples at the time but the disciples remembered His comment after He rose from the dead and clued into the fact that He was talking about His body being the living temple.  His response was “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” Lord Jesus, sometimes You tell us things that don't make sense in the present moment but afterwards do.  For instance, today I read science is always changing!  So You reveal something to us through science but then reveal something more to us after other things occur.  Help us to be ever learning about You and Your creation and help us to never forget Your zeal for Your temple. Lord Jesus, the church in Canada needs all generations in it.  I hear of how on fire some young people are so I beg You not to allow the older gener...

  John 2:13-17 When the disciples saw Jesus at the temple they were reminded of something written in the Jewish holy book  “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Psalm 69:9 This is a rare occasion  when Jesus seemed to show His anger.  His temple had become a market place where the poor were being taken advantage of and He wasn't happy about it probably because access to God should be available for everyone. Lord Jesus, please help us to not use our relationship with You as a means to an end. Also help us to keep You available to all levels of society.  Lord Jesus, we need Your wisdom.  Thank You for Your gifts. Please help us to use them for the extension of Your Kingdom.  In Your mighty name.

  John 2:1-12 Jesus must have performed miracles before for Mary to have so much confidence in Him but here is the record of His first public miracle.  It's at a wedding feast; something to be celebrated. The host is about to lose face and then Jesus steps in and produces wine from water!  This is the kind of God we serve.  Someone who wants the very best for us.  Not drunkenness but a true celebration of the union between a man and a woman. Lord Jesus, thanks for being You.  For loving us so much that You'd even think to perform a miracle that saved the host being embarrassed.  Help us to enjoy this life that You have given us to live here on earth yet help us never to forget You in all our blessings.

  John 1:43-51 My favourite portion here is "Can anything good come out of Nazareth; Come and See"  Sometimes our preconceived ideas have us thinking of a certain place or person in a certain way and it's not positive.  Jesus come to disturbed our preconceived ideas...something good can come out of Nazareth but you need to come and see for yourself. It's also interesting to note that Andrew and Peter came from the same town as Philip.  Because Philip says "we have found the prophet, Jesus" it makes me wonder if they knew each other.  Wouldn't that be wonderful.  God calls friends into His plans and purposes.  For sure, Nathaniel knew Philip.  What a team is being built.  To get a better understanding of the disciples I highly recommend the series The Chosen. Lord Jesus, please build Your teams again.  Make them powerful, introducing life changing experiences, in Your people.  In Your mighty name.

  John 1:35-42 John has identified Jesus as the Lamb of God who Jews would identify with from the Passover story when God didn't kill the first born son in their homes because the blood of a lamb was on their door.  This identification had two of John's disciples turn from following John to following Jesus. At this time Jesus had a place to stay so he took the disciples to it.  In addition Andrew told Simon he had found the Messiah.  Jesus named Simon, Peter.

  John 1:29-34 God affirmed that Jesus was the Messiah by sending a dove to rest on Him and John affirmed that he saw it.  John also affirmed that although he baptized with water Jesus would baptized by the Holy Spirit.  John also called him the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  Jesus was the Passover lamb.  John also admitted that Jesus was greater than he was; Jesus was God's Chosen one. Lord Jesus, we don't fully understand what it means that You were the Passover lamb because we are not Jewish yet we know the story.  How you protected the first born son of Israel on that fateful night and now we ask that You protect the families of our country.  Send Your Holy Spirit once again to rid our surrounding of satan's agenda.  Lord we welcome You into our midst.  Come Lord Jesus, come, through Your Holy Spirit.  Amen

  John 1:24-28 The Pharisees really wanted to know who John was.  They didn't understand his credentials so he explained his only credential was that he was preparing folks for Jesus. Lord Jesus, please help us to prepare folks for You.  Help us to sow seeds of kindness, hope and faith.  In Your might name. Amen

  John 1:19-23 John is famous as a character in the desert.  He even hit a non bible reference in Josephus' writings but who is he?  The Messiah, a prophet, Elijah...?  J ohn was clear   “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness,  ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”  as he quoted from Isaiah It's interesting that the Jewish leaders thought he was the Messiah yet they missed Jesus as the Messiah. Lord Jesus, please help us to "make straight the way for You"  In Luke You talk about this happening through the reconciliation of the parents and children.  Lord, our families are so broken.  Only You can heal them.  Please be the Healer of families in Canada.  Teach us how to join You in the process.  In Your mighty name. Amen

  John 1:16-18 The law came through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus.  If we're trying to be perfect we have to realize that it's best to be honestly imperfect and this is what Jesus allows.  He didn't come to abolish the law...we still have a goal; but He did come to help us live up to the law.  The law is summed up as "love the Lord Your God with all of your heart soul and mind and love your neighbour as yourself" but here are a few practical tips in how to do this Deut 5:7-21 7  “You shall have no other gods before [ b ]  me. 8  “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.   9  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the  Lord  your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,   10  but showing love to a thousand gen...

  John 1:15 John the Baptist and Jesus are mentioned in scripture but even Josephus talked about them. Lord Jesus, help us to see the evidence that You existed.  Just the fact that our year is 2022 tells us something significant happened around your life time.  Help us not to deny You.  You are amazing.  After all You left all of the comforts of heaven to come to us and were even willing to be treated badly as You obeyed Your Father's will, so that we might be saved!!!  Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

  John 1:14 The disciples saw His glory.  He lived amongst them, was crucified and rose again! They were convinced He came from God the Father and was full of grace and truth. Lord Jesus, sometimes the truth is ugly and hard to handle but you came with grace and truth.  Lord Jesus, help us to do the same.  Help us to clean up the ugly truth with Your grace and mercy.  In Your mighty name.

John 1:9-13   Jesus, that is God, came into this world in human form but many didn't recognize Him.  Yet those who do, have been given the right to be children of God! How many choose not to recognize Christ because He is the light of the world and as such we can not hide in darkness?  The good news is that as He exposes the truth He is willing to help us clean ourselves up through the power of the Holy Spirit. Lord Jesus, reveal ourselves to You today.  Search us and know our wicked ways and then please help us to clean ourselves up so You can be proud of Your children.  In Your might name.