In John 14:9-11 Jesus makes yet another astounding statement in which He states that He is IN the Father, the Father is IN Him. In verse seven He had said that he who KNOWS Him (Jesus) KNOWS the Father and, from that time forward, would KNOW the Father. Then Philip asked Him to show them the Father. In verse nine Jesus mildly chastises the disciple, telling him that because He (Jesus) had been with them, GOD ALSO HAD BEEN WITH THEM. In verse ten Jesus went a bit further by EQUATING GOD’S WORDS WITH HIS (CHRIST’S) WORKS. This reveals the power of God’s Words in Christ then and would be in His true disciples in the future.

In Psalm 33:9 King David, while writing about Christ’s creation of the universe, said, “He spoke, and it was” (done). When we are right with God, what we say (what He says through us) becomes reality. What we must understand is that when we are one with and in God and Christ ,OUR SPOKEN WORDS BECOME THEIR WORKS DONE BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. This brings us to verse twelve–ONE OF, IF NOT THE MOST POWERFUL PROMISES MADE BY JESUS CHRIST TO THE ONE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM. Here He makes a statement that gave me a totally new view of my life in Christ: “HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME, THE WORKS THAT I DO HE WILL DO ALSO, AND GREATER WORKS THAN THESE WILL HE DO, BECAUSE I GO TO THE FATHER.” In reading the Holy Scriptures one finds that God’s WORDS BECOME HIS WORKS. Notice that Jesus did very little that He did not first speak. His Words became His works. His words/works are our examples. John 14:12 proclaims that Truth. This is the level of WORDS=WORKS that God promises those who obey Him as did Jesus Christ.

As I noted in an earlier posting, one will notice that Jesus spoke in a singular reference, knowing that those who believed and obeyed Him would be minutely few in number, thus the singular reference–“he.” This came to me as I was sitting in a crowed cafe across a table from a drunken man whom the Lord had placed in my spiritual path a few minutes earlier. I knew that in his state he could not understand my words. I also knew that I did not want to make a scene in the crowded cafe. That is when God’s Holy Spirit spoke to me and told me to cast out the demon with a thought. Such an act is not written in the Holy Bible to my recollection. Therefore I spoke to the demon through a thought, “Demon of drunkenness, come out of him.” Within five seconds the man was totally sober, enabling me to deal with him.

The Lord has shown me through His Holy Spirit that a day is soon coming when I will be speaking to people all over the world at the same time through television, the internet, or with neither. etc. Recall that Jesus spoke to thousands from atop a mountain. The Lord has shown me that II will speak in English and they will hear me in their various languages. Read about how God assured me of this and other future miracles in the series using the key word–Gun. Recently I was looking at a dead tree in the woods behind my property. There was a part of the trunk that was crooked and ugly and hanging close to my back yard fence. I said to the Lord that I wished that the foot and a half thick part would fall off in the opposite direction of my fence. Two days later I noticed that the ugly part had fallen, but NOT STRAIGHT DOWN, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN NORMAL. “Somehow” it had fallen approximately 10 feet AWAY FROM THE REST OF THE TREE TRUNK, CAUSING IT TO LAND IN MY YARD WITHOUT HITTING MY FENCE, WHICH IT WOULD HAVE DESTROYED IF IT HAD FALLEN NATURALLY, MEANING STRAIGHT DOWN. As an additional blessing, I had been looking for some firewood for my Grandson. Now I had received both the ugly part of the tree gone from my sight and firewood for my grandson. But God was not finished. He also provided someone to cut up the tree trunk and haul to to my Grandson’ house–FREE.

I once caused a rain cloud that was headed away from me to stop, do a 180 degree reversal of direction, and come to where I had asked God to send it. By causing it to be traveling away from me He was testing me and, thanks to the total faith I have in His Word, He did not let me down. Read verses 13 through 15. In them you will find some information that determines if your prayers will be answered or not. For those whose prayers are not answered, the question of “why” will be answered. The answer will tell you that your religion is counterfeit and the god you obey and serve is not the Creator of the universe, but the creator of sin.

The “why” question relative to unanswered prayer is answered in verses 15, 23 and 24 where Jesus tells us: “IF YOU LOVE ME, KEEP MY COMMANDMENS. IF ANYONE LOVES ME HE WILL KEEP MY WORDS AND THE FATHER WILL LOVE HIM, AND WE WILL COME TO HIM AND MAKE OUR HOME WITH HIM. HE WHO DOES NOT LOVE ME DOES NOT KEEP MY WORDS, AND THE WORDS THAT YOU HEAR ME SAY ARE NOT MINE, BUT THE FATHER’S THAT SENT ME.”

It is imperative that you learn, believe and obey the following interconnected messages spoken by Jesus Christ in the preceding paragraph. Notice the Words spoken by Jesus all point to the same DIVINE BEING. Those Words are: IF, KEEP, WORDS, COMMANDMENTS, LOVE, HOME, THE FATHER. God has strict rules that must be obeyed in order to have our prayers answered.

Now we will tie verses 15, 23 and 24 together because they belong together. Notice that Jesus is speaking directly to His 12 disciples. His first Word is IF, followed by YOU, referring to each of His 12 disciples individually. Until this point in time all had gone well. People were hearing the Gospel from them, people were being healed and delivered from demonic bondage, dead people had been raised, hungry people had been feed, a storm had been stilled, etc. by the disciples. People by the thousands had followed them. Jesus had just promised (vss 13 and 14) that whatever the disciples asked for they would receive. What was not to like? Now Jesus was questioning them with the ultimate IF question. Of course they loved Him; of course they would obey His Ten Commandment Law. The question sounded like a caveat (condition). What did He mean–IF THEY LOVED HIM? Was there any doubt?

Verse 15 is one of the most important verses in the Holy scriptures in that it plainly explains the difference between those who walk their talk, or merely talk. Judas had left no doubt that he loved Jesus. Later, when Jesus declared that one of the disciples would betray Him, no one knew about whom He was speaking. Jesus had to show John who would betray Him using a sop of bread. As Peter would say later, Judas had the same ministry that they all had (Acts 1:16,17). No one suspected that judas was the betrayer. Each disciple had asked if the traitor was himself (Mat. 26:21,22).

Jesus said that “IF ANYONE” (including His disciples) would PROVE HIS LOVE FOR HIM BY KEEPING (OBEYING ALL OF) HIS COMMANDMENTS … now notice the next few words that VERY FEW NOTICE AND EVEN FEWER BELIEVE —(THEN, AND ONLY THEN) “MY FATHER WILL LOVE HIM AND WE (FATHER AND SON) WILL (SPIRITUALLY) ENTER INTO HIM AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITHIN HIM (IN THE FORM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT). Note this message carefully for this statement determines if one loves Jesus and His Father, or not: “IF (HE WHO HEARS ME) DOES NOT LOVE ME, HE DOES NOT KEEP (OBEY) MY WORDS (COMMANDMENTS) WHICH ARE NOT MY WORDS, BUT ARE GIVEN TO ME BY MY FATHER.” Notice that Jesus, Who had earlier been an equal God with His Father, spoke only Words given to Him by His Father. What does that tell those of us who claim to be equal sons with Jesus? For this reason God said that the hardest thing for a human to do is to control his tongue, that he who can control his tongue can control the rest of his body (Jam. 3:6-8). This is true because we use the tongue to elevate ourselves in the eyes of others. God commands that we elevate Him in the eyes of others. By failing to do so, we elevate ourselves above God, which is iniquity (Lawlessness) that becomes idolatry.

Understand this Truth: IF WE DO NOT BELIEVE GOD’S WORDS, HE DOES NOT HEAR AND DOES NOGT ANSWER OUR PRAYERS 99.9% OF THE TIME. ANSWERED CHURCH PRAYER IS SO RARE THAT PEOPLE CAN GO THROUGH AN ENTIRE LIFE WITHOUT HAVING A PRAYER ANSWERED. THE REASON IS ANSWERED IN JOHN 14:12-18.

The Fruit, The Vine and God’s Love, key word–Vine is about John 15:1-17 which is a good follow-up for this above series. L.J.