“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:15.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Today we continue considering what Jesus repeated twice the night of the Passover supper when Judas betrayed Jesus and handed Him over, Jesus told you that “these things” He had spoken to you were said by Him so that you could have His joy made full in you.
First, in His teaching on the Vine and the branches, He stated:
These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. John 15:11.
And second in His prayer to Me that the Holy Spirit has revealed to you:
But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. . . I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word.” John 17:13-14;20.
So the question we are considering is what are “these things” to which He is referring. And I am showing you what they are by bringing before you the things recorded that He said that night leading up to those statements. And that would be chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16 of John’s Gospel, supplemented by the things you find in Matthew, Mark, and Luke spoken at that meal the same night. In our last Life Lesson we considered the direction to every believer to do the works Jesus did and greater, and we have not finished that yet, but today I want to go on to the most important truth you can learn to have a life of complete joy that no one can ever take from you.
My Word created and sustains everything, My Word formed and made you in My image and according to My likeness, and it is by My Word you will always know what to do, how to respond, what to say, and how to pray to have the most excellent life. My Word also tells you exactly what you can know with certainty so you do not waver and lose the good things I have planned for you. You can know My Will.
Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:15-17.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romand 12:2.
First, let us start with a question. If someone asked you whether you were going to Heaven when you die, what would you answer? Most people would say, “I hope so,” or “I don’t know.” The general consensus is that it is up to Me and I determine by weighing the good you have done against the bad you have done and if the scale tips in your favor, you are in, if not, you are out. But that is untrue. You can be sure even now. There is only one criteria for salvation to My Kingdom and eternal life with Me.
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” John 3:14-17.
Is there anything unclear about that? It is very clear. Your response to the gift I offer you in Jesus determines your ability to enter the Kingdom. I made My choice. I desire everyone be saved and come to know the truth so that they prosper and be in good health as their soul prospers by walking in the truth. I sent Jesus to save you and to testify to the truth. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He died and paid the judgment for sin for everyone and satisfied your sentence of eternal death for everyone.
Now it is up to you whether you receive or reject the gift.
If they are weighing good and bad deeds that has to do with the reward, which is at the judgment seat of Christ. Those who have done the good works I prepared for you in advance will be greatly rewarded for their faithful and fruitful lives, while others who detoured and were not walking in love will make it in but there will be tears to wipe from their eyes, but the joy of being in the Kingdom will wipe that all away in endless joyful day filled with the light of My love. But it is best to make your way prosperous and successful by understanding and doing My Will. And I will let you know in this Life Lesson how to know for sure that you are doing just that.
The great white throne judgment is for those who have not received Jesus as Lord, where your salvation is based on the book of deeds if you are not in the Lamb’s book of life. And NO ONE can enter the purity and love of Heaven that has not had all their sins removed by the blood of Jesus. Sin can find NO PLACE in perfect love. The Kingdom is one of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:18.
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13.
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12.
To enter Heaven you must have accepted the gift of redemption in Christ, which has made you holy, spotless, and without reproach before Me.
For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. Colossians 1:19-22.
Let us consider you who are saved. It is time for you to understand My Will so you can operate to the maximum of the gifts I have put in you and are unique to your journey home with Me. That is why My greatest joy is to see My children walking in the truth. It is then I know you will have the life you were born to live.
Today I want to begin with the prayer Jesus taught you when His disciples asked Him how to pray. They asked Him because they saw how successful His life was on earth and that He had great authority over every evil thing and had amazing miracles of healing and provision result from His Words and through His hands.
Jesus began with the template for prayer for the believer. It begins with the words that show you are in Covenant with Me: “Our Father.”
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13.
And being indwelt by the Holy Spirit as a believer in My Son and My child, My Spirit witnesses with your spirit that you are My children and can call Me, “Abba!” which is the name for Father in Hebrew, which is a term here of closeness, like “Papa,” or “Daddy.”
And as we have discussed in prior Life Lessons, Jesus prayed for all of you who have believed in Him through the Words He gave to the apostles while on earth, to be with Him where He is. He prepared a place for you by His life, sufferings, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to glory and came back to receive you so you can be with Him in spirit even now and come with confidence with Jesus your High Priest unto My throne of grace and stay seated with Him on the throne of the Son of Man at My right hand.
So in the prayer Jesus taught His disciples and you as His disciple, you identify where we are praying, “Our Father, who art in Heaven.” I hear you very well as we are seated with one another in the spirit. The Kingdom of God is within you now, accessed by My Holy Spirit in you.
“Hallowed be your Name.” Here you begin to learn My Will for your life by My Covenant promise Names. I tell you that I lift you up on high with Me safe and secure from the attacks of the evil one because you know My Name. I am the LORD your healer and I fulfilled that in Jesus by whose stripes you were and are healed, the LORD your provider, the LORD your Shepherd so there is nothing you shall want and no guidance you lack, I am the LORD who is peace (shalom), I am the LORD who sanctifies you, who is your righteousness, who is your deliverer, who is your refuge and your fortress, who is your redeemer, the God of your gladness and exceedingly great joy, and I have many more such promise names that you would be wise to know, which are fulfilled and made “yes” to you in Christ Jesus.
“Your Kingdom come,” when you seek My Kingdom first all is added to you that you need for life and godliness. “Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” This means that you must know My Will to pray this. For you will note that the very next line begins the asking part, “Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”
If you want to pray prayers like Jesus that are answered every time you need to do 4 things that I tell you:
- You need to know what My Will is to have faith that your prayer will be answered for sure.
This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. 1 John 5:14-15.
- Once you have faith that what you desire is My Will you can ask knowing you receive what you are asking for. Why? Because you can ONLY receive by faith.
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. Matthew 9:27-30.
You will notice Jesus never asked Me if healing or provision was My Will. He knew My Will from My Word. He knew why I sent Him as well, to heal those oppressed by the devil and He correctly attributed all sickness to the unclean spirits that bound people, so He rebuked fevers and illness. The only question He asked was whether the person had faith to receive the healing that was very much present and available. If they did, He would answer that it would be done according to their faith.
Today people look to Me like I would refuse healing in some cases and not in others and beg and plead with Me why they or their friend or family member deserve to be healed. But I am still the same so that is not the issue, the issue is faith and begging and pleading for Me to do something I have already done in Jesus and made available to you is NOT faith, it is straight doubt and unbelief in the truth of My Word. And it will get you as far into the promised land as the doubt and unbelief of the Israelites got them. Which in case you don’t know is nowhere. It sent them back out to wander the in the wilderness for forty years and die in their sins. Not because I did not want to take them into the land I had promised Abraham for his descendants, I wanted with all My heart to give it to them as I had planned so they could enjoy it with Me, but they refused and there was nothing I could do to budge them. You have free will but it is great when you exercise it to agree with My Will. Otherwise you limit what I can do for you.
Many of you have not because you ask not, but others have asked and begged for years for the same thing and will never have their request because they ask wrongly. Either they ask for something I have told you not to do in My Word or because they keep begging for what I have freely given them in Christ, but just cannot receive it, they block it thinking they do not have it when it is sitting right at their door.
- If your request is not complete upon asking then the next step is to seek what I have directed you to in My answer to your request. Such as looking at homes to buy the right home as you have presented to Me or the right school that has the major I have directed you to, or the job or spouse I have told you that you will have. Seek and you shall find.
- And when you find, you knock and when the right door opens you go in immediately to possess what I have given you.
You see that in the Israelites I had redeemed from Egypt. I tell you in the years of slavery they suddenly remembered My Covenant with Abraham in their affliction, so they found My Will, and called on Me asking to be delivered. I answered them and delivered them out of bondage but then they needed to seek the land I had promised them. I led them there, so they found what they were seeking. But at the border instead of knocking and entering immediately, they refused to enter the open door I set before them and went back into the desert. They did not complete the process and died in the desert, still seeking what they already had found.
They all lost their reward in two ways, earthly reward by not taking physical possession and heavenly reward by their disobedience to My Word.
How are you assured of a very great reward? By obedience to what I open for you to do. I have created you anew in Christ Jesus and prepared a life of good deeds for you in advance. You know My Will—a life where you prosper and are in good health doing good deeds that are all provided for in advance. Ask Me about it and when I give you the answer, which will be in stages or steps where each step you take the way gets brighter and clearer, seek until you find the path of life you are directed to follow, and the knock and enter immediately as I open up the door to you.
I love you. And that is how you should be responding to control your life and eternal destiny. It is all your choice now because I have already chosen to give you the Kingdom. Now it is up to you to respond by seeking it first so that everything else can be added.