We’re continuing through the book of John. Last week we looked at John 16:16-22. If you haven’t already, you can read that post here if you want to: God and My Pain and Suffering. Today we begin with John 16:23.

“In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

John 16:23-24

We covered the meaning of a very similar statement made by Jesus in a recent post, so if you want to learn how the whole “ask in Jesus’ name” thing works, you can read about that here: “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

Jesus continues in verse 25,

“I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”

John 16:25-27

May I ask you something?

Do you love Jesus?

Do you believe Jesus came from God?

If you answered yes to those last two questions, you can be certain God the Father of Jesus Christ, the Creator, the Lord God Almighty, the Everlasting Father–He loves you. Don’t ever think God doesn’t love you, because he does.

Jesus has said so. He said it plainly. He said, “the Father himself loves you . . .”

“. . . because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”

Maybe the best thing said to you by anyone ever. Straight from Jesus.

“The Father himself loves you.”

Never doubt that.

Trust Him.

Coming in January of 2020:

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others.

Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

• Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.
• How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).
• The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.
• How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.
• How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.
• How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).
• How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).
• How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.
• How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus.

(Kindle, hardcover, and paperback are scheduled to come out in 2020.)

Notes:

Image of God Loves You sign via Joel Friesen — Creative Commons