Saturday 29 Apr 2023

April 29: John 6:60-69

Key Verse: John 6:66
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

Devotion:
Not all things God asks of you are going to be easy or plain sailing; I would say most things are not going to be! There were a lot of people who were following Jesus around because of the things He was doing, the love He was showing and the general feeling of things being great when He was involved. But as soon as those happy feeling were put to the test, many people gave up and went on their own way again.

Jesus does not call us to do something and then go back to our old ways of life, He calls us to change our ways so others will be encouraged to do the same. When He started to tell the people He was the Son of God, many people were put off by this because of the teachings of the Sanhedrin and other governing bodies. I hesitate to use the word church because I like to think of church as being followers of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit will encourage you in many ways of your are willing to listen. What you hear may well challenge your ways or what you are used to. But if we can go back to our scriptures and see how the Spirit is guiding us toward Godly things, then we can be sure this is the Holy Spirit and not any other random spirit trying to get in on the action.

God will try to get our attention in many ways and if we are willing to listen and obey, we will be able to do many things for and with Him. But if we continue to shut ourselves off from the voice of the Spirit just because we think things should be done another way, then we may well miss out on the most important parts God has to say to us. God will always work through the Spirit, through Jesus and directly; they will always agree with what is to be done – God will not fight Himself...

Points to Ponder:
Have you got very strict rules in your life?

Are you willing to hear the Spirit?