Today I am participating in Five Minute Friday, where a group of writers get together and free write about a one word prompt for 5 minutes. Today's word is "another."
I once started to write a series called "Revealing the Character of Jesus", but it never went anywhere. I feel like it is because I needed to learn more about the character of Jesus myself.
That was about 3 years. Since then I feel like I have learned so much, but I just now feel like I am stepping in to understanding. I don’t know why that is, since I have been a Christian for a while. Maybe it is because I have heard a lot of the wrong things, and there was some undoing that needed to take place. Maybe it was because I interpreted Jesus incorrectly, because people say sometimes that you may be the only Bible that some people will ever read. Well, if those people have an incorrect interpretation of Jesus, that is going to be passed along too.
The best interpretation we get of Jesus is from the Scriptures. And then, we still need the Holy Spirit to give us revelation to unfold the character of Jesus. And the Holy Spirit is just like Jesus.
In John 14, Jesus tells the disciples they know the Father if they have seen him. And then he goes on to tell them that they will receive “another comforter,” the Holy Spirit who is to come live in them.
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.-John 14:16-17 (NASB)
Another Helper. Another Comforter. Another Counselor.
Another Jesus.
The Holy Spirit will be just like Jesus. He will be “another” of what Jesus already is.
I like this passage. It gives us insight into who Jesus is. He is a comforter, a counselor, and an advocate. That’s how that word after another is translated in different versions.
To me that is comforting, knowing he gave us another just like himself.
Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?" But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them" And they went to another village. -Luke 9:51-56
I used to think everything was God's will, but now I think Jesus is God's will in action.
There once was a man who was a Bible teacher in my Sunday School class as a child. When I was in my early twenties, he and some others were traveling in a van to minister in a city other than the one they lived in. There was a car accident and this man was killed. I had just recently rededicated my life to the Lord, after having been away for some time, and was living at home with my mom. I remember having a conversation with her about this incident, and saying something along the lines of God having a reason or purpose for this happening. She disagreed with me strongly, and told me it was not the will of God for this man to die. He was probably only in his forties or fifties, still a fairly young man.
I remember thinking she was wrong, but just moved on.
About twenties years has passed since that happened, and oh, how I know that I was the one who was wrong. It was not in any way God's will for that man to die in that car accident.
In John chapter 14, Jesus is having a conversation with His disciples. He says to them,
If you had known Me, you would have known my Father also; and from now on you have known Him and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves."
Jesus is God's will in action. Anything that Jesus said or did is the express will of God.
Acts 10:38 says,
how God annointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with HIM.
The way Jesus forgave sins is God's will.
The way Jesus healed and restored bodies is God's will.
The way Jesus fed people is God's will.
The way Jesus gave women a voice is God's will.
The way Jesus valued little children and blessed them is God's will.
The way Jesus provided an overflowing abundance is God's will.
The way Jesus did miracles is God's will.
The way Jesus loved is God's will.
All of the overflowing, abundant, life-giving things that Jesus did is God's will. And it is still God's will.
Jesus is still doing these things through His Church, giving life, healing, causing an abundant overflow-He is still at work.
Many blessings to you as you continue to grow in your knowledge of Jesus,
Beth
