Author: coachdkeith

You will be hated…as they hated Him that made you.

John 15:18-25 (NIV)

18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’[b] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’[c]

Jesus has directed and commanded us to love. Therefore, anyone who hates, does not know Jesus, and therefore does not know the Father. If you do not know the Father, then you have not ever known Jesus, and you are still living in sin.

How do we throw out the sin? Once we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we are saved. Upon receiving that Salvation, we will be prompted to love more than we ever thought possible. Our cup will overflow with so mich, that we will not have the ability to hold it in. That is precisely the way that God designed you. We are made to receive love and give love. Daily.

Picture yourself as a machine. A machine so perfectly made, that the only fuel required to efficiently operate is love. Love of God. Love of yourself. Love of your neigubor. You are God’s perfect machine, and you are called to love all mankind. Even when you are hated. Not if you are hated. When you are hated. That time is upon us now.

Hold fast to the Lord, and speak in the name of Jesus Christ. Whatever is asked for in His name will be given to you. Believe that what Jesus says, is key to activating your machine. You will love beyond any level that you have ever dreamed. #JesusSaves

Amen.
DK

Servant and Friend…Jesus Christ.

John 15:1-17

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

The move from Servant to Friend of Jesus is where we move toward as we walk with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who makes us whole and comolete. Jesus describes us as the branches. We are that part of tree that serves a purpose for Him. We are not the root or the fruit. We are not the vine. We are the branches.

Branches must be pruned and cut away to make room for new and stronger growth. That is what God does in our lives faily, as we get to know Him more and more. As we read and become steiner and more faithful believers, He begins to cut away branches that are no longer needed, or perhaps never were. This is a lifelong process, just as with any tree that continues to grow.

Have faith that God knows exactly which branches to cut as He prunes us all. Believe that although a branch to you may be pretty, God has a plan to grow you bigger and better than you ever though possible, so that He is glorified. Rest assured that the pruning process is a painful, yes, but one that is necessary and right. For God has come into your life to make you more and more like His son, Jesus Christ…our friend and advocate. Our Savior and Redeemer. Our Creator. #JesusSaves

Amen
DK

John 14:15-31

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

“Come now; let us leave.

The Holy Spirit. That still, small voice that you hear. Your conscience. That voice that tells you what is right, and what is not good. Yes…the one you have ignored many times. Yes, that one.

His gift to all of us, so that we would come to know the Father more through our own personal advocate. The Holy Spirit. The third all important part of the Triune God. The God of all Creation. He left me a gift. A blessing. I will not let it rest.

Jesus is advocating for us in Heaven with the Father, and we are down here. But we are not alone. We possess the same power as Jesus, and by Jesus own mouth we are the Righteousness of God through Jesus Christ.  #JesusSaves

Amen
DK

Ask in the name of Jesus Christ, and it will happen…

John 14:5-14
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Jesus left us with this promise. That if we ask of the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, it will be done. When we ask in the name of Jesus, He will do it. He has told us that we WILL do greater things than even He did here on earth.

I have to be honest with you…I am mind blown right now. For years I have been praying with “In the name of Jesus Christ”, not knowing that when I did, it guaranteed that I would receive it. I did not know. Beautiful! I know now.

The battle between the kingdom of God, which is good and righteous, and the kingdom of evil, which is hell bent on destroying you, are both at war constantly. When we pray and activate God’s power in our lives, at the very same time the devil is working to tear that down through what we see. When we ask for something in the name of Jesus, there is no choice but for the world to submit to what we have asked. However, our humanity and bodies can prevent us from receiving the full on miracle that has been given. Once asked for, we must walk having faith that what we have asked for in the name of Jesus will become real.

It is Faith versus sight, and the battle rages on. Keep fighting and asking and praying, all in the name of Jesus. #JesusSaves

Amen
DK

Incentive…He knows our hearts.

John 14:1-4

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

The promise from Jesus Himself, God with us. He has gone ahead of me to prepare a table for me so that we would be together forever. He gas done so for all of us. The promise of no longer having the weight of this world on our shoulders. #JesusSaves

Amen
DK