I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 14-16.

    Many people believe that there are many paths to God, even some people who consider themselves Christians. There are indeed many paths to God. However, they all lead to Jesus. When Jesus told His disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” He was expressing a basic truth about the Universe. Those who truly seek God will find Jesus, some sooner, others later. The same thing applies for those who seek truth or meaning in this life. The saddest thing I ever witnessed was someone who had been genuinely seeking God who turned away when that search led them to Christ. They had been so conditioned to believe that Christianity was a scam that they refused to accept Jesus when their search led them to Him. Jesus and the Father are one, so it is clearly impossible to know God without knowing Jesus. However, I firmly believe that the Holy Spirit will use the Satanic Bible to reveal Jesus to the individual who is genuinely seeking God if that is where they are looking.

    I was going to go on to Jesus telling us that we can ask anything in His name and He will do it (and I may still write something about that) but as I read the verses around that I was struck by what Jesus had to say about the Advocate whom God will send us (has sent us). Jesus tells us that the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit because it is not looking for Him and does not recognize Him. The Holy Spirit will teach ever greater truth to those who receive Him, but only those who are looking for Him will receive Him. However, we must not only look for the Holy Spirit, we must also recognize Him when He comes to us. In order for us to be capable of receiving the Holy Spirit we must love Jesus and love God. If we love Jesus and love God we will do as they have commanded. If we do not do as He has commanded we do not love Him. But we must be looking for the Holy Spirit as well. There are things which we need to know which are not wholly contained within the Bible.

    I could go on and on writing about what John has written in today’s passage, but I am running out of time. I will wrap up by mentioning that the Holy Spirit will live in us, if we let Him. By doing so He makes us one with Christ and one with God. Which is really the same thing, since they are One. Part of the gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of peace, a peace which the world can never give us. If you find yourself troubled or afraid, call out to the Holy Spirit and embrace Him. As you learn to recognize that all that happens in this world comes from God, and that God causes all things to work together for those who love Him, you will find the presence of the Holy Spirit giving you the peace of which Jesus speaks. Iam going to use an old story about not worrying to sum up this lesson:

If you love God there is no need to worry because in life there are only two things to worry about: either you are well or you are sick. If you are well, there is nothing to worry about. If you are sick there are only two things to worry about: either you will get better or you will die. If you get better there is nothing to worry about. If you love God and you die you will go to Heaven, so there is nothing to worry about.

This is much easier said than done, but the doing is related to where Jesus earlier told us that those who lay down their lives will save them. The more we focus on doing God’s will at the expense of ourselves, the more we will have the peace which Jesus promised us.