Getting Along for Jesus Sake
SCRIPTURE: “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, 'Lord, are You washing my feet?' 7 Jesus answered and said to him, 'What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.' 8 Peter said to Him, 'You shall never wash my feet!' Jesus answered him, 'If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.' 9 Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!' 10 Jesus said to him, 'He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.' 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, 'You are not all clean.' 12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.' 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:1-17; 34, 35
What must our Lord Jesus feel, think, and see as He looks at the lines of dissension that have worked against all of the commandments in the Scripture for unity, and even His own high priestly prayer for us, “that we would be one as He is one with the Father, that the world would know that He was sent from the Father,” (John 17:20, 21). In the greater context of these verses, He prays to the Father about us who have believed on Him as our personal Savior, and are known as the special group of redeemed people, whom the Father gave to the Son as a special gift before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:3). His desire is that the Father would bless us with the capacity to experience unity in our love fellowship with God, (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), and with one another. The thing that distinguishes the Father and the Son’s unity is that they are joined by a nature of LOVE. God is love (I John 4:8), and that same nature of the Father and the Son has been given to us to share and express that same love to each other.
The principle of unity among God’s people operates from a higher supernatural power working through yielded lives to the Holy Spirit who has brought the life and love of God into our human experience. Is this not strongly implied from Romans 5:5, “Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Love spread to one another is to bring the fruit of our hope into our Christian experience and in doing so our disagreements and conflicts are still under the governance of the supreme law of love. Unity is not conceived by us, but we are to endeavor to maintain the experience of it in the bond of peace which cannot exist without the love of God dominating our lives (Ephesians 4:2, 3). Galatians 5:22,23 clearly reminds us that you cannot have the bond of peace without love because both of them are fruit of the Holy Spirit and are not manifested without each other by the Holy Spirit in us and then through us.
What shall we say to truths like these as they relate to our lives? Do we have the capacity to have unity and love consistently dominate the experience of our lives and relationships? The answer is an unequivocal and undeniable “yes and amen” to the glory of God’s Spirit in us. The simple question to us has to be, have you asked for it? Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7). If His word is in us, as He Himself is supposed to be in us, we will ask for Word driven desires and they will be granted to us. Ask Him to make you a lover of the brothers and sisters like He loves them, and watch and wait for Him to manifest it in you. Unity among us is based upon the joined new natures of believers ruled by the living principle of the love of Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Father in heaven, relationships with all kinds of people who say they love You, like I say I love You, is a major challenge and risk. Please make my heart like Your heart so I can express Your nature toward the people You love for unity sake. Please forgive me for not being as serious about it as You are in expecting it from me. I will purpose to be better in this area. In Jesus Name, amen.
By Pastor Wayne Cockrell
The principle of unity among God’s people operates from a higher supernatural power working through yielded lives to the Holy Spirit who has brought the life and love of God into our human experience. Is this not strongly implied from Romans 5:5, “Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Love spread to one another is to bring the fruit of our hope into our Christian experience and in doing so our disagreements and conflicts are still under the governance of the supreme law of love. Unity is not conceived by us, but we are to endeavor to maintain the experience of it in the bond of peace which cannot exist without the love of God dominating our lives (Ephesians 4:2, 3). Galatians 5:22,23 clearly reminds us that you cannot have the bond of peace without love because both of them are fruit of the Holy Spirit and are not manifested without each other by the Holy Spirit in us and then through us.
What shall we say to truths like these as they relate to our lives? Do we have the capacity to have unity and love consistently dominate the experience of our lives and relationships? The answer is an unequivocal and undeniable “yes and amen” to the glory of God’s Spirit in us. The simple question to us has to be, have you asked for it? Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7). If His word is in us, as He Himself is supposed to be in us, we will ask for Word driven desires and they will be granted to us. Ask Him to make you a lover of the brothers and sisters like He loves them, and watch and wait for Him to manifest it in you. Unity among us is based upon the joined new natures of believers ruled by the living principle of the love of Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Father in heaven, relationships with all kinds of people who say they love You, like I say I love You, is a major challenge and risk. Please make my heart like Your heart so I can express Your nature toward the people You love for unity sake. Please forgive me for not being as serious about it as You are in expecting it from me. I will purpose to be better in this area. In Jesus Name, amen.
By Pastor Wayne Cockrell
Archive
2024
January
Gratitude Mixed with Faith Should Equal ObedienceGrace Comes In God’s TimingGOD USES WHOM HE CHOOSESSeeing What God Sees to Get What God HasA Life Verse That Is Good for Every YearSeeing Things as God Sees ThemThree QuestionsDon’t Worry About the FutureForgiveness Is Our Daily CelebrationPeace When We Do RightGod’s True Children Certainly Should KnowRegret In Missed OpportunitiesThe Attitude of Delight Is RightMeditation Deprivation Is EvidentARE YOU A DISCIPLE OR JUST A CONVERT?An Anchored Soul Won’t QuitGod Wants to Be BelievedFinding God in Our PainI Must Be About God’s WordWhat the Wondrous Word of God Can Do in a Willing ServantSeeing Things God’s WayGetting Along for Jesus SakeMeditating Brings Us Success In The Christian LifeThe State of Mind That Pleases GodPraised By the RaisedHaving the Right Knowledge for Real FaithWhose Mind Do You Think With?All My Heart & All My WaysWise with the Lord’s TimeNo Shame About What God Has SaidPrayer Is A Conversation
February
DEEP ARMOR FOR THE STEEP CLIMBDressed in the Whole Armor of God for Spiritual WarfareGRAB THAT ARMORSUNDAY MORNING PRAYER WITH PASTOR WAYNE COCKRELLIn My Dressing Room (Putting on the Armor of God)Armored for Any WeatherTruth is Foundation for Our FaithA Work in Progress and A Mouth in TrainingREJECTION OF GOSSIP, SLANDER, LIES, AND DISCORD: THE PERFECTING OF 'FEBRUARY'THE DETESTABLESSUNDAY MORNING PRAYER WITH PASTOR WAYNE COCKRELLIf the Lord Hates It, We Should TooThe Offense Ward of the Sin HospitalSpilling the TeaWe are in ChristLet us Do BetterSpread Love, Not GossipSUNDAY MORNING PRAYER WITH PASTOR WAYNE COCKRELLThe GREATEST THRILL: Being SPIRIT - FilledTHE HOLY SPIRIT'S CONTROLA Drunken SpiritLookin’ Like Our DaddyFermented or Fresh; How is Your Fruit?We Have it AllSUNDAY MORNING PRAYER WITH PASTOR WAYNE COCKRELLJESUS’ LOVE MANDATEHIS Walk, Our Hopethe greatest gift of allTo Love Like Christ
March
LOVE x LOVELove is CommitmentSUNDAY MORNING PRAYER with Pastor CockrellTHE HIGHEST DEBT OF LOVEPREVAILING IN LOVE, AND IN THE LIGHT OF THE PROMISEReturn Your Love to METhe Loveless ChurchWhat Do You Want First: the Good News or the Bad News?POSITIVE FRICTION THAT MAKES US BETTERSUNDAY MORNING PRAYER with Pastor Wayne CockrellHis Love Versus My FearsJESUS LOVES YOUBe Surrendered to 'Love'Victory Over Fear: Life’s Small LessonsJesus, Our VictoryTRUST CHRIST, BANISH FEARSUNDAY MORNING PRAYER with Pastor Wayne CockrellHarmony and Discord Aren’t FriendsHOLY PARAMETERSBlinded by HateACT or REACTRESISTING ANGER AND HATE IN CONFLICTPeculiar PeopleSUNDAY MORNING PRAYER with Pastor Wayne CockrellONWARD & UPWARDHow To Fall ForwardThe Front Windshield is Much Bigger than the Rearview MirrorONE THING TO DOLooking Back Will Have You SaltyGreat Cloud of WitnessesSUNDAY MORNING PRAYER with Pastor Wayne Cockrell
5 Comments
Amen 🙏. I know Jesus loves me. He has loved me to the end. With that same nature; I in Him and He in me, I have the same capacity to love others. ❤️ love waters the whole creation..not just one little spot. Hallelujah!
Let's let grace reign, a blessed chain,
A captivating gain...
By which we grow, and go and sow
Free from our guilty stain.
By which we show forth Jesus light
Along the given way,
With steps aroused on mercy's field
With yielding day by day.
Pastor, Great reminder of our basic foundation in our faith walk with Christ, love, peace with one another so that we Well represent to whom we belong. Help us to overcome our differences so that we can make this journey with an abundance of joy!!
Amen Pastor! Such a strengthened Devotional. God deals with us out of his goodness for his name sake,thank you Jesus the son of God!!
Help me to love like You, Lord. Amen