John 5:37-38 And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.
Today, we are encouraged by the testimony of the Father regarding Jesus. All the miraculous works of Jesus were the Father’s validation that He sent Jesus and that He was the Son of God. When Jesus spoke, they were hearing the word of God, but they didn’t recognize it. Since they didn’t believe Jesus’ words, they could not hear God’s voice. The voice of Jesus was the voice of God. Amazing! Jesus testified that they had never heard His voice or seen His form. That was Jesus’ witness regarding them. He was telling them that they were dead. Let me remind you of what Jesus had said only a few minutes earlier to them recorded in John 5:25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” Even though the time now is that the dead will hear the voice of God and live, they haven’t heard and therefore were in a helpless and hopeless condition—dead to God.
For everyone who has received life in Christ, there is great encouragement. We believe God sent Jesus. We believe His words are the words of God, and therefore His words abide in us. We who were dead have heard His voice and now live. Hallelujah! Will you rejoice with me today in the amazing grace of God that gave us ears to hear His voice?
Jesus told His disciples just before leaving them to go to the Father, John 15:7-8, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” If Jesus’ words abide in us, we will ask Him to do what He commands us to do, believe in Jesus (John 14:1) and love with His love (John 13:34). The promise here is that the believing and the love will be done for us so that the Father is glorified in the Son as He does it in us. Remember, He had just said that apart from Him, we can do nothing to produce fruit and glorify God.
So our encouragement today is that we have heard His voice, have life in Christ, and may ask for Jesus to live His life in and through us for the glory of God, and we know we will be heard and answered. What hope we have today as we live to love with Jesus! We have the witness of the Father—eternal life in His Son, who loves through us.
I invite you to become a partner in our ministry. Would you pray about becoming a regular supporter of Elijah Ministries and the Live to Love with Jesus ministry? I hope you will receive the joy and benefit of "giving it forward," so others may receive encouragement to turn their hearts to God and to live to love with Jesus. You may give online or send a check to the address listed at www.spiritofelijah.com/donate.
