What’s In a Name – Week 7 Devotions (With Scripture)

Monday, April ,28, 2025, Read John 14:1 “Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God; believe also in me.”
These were Jesus’s last moments with His disciples before everything as they knew it would change.  When Jesus had His last chance to tell His disciples everything, they would need to know to get them through the coming turmoil. He began with, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” God knows what you’ve been through, and He knows what is still to come. Regardless of your circumstances, His invitation today is to walk in peace by the power of the Holy Spirit.  As you look around at uncertainty, frustration, confusion, loss, and change, remember that Jesus knows you; He sees you; and He loves you.  Do not let your heart be troubled.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, Read John 14:2-7: In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.  And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
As Jesus prepared His disciples for His absence, He also offered them a promise: They would not be alone, He’s coming back, and they will be with Him again. He also offered a decisive claim about who He is: the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. He’s not one path to the Father, He’s the only way any person can ever be reconciled to God. Jesus offers that same comfort and reassurance to you. He’s preparing a place for you in His Father’s house. You need only to follow Him. It might not be popular or convenient, but in the end, you’ll experience life in the fullest way possible.

Wednesday, April 30, 2025, Read John John 14:8-14 “Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 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’?  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.  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. 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.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
Jesus had just told His disciples that anyone who knew Him also knew the Father. Everything He had done was to show them the Father. Jesus reminded His disciples that He’d been under the Father’s authority throughout His ministry, and that His every word and action revealed His Father. His message was clear: if you know and follow Jesus, you know and follow His Father. If you are casually following God, but constantly asking for more proof, you’re missing the evidence already in front of you. Draw near to Jesus, through the Spirit, and you’ll know the Father.

Thursday, May 1, 2025, Read John 14:15-18 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you”
After Jesus explained that He reflected His Father by obeying His commands, Jesus shared that expectation with His disciples. It’s not enough to know Him; obedience is the natural act of love. But Jesus knew that He was leaving, and the disciples needed help. So, He asked the Father to send a Helper—the Holy Spirit, who would counsel, guide, and mediate. Jesus didn’t leave His disciples alone and He has not left you alone. If your desire is to love and obey God, take heart in remembering that You’re not alone. You’re not forgotten. You have not been abandoned. You have access to the very Spirit of God!

Friday, May 2, 2025, Read John 14:19-24  “Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.  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.” Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” 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.  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.”
In this passage, Jesus walked His disciples through the connections between relationship, obedience, and love. Because Jesus loved God, He obeyed Him, because Jesus’ disciples loved Him, they obeyed Him, and they were connected to the Father through Him. The key to this connection is love. Jesus doesn’t love you because you obey Him. You obey His teachings because you love Him. If you obey out of obligation, fear, or to earn a reward, you’re missing the heart of God. If you claim to love God, are not convicted to obey His teaching, your love is not rooted in the deeply connected affection between Jesus and the Father.the Father.