So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him. John 8:28-30
What a great goal for life, “To do nothing on our own, but to speak just what the Father has taught us, and to always do what pleases him.” Jesus knew his father intimately, he knew he was never alone. He knew his father would never leave or forsake him.
How do we speak and do what the Father has taught us? With the father’s help, that’s how. How do we get the father’s help? By listening to his still small voice, by abiding in him, by practicing the presence of God, by being filled with his Holy Spirit, by knowing his Word.
Yesterday, I was so thirsty. I was on the phone, in meetings, going to the post office and the bank. I could have stopped any of those things, gone to the fridge and grabbed my bottle of water and quenched my thirst. But I kept putting it off because I had things to do. I finally got home and drank two big glasses of water and thought, why did I wait so long to get a drink?
If we want to hear from the Father, we need to make him our priority. To go out of our way to seek him, and it’s like the passage in John: Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Lord, I come to you thirsty, I need your refreshing, I desperately want your living water to flow out from within me. Come Holy Spirit. Amen.