eternal life

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The Way To Eternal Life

19th July

“And this is the way to have eternal life – to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one You sent to earth”

John 17:3

Jesus, in Matthew 6, taught us how to pray by giving us ‘the Lord’s prayer’. In His model prayer, we are given guidelines to help us structure our prayers and to give us a basis on what we should be praying for. Here, in John 17, Jesus prays another prayer, which we can also use to help us pray. Furthermore, Jesus’ prayer in John 17, gives us a deeper understanding of Jesus’ heart for the nations, His disciples, His role, and His relationship with the Father. There are many key gems contained in His prayer and today’s verse is one of them.

A question that is often asked is, ‘how do I get eternal life?’ or ‘how can I be saved?’ Jesus in His prayer, gives the answer by outlining a very simple truth. The way to eternal life is ‘to know God and Jesus Christ’. So the next question is ‘how do we know God?’. Well, that answer is found in verse 6, “I have revealed You to the ones you gave me from this world”. How do we know God? Through Jesus. Jesus was both 100% fully God and 100% fully man. All the ideas of who God is, what His character was like, who His heart was for, was found in Jesus. How Jesus acted was like God acts! How He talked was like God talks! What He did was what God does! They are the same. Jesus was God on earth. Jesus revealed God’s nature, character and heart because He was God!

How can we get eternal life? By knowing God! How can we know God? By knowing Jesus!

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Have You The Heard The Voice Of God?

3rd March

 “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from Me.”

John 10:27-28 

What does the voice of God sound like? Have you ever heard it? The truth is, is that God speaks to us in so many different ways; through the still small voice in our minds, through creation, through His word and sometimes even audibly.

However, the underlying truth is this… We must all be able to discern and hear the voice of God. Why? Well, the obvious answer is, that if we are to engage in any type of relationship with God Himself, then we need to be able to have a conversation with Him. Any relationship is a two-way communication. Simply put, if you can’t hear from God, then it becomes a one-way conversation. God has so much to share with His sheep, so much to share with YOU! In hearing God’s voice, your identity in Him is secure. You know that you are His. You know that you can follow His voice and His guidance. There is richness and fullness of life in His words.

Yet so often, our minds are clogged up with so many others thoughts and voices that we find it hard to hear what God is saying. Even David, the friend of God, sometimes had moments in his life when he felt distant from God…”My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are You so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call You, my God, but You do not answer.” (Psalm 22:1-2) In fact Jesus Himself, repeated those words as He was hanging on the cross. Although the context of these two examples might be completely different from what we face, the fact of the matter is, is that sometimes things get in the way of us discerning and hearing God’s voice. Sometimes, we do feel far from Him. Sometimes, we do feel abandoned. Yet God is always there. He always wants to talk to us.

If we are to follow Him, then we need to remove any obstacles that hinder our walk with Him and be free to have a real, living and free relationship with our Master. Do you hear the voice of your Shepherd?