OUR DAILY BREAD : BELONGING

[cimi]

August
Friday


BELONGING

READ:
John 14:1-11
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In my Father's house
are many mansions
....I go to prepare
a place for you.
__John 14:2
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My dad was full of stories about his hometown. So you can imagine how excited I was as a child when he took our family there every summer. We fished the St. Joseph River together and visited his boyhood farm where all of his stories came to life. Although that place was never really my home, whenever I visit that town__now with grown children and grandchildren of my own__it fills me with a nostalgic sense of belonging.

Jesus talked with His disciples, "In my Father's house are many mansions....I go to prepare a place for you,... that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2-3). No doubt Jesus, "who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross" (Heb. 12:2), was looking forward to returning to His heavenly home and taking His Father's sons and daughters there to be with Him.

The thought of Jesus taking us to His Father's home fills us with great anticipation and compels us to tell others the good news about the Son who came to rescue us from this fallen place. __Joe Stowell

``````````````Now I belong to Jesus;```````````````
``````````````Jesus belongs to me__````````````````
`````````Not for the years of time alone,````````````
```````````But for eternity. __Clayton```````````````
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Only Jesus can fill us with a sense of belonging
like we've never known before.

*********************Today's Bible Reading __ John 14:1-11********************

1 "Let not your heart be
troubled; you believe in
God, believe also in Me. 2 In
My Father's house are many
mansions; if it were not so,
I would have told you. I go
to prepare a place for you.

3 And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come
again and receive you to
Myself; that where I am,
there you may be also. 4 And
where I go you know, and
the way you know."

5 Thomas said to Him,
"Lord, we do not know
where You are going, and
how can we know the way?"

5 Jesus said to him, "I am
the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the
Fatherer except through Me.

7 If you had known Me, you
would have known My
Father also; and from now
on you know Him and have
seen Him."

8 Philip said to Him, "Lord,
show us the Father, and it is
sufficient for us."

9 Jesus said to him, "Have I
been with you so long, and
yet you have not known Me,
Philip? He who has seen Me
has seen the Father; so how
can you say, 'Show us the
Father'? 10 Do you not
believe that I am in the
Father, and the Father in
Me? The words that I speak
to you I do not speak on My
own authority; but the Father
who dwells in Me does the
works. 11 Believe Me that I
am in the Father and the
Father in Me, or else believe
Me for the sake of the works
themselves."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
What must not be missed in today's passage is what Jesus continues
to say after the familiar verse 6. He is in the Father and the Father in
Him (v.10). Jesus is the way to the Father through the cross. It is in
Him that we see the Father most clearly. Seeing Jesus is seeing the
Father.