John 14:1-31
Jesus Comforts His Disciples and Comforts Us
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Jesus is the Way and Only Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 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’? 10 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. 11 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. 12 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. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 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.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 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. 24 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.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
The reason John 14 stands out to me as the most vital chapter for recognizing God's Will is that it shifts our focus from a "what" to a "Who"...Jesus is our Living Connection to God's Will..When He tells us, "I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life," He implies that the Will of God is not a destination we reach, but a Person we walk with every single step of the day...We come to recognize that Truth is a Person and that His Way is our Purpose in Life...Whether we are sitting in our quiet rooms or going about our daily work, we recognize His Will by the "Peace" He leaves with us—a supernatural tranquility distinct from the world's temporary calm...As Jesus says in verse 27, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you"...This peace acts as a spiritual compass: if a decision or a thought brings the Father's peace, we are walking in His Will; if it brings agitation or fear, we know we have stepped off the path. Ultimately, we realize that the very purpose of life is found in a loving relationship with the One who always did His Father's Will and remains the Only Way to Heaven...
Furthermore, John 14 links our recognition of His Will directly to our love for Him, stating, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."...This creates a beautiful, daily rhythm where our choices aren't made out of legalistic duty, but out of a desire to remain in that "Abiding" Agape LOVE...By promising that He and the Father will "make Their home" with us, Jesus ensures that we are never guessing in the dark...We recognize the Father's Will by simply staying "at home" in His Presence, allowing the Holy Spirit to nudge our hearts toward the Truth of the Sermon on the Mount in every interaction we have...It is this constant, indwelling fellowship that transforms our "daily and minute-by-minute" life into a continuous act of worship and recognition...
The journey of understanding God’s Will begins with the heart’s orientation toward the Creator, much like the psalmist who declared in Psalm 119:105 that the Word of God is a lamp unto our feet...We must recognize that God’s Will is not a destination we reach, but a way of walking that is illuminated by the Holy Scriptures and reading God's Word, because His Word is Truth...And we are to walk by God's Truth...As we open our Bibles, we are not just looking for rules, but for the heartbeat of a Father who desires to guide His children into all Truth...The psalmist understood that to know the Will of God, one must first have a delight in the Law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night as the source of all life...When we align our desires with His commands, the path becomes clear because our eyes are no longer clouded by the distractions of this world...This is the foundation of "Awakened to Grace," where we realize that knowing His Will is a gift granted to those who seek Him with their whole heart...
Jesus Christ is the Ultimate and Perfect Example of what it means to live entirely within the Will of the Father and to follow God's Will...Throughout the Gospels, particularly in your favorite chapters of John, Jesus makes it clear that His food is to do the Will of Him who sent Him and to finish His work...In John 6:38, Jesus tells us plainly that He came down from heaven not to do His Own Will, but the Will of Him who sent Him...This reveals a profound truth: recognizing God’s Will requires a surrender of our own independent and earthly agendas...Jesus didn’t just follow a set of instructions; He lived in a constant, flowing communion with the Father, hearing His voice and seeing what the Father was doing...In the Garden of Gethsemane, He demonstrated the highest form of obedience by saying, "Not My Will, but Yours be done," showing us that the Will of God often involves the sacrifice of the self for a much greater, eternal purpose...
When we look at the life of the Apostle Paul, we see a man whose entire world was turned upside down by a direct encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus...This event was the beginning of his "Awakening to Grace," where the scales fell from his eyes and he realized that his previous "zeal" was actually working against the Will of God...Paul’s time in Arabia was likely a season of intense deconstruction and reconstruction, where the Holy Spirit taught him the "mystery" of the Gospel that had been hidden for ages...It was during these quiet years, and later in his Roman imprisonment, that he penned the deep truths we find in the book of Ephesians...Paul teaches us in Ephesians 1:9 that God has made known to us the mystery of His Will according to His good pleasure...This mystery is the unification of all things under the headship of Christ, a plan that was set in motion before the foundation of the world...
In Ephesians 5:15-17, Paul gives us a practical manual for recognizing God’s Will in our daily lives by urging us to walk circumspectly...He tells us to redeem the time because the days are evil, which means we must be intentional about how we use the moments God has given us...To "understand what the Will of the LORD is," we must contrast it with the foolishness of the world...Foolishness is living as if God does not exist or as if His Word has no authority over our choices...Wisdom, on the other hand, is the application of God’s truth to our specific circumstances through the discernment provided by the Holy Spirit...Paul emphasizes that being "filled with the Spirit" is the key to this discernment, as the Holy Spirit acts as the internal compass that points us toward the Father’s heart...Without the Spirit, we are like ships without a rudder, tossed about by every wind of doctrine and human whim...
The practical application of God's Will is found in how we treat one another within the body of Christ and within our families...In Ephesians 4:32, we are told to be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave us...This is not just a suggestion; it is the revealed Will of God for every believer’s social interactions...When we harbor bitterness or refuse to forgive, we are stepping outside of His Will and grieving the Holy Spirit...Doing the Will of God means putting on the "New Man," which is created in true righteousness and holiness and living more in the Spiritual World of God... It involves a total transformation of our speech, our work ethic, and our attitudes toward those in authority... As we walk in love, following the example of Christ who gave Himself for us, we become a "fragrant offering" that pleases the Father and makes His Will visible to a watching world...
Following this practical application, our lives are to be focused on loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves, which fulfills the Greatest Commandments given by Jesus...In Ephesians 4:32, we are told to be kind to one another, tenderhearted, and forgiving toward each other, even as God in Christ forgave us...This is not just a suggestion or a helpful hint; it is the revealed Will of God for every believer’s social interactions and relationships...When we harbor bitterness or refuse to forgive those who have wronged us, we are stepping outside of His Will and grieving the Holy Spirit who dwells within us...Doing the Will of God means actively putting on the "New Man," which is created in true righteousness and holiness as we grow in faith...Let us love all neighbors on earth always loving them and forgiving them when necessary...
Living this way allows us to reside more fully in the Spiritual World of God, even while we walk upon this earth...This spiritual awakening involves a total transformation of our speech, ensuring that only words that edify and give grace to the hearers pass through our lips...It reaches into our work ethic, calling us to work heartily as unto the LORD rather than merely to please men...Our attitudes toward those in authority are also transformed, as we recognize that God is the Author of all order and peace...As we walk in love, following the example of Christ who gave Himself for us as a sacrifice, we become a "fragrant offering" to the Father...This lifestyle makes the Will of God visible and tangible to a watching world that is hungry for the Truth of the Gospel...By being "Awakened to Grace," we represent the Light of the Son and reflect Him in every corner of our daily existence...
Furthermore, Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:17 is that we might receive the "spirit of wisdom and revelation" in the knowledge of Him...This shows us that knowing God’s Will is tied directly to knowing God Himself...The more we grow in our personal relationship with Jesus and the more we follow His Examples and Teachings, the more we instinctively understand what pleases Him...It is like a long-married couple who can anticipate each other’s thoughts; our spirits become so attuned to His that we recognize His Will even in the small, unscripted moments of life...This is why prayer is so essential to the process, as it is the "breath" of the soul that keeps us connected to the source of all wisdom...When we ask for insight, God is faithful to give it liberally, opening the eyes of our understanding so that we may know the hope of His calling...We are not left to guess His Will; we are invited to sit at His feet and learn it through the Word and the Spirit...
To recognize the Father's Will on a daily basis, we must first realize that His Will is not a hidden map we have to solve, but a Relationship we are invited to inhabit...In John 14, Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will "teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you," which means that recognizing His Will often looks like a scripture verse or a gentle conviction surfacing in your mind just when you need it...On a practical level, we recognize His Will by practicing "the Presence of God," where we consciously acknowledge Him in the middle of mundane tasks—whether you are sitting in our rooms with carpeting or our gray vinyl floors or out running errands—and asking, "LORD, what is Your heart for this moment?"...It is the "still small voice" that prompts us to be the "salt of the earth" that Jesus spoke of in the Sermon on the Mount, influencing our environment through small acts of patience and grace...
Furthermore, we recognize His Will by aligning our immediate choices with the timeless Truths of His Word; if a thought or action promotes love, joy, peace, and long-suffering, we can be confident it is the Father's Will...When we feel a "check" in our spirit or a sense of unrest about a certain path, that is often the Spirit steering us back toward the Father's heart...It is a process of "abiding" in the Vine, where the more time we spend talking to Him and reading His promises and His Word, the more natural it becomes to sense His direction without having to stop and analyze every single second...We won't always get it right, but a heart that is "poor in spirit" and hungry for righteousness is exactly the kind of heart that God promises to fill with His wisdom...Minute by minute, we simply offer the current moment back to Him, trusting that He is working in us both "to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose"...
Finally, we must remember that God’s Will is always consistent with His character as revealed in the Sermon on the Mount...If a path leads us away from humility, mercy, deceiving and telling falsehoods, not forgiving others, or purity of heart, we can be certain it is not the Will of God...Jesus taught us in Matthew 7 that not everyone who says "LORD, LORD" will enter the kingdom, but only those who do the Will of His Father...This underscores the fact that knowledge of the Will must always lead to the action of the Will...We recognize it through Scripture, we confirm it through prayer, and we execute it through the power of the Holy Spirit...As we "redeem the time" and "walk as children of Light," we find that His Will is indeed good, acceptable, and perfect...This Sabbath, let us rest in the assurance that the Light of this World, the Sun and Son of Righteousness is shining on our path and is the lamp unto our feet, making the Will of God clear to all who are Awakened to His Grace...
The warning of Jesus regarding those who cry "LORD, LORD" but do not do the Will of the Father can often bring a sense of trembling to the believer who recognizes their own daily struggles, because I am one who does not always follow the Will of my Father...We must understand that "doing the Will of God" is not a ladder of merit we climb to earn a seat in Heaven, but a fruit of the Spirit that grows as we remain joined to the Vine...When we find ourselves falling short or failing to live out the kindness and forgiveness of Ephesians 4:32, the answer is not to hide in shame, but to return to the throne of grace with a contrite heart...Our salvation is anchored in the finished work of Christ on the Cross, and His righteousness is credited to us even when our own "work ethic" or "attitudes" and not following God's Will as stumble in the flesh...The "New Man" is a creation of God, and while we are called to put Him on daily, we must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish what our human will cannot do alone...
The true danger Jesus spoke of was a heart that is hardened and indifferent to the Father’s Will, not a heart that is grieved by its own imperfections...If you feel the sorrow of not always doing His Will, it is because you have been given a heart of flesh that desires to please Him, which is the mark of a true child of God...In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus began by blessing the "poor in spirit," which describes those who recognize their own spiritual poverty and total need for God’s Mercy...Our security in Heaven is not found in the perfection of our walk, but in the perfection of the One we are walking with...As we read about and live out the truths of John 14, we find peace in knowing that Jesus has prepared a place for us, and He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life regardless of our temporary stumbles and not always recognizing His Will and then following it...We are invited to keep pressing forward, making His Will visible not through our own strength, but through a life that is constantly being restored by His Infinite Grace...