HOW CHANGE TAKES PLACE

WHEN JESUS SPEAKS

Now you are clean through the
Word which I have spoken to you.

John 15.3

Jesus spoke to His disciples daily for 3 1/2 years.

His last night, He said, "Now you are clean...."

They had listened to, learned from, and lived for Him during this time.

Now they were dramatically different men and women.

The difference came from the power of Jesus--Who He was, what He did, and what He said.

The Holy Spirit makes that exact same difference in our lives as we listen to and learn from the Holy Spirit in order to live for the Lord Jesus day by day.

We have the words of Jesus, the words of the Father, and the words of the Holy Spirit.

We have the Holy Spirit within us to be with us to speak to us, just as Jesus was with those disciples.

Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will obey what I command, and I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever--the Spirit of Truth."

We become like Jesus as we listen to, learn from, live by the words of the Holy Spirit day by day.

We need only read the words the Father, Son, and Spirit have spoken for us and the Holy Spirit will empower us to see what they are saying and doing. As we see Who God is and What God does, we will become like Him.

To begin with, read daily the last words of Jesus and His prayer for us in John 14-17. Read them over and over until you have heard, seen, understood, believed, trusted, and obeyed what the Holy Spirit says and shows you about the Son for the glory of the Father.

Read Jesus' words prayerfully and thoughtfully--"meditate" on them--and you will become like the disciples who first heard them from the lips of Jesus, like a Vine with much fruit and like a Tree for the splendor of the glory of God--Psalm 1.1-3; Isaiah 61.3; John 15.5.