This is not your rest. § There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. § Behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus. 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. 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. § With Christ, which is far better. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. § There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. § Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 For as yet you have not come to the rest and the  inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. 

Watchman, what of the night?” The watchman said, “The morning comes.” He who is coming will come and will not tarry. § He shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds. I go to prepare a place for you. 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 … Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, “I am going away and coming back to you.” Let all Your enemies perish, O Lord! But let those who love Him be like the sun when it comes out in full strength. § You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. § There shall be no night there.

Evening Daily Light

 When shall I arise, and the night be ended? 

<blockquote>
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (<a id="verse_1632879494102916" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Colossians/2/6">Col. 2:6</a>).
</blockquote>How readily and eagerly we take His Word when He says, "I go to prepare a place for you" (<a id="verse_1632879494799086" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/John/14/2">John 14:2</a>), yet how slow of heart we are to believe that He has prepared a walk for us, here and now! For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us, (taking paths which He prepared ahead of time) that we should walk in them - living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live" (<a id="verse_1632879494373992" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Ephesians/2/10">Eph. 2:10</a>, Amp.)."Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (<a id="verse_1632879494790291" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Ephesians/1/3">Eph. 1:3</a>, ASV). If you can run over in your mind and find one single blessing with which God might bless us today, with which He has not already blessed us, then what He told Paul is not true at all, because He said, God hath....' It is all done, It is finished.' God hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies! The great pity of it all is that we are saying O God bless us - bless us in this, bless us in that! and it is all done; He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ in the heavenlies. It is our place to believe and receive." -L.L.L."According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (<a id="verse_1632879494768782" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Peter/1/3">2 Pet. 1:3</a>).

A 365 day devotional that will help you in your Christian growth and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.  This devotional is a collection of quotes from some of the best authors in the realm of Christian growth that has been organized by Miles J Stanford.  This devotional study is divided into 12 sections each containing 31 daily portions.

None but the Hungry Heart

 Prearranged 

Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies all around. His name shall be Solomon [peaceful], for I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days. Indeed a greater than Solomon is here. § Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. § My people will dwell in a peaceful habituation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places, though hail comes down on the forest, and the city is brought low in humiliation. He Himself is our peace. § This One shall be peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you.

 Gideon built an altar . . . and called it The-Lord-Is-Peace. 

He died for all. § Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. He … lives to make intercession for them. § I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. § Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am. § Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. We love Him because He first loved us. § The love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

 See how He loved. 

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. 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. § To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne. Thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. § How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.

 “Rabbi . . . where are You staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” 

The solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” § Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” § The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me. § Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm. § The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him. I go to prepare a place for you. 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.

 He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 

Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.” § I will teach you the good and the right way. § I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. § Follow Me. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. § Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray. § Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. 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.

 You will show me the path of life. 

O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” … Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. § Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. We know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens … So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord … We are … well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 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.

 As the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that … He might …release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 

The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. § There is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. § The first man Adam became a living being. § The spirit of the sons of men … goes upward. While we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord … We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. § With Christ, which is far better. § I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. I go to prepare a place for you. 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.

 The spirit will return to God who gave it. 

John 14:1-2The words of the fourteenth chapter of John were spoken by the Master to His friends in a time of deep grief which seemed inconsolable. Yet He said, "Let not your heart be troubled." This seemed a strange thing to say to those men that night. How could they keep their hearts from being troubled in such circumstances? To think of all that Jesus had grown to be to them! For three years they had been members of His personal family, enjoying the most intimate relations with Him.How much a friend can be to us, depends on the friend. If he has a rich character, a noble personality, power to love deeply, capacity for friendship, the spirit of pure unselfishness; if he is able to inspire us to heroism and to worthy living - what he can be to us is immeasurable. Think what Jesus Christ, with His marvelous manhood, must have been as a friend to His disciples, and you can understand something of what His going from them meant to them.Then He was more than a friend to them. They had believed in Him as the Messiah, who was to redeem them and lead them to honor and glory. Great hope rested in Him. His death was, as it seemed to them - the defeat and failure of all their hopes. The announcement that He was to leave them, swept away, as they thought, all that made life worthwhile. There are human friends whose death seems to leave only desolation in the hearts and lives of those who have loved them and leaned on them. But the death of Christ was to His personal friends and followers - the blotting out of every star of hope and promise. Their sorrow was overwhelming.Yet Jesus looked into their faces and said, "Let not your heart be troubled." It is worth our while to think of the grounds on which Jesus could reasonably say this to His disciples, when they were entering into such great and real sorrow. The first thing He bade them do, was to believe. "Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me." Thus far they had believed in God. Jesus had taught them a new name for God. They were to call Him Father. He had not been known by this name before - but Jesus used no other name for Him. The word Father is a great treasure-house of love-thoughts. It told the disciples of personal thought, love and care, extending to all the events of their lives. The very hairs of their heads were all numbered. It told them of goodness which never failed. It was a great lesson they had been learning, as they came to think of God as their Father. In the shock of the last terrible days; however, the danger was that they would lose their faith in God. But Jesus said to them: "Believe in God. Let nothing take this faith out of your heart. Let nothing take from you what you have been learning from Me about God.""Believe also in Me." They had accepted Jesus as the Messiah. You remember the splendid confession made by Peter, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." In this confession, all the disciples had joined. They believed that He had come to be the world's Savior. Now, in the announcement that Jesus was to die at the hands of wicked men, there was danger that they should lose their faith in Him. But to save them from their loss of faith He exhorted them to continue to believe. Not one of their hopes had perished. "You believe in God, believe also in Me."We are always in danger of losing faith in time of sorrow or any sore trouble. Many times people are heard asking such questions as, "How can God be a God of love, and allow me to be so bereft, so stripped of good things? Where are now the promises of blessing which are made in the Scriptures over and over again? Has God forgotten to be gracious?" To those questions of doubt and fear the answer is, "Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me." Let nothing disturb your faith. Though it seems that God's love has failed, that God has not forgotten you, that Christ is no longer your friend - still continue to believe; believe in God, believe also in Christ.Sorrow is full of mystery. We go everywhere asking, "Why?" "This is not love," we say. "This is not goodness. This is not salvation." We cannot answer the WHY. Should we expect to know why God does this or that? How could we, with our narrow vision and our small knowledge, understand the plans and purpose of God? God does not plan to give us an easy time in this world - He wants to make something of us, and often the way to do this - is to give us pain, loss, and suffering.A German writer speaks of the "hardness of God's love." Love must be hard sometimes. A writer tells of keeping the cocoon of an emperor moth for nearly a year, to watch the process of development. A narrow opening is left in the neck of the flask, through which the insect forces its way. The opening is so small that it seems impossible for the moth to pass through it. This writer watched the efforts of the imprisoned moth to escape. It did not appear to make any progress. At last he grew impatient. He pitied the little creature and, in a weak kindness to it, decided to help it. Taking his scissors, he snipped the confining threads to make the struggle easier. In a moment the moth was free, dragging out a great swollen body and little shriveled wings. He watched to see the beauty unfold - but he watched in vain. "It never was anything but a stunted abortion, crawling painfully about, instead of flying through the air on rainbow wings." Nature's way - that is, God's way - with moths is the only true way, although it is a way of pain, struggle, and suffering. Human pity may make an easier way - but the end will be destructive .God's love never makes this mistake, either in nature or in dealing with human lives. God lets us suffer - if by suffering we will best grow into perfect beauty. When the mystery of pain or hardness comes into our life - let us not doubt. Let us suffer and wait. The disciples thought all their hopes were gone - but in the end they learned that no hope had perished or failed. Blessing and good came out of what seemed irretrievable disaster. "You believe in God, believe also in me," is always the word of faith and comfort. Trust God. Nothing is going wrong. You cannot understand - but He understands.The disciples were in great distress because their Master was going away from them. They were dismayed as they thought of their loss. They thought they could not live without Him. But He explained that He was going away - for their sake. They thought they would not have His help anymore, and He explained that He would still be active in their behalf. "In my Father's house are many mansions… I am going to prepare a place for you."He told them where He was going - to His Father's house. These are precious words. They tell us that heaven is home. On this earth there is no place so sweet, so sacred, so heart-satisfying as the true home. It is a place of love, purest, gentlest, most unselfish love. It is a place of confidence. We are always sure of home's loved ones. We do not have to be on our guard when we enter our home doors. We do not have to wear masks there, hiding or disguising our real selves. Home is a refuge into which we flee from the danger, the enmity, the suspicion, the unkindness, the injustice of the world. Home is the place where hungry hearts feed on love's bread .Mrs. Craik in one of her books had this fine picture: 
Oh, conceive the happiness to know that some one person dearer to you than your own self, some one heart into which you can pour every thought, every grief, every joy; one person who, if all the rest of the world were to calumniate or forsake you - would never wrong you by a harsh thought or an unjust word; who would cling to you the closer in sickness, in poverty, in care; who would sacrifice all things to you, and for whom you would sacrifice all; from whom, except by death, night or day, you never can be divided; whose smile is ever at your hearth. Such is marriage, if they who marry have hearts and souls to feel that there is no bond on earth so tender and so sublime.This is a glimpse of what a true home is. The picture is sometimes realized on the earth. There are homes which are well-near perfect. But the home sought, will be realized full in heaven. The Bible paints heaven in colors of dazzling splendor, its gates and streets and gardens and streams and fruits, all of the utmost brilliance; but no other description means so much to our hearts as that which the Master gives in these three words, "My Father's house" - home!"My Father's house." That is the place to which we are going! That is the place where those we have lost awhile from our earthly homes, falling asleep in Jesus, are gathering. That is the place to which the angels have carried the godly dead. What a vision will burst upon our eyes when, some quiet day or night, we shall fall asleep - to awake no more on earth - but to awake in heaven, in our Father's house! You have read of men coming over the sea as immigrants, and landing in a strange city as utter strangers - throngs all about them - but not one familiar face, no welcome in any eye, no greeting. But it will not be this way with you when you leave this world and enter heaven. Loved ones will meet you and receive you with joy.Jesus said also to His disciples, "I go to prepare a place for you." They thought His dying was an interruption of His work. The Messiah they had conceived of was to live and be a glorious King, conquering the world. Suddenly they were told that soon they should not see Him - He would be gone. They were bitterly disappointed. All their homes were now to perish. Jesus comforts them by telling them that the reason He was going away - was to prepare a place for them. Nothing was going wrong with His Messiahship. They had misunderstood it - that was all. He could easily have escaped from the plots of the rulers, the betrayal of Judas, the arrest by the temple officers. But hat would have been to fail in part of His work.The reason He was going away - was that He might continue and complete His work in heaven. "I go to prepare a place for you." The thought is very beautiful. How does Christ prepare places for us? We need not understand - but it is a sweet thought to know that He thinks of us - as you think of a dear guest who is coming to visit you - lovingly, and prepares for your coming. You good women, when you are expecting a friend you love very much, make the guest room just as tidy and beautiful as you can. You think of the friend's tastes, and prepare the room with this in mind. You put up a picture you think will please him. You lay on the table the books you know he will like. You gather his favorite flowers and place them on the dressing bureau. You do everything you can to make the room beautiful, so that he will feel at home in it the moment he enters it. Christ is preparing a room for you!There is something else here. "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also." This is more of the work Jesus went away to do for His friends. First, He would make ready for them, build a home for the, prepare a place. Then, when all things were ready, He would come for them and take them home. That is what He does when we leave this world. Men call it dying - but dying is a gloomy, forbidding word. Jesus said, "Whoever lives and believes on Me - shall never die." What we call dying - is really only Jesus coming to receive us unto Himself. Why, then, should anyone dread to leave this world? It is the Master coming to tell you that your place in the Father's house is ready for you - and that He has come to take you to it!<div class="center-it mtb10">When Stephen was being stoned to death - he had a beautiful vision. He saw the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. As the mob stoned him, Stephen was calling upon Jesus Christ and praying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" (see Acts 7:58-60). It was the Savior coming for His servant. The place was ready for him. His work here had been short - but it was all that had been allotted to him. His departure was tragic - he died at the hands of a religious mob; but it mattered not how he was taken away - really it was Jesus who took him away - receiving His spirit into strong, gentle and secure hands.</div>The comfort to us in our sorrows and bereavements, is that nothing has gone wrong, that God's purpose is going on in all the wrecks of human hopes. Your friend passed away the other night. You thought he would have been with you for many years. You had plans covering a long future of happiness. You were appalled when the doctor said that your friend could not live. Life to you would be dreary, lonely and empty without this one who had become so dear to you. You say: "My friend stayed so brief a time! I could almost wish that I had not let my heart fasten its tendrils about this dear life, since so soon it was torn away from me!" Say it not! It is worthwhile to love - and to let your heart pour out all its sweetness in loving, though it be for but a day - and then to have the bliss give way to grief.

A unique type of devotional from the writings of James Russell Miller, published between 1908 and 1913.

Devotional Hours Within the Bible

John 14:1-2

How Christ Comforts

John 14:1-14The fourteenth chapter of John's gospel is the most familiar chapter of the New Testament. Its words are sweet music. As spoken first, it was the little company of the disciples sitting at the Last Supper who heard them. They were in great sorrow. They were about to lose their Master, their best friend. They had hoped that He was the Messiah and were expecting some special manifestation of His power. Now all their hopes seemed to be swept away. Jesus speaks to them as they sit around the table. He seeks to comfort them. He says to them, "Let not your heart be troubled." This seems a strange word to say to them at this particular hour. How was it possible that they should not be troubled when He, their Master - was about to leave them?We may be sure, however, that the words He spoke were not empty or formal. Many things that earthly comforters say to their friends in their times of trouble mean but little. They say, "Weep not. Dry your tears. All will come out right," but they have no real comfort to offer. They can give no reason why their friends should not weep, or why all will come out right. Their optimism is without foundation. But when Christ said, "Let not your heart be troubled," He knew what He was saying, and there were in His mind clear reasons why He spoke in this strong, confident way. The same is true of the comfort Christ speaks now to us. No matter what the sorrow, how great the loss, how deep the darkness, if we are Christians, the same voice always speaks to us in the same words.Christ tells the disciples what they should do, how they might cease to be troubled. "You believe in God." This was the way their trouble could be comforted. There was no need to ask questions, for their questions could not be answered, or at least they could not understand the answers. But they were to keep their faith in God and in Jesus Christ unshaken, undisturbed, in the midst of all the sorrow. They thought everything was gone, that they did not have God anymore that all their hopes about Jesus Christ had failed, were only dreams. He tells them that nothing they had believed about God or about Jesus, was gone. Their faith in God was to abide. What they had hoped about Jesus Christ was true. They had lost nothing.<div class="center-it mtb10">This is the foundation of all true comfort. We cannot understand the mystery of sorrow - but if we believe in God and in Jesus Christ, we need not lose our confidence or our peace, whatever the distress may be. A word of an old prophet (Isaiah 26:4) says, "Trust you in the Lord forever, for in the LORD JEHOVAH is the everlasting strength." If we are hidden in the cleft of the Rock of Ages, we need not fear any seeming disaster. Another word says, "you will keep him in perfect peace - whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You" (Isaiah 26:3). We may always be sure of God's eternal faithfulness and of Christ's unchanging love - and believing these great truths, we may be quiet and confident in the worst calamities.</div>The first thought Jesus gave His disciples, was that all the world is the Father's house. They were greatly distressed by what was transpiring in a little corner of the world. He assures them that the stage of action reached out far beyond the city and the country in which they lived. There are many mansions in the Father's house. They were distressed that He was leaving them - but He was leaving only one of the mansions - and going to another. They would not lose Him by His departure, for He would continue to be their friend, and would still be interested in their welfare. "I go to prepare a place for you."Dr. David Smith thus explains the words of Jesus: 
The disciples were like travelers, and His companionship had hitherto cheered them on their journey. And now He must leave them. But He was not forsaking them. He was only hastening on in advance to make ready for them. And when they arrived He would be waiting for them and would bid them welcome.His going away was not a desertion of His friends. He was going on their account, to prepare a place for them. The thought of mansions prepared for us beforehand, is a very beautiful one. We need not fear that when our time comes to go home there will be no place ready for us. We shall not go to the gate as strangers or aliens - but as those who are expected, those who indeed have been sent for. Jesus assured His disciples not only that He was going on to prepare a lodging place for them - but that when the place was ready - He would come again, to receive them unto Himself, that where He would be, they might be too. The separation was only apparent, not real, and certainly not final. The relation between them would not be broken by His going away. The ministry of His love which had come to mean so much to them, would not be interrupted by His departure. He was going to leave them in their present lodging place - but it would be only to prepare another lodging place for them in another part of His Father's house."I am the WAY." Christ is the way from earth to heaven, and from heaven to earth. Through Him God comes to us with love and blessing, and through Him we go to God. He is the Mediator between God and man. He is the one ladder down which angels come on their ministries; and up which they can ascend to the gates of glory. Christ is the way, and the only way. If we reject Him we can never get to God and heaven. But if we believe on Him, and love Him, and abide in Him, there never can be any confusion, any mystery, any need unmet, any yearning unfulfilled.Even now, with all our knowledge of spiritual things, the other life is still full of mystery. When our loved ones leave us, we cannot understand where they have gone; and when we think of going ourselves, we cannot realize anything of the way. So it was with the first disciples. Thomas was perplexed about the way of their going where Jesus was going. "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus sought to relieve the mystery. "I am the way," He said. This is the answer to all our longings. Philip thought he knew Christ well. He had been in His family for more than three years. It is possible for us to be with Christ a long time, in His Church, among His people, familiar with the story in the Gospels - and yet not really know Him. There is a great difference between knowing about Christ and knowing Him.Jesus went on to explain to Philip, the meaning of the blessed, beautiful life He had been living with them. "He who has seen me - has seen the Father." If John had said this about himself we would have called it blasphemy. When Christ said it about Himself - He very clearly claimed to be divine. He was the revealer of God. What men saw in His life - was an interpretation of God's own life. When we see Him taking little children in His arms, laying His hands on their heads and blessing them - we see how God feels toward children. When we see the compassion of Jesus stirred by human suffering and sorrow - we learn how our Father is touched by the sight of earthly suffering. When we see Jesus receiving sinners and eating with them, speaking forgiveness to penitents who crept to His feet, and making stained lives white and clean - we learn the mercy of God. When we follow Christ to His cross and see Him giving His life a willing sacrifice in redemption for lost men - we see how God loves this world. So the holiness of Christ - was the Father's holiness; His meekness, patience, gentleness and compassion - were mirrorings of the same qualities in the Father. If we would see what God is like, we have but to turn to the gospel story. To know Christ - is to know the Father.Now we have another phase of the marvelous teaching. Christ and the Father were one. He who saw the life of Christ, saw God. Still more, Christ and His followers were one. His life was in them. "He who believes on me, the works that I do shall he also do." Christ Himself was going away, and would be missed from the earth. Those He had comforted and helped, would long for His visits when He would come no more.There are some good men and women who leave a great emptiness in the world when they go away. The departure of Christ left a great blank in the homes He had been used to visiting. But it was the plan of Christ, that His disciples should take His place and go on with the ministry which He had begun. His life was to be taken away - but He would live on in His disciples. If we take off slips from a geranium and put them into the ground anywhere, they will grow and have the same beauty and fragrance as the original plant. All true Christians are parts of Christ, branches of Christ, so to speak; and wherever they may be - they will have His likeness and His spirit, His love and gentleness, and will do the same woks that He produced. Are we fulfilling our mission as Christians? If not, why not?There was another link in the chain. Christ was going away - but He would not be out of reach. "Whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do." They could not see Him face to face in human life and get the things they needed - but they could speak to Him and ask Him for blessings and get them. While Jesus was going away and would be out of sight - He would not be beyond call. His people on earth could speak to Him and, although they saw Him not, He would hear them. The way of communication with Christ has never been broken. We are to pray always in the name of Christ - that is we are to ask things for His sake, because He is our Savior.

John 14:1-14

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

There is something exceedingly gracious and affecting about this declaration. It is the language of pure friendship and open-hearted confidence. " If things had been darker than they are, if your difficulties greater, if your future less glorious, be sure that I would have told you. Did I ever seek to disguise the difficulties that would throng your path, if you became my followers? Did I speak in a whisper of the cross that you would have to bear? Did I keep you ignorant of an opposing world, oppressive governors, persecuting monarchs? Did I not speak emphatically of scourgings, stonings, imprisonings?" " Again, did I ever keep back anything from you that was really needful for your encouragement and your guidance? I have told you all things that were calculated to contribute to your fortitude and to your joy. I know well that the idea will creep some time into your mind, (for what idea is so wild that it finds no access to the mind of man, even of the man whom God hath taught,) the idea will present itself to you that the revelation made by me is not all that it should be. Curiosity, for instance, may desire to know very much about the many mansions in my Father's house; but be assured, if that more detailed information had been truly desirable for you, I would have communicated it. Infinite wisdom and infinite love have not only prompted the words that I have given you, but my silence also. I might have expatiated much upon my Father's house of glory; but it would have hindered you from paying due attention to the way that leadeth to that house. Enough for you to know that I am there, with the glory which I had before the world was; that ten thousand times ten thousand sons of God walk there in purity and majesty; and that there are vacancies in their ranks which it is understood that you are to fill. What is of chief exigency is that you should know well the spot on which you are putting down your foot, and be perfectly instructed in the way of righteousness." Reader, are you satisfied with the revelation that God has been pleased to give you? Dare not to doubt this word of Christ, that if it had been lost for you he would have told you more. Shall man hand God a table of contents, and ask the Almighty to make a revelation thereto accordant?

A daily devotional written by a Baptist Missionary to India, Reverend George Bowen (1816-1888) over 150 years ago.

Bowen's Daily Meditations

''If it were not so, I would have told you." - John 14:2 

SEE, beloved, what Jesus is doing. He is engaged for us; He did all He could for us on earth, and then ascended to heaven to carry on His work. The place He prepares will be worthy of Himself; "His rest will be glorious." It will just suit us; there the wicked cease from troubling, sin shall no more annoy, troubles shall no more beset, but the weary shall be at rest. He is preparing us for it, as well as it for us; therefore we are so tried and afflicted. Our light afflictions which are but for a moment, are working out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Let us daily think of Jesus as employed for us; let us consider death as going to take possession of the place He has prepared for us; and under all that tries us or casts us down, let us remember, Jesus will come again and received us unto Himself; that where He is, we may be also. Our present cottage may be incommodious and uncomfortable; but our mansion will be spacious, magnificent, and worthy of a God. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and Jehovah will be his God. Glorious privilege! Unspeakable blessing! Sweet prospect!And art Thou, gracious Saviour, gone, A mansion to prepare for me? Shall I behold Thee on Thy throne, And there for ever sit with Thee? Then let the world approve or blame. I'll triumph in Thy gracious name.

Written by James Smith for his own flock around 1840, but such was the demand that by 1846 over thirty thousand copies where in circulation.

The Believer's Daily Remembrancer

"I go to prepare place for you." John 14:2

<div class="center-it mtb10">In My Father's House are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. - John 14:2 </div>Let us thankfully think how, in the profound language of Scripture, the "Forerunner is for us entered"; how, in some mysterious manner, of which we can but dimly conceive, that entrance of Christ in His complete humanity into the highest heavens is the preparation of a place for us. As if, without His presence there, there were no entrance for human nature within that state, and no power in a human foot to tread upon the crystal pavements of the Celestial City, but as if, where He is, there the path is permeable, and the place native to all that love and trust Him. Stand, therefore, with these disciples, as they gazed upon their ascended Saviour, and looking upwards as the cloud receives Him out of our sight, our faith follows Him, still our Brother, still clothed with humanity, still wearing a bodily frame; and we say, as we lose Him from our vision, " What is man?" Capable of being lifted to the most intimate participation in the glories of Divinity, and though he be poor and weak and sinful here, yet capable of union and assimilation with the Majesty that is on high. For what Christ's body is, the bodies of them that love and serve Him shall surely be, and He, the Forerunner, is entered there for us, that we, too, in our turn, may pass into the light, and walk in the full blaze of the Divine glory, as of old the children in the furnace, unconsumed, because companioned by " One like unto the Son of man." The exalted Christ, sitting at the right hand of God, is the pattern of what is possible for humanity, and the prophecy and pledge of what will be actual for all that love Him and bear the image of Him upon earth that they may be conformed to the image of His glory, and be with Him where He is. What firmness, what reality, what solidity this thought of the bodily exalted Christ gives to the else dim and vague conceptions of a heaven beyond the stars and beyond our present experience! I believe that no doctrine of a future life has strength and substance enough to survive the agonies of our hearts when we part from our dear ones, the fears of our spirits when we look into the unknown, inane future for ourselves, except only this which says Heaven is Christ and Christ is Heaven, and points to Him and says, "Where He is, there, and that, also shall His servants be."

A daily readings for a year from the writings of the Rev. Alexander Maclaren, D.D., selected and arranged by the Rev. Geo. Coates.

Music For the Soul

 OUR BROTHER IN HEAVEN

For Reading and Meditation:      John 14:1-14We make the claim once again - Christianity is unique. It is unique in the sense that it is the divinely appointed way to enter into a relationship with the one true and living God. There is only one way, only one Name, only one God, only one Lord, only one Mediator. Our claim that Christianity is unique comes not from arrogance but from simple empirical fact. W. A. Visser't Hooft, in his book No Other Name, says: "There is no universality if there is no unique event." Uniqueness and universality go together. It is because God has exalted Jesus to the highest place in the universe, "far above all rule and authority," and given Him the unique Name of "Lord," that He towers over every other name. That, too, is the reason why every knee must bow to Him. And it is precisely because Jesus Christ is the only Savior that we are under an obligation to proclaim Him to as many as we possibly can. In whatever culture we live, we must endeavor to make Jesus known. We must set our face against the faction in today's church that aims to modernize the gospel and says: "Let us recognize all religions as being authentic before God and seek not to convert people from their religion but encourage them to be better adherents of it." Have these people no regard for the honor of Jesus Christ? Do they not care when Christ is seen as just one among many Saviors rather than, as God declares, the only Savior. No true Christian can ever worship Christ without minding that others do not.Father, help me understand that it is not enough to know about the faith into which You have brought me by Your grace: I must seek also to share it. Help me grasp every opportunity that comes to make the way clear to others. In Jesus' Name. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Matthew 7:15-21</li><li>Acts 20:25-31</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did Jesus warn about?</li><li>What was Paul's charge to the Ephesian elders?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"No one comes to the Father except through me." (v. 6)

For Reading and Meditation:      John 20:10-18Some non-Christian religions claim that God is the Author of their sacred writings as well as of the Bible, but the god they talk about is not the God who has revealed Himself in the Person of His Son. The true God is a Father - the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mohammed wrote in the Qur'an (as we saw): "Allah forbid that He Himself should beget a Son." But that is exactly what God did - He begot a Son. What does "begotten" mean? C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity points out that to beget is to become the father of; to create is to make. When you beget, you beget something of the same kind as yourself. A man begets human babies, a beaver begets little beavers, and a bird begets eggs which turn into baby birds. A man can create a statue which looks like a man but is not a real man. This is an important issue to get clear. What God begets is God, just as what man begets is man. That is why human beings are not sons of God in the sense that Christ is. They may be like God in certain ways, but they are not of the same kind. One of the creeds says that Christ is the Son of God, "begotten not created," and adds: "begotten by His Father before all worlds." "Before all worlds." Christ is begotten, not created. For what purpose? That you and I might have a Divine Father also. Gracious and loving God, from the bottom of my heart I want to thank You for begetting a Son in order that through Him I might come to know You as Father. I shall be grateful throughout time and all eternity. Amen<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>John 10:22-38</li><li>John 12:45</li><li>John 14:1-10</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did Jesus declare to the unbelieving Jews?</li><li>What did Jesus declare to Philip?</li></ul></div></div>

"Jesus said ... 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"v. 17) 

2 <woj>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?</woj>

<woj>My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there<cr>1</cr> to prepare a place for you?</woj>

John 14:2

 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?

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 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?

John 14:2 NIV

John 14:2 NIV

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