"Dear children, how brief are these moments before I must go away and leave you! Then, though you search for me, you cannot come to me just as I told the Jewish leaders." John 13:33 (New Living Translation) Dear <sal>, Sometimes I read the Bible and wonder why one verse follows another. That has always been the case for the above two verses. But a few weeks ago as I was reading to Cora the reason suddenly became clear to me. I didn't stop to think about it; the thought just popped into my head "We Christians are to be like Jesus to one another!" Cora and I have often talked about how we would love to have Jesus physically present with us these last few years. We wondered why Jesus said it is better that He go away so the Holy Spirit could come in John 16:7,8. It is obvious that Jesus, since He lived in a body, could only be in one place at one time while the Holy Spirit could be everywhere at once. But many times we have longed for the same thing the disciples were obviously already feeling the loss of the physical presence of God. Having the Holy Spirit with us at all times is wonderful beyond words, yet we all have need of human companionship in varying degrees. We can hear the voice of a person, feel their touch, see their expression, know where they are. Living by faith, trusting in God's testimony about Himself and learning to hear the Holy Spirit's voice is very important for Christians, but having the physical presence of God with us at other times is also of great importance. And that, I believe, is what the Lord was telling us in verse 34. Jesus has gone to heaven, but now we are to love one another just as He did. That's a pretty tall order! Yet that is what we are beginning to see in the group of intercessors the Lord has recently raised up for us. On Memorial Day evening seven people came to our apartment and spent about 2 hours in prayer rather than taking a holiday. Almost daily we get a call from one of them asking how Cora is doing so they can pray more effectively or telling us what they are hearing from the Lord. Their physical presence on Monday nights to seek God until Cora is healed, their hugs and assurances that they will stand with us, their phone calls and notes these things are to us as if Jesus were here on earth with us. And every one of them is paying a great price to come along side us sicknesses they've never had before, accidents, depression brought on by the enemy, family problems. But God has given them a vision of Cora being healed and they are willing to sacrifice personally to see God's will be done here on earth. "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) They are fulfilling the new commandment Christ gave to His disciples loving one another as He loved us. In the world we now live in there is increasingly a need for Christians to obey this commandment of our Lord and begin to love each other sacrificially. John 13:35 goes on to say, "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." Sometimes private prayer is the primary way for us to love our Christian brothers and sisters. We have an invaluable army of prayer warriors standing behind us and we are tremendously grateful for each and every one of them. The increased prayer we are now getting is a result of years of prayer by many. "Father, please help each one of us to be like Your Son Jesus to those in the Body You have placed in our life. Help us to know what You want us to do and enable us to put our own agendas aside to do what is really pleasing and glorifying to You. May it be said of us, 'Your love for one another has proven to the world that you are my disciples.' We ask this in Jesus Name. Amen". Thank you so much for standing behind us. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all." (Psalm 34:19) May we see many deliverances real soon!
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