Hi SPV family, Patricia here,
Good Friday and resurrection Sunday are my favorite holidays of the year.  I have been reading the gospel of John for a couple of weeks. I love the way John sees Jesus, and the relationship that Jesus and John had with each other.  I believe John truly knew what it meant to be loved by Jesus and to love Jesus. In this gospel the word love appears 57 times and in 1 John, 46 times.  John also said, loving God means you follow his commandments.    In John chapter 13, it starts out by saying that Jesus loved his disciples and to show them how much he loved them he washed their feet as an example of how they should treat one another.   John 13:1  Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father.  He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. After washing their feet Jesus predicts that Judas will betray him and as he dips the bread in the wine and gives it to Judas, Satan enters into Judas.  Jesus knew that Judas would betray him and he washed Judas’s feet anyway.    In the next few chapters of John there are so many amazing teachings and promises of Jesus.  John 14: 20:  When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me and I am in you.  I am raised to life, I am in the Father and I am in you. In Genesis 17:1  God appeared to Abram and said “ I Am Almighty God.”  Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.  This is the name that God used to identify himself to Abram, in Hebrew it is translated EHYEH.  I AM  is often translated as “I am the Existing One”.   Back to the garden,  after Jesus teaches many things and gives the promise of the Holy Spirit, Jesus crosses the Kidron Valley and enters into a grove of olive trees.  John 18. In this garden, a spiritual battle was waging on a scale we can’t even begin to understand, light versus darkness and evil versus good, all of creation was hanging in the balance. Judas, the betrayer enters in with the leading priests, Pharisees, a contingent of Roman soldiers  ( 300 to 600 soldiers) and the temple guards. Lets not forget the  blazing torches, lanterns and weapons.   John 18:4 And Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him; so He stepped forward to  meet them.  “Who are you looking for?” Jesus asked. The prince of darkness brought force and hate to the battle, Jesus brought the power of “I AM” Three times Jesus says “I AM he” and as Jesus steps forward and says I AM he, they all draw back and fall to the ground!   Jesus who taught of love and forgiveness stepped forward and proved He was the living word of God with all the power and authority of God the Father. This my dear brothers and sister in Christ, shows us that no power on earth or in heaven could have taken His life.  Jesus Christ the Son the Living God, The Almighty God, the I AM,  willing gave his life to die on the cross, to do a way with death.  To redeem the world back to the Father, that those who believe in His name will have eternal life.  Praise the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that we can look at the cross and see the picture of the Love of God in its purest form.   John 3:16, 17 For this is how God loved the world, He gave his one and only son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  God sent his son into the world not to judge the world but to save the world through him.   Rejoice for Christ is risen from the dead. Eternal life starts right now today with a relationship with Christ Jesus. Praise the great "I AM". Amen.
​Much love,  Patricia