Category: Prayers

Jesus “knew well what He intended to do but He asked this to test Philip’s response.” –John 6:6 Jesus plans to test us. He will present us with humanly impossible situations (see Jn 6:5) to see whether we will walk by faith or by sight (2 Cor 5:7). He will test us to see whether we will judge by God’s standards or by men’s (1 Sm 16:7; Mt 16:23). We may even be tested by persecution. Will we do the natural thing: hate our persecutors and be intimidated by them? Or will we forgive our enemies, love them, and consider...

“Yes, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him may not die but may have eternal life.” –John 3:16 Those who believe in Jesus have eternal life (Jn 20:31). Jesus came that we may have life and have it to the full (Jn 10:10). Jesus is the Life (Jn 11:25; 14:6), and He gives life (Jn 5:21). The angel who freed the apostles from prison told them: “Preach to the people all about this new life” (Acts 5:20). This full eternal life is the life of heaven which Christians begin to experience...

Jesus “took them to task for their disbelief and their stubbornness, since they had put no faith in those who had seen Him after He had been raised.” —Mark 16:14 In the Gospel reading, the apostles who had been with Jesus did not believe in His Resurrection (Mk 16:11, 13). In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, after the descent of the Holy Spirit, those who had been with Jesus were those who did believe in Him (Acts 4:13). What was the difference that caused the apostles to believe? One major difference is the outpouring of the...