FOCUS Day Two | John 1:1-5
DAY TWO | John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
There is something to be said for starting at the beginning, and when one of Jesus closest friends sat down with Holy Spirit to record his account of the good news about His life, he began by highlighting the beauty of the deity of Christ in his very first paragraph.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…
Within just a few paragraphs, we will begin to read about the incarnation of Jesus, how the Word put on flesh for us, but before we go there, I think it is important to spend time beholding the majesty of the One who was there at the very beginning, when there was nothing but Him with God, being God. In the first verses of Genesis we find that in the beginning, the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. It was out of this context that all things were created through Christ, the Word. In fact, John 1:4 tells us that life itself is sources in Him, and that the light of His life shattered the void and shines out in darkness.
This is vital truth for us to remember when we face situations that feel overwhelming or dark. As I fix my eyes on Jesus, I am actually turning my attention to the one whose very life breath brings light to us. While He is with us in those hard moments, He is not confined to those situations. There have been times in my walk with the Lord, where I have felt overwhelmed, and that my life was about to unravel and fall apart.
Once, when our daughter was just a year old, we faced a series of financial setbacks and were forced to move out of our small apartment and move in with my grandmother. I felt stressed out, embarrassed and alone.
The pressure was so real that it seemed like there was a boulder sitting on my chest every morning when I woke up. Our marriage was suffering under the strain of all that was happening and I felt so desperate. In that season, a mentor encouraged me to keep looking to Jesus, asking Him to reveal Himself to us in the midst of the hard season.
I remember walking around my grandparents property trying to pray, but feeling out of control. The accusations of the enemy about how I was a failure and how I had ruined everything seemed so believable. My prayers seemed powerless at the beginning, like whimpers from a broken man, but somehow in the midst of my weakness, God revealed Himself in undeniable ways.
Little by little, my eyes were able to see past our problems and find hope in the light of the life of Jesus. Eventually, I stopped feeling sorry for myself and got over the fear of what everyone thought of me. This was an important step in learning to follow the One who made Himself of no reputation.
If had been up to me, I would have never chosen to walk through the difficult circumstances of that season, but I can see that in the midst of those pressures, God was drawing my heart after Him and depositing something precious into our lives. In fact, looking back I can see that so much of our journey with the Lord over the past ten years was conceived when it seemed like our lives were filled with chaos, without form, and void.
In the midst of those seasons, we have a choice to seek the face of the One whose life brings us lighten the midst of our darkness. You will never experience a moment when your weakness is too much for His power. The One that spoke the world into existence is ready to speak peace into your storm.
As we engage with the stories, sayings and sermons from the life of Jesus, looking to reorient our lives around what we see in Him, my prayer for you is that God will give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so you can know Him more. Knowing Him more will free you to follow Him more freely. This kind of relationship with Jesus will bring you life, because it was what you were created for, from the very beginning.
JOURNALING QUESTIONS // LINK TO PLAYLIST
Examine – How would you describe what this passage reveals about the life of Jesus?
MindShift – Is there anything about what you read in this passage that challenges the way you think about what it means to follow Jesus?
Prayer Focus – Is there any prayer that you can pray to co-operate with Holy Spirit to see your mind renewed to become more like Jesus?
