Daily devotional, May 3, 2024 Cloak of invisibility
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you" John 14:15-17
One of the famous magical powers in folklore and mythology is the cloak of invisibility. This cloak in essence allows the wearer to be invisible or unseen by other people. And since the wearer is unseen, he holds an advantage against his enemies, making him stronger in a sense.
As followers of Jesus, we follow a God whom we cannot see. Unlike those who lived to see our Messiah, modern-day followers like us hold on to the Gospel, His words and His works to strengthen our faith.
"Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls."
1 Peter 1:8-9
Not seeing God physically does not mean we cannot experience Him. As followers of Christ, we have a wonderful privilege to dwell with Him here on Earth, while waiting for our life with Him in eternity. We get to experience His love, peace, providence, and protection, through His abiding presence in our lives.
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Isaiah 41:10
So how do we experience this abiding presence of God? In the Gospel of John, Jesus was quoted as saying that He will dwell with those who believe in Him, abide in His commands, and keep His words. This means that if we proclaim that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, accept Him as the Lord of our life and follow His commands. we get to experience Him.
"Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
John 14:21
When we have an intimate relationship with the Lord, we get to see his invisible hand working in our lives. Our eyes are opened to the many graces that he pours into our lives, day by day. We get to be conscious of His disciplining in us, and the rewards that He gives us for continuing to be faithful and fully dependent on Him.
"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you." Isaiah 43:2
We get to appreciate both the small and the big blessings that He gives us. For instance, we get to thank Him for our car, and we thank Him as well for the parking space that became available just when we are running late. We thank Him for the ability to provide for our family, and the kind cashier in the check out lane who was gracious enough to be patient with our rowdy little kids in her checkout lane. Big or small, we thank Him for all.
"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
Psalm 16:11
There are some things though that could keep us from seeing God’s invisible hand working in our lives. These things are sins, sorrow, and guilt. When we are committing our “favorite sins” and do not want to give them up, we fail to see God’s hand working in our lives. We are too embroiled in our mud that we forget that there is a God that sees the wrong things that we do, and that sooner or later we will experience both the natural consequences of our action, and the corrective hand of God disciplining us.
When we are too embroiled in sorrow for the challenges that we face, we tend to resent the Lord. We run away from Him instead of running to Him, because of the big emotions that we feel. Our deep grief then blinds us from seeing the wonderful work of the invisible God that continues to bless us throughout our depression and grief. We only see darkness, and we do not even want to move towards the light.
When we are too deep in guilt, we also do not see God’s invisible hand working in our lives. We are too ashamed to come to Him because of our mistakes and failures, that we head in the opposite direction. The never-ending cycle of guilt and shame covers our sight from the gracious and merciful work of the Heavenly Father in our lives.
So what are we to do? We should seek Him and ingrain in our minds that He is ready to forgive us, and He will never condemn us:
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set youfree from the law of sin and death."
Romans 8:1-2
Whenever the enemy reminds us of our failures, and why we are not worthy to go to God and seek Him, we should tell ourselves that God loves us unconditionally. That even before we called on to Him, He already decided to give up His life to save us from eternal punishment.
"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
The invisible hand of God continues to work in our lives. He is there for us. He calls us to come to Him and He sees through our joy and tears. Let us enjoy His abiding presence in our everyday lives by surrendering our lives to Him, repenting and stepping away from our sins, and living a life of fellowship and obedience.
Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on John 14:15-31 to dig deeper on today’s topic.
Reflection Question: Do you see God’s work in your life?
Conversation with the Lord: Heavenly Father, thank you for being so good that you continue to work in my life even if sometimes I am not aware and not thankful of your presence. Give me the gift of fully knowing you intimately so that I could enjoy your abiding presence throughout my earthly life. Amen.
