Are You a Surrendered Sponge?

I invite you to join me in learning John 14. Each week I plan to learn a new verse. I will "recite" what I have learned before and give a short study of the next verse. You may email your "recitation" to me or put it as a comment below the post. I am using the KJV. If you use another, please let me know. I am starting the second half of this chapter, starting with verse thirteen. I will learn this block of verses and then attempt to recite the whole chapter later.

(without looking at my Bible)
John 14:13-19

13. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father be glorified in the Son.
14. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.
15. If ye love me, keep my commandments.
16. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.
17. Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you and in you.
18. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come again.
19. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me; because I live, ye shall live also.

CORRECTIONS
(looked 4 times, vs.13 -"may", vs.17- "shall be", vs.18-"to you")




NEW VERSE
John 14:20
"At that day, ye shall know that I am in my Father,
and ye in me and I in you."

Those last seven words are the most beautiful, simple yet complex, words known to man.
We are in God and God is in us!

It's something like a sponge in water.


A Surrendered Sponge

Lord, I don’t have time. My days are completely filled. Someone else can do it. I just don’t have the time!

With a guilty pang, I pushed the quiet voice away. Besides, I had to tackle my neglected bathroom. Damp towels carpeted the floor, toothpaste speckled the mirror, and soap scum circled the tub. Reaching under the sink, I pulled out a crusty, stiff pink rectangle of a sponge. As I reached again for the disinfectant, the dry sponge broke in my hand. I dropped it into the sudsy water and watched it swell.

I felt like that dehydrated, inflexible sponge. I was stubborn and unusable. My tense emotions broke with the first disruption of my schedule. My soul felt thirsty and parched. No wonder I didn’t feel useful and productive!

How long had it been since I spent time immersed in the soothing water of God’s Word? I hung my head in shame, and brushed away the burning tears. I missed the peace of submission. I needed to let God’s Spirit to fill my life, soften my will, and make me flexible again.

I squeezed the sponge, and the water poured through my fingers, cleaning the scummy walls of the shower. It wasn’t the sponge that was working, but water within it. I shouldn’t break under the pressures in my life, but I should bend and release the healing power of God’s grace.

Lord, I want to be a sponge for you. Let me feel your Spirit filling every part of my life. I want to be flexible enough to bend to your will. I want your power to flow from me.