October 31, 2025 -For Your Good

JOHN 15:18-17:26

Chronological Bible Readings

^{John 16:5} but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

How often do we focus on our grief, fear or insecurities about what is happening or about to happen. When we are doing that, we are not trusting God. If we could remember Jesus words "it is for your good" it can refocus our eyes on Him. We may go through loss and suffering and think that it is unbearable, but Jesus shows us that there is always hope for the future. We don't know what the future holds but God does. The disciples did not understand that Jesus was going to rise from the dead. And they didn't know that they would be given the Holy Spirit so that He could be with them always. So, when they heard him say that He must go they could only see the pain of the now. We too have no way of knowing the future. We don't know what good could come of our suffering, but we do know that God works all things out for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28). The disciples loved Him and He called them for His purpose. If you have given your life to Jesus and you are living with a heart and desire to live for Him and His purpose, then look at Jesus. He suffered and died, and His disciples watched and cried and ran in fear but then came Sunday and then came Pentecost. It did not mean that their lives were easy and that they did not continue to struggle or suffer but they did not do any of it alone. No matter what we go through we can always look forward to Sunday and Jesus return. We can always be thankful for the Holy Spirit and the promise that we will never walk through any of it alone unless we choose to.

^{John 16:19} Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.

^16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

There will still be struggles, pain, difficulties, loss, and conflict as long as we are in this broken world. But Jesus has overcome this world. He tried to help them understand that all suffering for them is temporary. It may seem like a long time but in the light of eternity our suffering here on this earth is nothing.

^{John 17:15} My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

I love reading Jesus's prayer in this chapter. Jesus knows that there will be struggles and He doesn't ask for the Father to take them away or to remove them from them. After all He knows the future and how it will all work out to the very end of time. Instead, He asks that we are protected from the evil one. The enemy will try to use our sickness, weakness, pain, suffering, doubts and fears against us. He will try to drag us away from the Hope we find in Jesus. Jesus who has provided a way to overcome evil. Jesus who has prayed in advance for our ability to stay strong and turn from the enemy. We are protected from the evil one through the blood of Jesus, the presence of the Holy Spirit and the oversight of the Father. Claim it and proclaim it out loud in times of trouble and the evil one will flee.

^{John 17:20} “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

We see for sure that all of Jesus words are intended not just for the disciples of that time but for every believer. Jesus' prayer for us that we would walk as one body of Christ. Just as the trinity is 3 people but one God. We are many people but one body. A body with Christ as the head. He wants us to function in unity listening to Jesus. When we do that "the world will know" about Jesus and the love of God.

Trust the promise of Jesus. Trust the leadership of the head of the body of Christ, Jesus. Trust the providence of the one who knows all things, Jesus. Speak the name of Jesus. Walk through your grief holding the hand of the lover of your soul, Jesus. Know that as a believer no matter what "it is for your good".