John 8:In the Midst of The Presence of Jesus

This is literally one of my favorite stories in the Bible out of the other million that are also my favorite, lol. There has never been a time where I read this and the Holy Spirit has not ministered to me. Wow, how powerful is the love of Jesus?! It is so merciful and life-changing that those who encounter His love can not stay the same and can not stay in shame. It is just that powerful. Even as I write, the Lord is bringing this to mind, who can accuse you? Who can the accuser of the brethren (Satan) accuse if Jesus chose to take our place in transgression, cleanse us, and set us free? Not those who have the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you deal with a lot of shame and condemnation, even maybe unknowingly, I believe this blog post is for you and is going to set you free. If you don’t deal with it (praise the Lord), I believe it will ignite your fire and keep you free, it might make you want to boast about what a good savior you got. Do you want to know how intentional God is about you being free? The focus of this blog post was not going to be on the condemnation portion of the story but boy do I love it when God interrupts the flow to do something waaaayyy better than what was planned. He is highlighting those he wants to be free from condemnation and shame. This story is always one to encourage me in times when the enemy and even people try to come up against my mind. Every time I get encouraged, I can get out of the hole that kept me discouraged and walk in the courage that the Lord blesses me with in this life. My prayer is that the same and even greater is for you. As I’ve been growing in my walk with the Lord Jesus, so has my courage, discouragement can not stay near me, because it will die. It coming near me only fuels my faith and kills the spirit of discouragement. It is suicide when an evil spirit comes near a believer who finds their courage in the Lord.

Before we proceed, my recommendation is that you have your Bible with you so you can read along or that you first read John 8 and then return to this blog post. Also, this is NOT meant to be your substitute for spending time with the Lord, your lamp can not get full off of someone else’s oil but you can receive the overflow which is a blessing but still not enough to fill up your lamp. This is a way for you to keep your spirit fed throughout the day, chill, be encouraged, and just enjoy the Lord and His goodness. My goal is for you to want to seek the Lord more, to delight in Him, and to be excited to meet with Him anytime and anywhere, especially in your devotion time in the presence of the Lord.

Now, let’s get into it.

John 8:1, “Jesus went unto the mount of olives.

I want us to look into this, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives and many times in scripture this was a place where He would press into prayer in secret with God the Father before early morning would come. I believe that Him being at the mount of olives for prayer is symbolic to how we can make sure our oil is pressed so that our lamps are full. Many times before Jesus went and performed miracles, healed the sick, made the blind see, and preached the gospel, he would press in the presence of God to have the anointing to grace Him to accomplish these things. When we press into prayer, we are being transformed by God and are now prepared to carry out His will on earth. Why? Because we have built up our strength, removed our flesh out of the way, and have heard the voice of God or received the strategy of God to go forth and establish His kingdom here on earth. We can not be like Jesus without killing our flesh and becoming one with Him. Do you remember when the disciples could not cast out a demon that had kept a little boy bound in Matthew 17 verses 1? Thank God the boy’s father did not lose faith but instead went directly to Jesus because His disciples were not prepared for the assignment presented. When they were in private with the Lord they asked Jesus why they were unable to cast out the devil in the child and he responds in verse 20 and 21, “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting”. The disciples did not build up their faith in the place of prayer nor did they have the power to do what was required with faith. The mount of olives is where oil is pressed, in other words, it’s where olives become olive oil, the common oil used by believers to anoint ourselves to be set apart for the will of God. Being in a place of prayer during sacrificial hours is one way that we show God that He can trust us with the assignment He has for us. We are willing to humble ourselves and deny our flesh to hear the master speak. This then gives us the grace to go do what He has equipped us for. Prayer helps us to walk out our calling, live holy, be obedient, and bear the fruits of the spirit, the pressing releases oil to do what the Lord is asking of us. Many times a believer’s prayer life is reflected in how they live and even speak. We can see if they have allowed the Lord to perform spiritual surgery on them or if they make inconsistent visits to the Father with the desires of their own heart not waiting to hear His.

Now, because Jesus is the Lord and he fueled Himself through the place of prayer, He was able to handle what was coming next.

In verses 2 and 3 it states, “And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,”

Because Jesus had started His day correctly, being sensitive to God the Father, he was prepared to show up for the people who willingly came to hear the message and the ones who didn’t plan on coming but God wanted to encounter them anyway. He was prepared to minister to anyone who crossed His path. Sometimes the torment of the enemy is enough to bring a sinner amid the Lord so that He can set them free from captivity (Isaiah 61:1). We see this with the Pharisees and the women they caught in adultery. They brought her into the crowd Jesus was teaching to accuse and condemn her which is many times what the Devil does when we sin, however, Jesus came to forgive her and set her free, just like He’s done for all of us. There are times when God will allow accusations to arise against us, one reason is because we are followers of Jesus and are called to endure some suffering with Him, and another is so that He can defend us in a way that increases our faith in Him, to be free from shame, to know that it is Him alone that defends us, and not to fear people.

Let’s continue reading,

4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Many times when we are accused of sin, the enemy will try to make it seem like our identity is in that sin. That adultery is the crime the woman is accused of doing as if that was all to this woman. But you know what I love? Jesus released her from everything that kept her bound, free from the accusers, and free from sin. He did not just deliver her from the sin of adultery but all sins. The master who is worthy of judging didn’t even judge her but instead said “He said neither do I condemn thee go and sin no more”. When he broke the shame off of her, He also gave her the power to live holy. The Pharisees did not even care about the woman’s name as if she was not worthy to have one, Jesus addressed her according to her being a vessel of purpose and stripped her of everything that was keeping her from that. Realized that after Jesus broke off everything that was shaming her, it was just her and Jesus and when she got to that point she probably still felt shameful to be in a respected Leader’s presence. We could probably relate to that, having felt so shameful and choosing to stay in our wrong because we felt unworthy to enter into the presence of the one who can help us do what is right, the Lord God. That’s exactly what the devil aims for, to make us feel so shameful and discouraged that we stay away from the presence of God in times we are supposed to run to God, he wants us to stay bound. However, God is so compassionate and merciful, that he would allow the devil’s plans to backfire, he allowed the accuser of the woman to bring her to a place she probably avoided, to the Lord. There are times when we have been in our mess so deep we have no choice but to call on God, hope for a change, or God to intervene to save us from ourselves. Than at the times we expect to be punished the most God showers us with His love that covers our sins and break us free, so that we can be all He called us to be and we witness that He did that for this women.

Thank you for reading 💕I really do appreciate it and pray that it has blessed you in Jesus’ name.

P.S. I might be making updates to this blog post so stay tuned.

Also, If you would like to accept the love of God and His son, Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, or even if you have backslidden and want to return to the Lord, Here’s a prayer to guide you.

“ God almighty, I come before you to accept your love, to no longer reject you and what you have done for me. I choose to stop running from you and to finally stop rejecting myself of your love. Thank you for dying for me Lord Jesus, thank you for taking on my sins and shame. Thank you Lord that you became a curse for me so that I would no longer be bound by them but set free by your blood that was shed for me. Thank You for making yourself available to me, as friend, father, Lord, God, helper, comforter, savior, and all the good things I need in my life. Jesus I love you and ask you to help me keep loving you like how you want me to. I accept you completely as my Lord and savior, not what this world and demons have presented to me. Now I declare in the both spiritual and physical realm, that I not longer belong to Satan nor his Kingdom but according to Colossians 1:13, God has delivered me from the kingdom of darkness and has placed me in the Kingdom of light, where Jesus Christ is, I declare I belong to Jesus Christ and I now seat with Him In heavenly places. I rebuke all demonic retaliation in me making this decision and come into agreement with a sound mind in Jesus name. I repent, renounce, denounce, and divorce myself from all the sins I’ve committed (list what you can remember) and break the evil covenants associated with them, and I declare once again I am a part of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. In Jesus name I pray and seal this prayer in His blood, Amen.”

Hallelujah! Congratulations if you made this decision. I pray that you prevail in your walk in the Lord, that forces of darkness continue to fail concerning you, and that the forces of light continue to persevere and propel you in the name of Jesus. 

And if you have not yet, get you a Bible. Please, it’s a lot of ghetto foolishness concerning Christianity and religion. The Bible is the only way to protect you from it and will show you how to be a Christian and have a real relationship with Jesus Christ.