I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU AS ORPHANS

John 14:18-19
18 I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. (WEB)

This is one of the most comforting promises that Jesus spoke to His disciples before He died. He assured them that He would not leave them in an orphan state, feeling devastated and abandoned when He died on the cross. He promised to come to them again and because He lives, they would live also.

From the little we know about the disciples, they were not physical orphans. Jesus was speaking about the condition of their hearts. Because of the finished work of the cross that would soon follow, His disciples would have the opportunity to become born into the family of God and would never again feel fatherless.

There are many believers in the world today who still haven't taken this promise to heart. Though they have received Christ as their Lord and their Savior, they still feel like orphans deep down. They still act as if they don't have a Father in heaven who has promised to be a real Father to them in every way (2 Corinthians 6:18).

They live a life in competition with other brothers and sisters in the faith and behave more like unruly orphans in a physical orphanage rather than as beloved sons and daughters who are learning to reign as kings and priests on this earth.

My prayer today is if you struggle to feel completely loved by your heavenly Father, know that this promise is for you. Jesus told us that He would not leave us as orphans. He would not leave us feeling fatherless. He would come to us and through His resurrection He would be the way for each one of us to come home to the Father we have been looking for our entire lives (John 14:6).

May the reality of this promise comfort your heart and open up more revelation so that you know that you truly are a child of God right now. You are no longer an orphan who has been cheated out of a father's blessing! You are a joint-heir with Jesus (Romans 8:17), seated in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) and called to live a full life as a beloved prince or princess in the kingdom of our God and Father!

John 20:17
Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold me, for I haven’t yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers, and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (WEB)