Daily devotion – Passion week
John 18:1
“When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered.” – John 18:1 (NKJV)
This Wednesday evening, I warmly invite you to join us for a very special outdoor service in our own olive garden. We will take a step back in time as we enter the Gospel of John, chapter 18, and reflect on that fateful night in the Garden of Gethsemane.
This location holds a special place in my heart during our tours through the Holy Land. The Garden is still there—and so are the offspring of the very olive trees under which Jesus and His disciples gathered the night of His arrest. It’s a sacred place, and this Wednesday, we will experience a glimpse of that moment together.
The service will begin at 7:00 PM and will not be live-streamed—so I encourage you to make the effort to be there in person, outside in the stillness of the garden with us.
You may recall how during the Covid-19 outbreak, for the first time in our lives, the Church was banned from gathering. That absence from fellowship is something I will never forget. The enemy—Satan, and this sinful world—constantly works to hinder Christ’s followers from gathering together in worship. Yet Jesus said, “I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
This week, I urge you: don’t allow our adversary to subtly keep you and your family from meeting with the Body of Christ. In many parts of the world, our brothers and sisters in Christ are being brutally persecuted—and yet they continue to meet, courageously and faithfully. Should we do any less?
We are living in the Last Days. God’s Word warns us:
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” – 2 Timothy 4:3–4
But Paul urges Timothy—and us:
“But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” – 2 Timothy 4:5
So I ask you: Will you look to the Lord this week and place your worship of Him above everything else?
It’s a choice we each must make. But more than that, it’s a reflection of our relationship with Christ. What will occupy your heart this Passion Week?
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another—and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” – Hebrews 10:23–25
May your heart be stirred afresh to worship, to gather, and to love the Lord with your whole heart.