John 2:6-11

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

2) Scripture Reading - John 2:6-11
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

3) Devotional 

What do you think when people claim to have witnessed a miracle? I admit that I view reported miracles with skepticism. However when I see the result of a miracle, I believe it with all of my heart. In this passage, Jesus turns water into wine. Just like the master of the banquet, I would have needed to experience the miracle before I believed it.

The miracles that I witness most are changed lives. Paul writes in Second Corinthians 5:17, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come.” When I claimed to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord and therefore become a new creation, I needed to see myself as a new creation in order to be sure that a miracle actually took place in me. If the water that was turned into wine did not look and taste like wine, it would not have been wine and no miracle would have occurred. If I look and act today as I did before I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord, no miracle would have occurred. Is there enough evidence in your life for you to believe that you are a follower of Jesus? If there is, a miracle has occurred. If you and your friends can experience your changed life, you then know that God did a miracle in you.

God is in the business of miracles. I have experienced one of His miracles personally. 

4) Question to Consider

Have you experienced any miracles?

5) Prayer
Lord, thank you for changing my life.  Continue to change me to look more like you.  Transform my life beyond what I think is possible.  In Jesus' name.  Amen 

John 2:1-5

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

2) Scripture Reading - John 2:1-5

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.  When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”   “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”  His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

3) Devotional Thought

In this, his first observation of Jesus and his mother, John records for us how:

1)       Mary approached Jesus fully expecting him to do something to help this young couple out of their embarrassing situation

2)       Mary persevered in her request, even in the face of a mild rebuke from Jesus

3)       Rather than prescribing a solution, Mary opened the door for Jesus to do whatever He thought best in the situation with her instructions to the servants to “do whatever he tells you”

Now, whether Mary expected Jesus to do a miracle, or simply to go get more wine, is difficult to know for sure.  Even so, her approach to Him is educational in how we can approach God with our requests and needs. Too often we don't take all of our needs to God...especially our everyday needs that we can usually handle on our own.  And in our hurry up world, we are not typically patient enough to persevere when we don't get an immediate answer to our problem.

So, learn from Mary and consider these questions...

4) Questions:

1)       Do you approach God with all of your needs, no matter how minor, or everyday?
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

2)       Do you persevere in prayer, and requests?
Or do you give up in the face of waiting for an answer, or after receiving an answer that is not what you expected?

3)       Are you ready to let God define what, if anything, needs to be done?
Maybe what you’ve been asking for isn’t what is really needed… and only through perseverance in prayer, spending time with God, can you see what really is.

4)       Are you ready to obediently “do whatever he tells you?”

5) Prayer:

Father God, help me to trust you in all of my needs and desires no matter how big, or small.  And help me to accept your answer no matter how different from my preference it may be.  And forgive me when I am not ready to obediently do whatever you may ask me to do in answering it.  In Christ’s name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)