Read: John 14:15-21

If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.
John 14:15-17

Power SourceLISTEN HEREFamily Devotion – May 17, 2023Devotion based on John 14:15-17
https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/family-devotions/20230517fam.mp3
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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Jaxon was 3 years old. He liked to help his mom to show her how much he loved her. He liked to help push the grocery cart and match the socks from the laundry. He liked to count out five forks and take them to the family dinner table.

One day, Jaxon decided he was old enough to help vacuum too. He pushed the vacuum around the living room, but it didn’t seem to be picking up any cheerios. “Maybe it should be faster,” he thought. He tried going faster. Nope. No cheerios. “When Mom vacuums, it’s loud. Maybe I need noise.” He hummed and growled while he pushed the vacuum around. All the cheerios remained untouched.

Mom entered the room and knew right away what the problem was. The vacuum cleaner wasn’t plugged in! As soon as she plugged the cord into the outlet, the vacuum hummed and cleaned.

Jesus told his disciples how they could show love for him—by obeying his commands. That means doing everything God tells us to—like listening to your parents and hearing God’s Word. It also includes not doing what God doesn’t want—like lying, stealing, or using his name thoughtlessly.

Believers know Jesus’ love. We see how he has taken away all our failures to obey God’s commands. And we want to show how thankful we are by living for him.

Like Jaxon’s vacuum cleaner, we need a power source. And we have it. When we plug into God’s Word, the power of the Holy Spirit runs through us. He makes us confident in our salvation because of Jesus, and he gives us power to obey God’s commands in our lives. Stay plugged in! It gives your heart peace and your life power.

Closing Prayer:Holy Spirit, power divine, dwell within this heart of mine (Christian Worship 593:4).
Give me power to live for you,
Show you my love in all I do. Amen.

The questions below are to help families discuss this devotion. The questions are divided by age group as suggestions, but anyone could reflect on any of the questions as they desire.

Questions for Younger Children

• Give one reason we want to do good things.
• Name one way you can show love for God today.

Questions for Elementary Age Children

• True or false. What we do helps to get us to heaven.
• How would you feel if you had to do good works to get into heaven?

Questions for Middle School and Above

• Some people do things that look good, but they aren’t actually good works that please God. Explain.
• How would disconnecting yourself from God’s Word affect your faith and power to do good works?

Download and print devotionFamily Devotions are brought to you by WELS Discipleship.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.