Friday's Devo - Prepare Your Heart to Draw Near

Read John 1:28-40
John baptized in Bethabara beyond the Jordan. Bethabara is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. "Bethabara" means "a place of preparation" which is just what John the Baptist came to do....prepare them for the Messiah. He was baptising them with the baptism of repentance to prepare their hearts for the baptism of salvation Jesus would bring.
Every year at Passover the Jewish father was to set aside a perfect lamb to be offered for a sin offering for his family. All the sacrifices and feasts were rehearsals for the real performance that God would fulfill through Christ. When John saw Jesus he proclaimed, "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world." Man's lamb could only take away the sin of that family for the year, but God's lamb could take away the sin of the whole world for eternity. John instantly knew that Jesus was the one he had been called to usher in. John could only baptize with water which is a type of spirit, but Jesus was going to baptize with the real thing. God had told John that the person he saw the Spirit coming down and remaining on was the Son of God which is what he saw when he baptized Jesus. So when Jesus got baptized be got baptized in the Holy Spirit. This prepared Jesus for his ministry. (Remember in Acts 1:4-5 Jesus told his disciples to wait till they received the Holy Spirit before they went out and ministered.)
The next day John pointed Jesus out to two of his followers and said it again, "Behold the Lamb of God!" Once they heard Jesus speak they started to follow him. When Jesus saw them following him he asked them what they wanted from him. They answered him with, "We want to know where you stay." So Jesus took them where he was staying and they stayed with him all day.
So I have a question. Why did they want to know where Jesus stayed? I don't have the answer, but I guess it was so they could have a more intimate conversation with him. So I'll ask myself. Where do I stay? Where does my mind dwell? Am I heavenly minded? If someone came and stayed with me and saw how I lived would they want to follow me and go tell others that I had something worth coming to see? I pray so. That is what Andrew did.
Lord, we want to dwell in the secret place with you and have intimate conversation with you. You say if we draw near to you, You will draw near to us so we draw near.