Category: Uncategorized

John 17:14-17

I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

Personal Challenge

So! For those of us who choose to give our lives to Christ and strive to be like Him, our lot has been chosen. The world will not like us. Actually, in many cases, the world will hate us. If we live like Christ did then our opinions, our practices, our morals, our entire life will be contradictory to the ways of the world and the world will hate us because it also hates Jesus Christ. The good news is that Jesus prayed for our protection from the evil one of this world and that we be able to grow in God’s truth and sanctification. Buckle up, it’s going to be a wild ride? Glory be to God?

Wisdom of Solomon 3:9

Those who trust in Him will understand truth,
And the faithful shall continue with Him in love,
Because grace and mercy are upon His elect.

Encouraging Words
Today would have been my father’s 91st birthday. This verse today reminds me of him. Dad trusted in God with his entire being and because of that he did understand truth very well. He was a man that put all of his faith in his God and because of that, I know that he is now continuing his life surrounded by the love of God. Dad is seeing today the full abundance of God’s grace and mercy and I know that he is fervently petitioning God on behalf of all of us who still remain here is this temporal realm. Memory Eternal, Dad?

John 17:3

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

Encouraging Words

Throughout the history of mankind, there has always been the pursuit of eternal life. This is probably because we were created as eternal beings but lost that gift from God when mankind disobeyed God and caused the fall. However, the ways that we choose to pursue eternal life are all in vain, unless we pursue it Gods way. Jesus defeated the hold that death had on each and every one of us and provided the way for us to be eternal beings once again. And this verse tells us what this eternal life is. Eternal life is the ongoing pursuit, in this physical life and the heavenly life to come, of knowing the only true God, the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. This knowing is not about knowledge or studying, but about knowing God personally, sacrificially, unconditionally, and with a willingness to give up all for Him. This eternal life began the moment that we were baptized into His family and chrismated with His oil of regeneration. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner and help me to eliminate all obstacles to knowing You!

Wisdom of Solomon 1:1-2

Seek the Lord
Love righteousness, you who judge on the earth.
Think about the Lord in goodness
And seek Him with sincerity of heart;
Because He is found by those who do not tempt Him,
And He is manifest to those who do not disbelieve Him.

Personal Challenge

Once again, we read through the words of wisdom presented in the scriptures and observe how much different they are from what the world would teach us. Why is this? This is because we still live in a fallen world that is subject to the enemy of God. However, what we have on our side is the Holy Spirit and He will guide us through this temporal world if we do what this passage tells us… seek the Lord. Jesus promised us that if we pursued Him, then He would respond. This passage also tells us how to seek Him. We are to love righteousness. We are to think about Him in goodness and seek Him with a sincere heart. We are to live our lives in a way so as to not tempt Him and believe in Him. In other words, we live our lives with God at the center of it and the things of this world cast aside. This is contrary to what the world teaches, but the way of the Lord. Lord, have Mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

John 16:33

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

Encouraging Words

As followers of Christ, He is who we put our hope in. Jesus calls us to be set apart from this world because He knows that the world will do everything it can to distract us from following Him and living lives His way. It is for this reason that our lives as ambassadors for Him in this world will be so full of trials and tribulations. Not only did He warn us of this, but He promised us that we could be of good cheer because in Him we can find the peace that we need to make it through each day. In Him, we can have hope, because He has overcome the world by becoming incarnate, living a sinless life, giving up that sinless life as a sacrifice for all of mankind, and rising from the death reigning victoriously over the world. He did this for us. Glory be to God!

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God
And keep His commandments,
For this is the whole man.
For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including everything that has been overlooked,
Whether it be good or evil.

Personal Challenge

Ecclesiastes sums up its discourse on life with these two verses. The entire book teaches about the futility of pursuing a godly life by living within the precepts of the world. If we desire a full life, both now in this temporal domain and throughout eternity in the spiritual domain, then we must fear God and keep His commandments. And what are those commandments? Love God and love our neighbor. The entire body of scripture, traditions, teachings, and examples of the Saints can be summed Up in those six Words…love God and love your neighbor.

John 16:23-24

And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Encouraging Words

Ask and you will receive. Jesus promises us that if we ask of the Father in His name that we will receive what we ask for. This is not some form of prosperity gospel because God is not our great vending machine in the sky, The fundamental truth here is that if we are living our lives in humble submission to Jesus and the will of the Father, then what we ask for will be in alignment with what the Father would want us to have anyway. We would not be asking for anything that would be contradictory to God. We must always remember that as we became children of God we were adopted into His family with all of the rights of a child of His. He will honor our requests, but as His children, our requests will honor Him. Glory be to God!

Ecclesiastes 10:6

The senseless man devotes himself to great heights,
And rich men shall sit in a lowly place.

Personal Challenge

Senseless man? Rich men? This simple passage sounds a little confusing. What we are being taught here is that if we spend our entire life pursuing those things that the world proclaims as great, we will end our lives as senseless and lost people. Our true greatness is not found in that next promotion or that mega-house, or a fleet of cars, boats, and other toys, but in the pursuit of God. If we truly desire to be rich in the sight of God then we will live humble and submissive lives, sitting in the lowly places of this world. This is quite the contradiction of the teachings of this world. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!