John 15:12-14

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

Personal challenge

Jesus continues to drive home the point of How important loving one another is. Loving a friend the way that God wants us to love leads us to the place where we would be willing to lay down our life for that person. Jesus calls us His friends and laid down His life for us. We are to do the same. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Psalms 37:23-24 (36:22-24)

For those who bless Him shall inherit the earth,
But those who curse Him shall be utterly destroyed.
The steps of a man are guided aright by the Lord,
And he shall desire His way.
When he falls, he shall not be broken to pieces,
For the Lord supports him with His hand.

Personal Challenge

God loves us so much. He desires so much for us. He blesses us greatly if we desire Him and choose to walk in His ways, His footsteps. As we walk in His ways, He guides us on the right and true path. When we stumble and fall on His path we will not be broken for He supports us with his hand. The challenge is to choose to follow Him above all the distractions of this world. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

John 15:9-11

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

Personal Challenge

We all have an innate desire to have a life that is full of joy. We so often look around us at the world and its fallen state and feel like there is no joy left. That is not true. When we do this, we are looking in the wrong places. Jesus calls us to abide in His love for us. He wants us to cherish His love for through it we experience the Father’s love. Part of abiding in His love is keeping His commandments, which are to express our love toward God and our neighbor. By doing this we become the channel through which others experience both the love of Jesus and of the Father. This is where we experience true joy! Glory be to God!

Psalms 37:16-19 (36:16-19)

Better the little with the just man
Than the great riches of sinners;
For the arms of sinners shall be shattered,
But the Lord supports the righteous.
The Lord knows the ways of the blameless,
And their inheritance shall be forever.
They shall not be ashamed in an evil time,
And in days of famine they shall be filled.

Encouraging Words

In Paul’s letters we are called adopted children of God. In the Roman empire, as it today, an adopted child had the rights and privileges of a natural born child. Through Christ, we gain the inheritance of eternal life. We also gain the ability to not be ashamed in the midst of evil times as we live for our Father. He will always be there for us. Glory be to God!

John 15:5

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Personal Challenge

It is not enough to know about Jesus. Even the demons know about Him. It is also not enough to know Him. Even Satan knows Him. What is necessary is that we abide in Him, live our every thought and breath in Him. This takes self-sacrifice. This takes a commitment to Him and a willingness to put our self to death for Him. Until we do that willingly and completely, we will produce no fruit, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Psalms 37:7 (36:7)

Submit to the Lord, and supplicate Him;
Do not be envious of him who prospers in his way,
Nor of him who transgresses the law.

Personal Challenge

More guidelines on living a godly life. We are to submit to our Lord and make supplication to Him for our needs. A godly life always starts by putting God first. Then we are to go through this life without being envious of others, especially those who appear to be prosperous. We also do not want to be envious of those who transgress the laws of God, which in today’s culture filled with leaders of the world who seem to thrive on these transgressions and then plea for mercy because they feel that they are being persecuted when they get caught. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy, mercy!

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Encouraging Words

Peace! Isn’t that something that all humans are seeking? Peace within our own hearts and minds. Peace around us with those that we love and know. Peace in the world. The kind of peace that Jesus gives to us addresses all of these aspects of peace and much more. His peace is all encompassing and not like any other that we might find in this earthly realm. What we do with His peace is what makes the difference for everyone around us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Psalms 37:3-5 (36:3-5)

Hope in the Lord, and work goodness;
Dwell in the land, and you shall be nurtured by its riches.
Delight in the Lord,
And He will give you the requests of your heart.
Reveal your way to the Lord,
And hope in Him; and He will do it.

Personal Challenge

The psalmist gives us some very valuable steps to build our relationship with God. The challenge is to develop the discipline to do this on a regular basis. We start by putting our hope in God and working goodness to those around us in that hope. We then dwell in the land that He has given us, both the physical land and the spiritual, being nurtured by His riches and blessings. We can then truly delight in Him, cherishing Him and how He blesses us. From there we can reveal our way, our desires, our passions, to Him, trusting that He will lead us on His paths. Glory be to God!