Certainly it is my responsibility to make sure I am not deceived. Certainly I need to be certain I confront lies in my life. Certainly it is wholly my responsibility to keep me from the falsehoods the enemy throws at me. There is truth to those statements, but they stop short of the solution. It is indeed my responsibility to be sure I am not deceived, but it is by the truth that lies are confront...

A question continues to press on me as I have gone through these recent passages, and it is this: Do I trust in the Holy Spirit? There are a lot of things I find that I rely on myself for. When it comes to dealing with trial, tribulation, or persecution, I am quick to consider myself in the midst of that. I am quick to think of what I may have done wrong. And then I fear the possibility that I may...

“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.”-John 16:1The lesson that John is stressing is the message Jesus is stressing. He does not want the disciples to be caught off guard by difficult circumstances, persecution or otherwise. He wants them to know that the Lord is with them and the Holy Spirit is coming to help them. Persecution, trials, tribulations and the li...

The broad scope that this passage is dealing with is the promise of persecution to the church. The purpose of John writing this gospel account is to lead those who read it into belief. Faith is a central theme all throughout the book. One of the enemy's favorite tools to quench faith is persecution. It makes sense that John would draw out what Jesus teaches concerning persecution to encourage the ...

Jesus continues His teaching toward His disciples and prepares them for the future of persecution that will take place. He makes His intentions clear with sharing all of this. He does not want the disciples to stumble when it all comes. Jesus does not want the disciples to be like the seed that is scattered that takes root into rocky soil that is then scorched by the Sun. They are going to be kick...

“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.“And t...

Meditate on the relationship you have with the Lord and the relationship you have with the world. Prayerfully consider the attitude of God towards you and the attitude of the world towards you. Whose voice will you listen too? Give thanks to the Lord that He has first loved you and asks of you to abide in His love. Pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ who suffer persecution for the name of...

The pressures of this world often make us have valuation errors. Certain things that are incredibly valuable lose their value to things that simply are not valuable in the slightest. Modern marketing techniques understand this all too well. They understand that you will be more inclined to buy their products if you are made discontent with any other product. It is how the human mind works. We tend...

This passage often comes with a degree of conviction for me. Like most people in this world, I like to be liked. If someone does not like me, I have that desire to try to fix things so that I would be more likeable to them. In short, I can be a bit of a people pleaser. It is something the Lord has sincerely convicted my heart about and has been growing me in boldness as I step further away from th...

Greatness of love is a theme that stands out for the believer. Let's take a look at the words Jesus spoke to His disciples concerning the love that He has for them and they ought to have for one another.12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever...

If we take a look at the surrounding context, there is a very important lesson here. Let us step back and take a look at the whole of the dialogue we are in the middle of. John 13 places us in the upper room where Jesus tells His disciples that He would be departing soon. He eludes heavily to His death. After Judas takes off, Jesus shifts the conversation more into the role the disciples are takin...

There are ultimately two modes of the believer that are being discussed here. There is the relationship with the believer and other believers, and then there is the relationship with believers to those in the world. The relationship between believers is one that is marked by love. That love, in turn, marks a dynamic of self sacrifice. Jesus proves His love for His disciples that He calls His frien...

12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to y...

Pray that the Lord would teach you to abide. Pray that He would teach you to depend on Him for everything in your life. Give thanks that you have a vinedresser Who desires to see you be as fruitful as can be. Finally, pray for your brother and sister in Christ that they would do the same. Pray for the church as a whole that we would all abide in the Lord with sincere hearts.......

When it comes to making a battle plan toward abiding in the Lord, we have to ask what it means even to abide. It is easy to talk around abiding in the Lord but it becomes more difficult to ascertain what that really means.Abiding means to dwell. We are to dwell in the vine and dwell in His word. Another sense of the word can be described as belonging. He is the source of my strength and my being. ...