“¹⁷Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, ¹⁸and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. ¹⁹When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.” Matthew 10:17-19 (ESV)

Again, Jesus lets us know that adversity is certainly coming our way. He mixes no words and does not sugar coat it. We will be persecuted for our life in Christ.

Do not be anxious or worried. God will provide what we need in our time persecution. The interesting thing is that God may not “deliver” us from the persecution, however He will give us the proper actions and words to speak to glorify Him and make our time worthwhile.

We are here to spread the gospel, and with that we will be persecuted. What we say to those doing the persecuting should be planned carefully and with the guidance of God. When we are properly prepared, the words from God are more easily accessible and therefore we are able to spread the gospel in all situations.

“¹⁶Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” – Matthew 10:16 (ESV)

Are you prepared for the sharing of the gospel? When pressed by others, are you anxious as to what to say to spread the gospel? Are you looking for deliverance or are you content in spreading the Word of God?

Do you find yourself worried about what’s next, what you will eat, or drink, or wear? God provides for our essentials in life.

“²⁵Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” – Matthew 6:25 (ESV)

Jesus is pretty clear here in verse 25. Don’t worry about the essentials. I wonder how much more joy we would be able to have if we simply accepted what God provides for the essentials and did not look for more, “better”, “nicer”? What if we just spent our lives content with what God provides and used our energy to focus on Him?

“²⁶Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” – Matthew 6:26 (ESV)

We are made in the image of God and therefore aren’t we of more value than the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and the lilies of the field? With that being so, and God provides for the needs and essentials of they, then wouldn’t He provide for the essentials for us?

It is up to us to be focused on the work of God and less on the work of man.

“³³But see first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ³⁴Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” – Matthew 6:25-26 (ESV)

We are to be focused on God and doing his work. When we are worried about the essentials, are we truly focused on Him?

Yes, we should prepare for tomorrow, but preparation is different than worry. When we prepare, we set the stage to know, with as much certainty as possible, what is coming and to take action. To worry is to allow the unknown to consume and paralyze us into inaction.

Are you anxious as to where your next meal out on the town, next designer bag, or next glass of wine comes from? Are you focused on planning for what comes next, or paralyzed with fear of the unknown? Are you anxious about the essentials or planning for God?

“³Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. ⁴Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.’” – Isaiah 35:3-4 (ESV)

What a positive and inspiring set of verses. When you need Him most, Isaiah lets us know that “He will come”. Not ‘try’ to make it, but ‘will’ come.

When we think of God and His coming again, often I wonder when He is coming. I try to determine if and when I can expect His coming and what that will mean for me. All that trying creates an enormous amount of anxiety and worry about where I am and will I ever get out of where I am. Isaiah tells me, with all my anxiety to, “Be strong; fear not!”

I guess I should listen and take note. Don’t be anxious because when God makes a promise, He follows through with that promise. God “will come and save” me from the trouble I am in. Why, because He is God!

Are you worried about when you will come out of the difficulty? Are you thinking about how you will make it? Are you willing to rest in that “God will come”?

I am so encouraged when I witness new Christians. They are full of Christ’s Love and are looking to gain more and more knowledge of Him and all that He is.

“²⁴Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.” – 1 John 2:24 (ESV)

Isn’t it great that we get to see in the Bible the reference to that beginning time in our Christian walk? I forget that as new Christians we are a positioned for a great relationship with Christ. Why do we forget that as we progress?

In my career one thing that I focus on is being the example of doing things the right way and avoiding just getting things done. As we progress in our lives we get comfortable and look for shortcuts. Those shortcuts only get us to the end and we miss out on the learnings along the journey. Shouldn’t the journey be part of the learning? Couldn’t we take that same approach with our Christian walk?

As we progress in our walk with Christ, I see that we tend to get comfortable and are going through the motions. We get away from the depth of knowledge that we sought in the beginning of our relationship with Christ. What if we didn’t?

“²⁷But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.” – 1 John 2:27 (ESV)

We are in a position to know and continue learning the right from Christ and His Word. God provided for us when we were just new Christians and we should be getting back to our approach and knowledge from then to do things the right way.

When you are walking with Christ are you looking for shortcuts? Are you looking to experience the journey? What do you think about abiding with Christ as you did in the beginning of your walk?

When we are going through this thing we call life, we have options as to what to do and how to do them.

“¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noise gong or a clanging cymbal. ²And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge…but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give away all I have…but have not love, I gain nothing.” – 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (ESV)

Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians is titled “The Way of Love” in my ESV Bible. You can see in the above verses that without love, we are really nothing at all. No matter how “good” we are, without love, “nothing” is what surfaces.

“¹³So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV)

We have to choose love in all that we do. When we are engaged in business, choose to let love abide. When we are engaged with our family and friends, choose to let love abide. When engaged in difficult situations and adversity, choose to let love abide.

Are you looking and “The Way of Love”? Are you choosing love? When you are engaged, are you letting love abide?

“⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5 (ESV)

Notice the verse above, do you see both sides of the coin? In order for us to do great in God’s work, we have to abide in Him and God must abide in us. I will say that I have known and liked this verse since I was a teenager, and have just realized the magnitude of that fact. Both have to be true and we must work with God to accomplish His work.

“⁴Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” – John 15:4 (ESV)

“²Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” John 15:2 (ESV)

I have given the two verses above in reverse order to give more punch to them. We need God to complete His work. When we are fruitful, God will refine us even more to make way for even more fruit. When we are not fruitful, God will simply remove us.

We are to abide with God and in Him as He abides with and in us. Together we accomplish His work and provide great fruit.

Are you abiding in God? Is He abiding in you? Are you abiding with God to bear fruit?

“¹He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. ²I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.’” – Psalm 91:1-2 (ESV)

Stay, dwell, reside, remain, rest; these are some of the other words that could be used for the word abide. I look at these other words and see a clearer understanding of the verses above.

We are in a constant state of battle and need a place that we can find comfort, rest, and residence. What a better place than in the arms of our Savior. Think about your home and how much safety you feel when you walk in the door. When I get home, I remove my work and outside world and relax in the comfort of my family. I am able to simply change into my shorts and work to forget all of the outside adversity and work to focus on the security of being at home.

Notice the statement in verse 2, “My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.” We should be treating God as our home and the place we go for comfort, rest, and residence. We should feel protected from the adversity and focus on being with Him and at home.

Where are you today, at home? Are you finding reset and residence in the Lord? Are you able to abide in God?

 “³Then he Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.’” – Genesis 6:3 (ESV)

This verse seems so matter of fact, and so concrete in terms of time. And it is meant to be. We have a finite time here on earth and we should be seeking to have God abide in us for as long as possible.

Whereas the above verse is speaking of the time just before the flood, it is pretty telling as to where we are in the world today. The time of Noah was one of corruption and plenty of immorality, and doesn’t that describe where we are today? We are living in a publicized world that has little regard for what is truly right, striving to be like Jesus and love everyone regardless of what or who they may be. We are “flesh” and in being so are not perfect, but Jesus loves us and we should love others the same way.

God will abide in us when we are true to Him in all that we do. In being true to God, we are to strive to be more like Him each and every day.

Are you striving to be more like Jesus? Are you working His plan? Are you allowing God to abide in you?

“¹²Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” – 1 Peter 2:12 (ESV)

We are to keep doing God’s work in the midst of all, even the non-believers. When we do, they will see the good provided by God and will glorify God themselves.

Will we get to see their glorification, maybe not, but that does not remove the work from our path. We are to keep our eyes on doing God’s work for God only.

When you are doing God’s work, where are your eyes? What does your glorification of God look like? Are you looking at others to see their glorification or focusing on yours?

“⁸For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to how God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, ⁹and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, ‘Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.’ ¹⁰And again it is said, ‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.’ ¹¹And again, ‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.’ ¹²And again Isaiah says, ‘The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.’ ¹³May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” – Romans 15:8-13 (ESV)

Extolling God is not just for those that are in the “right place” or those that are “chosen”. We are all to give high praise to God and glorify Him.

The passage above, where taken from Romans, were cited from other books in the Bible; 2 Samuel, Deuteronomy, Psalms, and Isaiah. Each of which are from the Old Testament and before Jesus came to die for our sins. Even then, we were to understand that God was for all and all should be praising Him.

Are you prepared to extol God? Will you give high praise to and glorify God? Are you a part of the all that extol God?