Day 19

Be Still:  Dear Father, please help us to remember that our true citizenship is in Heaven.  May we live as if we believe it is true.  In Jesus’ name, through the Holy Spirit, Amen

Be Strengthened:  John 15:18-27

¹⁸"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. ²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.

^23”He who hates me hates my Father as well. ²⁴If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.'

²⁶"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. ²⁷And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”

Be Stretched:  It’s not very comfortable to read that followers of Jesus will be hated.  Do you ever feel hated for your faith?  Do you think there is a problem if we are not being hated for Jesus’ sake?  Spend time today inviting the Holy Spirit to help you wrestle with this difficult topic.  Then, spend time in prayer for our brothers- and sisters-in-Christ who are currently undergoing persecution for His name’s sake.