Joshua 1:8

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8 ESV). Looking at previous verses we learn that Mosses had just died and God has commissioned Joshua to assume leadership and describes the land they are to take passion of. God also makes a promise to be with Joshua and the people as they cross over the Jordan and displace the current occupants of the land. God encourages Joshua to be strong and courageous and to be careful to do according to the law given by Moses. This is the setting of our verse, which was given to Joshua, but there is an implication for us. As the law applied to Joshua, the word of God applies to us.

This verse tells us three things to do and if we do we should expect two results. First, the Law (the Word for us) is to become an integrated part of our lives so that we can talk about it with people we meet, to encourage them, and to guide them in their walk with the Lord. Second, we are to continue to think about it, to understand it and make it part of daily living. Third, we must be obedient to it, to be careful to do what it says. If we do these three things we will live by its principles and as a result, we will prosper and be successful.

When you think of prospering and being successful, don’t let your western culture mislead you. Don’t lose sight of the command to “be careful to do according to all that is written.” Remember, God chose us and assigned to us work to do to build his kingdom. Being prosperous and having success applies mainly to this endeavor, not to our personal ambitions. (The context from which verse 8 is taken.)

Prayer

Father, it is so easy to take a verse like this out of context and try to apply it to our personal gain. This promise of being prosperous and having good success applies first, to taking possession of the land and settling on it, and second, prospering as a nation and becoming successful in their stand against the surrounding nations and against evil. Father, help us apply this verse to our spiritual growth and to our assigned kingdom work not to expanding our own personal worldly desires.

John 14:21

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21 ESV). Do you know what his commandments are and how many there are? According to the Institute in Basic Life Principles, there are 49 of them and they are listed at link given. How many of them do you make a practice of obeying? According to our verse, the one who knows them and keeps them is the one who loves the Lord. How is one able to keep them? If we look back to verse 16, we have the promise of being given the Spirit of truth as our helper: “[This] Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26 ESV). He will teach us about them, remind us to obey them and as a Helper, he will help us live them out.

The emphasis, so far, has been on obedience indicating love, but in reality it is possible to obey and not love. Think of slaves or even children who are forced to obey but don’t love back. A religious person may discipline themselves to obey as a form of work. However, if we look at verse 23, we see a reverse emphasis: “Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”” (John 14:23 ESV). It is to be out of love for all that God has done and provided for us that we obey his commands and as we do those who observe us will know that we love the Lord. As we love Jesus and keep his commandments, his words of instruction, he will manifest or reveal himself to us and provide us with his peace that cannot be found in the world.

Prayer

Father, as I study the Scriptures in writing these lessons, the more excited I become and greater is my desire and love for you. I have been here on assignment for many years and I feel a growing longing to be home with you and family. Father, in the days I have left I pray that through the Holy Spirit, the Lord will guide me in what to write and those who read from countries around the world will be encouraged and in some small way have a closer walk with the Lord. I pray for my readers who experience so many different things in life because of where they live in the world. I pray for their encouragement, for strength, for protection, and in some cases, basic humanitarian needs. Forgive their sins where needed; fill their hearts with your love; bless them and show them mercy.

2 Corinthians 5:17

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV). To be in Christ doesn’t mean we are contained in him like being inside a box, it means we are like a branch or a limb of a tree that extends into the trunk or larger limb as its source of life and support. As a creation we are brought into existence; According to his great mercy, God the Father has caused us to be born again (1 Peter 1:3), grafting us into Christ. As a branch being grafted into, we abide in Christ and are spiritually alive, able to produce much fruit, for apart from him we can do nothing (John 15:5). In Ephesians 2:10, we are described as his “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (ESV). The old sinful way of living for ourselves is now replaced with the ability and desire to live for God doing kingdom work. Our new life style is to be a reflection of our new family we were adopted into and while living here on earth we live as representatives of our heavenly Father, not of the father of evil we were once a part of.

Prayer

Father, as a new creation we should have a lifestyle that is different enough from the world that they would refer to us as aliens and strangers. Our lifestyle should reflect the heavenly family we are a part of, but instead we have become like those of the world by adopting their ways of living; we have become cultural Christians. Maybe it is time for some persecution to turn us back to the Lord and his word. Father, have mercy on us and encourage us to turn back and walk in a manner worthy of our new creation in Christ.

John 15:7

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7 ESV). This is a verse about prayer, which on the surface appears that we can ask for anything we wish and it will be granted. Looking a bit deeper, we notice the condition of abiding in Jesus and his words abiding in us. This would indicate a relationship between what we wish for and our relationship to Jesus and his words. If we expand our inquiry into the surrounding verses, we find abiding is like a branch that is attached to a vine for the purpose of drawing nourishment needed to produce fruit. It is this fruit that brings glory to our Father. In the context of our verse is the importance of producing fruit; fruit such as love with its characteristics of joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The connection to his words is that they are to become tools we use to encourage the growth of more fruit, especially in the lives of others, which is enhanced by the characteristics of love. A summary of his words is for us to go into all the world and make disciples. In the context of our verse it is clear that our wish will be in relationship to producing more fruit. Our wish, our desire, will be to become better equipped to be more productive in our walk with the Lord in reaching others.

Prayer

Father, how tempting it is to lift a verse like this one out of context and try to apply it to meeting our own desires when it was intended for a different application. You chose us and assigned to us work to do and you gave us tools like this verse to help us in doing that work. A verse like this one is a means of connecting with you in doing the assigned work. Father, forgive us for focusing on ourselves over you and trying to apply verses like this to advance our own little kingdom.

1 Peter 3:13

As you attempt to answer the question asked by the verse shown on the photo, consider verse 12 and 14. 1 Peter 3:12: "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” (ESV). Notice how the Lord relates to two different groups of people. For those who are righteous his eyes are on them and his ears are open to their prayer. This reminds me of a mother who loves her children and listens to them and watches over them. There is a second group; those who do evil and find themselves under the Lord’s displeasure.

Now look at 1 Peter 3:14: “But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled” (ESV). If you are counted among the righteous and are zealous for doing good, but are suffering for your righteous conduct because of those who do evil, you will be blessed and should not fear or be troubled by them. Nestled between these two verses is our question? “Who is there to harm you?”

If you lived under persecution for your faith and were about to be tortured or even killed, you might answer, “Those who are persecuting.” But what if I were to say the answer is, “None can harm you?” I base my answer of “none” on where the verse is placed and how it is asked. From verse 12 we see the Lord is with us and against those who do evil and from verse 14, we are blessed if we suffer and should have no fear of them or even be troubled. How is that possible? The answer is found in 1 Peter 1:3 – 7: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (ESV).

We may be harmed physically, but no one can touch our inheritance, which is kept secure by the power of God until we come to claim it. As we stay focused on our inheritance, which is kept secure by the power of God until we come to claim it. As we stay focused on our inheritance, provided by the Lord Jesus, we have a living hope to carry us through those fiery trials.

Prayer

Father, thank you that no one can harm us where it really matters. Thank you for the living hope we have, through Jesus Christ, in what is laid up in heaven for us.

PS: Reader, how would you answer the question in the photo?

Persecution - Bible Study

Several months ago I downloaded an e-copy of the book, “I Am N: Inspiring Stories of Christians Facing Islamic Extremists” by The Voice of the Martyrs. It is a book of 48 reports of Christians who have suffered for their faith and six historical stories all arranged into six parts under the words sacrifice, courage, joy, perseverance, forgiveness, and faithfulness. Each of these six sections is introduced with a relevant verse. Clicking on the link above will direct you to an introduction to the book, but at the top of that introduction is a link to where you can start reading the book for free.

Since I enjoy writing about verses I decided to include these six words and the corresponding verses into a study on persecution. What you are reading is that study containing links to six previous blog posts where I wrote about those verses.

     Romans 12:1 - Sacrifice
     Psalm 31:24 - Courage
     Acts 20:24 - Joy
     Romans 5:3-5 - Perseverance
     Luke 23:34 - Forgiveness
     Revelation 2:10 - Faithfulness

I pray that this study would encourage you to read the book to learn more about persecution and how God is using it to advance the gospel. The goal of this study is to better understand what our brothers and sisters in Christ are experiencing so that we can better pray for them and learn ways to come alongside them to encourage.

Have you ever considered what it would be like to prepare your children, if you were a young family, for persecution and possibility even death, as the consequence of living out their faith in Jesus? The video titled “Liena’s Prayer” is an example of having such a conversation. I need to warn you that the video is intense.

What would you do if persecution came to you? The video titled “Victoria” illustrates what can happen when a small church is invaded by extremists. How would you react if this happened to your church? This is a sobering video.

I pray that this study will help you understand that most Christians do not have the opportunity to enjoy living behind walls of security, safety, and comfort like we do. The more I study this topic the more I realize the importance of persecution in adding value to one’s faith. How willing are you to live like the family in the video of Liena’s Prayer? What price are you willing to pay to remain faithful to God?

Revelation 2:10 Faithfulness

Merriam - Webster defines faithful as "having or showing true and constant support or loyalty; keeping your promises or doing what you are supposed to do." Thinking about the context of persecution I am reminded of a passage in 2 Timothy 3:1 - 5: "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people" (ESV). Notice that "in the last days' there will come times of difficulty" and in those days people will be lovers of self, engaged in all forms of evil, rather than lovers of God. These people will be faithless to any standard that is truly godly and will tent to resist those who are faithful. If a person is to be faithful, then that person must love God more than self. It is out of that love that one is obedient (John 14:15). Thus, a faithful person will be one who is in love with God and when faced with persecution will stand firm in obedience and continue on as an effective witness. Jesus made it clear that we will be hated, by those who are faithless, for his name's sake (Matthew 10:22) This hatred is growing with intensity in many parts of the world. To remain faithful there are a growing number of cases where ones love for God must be so much greater than their love for family members that they are able to sacrifice a family member to remain faithful (Luke 14:26). When we face persecution we must remain faithful in doing what we are supposed to do as a follower of Jesus Christ and not be ashamed of him or his words (Mark 8:38). We are not to allow adversity or times of difficulty to cause us to be unfaithful. We must trust God with justice for the evil against us and stand firm in love and forgiveness. This act of faithfulness toward our Lord then becomes a supernatural witness of extraordinary power.

Prayer 

Father, whether we face persecution or not, it is important that we remain faithful because if we don't it will be so easy to slip into the lifestyle described in the 2 Timothy passage. Father, it appears that our love for you is growing cold and we are exchanging faithfulness in our walk with you for friendship with the world. Forgive us and challenge us to renew our love and faithfulness toward you.