No Couch to Heaven

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Let’s face it, we are smack-dab in the middle of an ungodly world. It’s easy to get discouraged. It’s easy to get weary and desirous to leave it. That’s why Jesus prayed for you! You heard me correctly; Jesus prayed for YOU! He prayed to His Father NOT to take you out of the world. Since that was His prayer, we should desire it too! We glorify God when we face the ungodly world in the Lord’s strength. 

Since the enemy and the world are watching us carefully for any inconsistency in our conduct, let’s be very holy. Let’s live so that no one has an occasion for blame. Let your only fault be goodness. Let’s make them say of us what was said about Daniel, "We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God” [.Daniel 6.5].

Wherever you are in life, be useful and consistent. Wipe the thought from your mind that you could better serve the Lord if you were in a more favorable position. The worse the people are around you, the more they need your witness. If crooked, they need help to straighten out. If perverse, they need help to turn their proud hearts to the truth. 

Where is a doctor more helpful? Among the well, or among the sick? Where is a soldier more effective? Shining boots in the barracks or on the battlefield? When we are weary of our work and battles, we need to consider what past saints have had to endure. They were not carried to heaven on couches, you know. And, just being as honest as I can with you, you won’t either! They endured hardship as good soldiers, and were crowned as such. It will be the same for you. So, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong!

Quote Jesus: My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. John 17.15-18