Jesus is praying for all believers to be one as He and the Father are one.

This goes far beyond what many promote as unity today. Paul besought the Corinthians to “all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10). This is God’s standard of unity.

This oneness among believers is what Jesus said would cause the world to know that Jesus is the Son of God. This is the greatest tool for evangelism that the church has. The only way that Christ’s body will be one as the Father and Jesus are One is through God’s kind of love. No wonder Satan tries to get believers to go at each others’ throats. We spend billions of dollars a year on evangelism through television, radio, conventions and crusades, yet, the world is not evangelized because the body of Christ is not united in love.

There is very little unity among believers today. This has occured over thousands of years and it probably won’t be fixed over night. We must strive towards unity but not be overwhelmed by the problem. All Christians have already been joined to each other through the body of Christ, and God the Father sees us all as His children. All divisions among Christians are made by man, not God. For a brief period of time, the church enjoyed unity on earth. Regardless of what strife and division has occurred, all believers are still one in Christ and will live in perfect oneness throughout eternity. We are now one in Spirit. We just need to experience that unity here on earth.

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven” (Mt. 6:10).

We are not from the world. Through the new birth, we come from God and should constantly remind ourselves of this. It is not good to be too “at home” in the world. We are in the world but are not of the world. Great men and women of God have always had this attitude.

The primary reason that God chooses to use those who are nothing by the world’s standards, is so no one else can take credit for the great things that are accomplished.

If the Lord used those who had it “all together” in the natural, then they would share the glory that rightfully belongs to God alone. But when the Lord works miraculously through someone who obviously has no talent or ability, then everyone says, “This must be God.”

Not only does this keep others from misdirecting the glory that belongs to God, but it keeps the person who God uses from swelling up with pride. One of Satan’s greatest weapons against someone who is being used by God is to tempt them to think that the Lord is using them because they possess some superior virtue.

God uses “nobodies.” If we think we’ve become “somebody” (in our flesh), then we will cease being used. He will not share His glory with anyone else (Isa. 42:8).

In this prayer, Jesus prayed twice that the Father would keep His disciples from evil. Then He reveals the way that God will accomplish this – through His Word, the holy scriptures. Anyone who desires to live for God, reject the devil, and reject the world’s system, must know God’s Word.

We must study the scriptures, for they reveal the will of God for our actions and attitudes. To be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, we must be filled with God’s Word. God’s Word is His will! Those who are ignorant of God’s Word will be ignorant of God’s will.

Knowledge of God’s will is foundational in developing Christian conduct and character. There is no way we can fulfill God’s will if we don’t know what it is. The starting point for any Christian is understanding God’s will for his life. How can a person obtain such knowledge? The first step is to desire it. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” People ask the Lord for knowledge of His will but don’t receive it because they aren’t seeking with ALL THEIR HEART. No one who has ever sought the Lord with all his heart has ever been disappointed.

The Holy Spirit is the dispenser of God’s wisdom. It is through Him that we know the things God has revealed to us. One of the primary ministries of the Holy Spirit is to reveal God’s will to us.

There is no way we can walk worthy of the Lord and please Him if we don’t know His will. Furthermore, we can’t be fruitful without the knowledge of His will. God has provided all that we need to be successful and victorious in this life. Believe His Word.

This verse has often been used to support the misconception that Jesus and His disciples lived in poverty. However, in this instance, the fact that Jesus had nowhere to lay His head was because of persecution. The Samaritans, because of a religious prejudice, had just refused Him hospitality and a place to stay as He journeyed to Jerusalem. Persecution is part of the cost of living a Christian life. Jesus was communicating to this man that not having a place to stay at times was part of that cost.

There are many forms of persecution. Having your life threatened because of your faith in Jesus is one way you can be persecuted, but it is not the most damaging. History shows that the Church has always flourished under persecution with increased numbers and zeal. During intense, life-threatening persecution, people’s priorities get straightened out and the Lord assumes His rightful place. This always works for our good, regardless of what our outward circumstances might be.

A far more deadly form of persecution is men simply speaking evil of you or separating you from their company. It’s more deadly because it’s more subtle.

Many who would never directly deny the Lord will fall into self-pity or strife because of someone’s criticism. This will render one just as ineffective as a negative reaction to having one’s life threatened would.

It helps to recognize that it is not you that they are persecuting, but rather Christ in you. You are actually becoming a partaker of His sufferings and will share His rewards. With this in mind, we can actually shout and leap for joy in persecution!

Jesus was constantly being accused of breaking the law of Moses. He taught differently than the law of Moses (Mt. 5:21-48), and now He rebukes His disciples for desiring to do what an Old Testament prophet did with God’s blessing and power. However, Jesus didn’t come to destroy the law but to fulfill it.

Jesus came not to destroy men’s lives but to save them (Jn. 3:16; 10:10).

“God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” (2 Cor. 5:19). Jesus was just in doing this because He bore our sins (Isa. 53:4-6) and the accompanying wrath of God (Mt. 27:46; Heb. 2:9). Jesus didn’t reject God’s judgment against sin; He bore it (2 Cor. 5:21). Therefore, He was able to extend the grace and mercy of God to those who would have been doomed under the law of Moses (Acts 13:38-39).

The Old Testament law was like a judge passing sentence upon sin. Jesus became our advocate (or lawyer). Even more than that, He became our substitute, bearing “our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24).

He didn’t destroy God’s judgment; He fulfilled it in Himself, so that we could go free. This forever changed God’s dealings with sinful man. In light of what Jesus has done in the New Covenant, we would be rebuked for trying to release God’s wrath upon others as was done in the Old Covenant. Likewise, if Jesus would have been on the earth in His physical body, reconciling the world unto Himself in the days of Elijah, then Elijah would have been rebuked for his actions, as recorded in 2 Kings 1:9-15. There is a difference between Old Testament law and New Testament grace. “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (Jn. 1:17). Grow in grace.

The Greek word translated “life” here is “zoe” and it means life in the absolute sense or life as God has it. Everyone who is breathing has life in the sense of physical existence, but only those who receive Jesus can experience life as God intended it to be. Jesus came to not only save us from the torment of eternal hell, but also to give us this “zoe” or God-kind of life in abundance. The life of God is not awaiting us in heaven, but is presently possessed by every born-again person in his spirit. We can release this “zoe” life and enjoy it now by losing our natural life and finding this supernatural life. The way we lose our life is to deny any thoughts, emotions, or actions that are contrary to the Word of God, which is life (“zoe” in Jn. 6:63). When we line our thoughts, emotions, and actions up with the instructions of God’s Word, then we will find this “zoe” life manifest in our bodies and souls as well.

The Word is spiritual and must be understood through the spirit (1 Cor. 2:14). The Bible is simply a physical representation of Jesus and spiritual truth. It is inspired of God and therefore, totally accurate and reliable, and yet, until we receive the spirit that these words express, the Bible will not profit us (Heb. 4:2).

If we want to know what spiritual truth is, we must believe the Bible, for it is spirit and life. If we want to be led by the Spirit, then we must follow God’s Word. If we want to hear from the Spirit of God, then we must listen to what God says in His Word. The Spirit (Holy Spirit) and the Word (Jesus – Jn. 1:1) are one (1 Jn. 5:7).

This verse promises all who are God’s sheep that they not only can, but that they do, hear His voice. Many born-again people doubt the truth of this statement based on their experience. They don’t think they can hear God’s voice. However, the Word of God is true – not our experience.

The harmony between what this verse says and what our experiences say is that it is our new born-again spirit that hears God’s voice. Although God has spoken and still does speak in an audible voice at times, very few people experience this. God speaks to our inner person (spirit) and our inner person hears Him. The problem comes when we aren’t sensitive to, or controlled by, our spirit but are walking in the vanity of our mind. The Bible calls this walking in the flesh instead of the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-18).

Man is a spirit, soul, and body. Our spirits are as perfect as they will ever be in heaven. If we will change our thinking so that we believe what God says in His Word about who we are and what we have, then this agreement between our spirit and soul forms a majority and our flesh will experience the life of God that has been deposited in our spirits.

Prayer, Bible study, fasting, fellowship, etc. are ways of refocusing our mind’s attention away from the voice of this world and back to the voice of our Shepherd who is constantly communicating with our spirit. If we fail to renew our minds, we can live our entire time on this earth without experiencing the abundant life that Jesus provided for us. Listen, and you will hear His voice speak to you through His Word today.

It is one thing to seek God; it is quite another thing to have God seek you. Jesus sought this man out when others had forsaken him. The acceptance of Jesus is worth more than everything this world has to offer This is what enables the believer to endure and even leap for joy amidst persecution.

When our sufferings in Christ abound, then the consolation of Christ abounds much more. Notice that this man’s parents, who knew the truth, but refused to share it for fear of persecution, did not have Jesus seeking them out (Jn. 9:22). They chose the company of the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, which is exactly what they got.

Even though the believer is redeemed and delivered from many afflictions that were a result of sin and its power, we are still called to partake in what the scriptures call the “sufferings or afflictions of Christ” (2 Cor. 1:5; Col. 1:24). However, these afflictions are not sickness and poverty as some religious teachings suggest. These afflictions are described as the “fellowship of sufferings” that the believer will encounter for doing the will of God, or the sufferings brought on by one’s allegiance to Christ.

Persecution for righteousness’ sake is not something that we can rebuke (2 Tim. 3:12). We must remember that as we live godly lives, suffering will follow. The Apostle Peter reminds us that these trials of our faith will result in praise, honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:7). Jesus’ comfort, strength, help, and love are ready to “overflow” into every “trial” that we face if we will only look to Him (Heb. 12:2).

Much of the Pharisees’ problem was spiritual pride, as is very evident by this statement. They were so blinded by their arrogance that they couldn’t believe anyone who hadn’t been through their “seminary” could teach them anything.

The name “Pharisees” comes from a Hebrew word meaning “separate.” This term was applied to this sect because of its extreme devotion to the Mosaic law and commitment to leading a separated life. This was a reaction of the devout Jews who came back to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity, and saw the pagan customs and influences of the Babylonians everywhere. Not only their religion but their identity as a nation was being threatened. The Pharisees were patriots as well as religious zealots, who in the beginning served a very needed function in the Jewish nation which was struggling for survival. However, over the centuries the Pharisees had departed from the Mosaic law and had written their own interpretations of the law – interpretations which they held to be God-inspired and equal to that of Moses. In Jesus’ day this group was characterized by hypocrisy and self-righteousness. They, as a whole, persecuted Jesus and His followers and received the Lord’s most stinging rebukes.

The Pharisees, like many people today, were ignorant of achieving right standing (righteousness) with God through the simple act of receiving His forgiveness by faith and were trying to earn salvation by their own acts. No one can fulfill God’s commands (Rom. 3:23) except Jesus (Heb. 4:15). Therefore, to be righteous, we must put our faith in what He has done for us.

The “acid test” of whether or not someone is of God is by his actions. Jesus’ actions were so miraculous and overwhelmingly consistent with God’s Word that any reservations about whether or not He was of God should have been set aside. But, as in Mark 7:13, they had exalted their own traditions above God’s Word, thereby making the Word of God of no effect in their own lives. Just as in this instance nearly two thousand years ago, theologians today are sometimes the last to accept a move of God if it violates their traditional beliefs. “The common people heard him gladly” (Mk. 12:37). “Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth” (1 Cor. 8:1).

In spiritual matters, a person can educate himself in theology to the degree that it does more harm than good. It is possible to win a theological battle and yet lose the war for a person’s heart. Arguments over points of theology often distract from the more important issues. There is no premium on ignorance, but love is infinitely superior to knowledge. We should learn all we can, but we must make our knowledge a servant to love. “The greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13).

If anyone’s quest for knowledge leads them away from knowing God, then it would have been preferable for them to stay ignorant. What we know is not as important as who we know (speaking of the Lord). Our most important goal in life must be to love God and be known of Him.