Key Thought

Today's Prayer

Give me courage, dear Father, so that I will always live passionately and faithfully for you and your Kingdom. Give me strength to never compromise my faith, my integrity, or my morals when facing hardship, scrutiny, or mistreatment. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

"If the world hates you, remember that the world hated me first. If you belonged to the world, then the world would love you like it loves its own people. But I have chosen you out of the world. So you don't belong to the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the lesson I told you: A servant is not greater than his master. If people did wrong to me, then they will do wrong to you too. And if people obeyed my teaching, then they will obey yours too. People will do all this to you because of me. They don't know the One who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to the people of the world, then they would not be guilty of sin. But now I have spoken to them. So they have no excuse for their sin. Any person that hates me also hates my Father. I did things among those people that no other person has ever done. If I had not done those things, they would not be guilty of sin. But they have seen those things I did. And still they hate me and my Father. But this happened so that what is written in their law would be true: 'They hated me for no reason.' "I will send you the Helper from the Father. The Helper is the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father. When he comes, he will tell about me. And you will tell people about me too, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Related Scripture Readings

We have those many people {of faith} around us. Their lives tell us what faith means. So we should be like them. We too should run the race that is before us and never stop trying. We should take away {from our lives} anything that would stop us. And we should take away the sin that so easily catches us. We should always follow the example of Jesus. Jesus is the leader in our faith. And he makes our faith perfect. He suffered death on the cross. But Jesus accepted the shame of the cross like it was nothing. He did this because of the joy that God put before him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God's throne. Think about Jesus. He was patient while sinful men were doing bad things against him. Think about him, so that you also will be patient and not stop trying. You are struggling against sin, but your struggles have not yet caused you to be killed.

"When a person listens to you, that person is really listening to me. But when a person refuses to accept you, that person is really refusing to accept me. And when a person refuses to accept me, he is refusing to accept the One (God) that sent me."

But you know all about me. You know what I teach and the way I live. You know my goal in life. You know my faith, my patience, and my love. You know that I never stop trying. You know about my persecutions (troubles) and my sufferings. You know all the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. You know the persecutions I suffered in those places. But the Lord saved me from all those troubles. Every person who wants to live the way God wants, in Christ Jesus, will be persecuted. People who are evil and cheat other people will become worse and worse. They will fool other people, but they will also be fooling themselves. But you should continue following the teachings you learned. You know that those teachings are true. You know you can trust the people who taught you those things.