The whole of John 17 is dedicated to a prayer that Jesus prayed to the Father - He firstly pray for himself, then for His disciples, and lastly for all believers.
Because I am a disciple of Jesus, I consider this a prayer for myself...
Jesus prayed this after He stated that the world hated his disciples:
I am not asking that you remove them from the world, but I ask that you guard their hearts from evil. For they no longer belong to this world any more than I do. “Your Word is truth! So make them holy by the truth. John 17:15-17 TPT
What Jesus in essence was praying, was that his disciples would not escape life...
Jesus' disciples would not escape the resistance, attacks and ridicule of the evil one - and that is purely because, as disciples, we believe in Jesus as the only way to God the Father, and our belief in the Bible as the Word of God.
Furthermore, Jesus was praying that His disciples be made holy - that is to be set appart from the world, which means we will stand out even more and more from the world as we build the Word of God into our hearts and minds.
But, I want to encourage you today - just as Jesus overcame the evil one, so will we, His disciples, because He is living inside of us and greater is He that is in us, than he (the devil) that is in the world (1 John 4:4)
Next time when you are facing opposition, attacks and ridicule, take your stand with the authority given to you by God! The Bible says: "Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you." (James 4:7)
The opposition, the resistance, the ridicule is just an opportunity for God to be glorified and for us to exercise our authority muscle and to get stronger in Him!
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