Day 5 – Keep Them from the World

“I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. 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” (John 17:11, 15–16).

“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him” (1 John 3:21–22).

Memorize these words. Get them into your heart. Join the ranks of those who with John draw near to God with an assured heart that does not condemn, having confidence toward God. In this spirit pray for your brother who sins (1 John 5:16). In the quiet confidence of an obedient child, plead for those of your brethren who may be giving in to sin. Pray for all to be kept from evil. And say often, “What we ask, we receive, because we keep His commandments and do what is right in His sight.”

On His last night on earth, Christ asked three things for His disciples: that they might be kept as those who are not of the world; that they might be sanctified; that they might be one in love. You cannot do better than pray as Jesus prayed. Ask for God’s people that they may be kept separate from the world and its spirit; that they, by the Holy Spirit, may live as one in love and as those who are not of the world.