There is a war going on greater than any other in the physical realm. What we see going on today in Iraq, Ferguson, and many other places was first started in the spiritual realm. Our opinions about whether to participate in the war do not change the fact that we were born in war and will live in war our entire lives.  We cannot escape it. We have done an excellent job ignoring this fact and making our lives as comfortable as possible, but we are in war none the less. As Christians, we should not be surprised.  There is conflict between the world and God so when we surrender our lives to God, we likewise are in conflict with the world. We must understand the war is present. We need to be equipped with God’s word to battle with the enemy. We must know, live, and speak the truth:

Today’s reading is from John 17:6-25. (NASB)

6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. 9 I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. 12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the [a]son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

The Disciples in the World
13 But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them [b]from [c]the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may [d]believe that You sent Me.

Their Future Glory
22 The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected [e]in unity, so that the world may [f]know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

25 “O righteous Father, [g]although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;