“The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted Me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to Me, they would listen to you” (John 15:19-20).

Our family once took a three hour boat ride out into a bay in Florida. The captain of the boat told us that he was going to stick the nose of the boat out into the ocean for a moment. Now the ocean was particularly rough that day, and as we exited the bay and entered into the choppy ocean waters, the boat began to bounce up and down. With that in mind, isn’t it amazing how a boat can float on top of millions of gallons of water, but if only a few hundred gallons get the inside the boat it can sink?

When Jesus came to earth,people were drowning in sin. God had previously warned Adam in the Garden of Eden not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In other words, God was putting the man and woman into an environment that was conducive for life to flourish; He didn’t want them to allow sin to enter into the boat (soul). When they chose to eat of the forbidden fruit, it allowed sin to enter the heart and they fell (sank) into the one trap that God warned Adam to avoid.

Paul tells us in Romans 3 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Therefore, we all need a Savior to deliver our souls from the very depths of sin. If you have received Jesus into your heart, then He has delivered you out of the flood that was caused by sin on the inside of your heart. His blood has washed and cleansed your heart in order that His Spirit might be able to enter it. The Holy Spirit fills our hearts as we yield to His leading; this allows us to walk above the lust for sin in this world. Now we’re “in” this world, but we’re not “of” this world. If we fully understood what that sentence meant, it would revolutionize the body of Christ around the world. For one thing, we know that we’re not alone in this world, because we have the Spirit of God dwelling in our hearts. It means that we have victory over the worldly storms that try to cause our vessels (souls) to take on water. Jesus tells us to cast our cares on Him and don’t take on the care (or water).

It also means that we must not try to fit into the world’s system, because it is based on self and unbelief. Even though we are in this world, we still live in the kingdom of God, and His kingdom is based on love and faith in Jesus. Paul tells us in Romans 12 not to be conformed to this world; instead, we are to be transformed by the Word of God in order that we might know what the will of God is for our individual lives. Jesus has chosen us out of this world so that we might make a difference in other people’s lives.

As we set out to fulfill God’s purpose, we must guard our hearts so that we don’t allow what we face out there to  cause us to begin to sink in unbelief. The enemy of our souls is constantly throwing things at our ships in the hope of gaining an entrance into our hearts. Keep the shield of faith, spoken about in Ephesians 6, over your heart. The one way that I keep my shield of faith up to protect my heart is to always remind myself, “No matter what comes my way, the Lord is with me.” He will never leave me nor forsake me. Therefore my trust is in the Lord, and this protects my heart. Where do you find yourself today? Are you living in troubled waters? Fasten your eyes on Jesus and ignore the storm until you see the power of God destroy the threats of the Devil in your life. Don’t take on water. Trust God!!!

—submitted by Asa Dockery, US