Be Prepared – The Presidential Prayer Team

So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. – Matthew 10:16

In his book on evangelism, Dag Heward-Mills gives seven reasons serpents are considered wise. Principally, they are considered wise because they have flourished against ecological challenges, against being hated, they can function wherever they are, and they have been more successful than any other creature at survival and massive reproduction. Even the “king of beasts,” the lion, gives a wide berth to a snake in his path.

In Matthew 10, Jesus assembled His disciples and gave them “marching orders” on reaching the world. He gave them great authority, and then He cautioned, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” Jesus went on to tell them they would face persecution, even death. According to church history, most suffered greatly for their faith and for their evangelistic efforts. Only John is thought to have lived into old age, although an early Latin tradition had him being boiled to death in oil in Rome. But their influence continues in the world today.

Most Christians have no difficulty being “as innocent as doves,” but they struggle with having to carry on despite being hated or even feared. Still, that is your calling to one degree or another. Certainly, you are like sheep among wolves in today’s American culture. So, consider the admonitions of Jesus, who also promised, “The one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22).

Pray for Christians who are taking a strong stand in government, who are being reviled and ridiculed, that they will not bend.

Today’s Verse: Matthew 10:16

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Matthew 10:5-8, 16-23

⁵These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, ⁶but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ⁸Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.

¹⁶“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. ¹⁷Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, ¹⁸and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. ¹⁹When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. ²⁰For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. ²¹Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, ²²and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ²³When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.