1 Peter 1:3-5 Kept By The Power Of God - Devotional Scripture

Peter was so moved by God’s mercy that he can’t help but praise Him.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,  who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5

It is God that caused us to be born again.  It is because of God's great mercy that we have this living, breathing, active hope. The hope that we have is a hope of the inheritance that is ours as children of God and joint heirs with Christ. This hope can’t be taken away by tough times. We will still have stress and tragedies in our lives but the believer whose hope is in the Lord and who has a grasp of God’s plan will not be overcome. It is like the swimmer who is ready to sink.  If he sees a boat coming near to him, he will swim with all his might, because now he expects that his swimming will be beneficial to him. Our hope keeps our head above water and it sustains us. 

This priceless inheritance is reserved for you in heaven. It is incorruptible, undefiled and will not fade away.  It is being safely guarded for you and no one, not even Satan himself, can steal it from you.  You have the power of God Himself keeping you for salvation.  Up until this point it's all been God's work. You don't have a thing to do with God showing mercy on you and giving you an inheritance. But now Peter gets to your part and that is faith. All that is left for you to do is to believe and trust the work of God. Faith is what activates the preserving power of God in the life of the Christian. Your future is eternally secure because it rests on God himself. No one can take from you what God has given to you. If you know what God has done for you, everything else is just details. No matter what pain or trial we face in this life, we know that it is not our final experience.  Eventually we will live with Christ forever.

Numbers 11:4-20 No Good Thing Will God Withhold - Devotional Scripture

In the wilderness, the Israelites struggled with the sin of discontentment. This led to a lot of grumbling and complaining which displeased God. In Numbers 11 the Israelites were complaining about the food provision that God had given them. They began lusting, craving after the things of Egypt.

Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? “We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!” Numbers 11:4-6

The Egyptians that came to the wilderness with the Israelites started complaining and it became contagious. The people of Israel got so wrapped up in what God wasn’t doing for them that they forgot the horrors of slavery. Their complaining hearts were romanticizing the past and over exaggerating the problems of the present. So God promised to answer the lust of their flesh; but not in a way that would be a blessing to them.

Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat.  You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?”                              Numbers 11:18b-20

God would give them so much meat they would be sickened by it. He sent this plaque because they denied and doubted the goodness of God's provisions.  The Israelites ate and ate the meat until it came out of their nostrils. That is what happens with lust.  You never get enough of whatever you are lusting for. Lust is like a fire, the more you feed it the hotter it gets and the more it demands.  It is never satisfied and always leads to discontentment.

We think we know what we want but the Lord says:

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.  Psalm 84:11

God sees what is truly best for us.  If I don’t have something or someone or whatever it is that I think I deserve or I’m lusting for the truth is it is not good me.  If it was good for me God would have given it to me.

By all means, we should pray and pour out our hearts to the Lord.  Tell him what you’re thinking and what you are dealing with and what your desires may be but make sure you pray like Jesus did:

 Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.  Luke 22:42

1 Peter 5:12 Devotional Scripture - Uncomfortable Grace

 

In Peter’s first epistle he is writing to people who are suffering.  His purpose for writing this letter is stated in the 2^nd part of 1 Peter 5:12.

I have written and sent this short letter to you with the help of Silas, whom I commend to you as a faithful brother. My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace. (NLT)

There are moments in our lives when we are crying out for grace, not recognizing that we are getting it. We are not getting the grace of relief or the grace of release, because that is not the grace that we really need.  The grace that we really need is the uncomfortable grace of personal growth and change – Paul Tripp.

In grace the Father is prying open your hands so that you will let go of things that have come to rule your heart but will never satisfy you.  His is driving you to question your own wisdom so that you will find your understanding and rest in Him.  He is showing you the delusions of your control so that you will take comfort in His rule.

When we are suffering, the temptation is to turn inward and get self-focused and self-aware.  Our suffering becomes our focus. Suffering tends to make us forget are true identity. In this epistle, Peter gives these people a vision that is bigger and greater than the things they are going through. He calls them to consider the grace of Jesus Christ and he reminds them who they are; children of one true King.

You have a Father who knows you and knows everything about you.   He has written every aspect of your story.  He has set the direction of your life long before you took your first breath.  In everything I ever face I can say to myself, My Father knows this situation, He knows this circumstance.  He knows what’s going on with me and He is working out His purpose in my life.  He loves me so much that His transforming grace will not relent until He has completed what He is seeking to accomplished in me. 

 This truth is what brings peace to my life.  This truth is what stops me from being anxious or fearful.  God loves me and He is in control of every situation of my life even in the uncomfortable grace of growth.

Rev. 3:14-22 Devotional Scripture - Where Do You Place Your Trust?

And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, “These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God”.    Revelation 3:1

Jesus is the Amen.  He is the One who guarantees and fulfills the promises of God. He is the Faithful and True Witness, the origin and author of God’s creation.

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.        Revelation 3:15-16

The water supply system in Laodicea made them vulnerable to attack.  The leaders were always accommodating to any potential enemy, and always wanted to negotiate and compromise instead of fight. Their spiritual welfare was in the same condition.  They were lukewarm and didn’t take a stand for anything.  By neglecting to do anything for Christ, the church had become hardened and self-satisfied and it was destroying itself. There is no one more miserable than the lukewarm Christian. They have too much of the world to be happy in Jesus and too much of Jesus to be happy in the world.

Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.    Revelation 3:17-18

 

The Laodiceans put their trust in material wealth and in physical health.  They could not see that they were spiritually bankrupt. As long as we believe we can meet our own needs we can never receive them from Jesus.

 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.    Revelation 3:19

 

Do you ever hear the word of God and feel beat up by the passage? Does it ever trouble you?  If you feel conviction when you hear God’s word it is a good thing.  In this passage Jesus is saying, “I’m glad you feel my rebuke because it proves to you that I love you. I only rebuke those that I love.”  In sports, a coach will always look at and critique the player who he believes has potential.  If the coach thinks you are a bench warmer he won’t even know your name.  Jesus is saying the same thing, “Those whom I love, I rebuke.”  If you are never corrected, never rebuked, it is not a good sign. Jesus says, “Therefore, be zealous, be on fire, be ignited, and repent when my words trouble your heart.”

 Those who overcome the battle against indifference, compromise, and self-reliance, receive a special reward. They enjoy a place beside Jesus sitting at the right hand side of the Father on His throne.

Revelation 2:18-29 Devotional Scripture - Hold Fast To the Truth

Jesus introduces himself as the one with,

 Eyes like a flame of fire and feet are like burnished bronze. 

Revelation 2:18b

The eyes speak of piercing vision.  Jesus has eyes that can pierce the facades and disguises of his people and get right to the heart of the matter.  The bronze feet speak of judgment if His people do not repent.

This church was outstanding in many ways.

I know your works, your love, faith, service, and endurance, and that your last works are greater than the first.  Revelation 2:19

 

The church had permitted a woman in the fellowship to lead God's people into sin. In Thyatira, in order to make a living, you had to belong to a union, and when they attended the union they were involved, or at the very least pressured to be involved, with the worship of idols and sexual immorality. The Christians had to make a choice. Apparently, this woman had begun to teach that it was all right for them to go along with the requirements of the union, that they needed to submit to the pressures of the world around in order to make a living, and that God would understand and overlook it. But Jesus says He is going to punish this woman and anyone who follows in her ways unless they repent.

There was a faithful remnant in Thyatira.

But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come. Revelation 2:24-25.

 

No other burden of responsibility was placed on them than to hold fast the truth until Christ returns.  To those who overcome, those who obey Him to the very end, Jesus promised them that they will rule over the nations and reign with Him.