Month: January 2023

2 Peter 3:8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

Lord, Thank You for Your patience with us. Thank You for loving us fiercely, even when we do really stupid things. Thank You for covering us with Your grace and compassion, again and again, even though we don’t deserve it and can never earn it.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Lord, Help us not to get complacent in Your love. Help us to grow in You—Your word, Your love, Your compassion. Help us not to take Your abundant gift of grace for grant.

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

Lord, Help us to grow in grace. Help us to seek You passionately, to learn You intimately, to strive to know You just a little better, just a little more, every single day. Help us, Lord. Amen.

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Have a blessed day.

2 Peter 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

This chapter talks of the dangers of false prophets, who entice people away from God and back into their sinful, worldly ways. That way lies much danger.

2 Peter 2:12 But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.

The chapter also gives a vivid analogy for a person who turns away from God and back to sinful ways. Such a person is like a dog returning to its vomit. That image is truly gross but a vivid illustration of Peter’s point.

2 Peter 2:20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.

Lord, The pull of this world is strong. The rewards are immediate. But the value is empty, especially in light of an eternal future with You. Help me to cling tightly to You and Your eternal promise, Lord. Help me to let go of this world. Amen.

2 Peter 2:22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

Have a blessed day.

2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Last night I had a hard time going to sleep. I had a lot on my mind. I was stressing, fretting, worrying, stewing….You get the idea. And I realized that as long as I was focused on my mess, I would never get to sleep. I had to cast my cares firmly on my Savior and leave them there.

2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

The only way grace and peace can be mine in abundance is by focusing on my Savior, not myself, not my mess, not my worries and fears (which seem to multiply exponentially). It isn’t easy for me to do, and doing so doesn’t magically make everything ok. But giving my cares over to Him is the only way to free myself up to receive His grace and peace.

2 Peter 1:4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Lord, I worry about so much, about so many people that I care for deeply. Help me to cast my cares, all of them, on You. Help me to entrust those I love, those I worry about, to You. Help me open myself up to the grace and peace that are mine in abundance only through You. Amen.

2 Peter 1:8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Have a blessed day.

1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

I want to look specifically at verse 7. To cast, as a literary verb, means to throw (something) forcefully in a specified direction. God calls me to cast my anxiety on Him because He cares for me. I’m guilty of gently tossing my anxieties in His general direction before I quickly jerk them back to me. Jesus, Help me.

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Verse 6 makes more sense in light of my propensity to horde my anxieties instead of casting them on God. I have to humble myself, to recognize that I can’t do a single thing about these anxieties that eat me up and that I, therefore, need to hand them over to the One who can do all things. Jesus, Help me.

1 Peter 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

Lord, I love You. Fiercely. I trust You and believe in You. Completely. Help me to humble myself before You, to cast my anxieties on You and leave them with You, so that I may be free to serve Your people with grace, love, and compassion. Amen.

1 Peter 5:11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

I do not think God’s default personality is vengeful. I don’t think He’s waiting and watching, trying to catch us messing up so He can punish us. I think He is a loving, gracious, compassionate God, and I think He asks us to adopt that same attitude—loving, gracious, compassionate—towards ourselves and each other.

1 Peter 4:9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

But when I examine myself, my actions, asking whether I am being a faithful steward of God’s grace by being loving, gracious, and compassionate, sometimes the answer is a resounding no. I’m learning that at those times, when I feel I’m failing miserably on every front, God wants me to apply those traits of grace, love, and compassion more thoroughly to myself and my actions.

1 Peter 4:10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

Lord, Thank You for being the God of love, mercy, and compassion. Thank You for loving me fiercely and for infusing my spirit with these godly traits. Thank You for my ability to shower these traits on Your people. Help me to get better at showing love, grace, and compassion to myself. Amen.

1 Peter 4:11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

1 Peter 3:3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.

This chapter is one of instruction and reminders, and the information is as timely today as ever. Don’t seek validation in the eyes of the world. Our beauty, our worth, comes from our inner self, from a gentle, quiet, loving spirit, not from the world’s approval.

1 Peter 3:4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

Don’t be a jerk to others. Be compassionate, humble, loving, sympathetic. Love one another. Don’t repay evil for evil or insult for insult. Be a blessing to others. Love them. Care for them.

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.

Lord, The instructions and reminders of this chapter are quite sensible, but humans aren’t. Forgive us. Help us to focus our minds and hearts on You. Help us to love, support, encourage, and forgive each other, treating each other with the compassion You show us, regardless of whether they “deserve” it. Help us to love like You love. Draw us closer. Amen.

1 Peter 3:9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

Have a blessed day.

1 Peter 2:2 Like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation….

Infants can only handle mother’s milk for the first several months of life. Trying to give them anything more substantial would be not only futile but harmful. However, as they grow and mature, more substantial food is necessary for proper growth. Staying with mother’s milk only would eventually become harmful.

1 Peter 2:3 …if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

I think this is the idea behind scripture that describes God’s word as alive and active. Our ability to understand His words grows as we do. Our ability to see nuances in meaning grows as our life experience increases. Our need for more substantial spiritual sustenance grows with us as well.

1 Peter 2:4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious….

Lord, You are chosen and precious to me, and I know that I am chosen and precious to You. Thank You for that gift. Thank You for the ability to draw closer to You as I learn and grow, as I read and study. Thank You for Your spiritual sustenance. Amen.

1 Peter 2:5 …you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Have a blessed day.

1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead….

This is a chapter of praise and joy. We have hope through Christ, we have His great inheritance, and this hope and inheritance are ours because of His great mercy.

1 Peter 1:4-5 …and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Our inheritance is kept safe for us  in heaven. And though we have to face trials in this life, we can rejoice because this world is not our home. Christ is our eternal inheritance.

1 Peter 1:6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

Lord, I pray to You the words of 1 Peter 1:8…. Though I have not seen You, I see Your grace and glory in a thousand ways everyday and I love You. Though I am not in Your physical presence, I know You are with me and love me fiercely. I believe in You and am filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. Thank You for who You are and who You are to me. Thank You for the joy that can only come from You. Amen.

1 Peter 1:8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy….

Have a blessed day.