1 Peter 1: 3 “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.”
Dear God,
I thank You again this morning for Your sacred word written by people that You inspired. Though the language is old, the words convey a message that is alive throughout all ages and is always appropriate and available to the one who prayerfully searches the scriptures in the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Then I find I am given understanding of the message You have for me, (often by comparing different passages) as well as an application to my own life, whether it be an affirmation or a rebuke, always underpinned by Your love.
Thank You for the opportunity to freely and quietly read Your word, as the daily activities are put aside and hopefully the concerns as well. It is so profitable to acknowledge it was the love of “God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” that allowed His precious Son Jesus to come to earth, based on His own abundant mercy toward us. And always timely, because Jesus was resurrected from the grave and now lives, that we can have a living hope, for when Jesus comes to earth again, we also will be resurrected by Jesus from death or life, to leave earth to live eternally in heaven.
How special for me to appreciate that those who have given their hearts into the keeping of Jesus in heaven have an inheritance that cannot be corrupted or removed, for it is in His safekeeping. When we continue to faithfully love You , we will be kept by Your power, by the faith that You have gifted us unto salvation which assures our inheritance.
It should be a win, win situation, but due to the combination of a master of the devious and wickedness = devil and we deluded and sinful = devil ambushed human people, we often just do not believe what has been done for us or is on offer from You through Jesus Your son; or just hop out of our relationship and do our own thing. Sometimes we think we can come in out on our terms, or just walk away in rejection. How sad, please open hearts and minds to not only what You offer, but our great need, in our utter sinfulness and inability to change apart from You.
Please dear God, protect me from my ‘deluded and sinful self’ and the ‘master of the devious and wickedness’; for I certainly have no defense against either!
To consolidate our faith so that it is genuine and cannot be moved, we may be tested by trials and/or persecution, but Peter tells us that in this we have occasion for joy and need never fear, for God never leaves us defenseless or alone and our character becomes more like Jesus, in the refining process of adversity, toward, V9 “Receiving the end of your faith-the salvation of your souls.”
Please dear Jesus, give me the right attitude toward adversity, along with joy and endurance, that brings me closer to You in the present, and on into my inheritance with You for all time.
Amen