God’s Word Daily

The War for Your Soul

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Scripture:  1 Peter 2:11-12

11Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Observations:

Sojourners — they are just passing through

Exiles — are looking forward to “place they really belong.”

Abstain — to not partake of

The passions of the flesh — (Could be a long list!)

Our conduct among people is to seek to honour God and to honour them, so that it contributes to the cause of Christ in bringing people to know Him;  those who know Him will praise Him.

Application:

I live in this world, but I’m not to be of it.  We are wired to seek belonging in relationships.  However, I must not confuse connecting to people with an unrestrained connection to the passions and desires of my flesh.  Those desires range from the appetites of my body to the desires to be liked, loved, respected, and appreciated.  I will love better if I do not expect my relationships with people, the stuff of earth, and even with my own achievement to bear the weight of my soul.  Only God can do that.  Otherwise I will use people and use stuff to prop me up rather than loving people and stewarding stuff for the glory of God.  Honouring God and people rightly requires the strength of knowing I’m loved by God and “just passing through.”  Ultimately, this world is not my home, it has nothing for me.  Yet, life with Jesus Christ is good in this life and in that I rejoice.

 

Prayer:

 

Oh Heavenly Father you know the desires that war against my soul.  These longings are just a shadow of my deeper and sometimes unrecognized hunger for you.  May your Spirit empower me to say Yes to Jesus over and over today.  Fill me with your Spirit and put a new song in my heart.  Let praise start now in my life and in the lives of my friends.  AMEN.

Jesus is Excellent!

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Scripture:  1 Peter 2:9-10

9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Observations:

The church of Jesus is:

a chose race
a royal priesthood
a holy nation
a people for his own possession

For the purpose of:  proclaiming the excellencies of Jesus — He called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

His mercy has made it so!  Before His choosing we were not a people, but now by His choosing we have become His people.

Application:

When Jesus is larger in our minds than our racial profiles, our religious power plays, our self-righteous politics, and our pre-occupation with self-expression and validation, then the church will be what God intends.  That’s how mercy works.  Having been mercied by Jesus I can be realistic about the mess that I am and that we are.  However, its His mercy that also lets me see Jesus with awesome admiration.  Like, Peter in the boat after the miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5) we might be pressed to say, “Go away from me Lord I’m a sinful man.”  However, then Jesus invites us in closer, “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching men.”  Jesus’ marvelous light casts out the darkness and transforms our lives for His glory.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father have your way with me today.  Jesus has been so merciful to me.  You have included me in your people.  I am yours.  I am loved.  Show me again today something admirable in Jesus Christ my Lord.  May your truth and grace generate strength and courage to proclaim the many ways Jesus is excellent!  AMEN.

Don’t Buy The Lie

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Scripture:  1 Peter 2:6-8

6For it stands in Scripture:  “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”  7So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

Observations:

In the Scripture God says He has a plan that involves His people of Israel, “Zion” — to lay down a chosen and precious cornerstone.  Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.  There is honour for those who believe.

Even though they others reject God’s chosen One, He will still become the “cornerstone” from whom their lives will be evaluated.  For those who do not believe in God’s cornerstone this “person” becomes a stumbling block; for they disobey God’s word.

Application:

The “cornerstone” is an architectural term.  The cornerstone becomes the reference point for the whole building.  What are you building?  A life?  A family?  A career?  An organization?  A nation?

Our culture brings tremendous pressure for the person of faith to live an unintegrated life.  Our culture treats faith as an appendix that should be surgically removed if it seems to cause us too much trouble. There is a temptation for leaders (Perhaps you don’t think of yourself as a leader, but you are;  the most difficult person for you to lead is yourself.) to make decisions seeking honour and some kind of vision of success without looking to Jesus.

If we buy the lie we will stumble over Christ and find that we are offended by Him.  We are so taken by the beauty of our own lofty visions that we stumble over the rough stone  on the ground right in front of us.

Seek the grace to obey His Word, and live your life with the confession “Jesus is Lord” as the reference for all the designs of your life.  We need the Joseph Principle(See the story of Joseph in Exodus), to trust that character forged through persistent obedience to God is the better payoff.  Looking to Jesus as the cornerstone of my life creates a longview and protects me from the seduction of short-term gains bought through rejection of Jesus and His ways.

Prayer:  

Heavenly Father have mercy on me.  Extend my view of life by giving me the grace to trust Jesus today.  He is the cornerstone of my faith and my life.  AMEN.

A Living House

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Scripture:  1 Peter 2:4-5

4As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5you 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.

Observations:

Jesus is the “living stone” rejected by people.

Jesus is chose and precious to God.

Now you all, the Church are like living stones…

You all are being built up as a spiritual house.

You all are being built up to be a holy priesthood.

You all are being built up to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Application:

If our Lord Jesus who is the cornerstone of our faith and our life together was rejected by people it should not surprise us that the spirit of our age is to also reject His church.

But now just as precious as Jesus is the Heavenly Father so is the church precious to Him.  And, He is building us, adding to us, and occupying our life together.

We are being built by Jesus to be a spiritual house.  As such a house we are co-creators with Jesus to develop the environments in which God is honoured and people are healed.  Together we offer our lives as spiritual sacrifices to God (See Romans 12:1-4).  Our primary purpose is not to occupy buildings or even to build them.  Our primary purpose is to venture into the world as His people and participate in His occupation of human hearts.  As we are laying down our lives for His Kingdom He is building us up.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, please send your Spirit and build the church of Jesus here so that a people are prepared for your Kingdom.  AMEN.

 

Ruined Appetite

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Scripture:  1 Peter 2:1-3

1So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Observations:

“So” — Why is the “so” there?  The “So” links the Gospel work of Jesus in my life through God’s Word (1:23-25) to make me more loving with some not so loving actions that must be cast away.

Attitudes and related actions to set aside from my life:

Malice–the intent to harm another person.

Deceit–the intent to trick another person in order to get something I want.

Hypocrisy–the often automated approach to life in which we pretend we are something when we are not in order to hide the truth from another person.

Envy–the burning desire to have what other people have; often accompanied by a self-righteous judgment of the person who has what we want.

Slander–the intent to harm another person’s reputation in order to elevate ourselves over them.

Like a newborn crave milk, so that you can grow up in your salvation.  Since you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Application:

It seems mom was right.  Candy before dinner ruins your appetite for the really good stuff that provides the most excellent nutrients for growth.  And yes there are attitudes and actions that ruin my appetite for Jesus and the “simple” truths of His Word.

The problem with malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander is that they are terribly addictive!  They will cover up the true appetite for Jesus and His Word fueled the Holy Spirit’s work in our life.  They seem like powerful tools for getting what we want; but they are actually terrible tyrants.

The first step in setting them aside is to recognize their presence in our lives.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father thank you for the grace of knowing you.  Show me today how I ruin my appetite for you by letting these attitudes and actions so opposed to the love and holiness of Jesus reside in my heart.  I repent of them and ask your Spirit to generate a renewed delight in you.  You are good.  AMEN.