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Peter God is Our Keeper
Week 40 Day 1
Reading: 1 Peter 1:3-5 3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. Thought: This verse reminds me of Jude 1:23-25: “Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.” However, the word “protect” or “keep” means defended as in a fortress or castle. There is a remarkable correspondence between the two verbs used in this sentence: the verb τηρεω (tereo), signifies to keep, watch, guard; and τηρησις (teresis), is a place of custody or prison. And φρουρεω (phroureo), from φρουρος (phrouris), a sentinel, signifies to keep as under a military guard. The true disciples of Christ are under the continual watchful care of God, and the inheritance is guarded for them. In some countries military posts were constantly kept on the confines, in order to prevent irruptions from a neighbouring people; and, in many cases, heirs, while in their minority, were kept in fortified places under military guards. We are heirs of the Father and joint heirs with Christ and we can rest assured that we are protected and so is our inheritance – Praise be to God. Prayer: Thank you Lord that you are my protector. Look after me this day and remind me of the amazing inheritance you have given me. I rest assured in the knowledge that you guard my feet from falling and direct my steps. Amen.
A Call to Holy Living
Day 2
Reading: 1 Peter 1:13-16 13 So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” Thought: When we speak of walking in holiness what images do we see? Peter could have used many metaphors, but he spoke of growing into holiness through the image of an obedient child. It is not a slave master or a general who wants us to be holy, but our Father. What a beautiful image! Our deliverance from evil desires are not based upon the
performance of willpower, but a revelation that our Father loves us and is calling us to be like Him. Willpower will keep our focus on our efforts, but a child simply looks to their Father on what to do next. Childlike faith will free us from sin far greater than the ignorance created by our best efforts. Like a child, the more time we spend with Father and the closer we are to Him the more we will become like Him taking on His characteristics including holiness. Obedience to Father is not difficult when we have a loving relationship with Him. Prayer: Father, help me walk closer to you today than before. Help me understand how much you love me. Give me the strength and the wisdom to walk in holiness untainted by the world in which I live. Amen.
Coming to Jesus
Day 3
Reading: 1 Peter 2:4-5 4 You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honour. 5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. Thought: The word “coming” here is proserchomai from prós = facing + érchomai = come and means literally to come facing toward and so to approach or come near. It describes the approach to or entry into a deity’s presence. Proserchomai conveys not just drawing close to Christ for salvation, but drawing near to Christ in intimate, abiding, personal fellowship. The idea in this context is movement of the entire inner person of the believer into the experience of intimate and ongoing communion with Jesus Christ. In the Septuagint proserchomai was the verb used to describe the approach of the priests to Jehovah for worship and to perform of their priestly (Levitical) functions. But under the New Covenant, all seven uses of proserchomai refer to believers possessing the privilege of access to God the Father through Christ the Great High Priest. That is why Peter plays on this word and develops this theme by saying that we are his holy priests and we offer through Jesus spiritual sacrifices that please God. Prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus that you have made a way for me to approach Father God and approach without reproach. Help me draw near to you today because I love your presence.
Above All Things
Day 4
Reading: 1 Peter 4:7-9 7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8 Above all things, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Thought: The phrase “above all things” makes love first priority above all other virtues. The word Love used is agape and fervent is ektenes from ek = out + teíno = stretch; is literally the picture of one who is stretched out. Ektenes was used to describe a horse whose legs are fully extended while galloping. Ektenes, was used as a medical term describing the stretching of a muscle to its limits and in Grecian athletics described a runner with the taut muscles moving at maximum output, straining and stretching to the limit in order to win the race! It pictures one "stretching out" to love others! Covers is the word kalupto which means to cause something to be covered over literally and hence not be visible. Figuratively, kalupto means to cause something not to be known and
thus means to hide, conceal, keep secret. The idea in this verse is that love covers so as not to harshly condemn or expose faults but to forbear and bear the other's burdens, forgiving and forgetting past offenses. If we love a person, it is easy to forgive. It is not that love is blind, but that it loves a person just as he or she is. Prayer: Lord, help me extend love to the people I meet today. May my love be generous, non-judgemental and unconditional as yours is to me. Help me use the gift of hospitality without grumbling. Amen.
Use Your Gifts
Day 5
Reading: 1 Peter 4:10-11 10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. Thought: In World War II, a little French town had a statue of Jesus in their town square. When the bombing came, the statue was damaged and pieces were broken off. They stored the pieces, and after the war, they began to rebuild the statue. It had cracks now, but they appreciated it even more. But to their dismay, the only pieces they couldn’t find were the hands of Jesus. That troubled them because the hands had the nail prints and that was significant to them. They thought they would have to take the statue down, until one person placed a gold plaque at the bottom of the statue that read:~ He has no hands but ours. It’s like the man in the cave who shouts out to God “Why aren’t you doing something about the suffering in the world?” and the question echoes back at him. We all have gifts and abilities – let’s use them to serve one another and not half-heartedly – use them wholeheartedly with the strength that God gives. Prayer: Thank you Lord for the gifts you have given to me. Help me use them and not bury them. Use my hands, my feet and my voice today to bless others. Amen.
Add To Your Faith
Day 6
Reading: 2 Peter 1:5 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 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. 9 But whoever does not have them is near-sighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Thought: The word “add” is the verb epichorego and it has a colourful and fascinating history. In Greek drama the plays were put on by the combined effort of a poet (who wrote the script); the state (which provided the theatre); and a wealthy individual called a choregos, who paid the expenses – he added the important ingredient of funds. This called for a generous but sometimes costly effort on his part. In Peter's view, God has written in the blood of Jesus the captivating script for a Christian life; the world is the theatre wherein it will be played out; but the believer must cooperate by expending his diligent efforts to
make the script come alive in vivid display. It will cost us something to add these qualities listed by Peter. Goodness or virtue - This is the same word found in v. 3 as the character of Christ. Knowledge (gnosis) - i.e. practical wisdom, obtained by acting on the understanding which truth imparts. Self-control (enkrateia). This means mastering one's moods, rather than being controlled by them. Perseverance (hupomone), naturally follows, Godliness (eusebeia). speaks of a continual awareness of God's presence affecting and governing every aspect of life. Brotherly kindness (philadelphia) is so closely linked with godliness Finally, the seventh quality to be manifested is Love (agape). This is God's kind of love in which the origin lies not in the one loved but in the one who loves. Prayer: Dear Lord help me today purposely and deliberately add these qualities to my life – in my attitudes, in my opinions and in my dealings with people. Help the script for my life that you have written be played out with courage and excellence.
All Should Come to Repentance
Day 7
Reading: 2 Peter 3:8-9 8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Thought: C H Spurgeon once said: “While I have prayed, "Come quickly," I have often felt inclined to contradict myself and cry, "Yet tarry for a while, good Lord. Let mercy's day be lengthened. Let the heathen yet receive the Saviour." “ How often have we prayed the same way – desiring Jesus to come again but also wanting our relatives and friends to be saved first? Peter the Apostle here declares that God desires all men to repent and be saved. It is not God’s considered will that any should perish. On one side we have the clear teaching of the sovereignty of God and on the other hand, the indisputable truth concerning the will of man; God will not violate man’s will. While it is His considered will (standing wish or desire) that no one should be lost, yet in making man in His image He necessarily had to make him a free moral agent, with a will which is able to say “yes” and “no” to Him. While God is always willing to save man, man is not always willing to be saved. Don't be confused by this section -- God's "wishing" here does not express a decree (determining will), as if God has willed everyone to be saved. Universal salvation is not taught in the Bible. Instead those words describe God’s standing wish or desire which is that He longs that all would be saved (1Ti 2:4) but knows that many reject Him, again leaving open the possibility of human freedom of choice. Whilst the Lord tarry’s let us keep reaching out to the lost. Prayer: Dear Lord help me today in word and in deed declare your gospel to the lost. Help me realise the urgency of your commission. Help me spread light and hope into my world. Amen.