Category: Devotions

MONDAY September 25^th

 

1 Peter 3:13–14

‘Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed.’

 

As I said in our previous devotion, I will use the study I have previously given on a Friday evening, probably over a year ago for the devotions this week. I will split the study into five devotions, I was going to re-write them, but for the sake of ease I will leave them as is with the understanding that the five devotions need to be considered as one whole!

 

In these few verses from 1 Peter 3:13-17, Peter highlights it as ‘suffering for righteousness sake’, and notes that if we are willing to suffer or be persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for that which is right in God’s sight, we will be blessed! It is an echo of the words of Jesus himself in Matthew 5:10 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’

 

None of us likes to suffer in any way, be it in the natural or physical, let alone spiritually as a believer, nor do we want to be persecuted, but Peter says that our first priority should be to honour Christ the Lord as holy, which means that there will be times when we will have to be willing to stand up against all the odds stacked against us to protect the faith, to defend the things that we most surely believe.

 

Note what Peter says in verse 17 ‘For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.’ We could paraphrase this as ‘It is better to stick out like a sore thumb and to suffer for it, rather than to join in with those who oppose righteousness’, and God will never allow us to suffer in any way whatsoever unless it is in accordance to his will for us, and we can rest in the confidence that if and when we suffer in his name, his grace will be sufficient to carry us through. Peter says that those who slander us, those who would be the perpetrators of our suffering will be put to shame, therefore in contrast it is essential that we along with the apostle Paul can confidently say ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel’ Romans 1:16, we will stand firmly upon it and stand up firmly for it in speaking up in its defence, for to be ashamed of the gospel would lead to us one day being found ashamed before God. 

 

Suffering is a part of the course of being a believer in the hostile world in which we live, it is part and parcel of our being willing to be different, to live with godly standards rather than the world standards, to live for Christ and for the glory of God, rather than to be fulfilling the desires of the flesh and going with the flow of the ungodly society in which we live.

FRIDAY September 22^nd

 

1 Peter 3:13–17

‘Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.’

 

I mentioned a few devotions previously that Peter has much to say about the subject of suffering for the gospel. It is a subject he mentions a number of times and he does so because at the time of his writing this letter many believers for suffering as a result of their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

We see in the book of Acts that immediately after the Day of Pentecost, as soon as the apostles began to preach Jesus and salvation as being found only in and through his name they were persecuted, and they willingly suffered because they were willing to count the cost of what it means to be a follower of the Lord Jeus Christ.

 

Today in the 21^st century, Christians are still being persecuted, and although it is limited in our own nation, our brothers and sisters in many other nations are going through tremendous suffering and persecution, some being imprisoned, some being tortured for their faith. The testimony of those who are undergoing such severe persecution should stand out as an example to us who live in a relatively free nation to live out our faith, for despite the ongoing hatred towards them they still live for Jesus and will still do all they can to ensure that they can get to a place where they can be in fellowship with other believers. Sadly, here in the western world, we almost have an attitude which for many is ‘I will go to Church if I feel like it’ rather than ‘I will go to Church because I need it and must be in fellowship’.

 

May we pray earnestly for the persecuted Church, that God will continue to strengthen those who are undergoing severe suffering, that God’s grace will be sufficient for them. At the same time pray for own nation, which is fast turning its back upon God and his righteous ways, praying that God will visit us again with revival.

 

Because I touched on the subject of suffering when I was sharing on 1 Peter on Friday evenings in our Bible Studies, I will adapt from those studies the subject matter for our next few devotions, which will cover the other references that Peter makes concerning suffering in his epistle.

THURSDAY September 21^st

 

1 Peter 3:10-12

‘For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”’

 

Continuing with these verses and the final sentence which I have underlined, Peter has continued to quote from Psalm 34 and verse 16 ‘The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.’ We have moved from the blessing that belong to those who have chosen to pursue righteousness in verses 10-11 to the verdict given concerning those who choose instead to continue in evil, in the context of the gospel, those who choose to continue in sin rather than to accept the amazing offer of salvation that has been provided as Peter has already mentioned earlier at a great cost, the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot (1:19).

 

As we rejoice in knowing that we who have come to accept Christ have been forgiven and brought into the family of God we should also have a deep concern for those who as yet have not come to believe, for the consequences of unbelief are fearful, terrifying, for God is against them because of their sin and will one day cut them off, eternally, to be lost forever, thrown along with the devil and his angels into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).

 

We cannot seek as some do to attempt to twist Scripture and suggest that because God is a God of love he will save all in the end (Universalism), the bible is very clear ‘for the wages of sin is death’, but thanks be to God that it also continues to say ‘but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord’ Romans 6:23. To be delivered from death and to be given eternal life all must come through Jesus, for in his own words Jesus said ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’ John 14:6.

 

To all who either read or listen to this devotion, I ask you this question; ‘Have you come to the place of repentance and acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour?’ If yes we praise God together, but if you cannot answer with a resounding yes, today consider the outcome for your soul for without Christ you are hopelessly lost and doomed for eternity, today if you hear his voice do not harden your heart, but come to the cross, the place where the Son of God demonstrated his love for you in providing for you eternal salvation.

WEDNESDAY September 20^th

 

1 Peter 3:10-12

‘For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”’

 

Continuing in these verses we have the sentence I have underlined today in the first part of verse 12 which are a real assurance to us when we have become determined to live in way that is pleasing before God, firstly we are assured that his eyes are on us and secondly his ears are open to our prayers. Peter has again drawn from Psalm 34 and verses 15-16 ‘The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.’ The previous Psalm, 33 and verse 18 says ‘Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love. . .’

 

There are the words of a song that go like this

 

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,

Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,

When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

 

It should be a great comfort to us and reassuring that the eyes of the Lord are upon us, he is watching over us.

 

The second part reminds us that his ears are open to our prayers.

 

I jokingly commentated this the other day in conversation with regards to God hearing our prayers, what if he was to say ‘I will give the same time each week to hearing your prayers as you give to me in commitment and fellowship.’ In other words ‘you make time for me and I will make time for you’, but thankfully God’s attitude toward us is not dependent upon how fickle we may be but based upon his faithfulness to us as his children. His ears are always open to our prayers 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

 

Going back to the Psalm that Peter has quoted from, the psalmist continues with this ‘When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.’ Our God is an awesome God who has firstly clothed us in robes of righteousness and then, he bids us to enter into his presence, he allows us to call upon him and he promises us that he will hear us and answer ‘Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known’ (Jeremiah 33:3). ‘Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart’ (Jeremiah 29:12-13).

TUESDAY September 19^th

 

1 Peter 3:10-12

‘For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”’

 

I will cover these verses over the next three devotions, today considering the first two verses of the text verses 10-11 which I have underlined. Peter is quoting from the Old Testament, Psalm 34:12-16, but here I just quote verses 12-14 which correspond to the verses we are considering. ‘What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.’

 

Both the Psalmist and Peter understood very clearly the correlation between doing that which is right versus that which is evil and the effect that wrong doing has upon the quality of our life. The first part is a question which is answered in the second part.  It could be rewritten this way ‘If you want to have a good life, enjoying many days and seeing good, then keep your tongue and your lips from evil and speaking deceit, keep away from evil, do that which is good, be peaceful and aim to pursue it.’

 

We can take very clearly from this that allowing the tongue and the lips to participate in evil and deceit will have a negative impact upon our well-being, and I would suggest that it would include our spiritual, emotional, mental and physical well-being.

 

In regard to the tongue, James reminds us that although it seems to be such a small member of our human anatomy, it can actually do a lot of harm or damage. This is what he says in James 2 ‘So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a fire is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body . . .’ (vv5-6)

 

‘Oh be careful little tongue what you say’, are the lines found within a little children’s chorus we used to sing when I was a child in Sunday School, and this is what the Psalmist, Peter and James are warning us as believers.

 

Fitting in with the devotion today are some other Scriptures, the first is in answer to a question as to who will dwell in God’s holy hill and is found in Psalm 15 ‘He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbour, nor takes up a reproach against his friend . . .’ (vv2-3)

 

Another from the Psalmist is Psalm 39:1 ‘I said, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence.”’

 

Finally two from the book of Proverbs ‘Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin’ (13:3), ‘Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble’ (21:23).

 

I know I said finally, but there is a verse in the Psalms which make a good prayer as we seek to guard our tongue and lips ‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight,  O LORD, my rock and my redeemer’ (19:14)

MONDAY September 18^th

 

1 Peter 3:9

‘Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.’

 

Following on from the qualities that Peter calls to be found in the lives of the people of God he gives an instruction that is more to do with our attitude toward unbelievers, ‘Do not repay evil for evil, or reviling for reviling’. He spends a lot of time talking about our suffering for the gospel as we will see later in this chapter. And the human nature would if left unchecked so easily want to retaliate negatively when someone does that which is evil towards us or reviles us, but Peter wants his readers and us as well today to learn to live in such a way that we have self-control, a quality that will help us manage how we respond, and Peter says rather than retaliation we should be a people who bless.

 

How can this be possible? It is only by the grace of God and by the help of the Holy Spirit, it can happen as we heed the instructions given by others such as the apostle Paul about putting off the old nature and putting on that which is new in Christ for each one of us, we will see our inner man being renewed and transformed and as we read in Galatians 5 we will begin to produce the fruit that should be evident in a life that is filled with and led by the Spirit. One of the fruit is that of self-control.

 

Here is a reminder of what Paul says in Galatians 5:22-26 ‘ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.’

 

The fruit of the Spirit will not only enable us to be what we should be in relationship with one another in the body of Christ but will also temper us in such a way that we will react positively towards those outside who seek to do us evil or to revile us.

 

Peter says that we learn instead to react by blessing others, this in turn he says will lead to us obtaining a blessing. In his sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus taught that when we are shown evil, on that occasion he uses the words ‘when you are persecuted’, we should pray for those who are behind it (see also Luke 6:28). In fact Jesus was the greatest example on how to react rightly, in this same epistle that we are going through back in chapter 2 Peter says about Jesus ‘When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly’ (v23).

 

In 1 Corinthians Paul list many things that happened in his experience and in verses 12-13 he says ‘When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat.’

 

May God help each one of us to not only have the right attitude toward each other as we saw in the previous verses, but to be a people who are so filled with and walking in the Spirit that we walk as we should towards those who are outside. May our lives be a reflection of the Lord Jesus Christ, being light in the darkness.

FRIDAY September 15^th

 

1 Peter 3:8

‘Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.’

 

We continue today from where we left off yesterday concerning the need to be a people of unity and sympathy toward one another and we move to the next instruction to be a people who show brotherly love.

 

This was also one of the supplements or qualities that Peter expected them to add to their faith in 2 Peter 1 ‘. . . and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love’ (v7). Hebrews 13:1 reads ‘Let brotherly love continue’.

 

The whole gospel is based around love, using scripture as examples, ‘For God so loved the world’ (John 3:16), ‘In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sin’ (1 John 4:10), the next verse then continues with ‘Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another’ (1 John 4:11).

 

So love is not something that we can decide whether or not we want to show, it is a requirement that is attached to our being a child of God, in fact it is more than a requirement it is commanded of us, for Jesus said ‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another’, now I have stopped mid-verse, the reason is that each one of us will stop and think about what it says next! A clue is how are we to love each other? Here is the answer in the rest of the verse ‘just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.’ I am sure that you would agree with me that Jesus has set the standard or the bar very high! I can picture the pole vault in the athletics, Jesus has the bar at the highest setting, sadly each time I run to jump I fail to reach the same height! How about you? May God help our love for one another to increase so that we may love in such a way that people will know that we are his disciples (John 13:35).

 

A heart that has learnt to love as Jesus loves will also become a tender heart, which is Peter’s next instruction. Paul says this in Ephesians 4 ‘Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you’ (v32). Tender-heartedness is linked to compassion, it is to have a heart that is soft and gentle towards others. It is said of Jesus that he was touched with the feeling of their infirmities, his heart was tender toward those who were weak and infirmed, his tender heart went out towards all who came to him, he never turned anyone away.

 

May God help us all to be a people who are determined to have unity of mind or for those who use the NIV to be like-minded, to be those who are tender-hearted showing sympathy and compassion toward others and to love one another even as Christ has loved us.

THURSDAY September 14^th

 

1 Peter 3:8

‘Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.’

 

You can tell from these verses today that Peter was a preacher for he says ‘Finally’, and yet the letter goes on into another two chapters, he is only just about halfway through!

 

Here he is speaking to all those he has written to and he calls them to become a people that are in unity of mind, to be a people of sympathy, a people who show brotherly love and have tender hearts toward each other and to be humble.

 

We will just look at these five areas to which he is calling them. You may remember when we looked at Peter’s second epistle we saw that he gave them a list of supplements or virtues to add to their faith (2 Peter 1:5-8) he told them that adding these qualities would ensure that they became fruitful and effective in the knowledge of Christ. Likewise with these five areas as they sought to live this way with each other they would be effective and fruitful.

 

We know from the well-known Psalm that unity is essential for the blessing of God to come upon us as God’s people, verse 1 says ‘Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!’ verse 3 closes the short Psalm of with these words ‘For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.’

 

Being in unity not only attracts the blessing of God but it portrays a positive image to those outside. Romans 12:16 reads ‘Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.’ Unity is something that needs to be found across the whole, that is across the whole of the body, in particular the Church in a local setting, we should seek to ensure that we relate with each other and with each one, not picking and choosing and showing favour to some and ignoring others. True unity means we show the same respect and honour to all others in the same way that we would expect all others to show it to us.

 

He also calls them to be a people who have or show sympathy. I guess we immediately think of sympathy as being linked to bereavement and it is, but true sympathy covers a whole lot more. We need to be sympathetic to those who are going through troubled waters, or to those who are suffering in ways that are causing them to be low in spirit, sympathetic to those who are worse off than us financially or socially, to be sympathetic may require us to lend an ear, to just sit and talk, to go the extra mile, to comfort and to encourage.

 

Paul puts it in a rather profound way in his letter to Corinth, here he uses the word comfort, read it as is then again replacing the words as necessary with sympathy, sympathises, sympathise etc.

 

‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.’

 

May we be a people of unity and a people who know what it is to sympathise with each other, we will continue in our next devotion.

WEDNESDAY September 13^th

 

1 Peter 3:1–7

‘Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewellery, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honour to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.’

 

We have had a longer reading today as we have come to the third chapter and in it, Peter is continuing from where he left off in chapter 2 and verse 18 where he talked about work ethics. Here Peter turns the attention of the readers to that which is God’s order for a good and a godly home. I believe that it is God’s ordained pattern that the husband should take the responsibility of leadership in the home, but the leadership is not a lording it over the wife nor the children but it is a leadership that should be 100% centred around love and respect. A love for the family, a love for the things of God to be central in the home and a love for honesty and integrity within the marriage setting and with a mutual respect between the man and the woman. And yes, I hold firmly onto the teaching of Scripture that a marriage is only a marriage when it has taken place between a man and a woman.

 

Sadly we see how the unbelieving society has eroded that which God has set in his word as the pattern for the marriage and the home, and sadly the same erosion is taking place within the setting of the Church.

 

We need to hold fast to that which God has set and established as his pattern for the home and for the family. We need to ensure that we seek to keep God at the centre of our homes and that his word is central to the outworking of who we are and what we do in regard to our family life. I often mention it and we regularly do so in our weekly prayer meetings, we need more than ever to pray for Church families and in particular for the children and youth.  The greatest attack of the enemy at present seems to be with the children, seeking every way possible to pollute their minds with the filth of this world, we need to impart God’s righteous ways into their lives and pray for their protection.

 

I have three words written on a piece of paper in one of my small bibles, I wrote them down when Norman was sharing God’s word in the church on one occasion, and these three words are so applicable to parents today, they are ‘guard the gate’, in other words, watch out for that which you are allowing your children to fill their hearts and minds with, you are their guardians and it is essential to guard the gateway of their hearts and minds.

 

Spend some time today praying for the families in our fellowship, and for those who are belonging to another fellowship somewhere else and you read or listen to these devotions, do the same for the families in your own local fellowship.

TUESDAY September 12^th

 

1 Peter 2:25

‘For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.’

 

Peter closes this section reminding us that we were like sheep that had strayed, he echoes here what we read in Isaiah 53:6 ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—everyone—to his own way . . .’

 

Isaiah says we ‘have gone astray’, Peter says ‘you were straying like sheep’. Isaiah tells us that One came to suffer for the sheep, and Peter says that that One who suffered is now our Shepherd and the Overseer of our souls. This is the good news of what the gospel is all about, the Shepherd coming into this world to look for and to find the sheep that had strayed and to bring them safely into his fold. The Shepherd himself tells us that he is a good Shepherd (John 10).

 

David who composed Psalm 23 was well placed to talk about the LORD as the Shepherd because he himself had been a shepherd, he knew what it was like to tend for and to care for sheep. He knew himself that he had strayed like a sheep but the Lord had found him and made provision for him. To me, the sheep / shepherd language of the bible is wonderful, for it helps us to understand our relationship with our Shepherd the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

I was lost but Jesus found me

Found the sheep that went astray

Threw his loving arms around me

Drew me back into the way

 

But Peter doesn’t just call Jesus our Shepherd, he also calls him the Overseer of our souls, both words are very closely related, together they help us understand firstly that we are under new ownership—we belong to Jesus as the Shepherd and secondly, we are under his provision and care—he watches over us. This should I believe lead us to a third point which is that as Shepherd and as Overseer he knows what is best for us! This also means then that we can trust him, whatever our lot as the hymn writer says we should learn to know that it is well with our souls, and why, because we have the best Shepherd and the best Overseer who makes us lie down in green pastures, who also leads us besides still waters, who also restore our souls and is leading us into paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

 

I have a Shepherd, one I love so well;

How he has blessed me tongue can never tell;

On the Cross he suffered, shed his blood and died

That I may ever in his love confide.

 

Following Jesus, ever day by day,

Nothing can harm  me when he leads the way;

Darkness or sunshine, whate’er befall,

Jesus, the Shepherd is my all in all.