1 Peter 2:18-25
“Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
1 Peter 2:18-25
Dear Jesus,
From heaven you decided
to come to earth and endure the most foolish and cruel hardship to buy my salvation. It never was about you. It was always about me. Give me your Spirit so I purpose to follow your example when I experience hardship in my job. I will commit my life and behavior to your care. You can use my story to encourage others in the same way your life encourages me. Don’t let me fall short by whining, quitting or trying to get even.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Loving someone who has hurt you is supernatural behavior with supernatural consequences.
Additional Reading: Matthew 10:16-42
1 Peter 2:13-16
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. - 1 Peter 2:13-16
Dear Jesus,
You modeled how to submit to leaders in government and in the streets even when they are oppressive and represent causes you don't approve. You lived for a higher mission. I want to live by your higher mission too. I realize that makes me forego my opinion about the more menial rightness or wrongness of more common things. Don't let me become disrespectful and disobedient to officials during this pandemic just because I have a certain opinion about what they say about masks, vaccines or anything else for that matter. Help me to respect police and clerks behind city desks. I trust you to preserve my good behavior in their memory so you can remind them later that they should listen to your people because they saw my good life before them.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Don't be tempted to think that any political cause old or new can be the mega guide for your behavior.
Additional Reading: Colossians 4
1 Peter 2:11-12
“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” - 1 Peter 2:11-12
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for reminding
me that when I fight my sinful desires and manage to get it right, I will have a powerful affect on the lost around me. They cannot avoid noticing and the powerful brain you have given them will remind them of my deeds until the end of their lives. Give me
a holy sense of purpose that makes me live demonstrably in front of all people for you. I trust that you can bear fruit from my obedience.
Amen
Living the truth in front of others helps them quit lying to themselves.
Additional Reading: Matthew 5:13-16
Peter 1:22-25
Love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field, the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”And this is the word that was preached to you. - 1 Peter 1:22-25
Dear Jesus,
It's easy for me to think that if big things will change in my circumstances then I can really live. But that's not true. The truth that you teach me here shows that the gospel changes me so that in all circumstances I can live a purposeful life of love toward all people. I can do that when I am a small child with little influence and an old man in a death bed, and everything in between. My flesh is like grass and will soon fade. But the word about your love and the gift you bring, it endures forever. So, help me to live out of the gospel love you have given me today and not to wait for changes in my circumstances to really start living.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
The gospel enables us to blossom where we are planted. So, stop paying to be transplanted.
Additional Reading: Romans 8 and 12
1 Peter 1:1-2
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. - 1 Peter 1:1-2
Dear Trinity,
Peter doesn't attempt to explain how you could be triune. He simply reminds me of the great and wonderful blessings you give me. Father, you chose me from eternity. Spirit, you penetrate my heart and make me honest about my sins and need for redemption. You also, make sure I understand the gospel. Jesus, you paid for it all laid the foundation for daily lifelong grace. I am chosen, befriended and loved. I'm going to be okay. I am blessed by your grace and peace, so, I do not care how you could be three persons in one Godhead. I just never want to live without this salvation.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
When you know God's love, you don't care so much about God's mystery.
Additional Reading: Ephesians 3
Haggai 2:3-9
3 ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? 4 But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 5 ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’ 6 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. 8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 9 ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” - Haggai 2:3-9
Dear Heavenly Father,
I am intrigued by this word you sent through the prophet, Haggai, when the rag tag remnant of your people was rebuilding your temple for you. You comforted the older people that although the rebuilt temple would nowhere near match the old one, that you would give it more glory by sending your Son and his gospel there. In the same way, I have often wondered what it is about my home church building that makes me like it. It's not because it's the most beautiful building I have ever worshiped in. It's so much more. It's because I meet your Son there and I receive his mercy and peace. My heart is purified, set right and comforted when I'm there. Thank you for my home church and your servants who labor there to bring Jesus to my heart.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
If you have a home church where one or more servants bring you Jesus, you are among the most privileged souls on the planet.
Additional Reading: 1 Corinthians 14, 1Timothy 4
Proverbs 13:20
Walk with the wise and become wise,
for a companion of fools suffers harm. - Proverbs 13:20
Dear Jesus,
It's one the biggest choices I make every day. Who will my friends be? Who will I spend my time with? How will I let them influence me? I can see this passage coming true for me in both scenarios. I've let some people be my friends and then they led me away from you. I've had others that saved me from myself by being very, very, good friends indeed. In my remaining days help me to make the tough choices of who my friends will be in real time and in my digital consumption. Give me friends that will be grace filled, word of God driven and exuding the fruit of the spirit. In the same vein, make me that kind of friend for those who choose me for a friend too. Finally, thank you for being the friend of sinners, even a sinner like me.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Choose your friends carefully. They will shape who you become in good times and bad.
Additional Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:33-34
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
In order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Dear Lord,
I never tire of needing this reminder from my friend, the Apostle Paul. You send challenges and difficulties my way from all angles in order to keep me humble. You make me weak so I need your strength. You want to be my everything, not just my something. Your grace is your benevolent promise to meet all my needs in your time and way. Help me to hold on to your grace and avoid treating you like the big vacation planner in the sky. I know that my eternal rest will begin when this epic struggle is over. Be my rest internally today while I wait for my rest eternally that will come at the end.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
God isn't just a big thing in our lives. He's everything.
Additional Reading: Psalm 73
Revelations 14:13
Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” - Revelations 14:13
Dear Jesus,
There are so many encouraging words in this fantastic book you revealed to John in visions. When I read this loud cry from heaven, I'm encouraged that although I have so many loved ones whose short lives are over, that they live on in a restful heaven with you and their good deeds are bearing fruit in your venerable hand on earth. I trust you with their lives and mine. If you can take one word from the thief on the cross (whose name you know) and comfort millions of people for over 2000 years, then you can take my small life and harvest ten thousand times ten thousands more fruit from them. I will robustly sow good deeds now in the sure hope that you will reap a harvest from them that I could have never imagined. Save me a place in heaven where I can sit and listen to how you did wonderful things after me with what you did through me while I was here.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Your good deeds are seeds in the hand of the Creator. Sow them vigorously and from heaven one day you will hear how they keep bearing fruit down through the ages.
Additional Reading: Proverbs 31
Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:21
Dear Lord,
Help me to break sin’s back by returning good to those who act evil toward me. My natural inclination is to try ending evil by being the same way toward the person. That’s like trying to extinguish a fire with gasoline. Your way is the only right way. Your love is refreshing water on the hot spots of life. Change me and help me supernaturally love those who sin against me so I change the situation and the person at the same time.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Love the sinner and you give him the best chance to stop sinning from the heart.
Additional Reading: 1 John 4 and 5
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Dear Jesus,
I remember how you prayed the night before you died that your Father would not take us out of the world but that he would protect us from the evil one. I know you have good and holy reasons for leaving me here on earth to serve and be served, to give and to be given to, to suffer and to suffer with others. Your words and promises speak a lot of comfort to my heart. I know you are with me as I walk some of the same trails that you did. I know you will greet me face to face at the end of my race. I know you speak to the Father on my behalf and I know you are growing me through my trials. When I suffer, help me to speak from that stage words that reflect your Holy Spirit's message for all who would see me suffer. Use my suffering and the comfort I receive to bless others in their hour of need. Give purpose and power to my suffering!
AMEN
Pastor Don Patterson
When you suffer with a purpose, everything about it looks and feels different.
Additional Reading: 1 Peter 1
Revelation 22:14
14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. . - Revelation 22:14
Dear Jesus,
These are some of the most comforting words in the entire Bible. As I read your description of heaven I go on a roller coaster. First my soul soars to heights of excitement as I hear how beautiful, peaceful, and void of earth's temptations and trials it is. Then I read the couple of lists you have of those who won't be there. I can find my sins in those lists and I wonder, "Will I get to be in heaven forever or am I destined for eternal unspeakable torment in hell?" Then I come to this passage where you speak to us with grace and assurance. "Blessed are those who wash their robes." It takes me back to chapter seven where you tell us that "these in white robes are those that have come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb." I have washed my sinful life in your sacrifice and now I am white with righteousness. I am worthy of heaven. I won't be excluded. Now I an read Revelation 21 and 22 with full assurance that this is my destiny. It gives me a vacation from my troubles today. Thank you for rescuing me from myself and promising me a blessed forever.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
If God clears your schedule for you, be ready. He's about to bless you more than you could have blessed yourself.
Additional Reading: Revelation 7,21,22
Isaiah 32:1-4
Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, And princes will rule with justice. 2 A man will be as a hiding place from the wind, And a cover from the tempest, As rivers of water in a dry place, As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
3 The eyes of those who see will not be dim, And the ears of those who hear will listen. 4 Also the heart of the [b]rash will understand knowledge, And the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly. - Isaiah 32:1-4
Dear Jesus,
Isaiah foretold how when you came you would create shelters out of your followers. Each one of us has enough spiritual blessings from you dripping from your gospel promises to be shelters for others, even our enemies, even those who take care of our earthly needs. We can be a shelter of grace and forgiveness for those hurting in shame and guilt. We can be a shelter of truth and guidance for those darkened by the world's counsel. We can be a shelter for security and love for those who have been shattered by abuse and neglect. We love to be shelters just as you were. We are your hands and feet. Guide your church, dear Jesus, to engage the world and people on her edges into the wonderful gospel truths that have made her who she is. Make me a shelter today for someone new also.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Gospel greatness resides in the heart of every Christian. Don't put a cover over yours.
Additional Reading: Matthew 5:13-16, Galatian 6:10, Titus 2:111-4
John 3:16-17
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. - John 3:16-17
Dear Heavenly Father,
What intentionality! You made us, watched us fall and then intentionally sent your Son not to judge us but to save us. You intentionally sent Jesus to his own people when you knew that they would reject him and have him killed. You intentionally sent him to die for us. You prompted him morning by morning to go out and find people to tell them he was here for them. You sent him day after day to reach out to his disciples and restore them time and again. You Intentionally sent your Holy Spirit to enliven and enlighten the twelve apostles to start the church through preaching, teaching and writing. You forced your good news into a world that twistedly had learned to love darkness. Your love and grace are so intentional! Make me intentional too with love and grace to reach out to others with the offer of a real relationship bathed in grace and held up by truth. I want to live with intentional love toward everyone whether I know them well or not, whether they treat me well or not, whether I feel like it or not.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Few things in life are more impactful than being intentionally loved by another human being.
Additional Reading: Matthew 7, Ephesians 4, Colossians 3
Jeremiah 17:9-10a
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind. - Jeremiah 17:9-10a
Dear Heavenly Father,
You are so patient that you would put up with the deception that lurks in all of our hearts. You knew that we would fall into deep self deception when Adam and Eve fell. Yet, you were so optimistic in your grace that you refused to scrap the human project. Instead, you forged forward to fill the earth with human beings who had a marred image compared to what you had planned. You knew you would have to patiently deal with each one of us to help us come to our senses about our own fallen-ness and need for redemption, divine change and restoration. I love how you announce it here through your prophet. "I the Lord search the heart and mind!" It's not in order to find a reason to destroy us. No! It's to help us self realize our great need for honesty, forgiveness and change. Thank you for searching my heart and using circumstances and people to be the mirror that reveals the blemishes there. I will watch for how you arrange my life today through events and people to help me purge myself of all self deception. Give me the humility and wisdom to embrace the pressure washer you use on my soul.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
When God "pressure washes" your soul, don't run and hide. Make sure he gets every nook and cranny.
Additional Reading: Psalm 51, John 4, Luke 5, Acts 9
Ephesians 5:1-2
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. - Ephesians 5:1-2
Dear Heavenly Father,
How will I ever know if my life is pleasing to you? I fail at so many things. I'm constantly reminded of my shortcomings. I wonder if I'll ever get it right. Here you tell me that if I am living in love and acting out of love, then my life is pleasing to you. It's the heart transformed by your gospel of love that pleases you. I have been made your child through the grace of your Son. As a family member, I bear your resemblance. I'm compassionate, sacrificial, honest, humble and kind. I'm not perfect but I'm redeemed and motivated by love. Give me the wisdom and the discernment to live in love and not my natural tendencies. Make me a vessel of grace for others. Change my thinking every moment to reflect your love and not my self centered fears and foibles. Keep your Son's life story in the forefront of my mind as my example, model and mentor. Change me so that in my remaining days I will encourage and strengthen others in their lives.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
How to live in all circumstances has been clearly displayed for all people in the life of one man!
Additional Reading: Ephesians 4,5
John 10: 2-5
The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.
John 10: 2-5
Dear Jesus,
I’ve learned from my pets and livestock what trust looks like. So, I get it when you call yourself my good Shepherd. I trust your words and your love more than all the worldly ideas about evolution, self actualization, indulgence, self discerned genderism, ambition, and racism, moralism, rationalism and everything else that beckons my heart gaze. Only your love and truth that flows from the story of your life, rings true in my ears. I will follow you into tomorrow with whatever you have for me as long as you are there to save, help and restore me. Thank you for knowing my name and thinking of me from eternity, on the cross and every day after that.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
Knowing your name is written on God’s heart makes having your name
written in history irrelevant.
Additional Reading: Psalm 23, Isaiah 49
Galatians 6:9
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. - Galatians 6:9
Dear Jesus,
So often my weariness and burned out feeling is not the result of my situation as much as it is of the climate in my heart. I let “poor me” selfish thinking creep into my soul. The burden of the record I keep suffocates my joy. I feel crowded, exploited and confused. How quickly your word can blow the spiritual dust storm away. This one thought; that hard work for the good of others today is an investment that reaps a harvest of righteousness tomorrow, - this one thought takes the focus off me and the “service grudge” I’m nursing and puts my gaze on the bright future you will create with my investment. Thank you for lifting the load of self pity off my heart. Now I can energetically and hopefully work hard as I wait for you to bless what I have done for others.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
When we stop counting what serving costs, we’ll find that life is more joyful than we ever thought possible.
Additional Reading: Proverbs 31, Romans 12
Isaiah 40:1-2
Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins. - Isaiah 40:1-2
Dear Heavenly Father,
Who does that? Who gives double blessing to people who have hurt, forgotten and disdained them? No one human naturally does it. We all spend so much time trying to heal ourselves from the hurt that we misrepresent your incomprehensible love to one another. Instead we teach everyone all about law, retribution and justice. Grace is foreign, mysterious and seemingly beyond our grasp. I'm thankful you have given and have taught your grace to all of us. We can receive it and share it. Help me to do both today.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
The height of godliness is to truly forgive and hang in there with people.
Additional Reading: Genesis 3:1-15, Psalm 130, Romans 2, 1 John 1:8-9
Ephesians 5:20
Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. - Ephesians 5:20
Dear Jesus,
Having met you in my soul I am a changed person. I used to think I was "hot stuff" by myself. Sometimes I also used to think I was a loser. I was always bouncing between the two. Now, I know I'm a "special edition," creation of your father, a child of God who has the "Supreme Being" watching his every move and has a destiny that is out of this world. I am settled, purposed and fulfilled. Therefore, I live in a constant state of thankfulness all because of you. You rescued me from the land of the lost and helped me immigrate to the land of peace, faith, love and hope. Help me to live in this gratitude mindset always. I want to live out the joy of salvation even in the most challenging moments. I cannot do it without you.
Amen
Pastor Don Patterson
When you know who you are and where you are going in Christ, your life has an undercurrent of thankfulness.
Additional Reading: 1 John 3:1-3