1 Peter 1

I'm back. Our Elders' Retreat was awesome and the Alaskan Cruise was incredible. We had a super time with the family that took us and the scenery was stunning. We got to see Ketchikan, Juneau, Hubbard Glacier, Mendenhall Glacier, Victoria (BC) and a lot of wildlife. It was an incredible gift from God.

I added something new to my life while away. After talking at our Elders' Retreat I was convinced I needed to begin to add worship to my life on a daily basis. All but one or two days I took 30 minutes or so and just sang praises to my God. It was really neat. I really sensed it drawing me closer to God. You should try it some time.

I am starting back up in 1 Peter.

1:1 - Peter says that we are exiles. He also uses the term strangers and foreigners throughout the letter. I wonder how many times we get so "settled" that we don't look much like strangers, foreigners or exiles.

1:2 - If you look at the way this sentence is written you could get the idea that we were "chosen...to be obedient." Just a thought.

I love where Peter says that grace and peace are ours in abundance. So many times we want just a little grace or a little peace or we live with just a little peace or offer just a small amount of grace, but Peter says we are people of abundant or overflowing grace and peace. We should have so much we can spare it.

1:3-4 - His great mercy...new birth...living hope...resurrection...into an inheritance

1:5 - You are protected by God through faith. Faith is a shield, but a shield is useless until you raise/use it.

1:7 - Trials and suffering refine you and prove if you are genuine or not. We want to convince people that we are genuine when in reality it is proven by how we act in and react to our trials and sufferings and frustrations.

1:8 - "filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy."

1:11 - I love where it talks about how God was working through the prophets to point to the time of Jesus. The part I have often glazed over is the last part where it says "and the glories that would follow." I have always focused on prophecy being about Jesus' coming and His death and resurrection, but Peter reminds us not to forget they foretold of glories that are yet to come as well.

1:13 - minds - alert and fully sober

Set your hope on grace.

1:14 - We need to un-conform. I think what we do when we begin to approach Jesus is figure out we have to stop doing what we were doing before, but we need to go further. We need to go back through our life and un-conform it. We need to untwist and untie parts of our life that are tangled and not just leave those knots behind without letting Christ deal with them.

1:17 - "foreigners here in reverent fear."

1:20 - Jesus was before Creation.

1:22 - purify yourself...obeying truth...sincere love for each other --- love one another deeply, from the heart.

1:25 - "the word of the Lord endures forever."

Love, Michael