Category: QuietTimes

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10 -> me: Hello all.  I have not sent out any QTVOTD’s in the last several days but that has not been because of a drought; conversely, I have felt closer to the Lord than ever.  During this time of earthly uncertainty, I have felt such eternal certainty.  Between working from home, spending precious time with family, having dinner with my brother, holding Life Group (with some in-person and some virtual), prayer in every situation, and a constant dialog with my Lord and Savior, I am feeling more confident than ever that this is exactly where God has me, right here, right now.  God knew this time would come and Marianne and I have been looking at God’s provision in our children, our church, and our own lives; preparing us for good works…and now I am prepared to walk in them.  I have the opportunity to help plan for a missions trip that we walk forward in faith knowing that God will do a work regardless of whether we go or not.  What an awesome time to put the faith to work that He has been building in me over the last several years – I am so thankful for the opportunity to live a life that only seeks to glorify Him….hold on…that does NOT mean I have it all together or don’t get anxious, no…but it does mean that I am more quick than ever to lay my inadequacies at the foot of the cross.  Lord God in heaven, help me to see the work you have laid ahead, that I would not hesitate to leap at every chance to be your hands and feet.

“BUT ALSO [in those days] there arose false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among yourselves, who will subtly and stealthily introduce heretical doctrines (destructive heresies), even denying and disowning the Master Who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction and many will follow their immoral ways and lascivious doings; because of them the true Way will be maligned and defamed.” 2 Peter 2:1-2 -> me: False teachers are here today just as there were false prophets in the Old Testament.  A false teacher has defected from the TRUTH -> they are all about flattery, financial ambitions, lives lacking in moral values, dulled consciences, and their aim is deception; they are more concerned about winning an argument than arriving at the TRUTH.  A teacher of the TRUTH lives a life of bond service to the One Who bought them; they cannot serve Christ and their own ambitions.  A false teacher lives in a world of fantasy and they will likely be impractical and unrealistic.  Psalms 119:30 says “I have chosen the way of truth and faithfulness; Your ordinances have I set before me.”  It is so jarring when we discover that someone we respected turns out to be a false teacher.  Calvin said this well, “There is nothing that disturbs godly minds so much as defection…”  Peter helps us though by saying that this very thing will happen.  I must remember to check everything I hear with the word of God.  It can be easy to slip into believing the cunningly laid out lie of a false teacher.

“Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge—no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.” Psalms 91:9-11 -> me: What an amazing couple of days. This passage has helped me keep perspective and allowed me to walk forward in faith, aligned with Marianne, to guide our family in this unprecedented time. We have a plan and we firmly believe that this is an opportunity to make a difference for the Kingdom. Thank the Lord that I have a job that allows me to work remotely and continue to be paid through this time. My God is bigger than this crisis. My Savior walks on the crazy waves of this churning sea. Thank you God for your faithfulness and Love that surpasses anything that presents itself ‘under the sun’.

“knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:20-21 -> me: Old testament scripture was written by God through the Holy Spirit in men (the Prophets).  Reading through 2 Peter 1:12-23, I learned the following which flows together so nicely.  1) We need God’s word consistently.  2) There are no fables, the multitudes witnessed all that Jesus did and there is no one who was there that has written refuting it.  3) God Himself spoke from heaven to attest to Jesus as His Son.  4) All scripture points to Jesus.  5) No prophesy ever originated from man’s will, it was the Holy Spirit Who gave the prophets the words to write.  Peter, the first pastor does his own version of expositional preaching and walks us through God’s truth in a systematic way.  I am so thankful that I attend a church whose leadership grasps and exercises expository preaching!

“Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:10-11[ESV] -> me: Peter spends the first 8 verses of his second letter giving exactly what we must do in our Christian life.  In these last 2 verses of this section he calls us to a self-awareness that tests our actions relative to our stated position as ‘Followers of Christ’.  In verse 9, just before these 2 verses, he says -> “If anyone does not have them [the qualities stated in my last quiet time], he is near sighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.”  BUT, as we confirm our calling and election by looking at our own heart and behavior, I WILL NEVER FALL!  This is such testimony about not just being in the word everyday, but also searching our own hearts through the help of the Holy Spirit to root out anything that no longer belongs.  I can’t imagine that I am alone in this -> When I let myself be taken up with this worlds concerns (materialism, politics, career, status, etc), even for just a couple of days, I can find myself so much further away from my walk than I thought a could be just a few days earlier.   Lord God, help me to be continually grounded in Your word, saturated in prayer, and full of a love for others that always causes me to forget about myself.

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:5-8 [NKJV] -> me: Man, I cannot get through many verses each day in 2nd Peter.  ‘For this very reason’ is pertaining to yesterday’s passage of ‘being given the exceedingly great precious promises’.  Virtue is excellence, resolution, and Christian energy in our walk.  Looking at how all of these things lead into each other and then ending with LOVE.  When we have gotten to this place in knowledge of our Lord and Savior then we will keep from being idle in our Christian life before Jesus returns.  Of all of these things – the one I must focus on the most is ‘self-control’.  Self-control in my emotions, my decision making in self-sufficiency, my desires, and my time.  The more I lean into the word of God and apply that learning to my life the farther I feel from where I want to be in my relationship with my Savior, but my faith is increased.  It is like there is a direct relationship between my spiritual self-awareness and the measure of faith God gives me.  Super humbling…

“For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue).By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.” 2 Peter 1:3-4 ->me: NEW MEMORY VERSES!!  Holy smokes!  Two verses sum all a follower of Christ needs to know.  Our acknowledgement, trust, and belief in Jesus; the one who called us by modeling and providing us (through His word) His own glory and excellence, has led to God the Father, in His almighty power, giving us everything we need to live a life of godliness.  It is by His promises that we will have the hope and joy set before us, and be able to flee the evil desires and garbage of this world -> it is through these promises that we are able to share in the new heart condition that leads us to a life centered on the will and purposes of God.

“Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.” 1 Peter 5:7 ->me: Today I was reading through the rest of 1 Peter 5 and I found myself going back over the text and a small nuance jumped out at me.  In the ESV, verse 7 is a new sentence, but in the Greek this is not so.  The way it reads in the Greek is that the ‘throwing of anxieties on Him’ is how you achieve verse 6 which says ‘Therefore humble yourselves’.  Peter recognizes that a great barrier to putting others first and thinking of them as more important is the legitimate human concern ‘But who then will care for me?’ The answer is that God himself will care for our needs. He is able to do so far better than we are.  This then frees us up to set the needs of others around us.  We become ready to do work for others because we have laid every care of our own upon Jesus.  This tidbit evaded me yesterday and I am so glad that I read back over to catch all the context set in the whole chapter.  The Holy Spirit is so faithful!

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” 1 Peter 5:6 ->me: These last few days have been a wonderful time with family here in Cali on vacation and many side stories going on at the same time -> phone calls regarding Brooklyn, friends going through pregnancy complications, work challenges, and many more.  However, one thing remains constant, regardless of the story happening at the moment – God is greater than all of it, and when I lay the outcomes of each of these stories at the foot of Jesus, I receive a peace and ability to still focus the time on my kids they need.  When I humble myself, I may well lose personal advantage in this life; however, it is always in my best  interest to humble myself before God so that in due time, I might be exalted by Him. When I am proud and self-reliant, I put trust in myself, but when I am humble my faith is in put in God.  Proverbs 3:34 -> God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed:” 1 Peter 5:1-2 ->me:  This is another day where I am not able to get past even just one verse in my quiet time.  Peter is exhorting the elders of the church but what caught my eye is Peter’s phrase “and a witness of the sufferings of Christ”.  Why doesn’t he say “and a witness of the resurrection of Christ” or “and a witness of the transfiguration of Christ”?  I think this is because Peter is recalling for us his own pain and frailty during the Passion of Christ; when Peter failed so miserably by denying his Lord 3 times.  I think he is reminding elders that even he, a denier of Christ can be redeemed and reconciled to God.  Peter is an ‘elder’ who has sinned, repented, been restored, and will share with Christ in glory. He can rightly ‘exhort’ any elder in whose life there is sin, likewise to repent and be restored before God’s disciplinary refining fire reaches him.  Peter may be borrowing from Ezekiel 9:6 where judgement begins with the house of God – “So they began with the elders who were before the house.”  On another level, the reference to Christ’s sufferings may also serve as a reminder to the elders that just as Christ was willing to suffer for them, so they should be willing to endure hardship and suffering for the sake of those in their churches.