Peter: Called

Genesis 1-2; Psalm 1-2

And/or

Further up and Further in: Matthew 4:12-22, John 1:29-42, Acts 4:13-22, Matthew 10:1-42

Verse: Acts 4:13 – When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus. CSB.

Prayer: Lord God, you called, trained and then used fisherman to be your disciples, to be your apostles and even to lay the foundation for the church through the Spirit-inspired teaching, preaching and writing.  Father, you have called me to be your child.  You have made my holy by your Son’s blood and by the Spirit’s work.  Use me, just as I am, just as you have created me, to serve you this year.  Equip and disciple me this year for every work that you have prepared in advance for me to walk in it.  Inspire and set me on fire to follow you with devotion and dedication this year.  This is your year and the life you have given me to live.  Help me dedicate all that I do to you and to your glory. Amen.

Here is an overview of the book of Peter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhP7AZQlzCg

He is pleased with me!

Proverbs 31, Psalm 148-150

Psalm 149:4 - For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.

God, this is amazing.  The grace that you show me. The love that you lavish on me. It is all too wonderful.  That you would call me your child and bring me into your family.  That you would exalt me over all my enemies and give me glory and honor.  That you call me to be a husband to such a wife!  That you would call me to be a dad to such kids!  God you have show such grace and pleasure to us, to me. You have done so marvelously with me that I can hardly handle it as I look back at my life to this point.  God, my whole being praises you.  Every bone in my body sings your praises.  My heart weeps with joy at all your goodness to me.  Amen.

What is your life?

James 4-5, Esther 5-10

James 4:14-15 – What is your life?  For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, “If the LORD wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Lord God, I am just a mist.  I’m here for a moment and then I’m gone.  Help me to live and act and move and plan according to your will.  Make my life about what you want instead of about what I want.  Make my life about making the word of God known.  People – including me – are like grass of the field; here today and tomorrow thrown into the fire.  But the message that you’ve given me to share, that Word, your Word endures forever.  Fix my eyes on that one unchanging and everlasting gift you’ve given to us.  Focus my life’s work on passion on that enduring Word to my wife, my children, my church, and my community.  Help me point people there.  Help me point people to your love and your unchanging Word.  Then, then, Lord I will do something that lasts beyond me.  Amen.

For such a time.

James 3, Esther 1-4

Esther 4:14 – And who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Lord God, all your ways are good.  All your plans are good. All your working in my life is good.  You have put right where you want me to be to that I might know you and so that I might help other people know you.  According to your own planning and working you have settled me right here, right now, with these people for their good and for mine too.  That’s what you did in Esther’s life. You put here right where she was, right when she was, for the saving of many people.  Lord God, help me recognize your working in my life, help me see the season of life in which I’m living, and use the time that you give me to the best of my strength and the best of my ability.  Give me courage.  Give me strength.  Give me wisdom.  You are my God and all you do is good.  Use me whenever, wherever, and however you see fit.  Amen.

Ask for Wisdom.

James 1-2, Jonah 1-4

James 1:5-6 – If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting; for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

God, I need wisdom and you’re the only one who can give it.  I’m looking at my life.  I’m looking at this next year.  I’m looking at the circumstances in my life. I’m looking at the people in my life.  You have given me so much good. Please, I pray, give me wisdom to know not just what to do in my life but wisdom to know how to do it.  You have given me much knowledge and information from your Word and from the experiences of my life.  Give me now wisdom to put that information into practice.  Purify and forgive every thought in me that is of sin and not of you.  Give me good counselors in my life who can know me and who can pour wisdom from you into my life.  God, the only way in which I will have these gifts is if you give them. Take away any doubt that lingers in my heart about your giving.  Take away all my hears and all my doubts as I put my trust in you.  Let my heart, soul and mind be stabilized and settled by you and your Word.  Amen.

Unchanging.

Revelation 22, Malachi 1-4

Malachi 3:6 – For I the LORD do not change; therefore, you, O children of Jacob, are not destroyed.

Lord God, thank you for your unchanging character. Though you have every reason to turn your back to me and on me because of my sinful and ever-changing character, you don’t change.  The beautify here is this – that even though you do not change, you do change me.  You, O God, remove my sin, resurrect my spirit and set me up before you as the one who love, the one whom you love dearly.  I am the one whom you love.  You turned your Father’s heart to me and sent your Son to save me.  What good news, Father!  And Jesus, you turned your brother’s heart to me and gave yourself up for me.  And your Spirit, dear Jesus, set his seal on my head and heart to mark me as a redeemed child of God.  The news doesn’t get any better than that, God!  So what I am worried about?  What am I stressing about?  Lord God, you have my family and I in your grasp.  You know our footsteps.  You turn us to yourself in faith and trust.  You want to to lead forward in faith and trust.  Holy Spirit give greater faith to me to trust your unchanging character. Amen.

That I a Lord might be!

Revelation 20-21, Zechariah 9-14

Revelation 20:6 – Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second resurrection has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

Let all together praise our God before his highest throne. He serves that I a lord may be – a great exchange indeed! Could Jesus’ love do more for me to help me in my need? To help me in my need. For us he opens wide the door of paradise today. The angel guards the gate no more; To God our thanks we pay, to God our thanks we pay. Amen.

He Really love me? Yes. Yes he does.

Proverbs 30:24-33, Psalm 144-147

Psalm 144:3-5 – O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

Lord God, who am I that I should be a husband or a wife?

Who am I , that I should be a father or mother?

Who am I that I should be a servant?

Who am I that I should have the friends that I do?

Who am I that I should enjoy what I do?

I am yours.

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth

Would care to know my name

Would care to feel my hurt?

Who am I, that the bright and morning star

Would choose to light the way

For my ever wandering heart?

Not because of who I am

But because of what you've done

Not because of what I've done

But because of who you are

I am a flower quickly fading

Here today and gone tomorrow

A wave tossed in the ocean

A vapor in the wind

Still you hear me when I'm calling

Lord, you catch me when I'm falling

And you've told me who I am

I am yours

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin

Would look on me with love

And watch me rise again?

Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea

Would call out through the rain

And calm the storm in me?

Not because of who I am

But because of what you've done

Not because of what I've done

But because of who you are

- Lyrics by Casting Crowns.

The Best Days are Yet to Come.

Revelation 19, Zechariah 1-8

Zechariah 8:4-5 – Thus says the LORD of hosts: Old men and women shall again sit on the streets of the Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of great age.  And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets.

Lord God, such a vision of my eternal future you lay out here.  As I look back to the good ol’ days, I have images just like this painted in my mind.  I see old men and women sitting on the front porches sipping on sweet tea.  I hear children laughing and playing in the streets.  Those were good days.  The future will be better.  Lord God, I can’t wait for the days when health and strength will be fully and completely restored. My health will be better and my strength will be greater than my best days on earth.  I won’t ever need a cane because my health will be so fully restored.  And instead, I’ll laugh in the streets with the kids.  I’ll be part of the stick ball game. And it will be good. I can’t wait for those days when you’ll wake me from the grave and take me to your side, to an eternity in heaven with you.  Lord Jesus Christ, make me extremely useful during my days of this earth.  And at the same time, lift up my eyes to my home in heaven when I will rejoice in joys unspeakable.  Amen.

Work! God is with you!

Revelation 17-18, Haggai 1-2

Haggai 2:4 – Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD.  Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest.  Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord.  Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts.

Lord God, as we approach any task whether great or small, we count the cost.  We weigh the risks and the rewards.  As we look at the tasks in front of us there are a lot of things that scare us.  And it’s always easier to play it safe.  But God, as you spoke to the leaders and to the workers about the work of rebuilding the temple you sent them to work with the promise, “I am with you.”  And you say the same to me.  Whatever task I face, whatever trouble I encounter, you say to me, “Work, for I am with you.”  Whatever challenge faces me this week or in the coming year, help me to face it knowing that you are for me in the fight and with me in my work.  And so, with this confidence, send me out to work for you.  Amen.

Fear not!

Revelation 15-16, Zephaniah 1-3

Zephaniah 3:16-17 – On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.  The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

Lord God, it is astounding how often you say to your people, “Fear not.”  Again and again and again you say it to your people.  Again and again and again you help them know.  In any and every kind of circumstance you tell them not to be afraid.  When we are afraid of danger and things that threaten us, you say, “Fear not.  I will protect you.”  When we are worried about what the future holds, you say, “Fear not.  I hold the future in my hands.”  When we are afraid of the work that is front of us and worried about how it will turn out, you say, “Fear not.  I am with you.”  Again and again you say things just like this to us so our hearts would rest in your presence and promise.  Lord God, let the things that make you happy relieve our fear.  You rejoice over us with loud singing!  You are glad to call us yours.  You are filled with joy to protect us, to provide for us, to be with us.  You are head over heels for us!  Let these truths wash all our fear away as we meditate on you, O God.  There is no god like you.  Amen.

My Strength.

Revelation 13-14, Habakkuk 1-3

Habakkuk 3:18 – God, the Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like a deer’s; he makes me tread on the high places.

Lord God, I can’t see through the fog or imagine the future.  I can dream, but that’s all I can do.  I can imagine, but it isn’t that clear.  You alone know my future for me and my family.  You alone know what tomorrow brings and what next year will hold.  You alone know where all my paths lead.  I pray, Lord God, be my strength to face what these days, weeks, and months will bring.  You alone know what is good for me, my family, and for all whom I love.  You alone know us.  You alone care for us.  You Lord, and you alone.  Give peace to my soul. Give strength to my hands to do the work that is in front of me.  Give hope to my heart.  And make my footsteps sure and certain just like the deer.  They jump and duck and dodge and their feet are always sure.  Make my footsteps sure and certain even when I don’t know where you are leading me.  Amen.

This means war!

Revelation 12, Nahum 1-3

Revelation 12:11 – And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb…

Revelation 12:17 – The dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Lord God, I read Revelation and it becomes clear that there is a spiritual war going on around us all of the time.  It’s clear that the Devil is a roaring dragon, a fire-breathing dragon who wants to destroy Jesus followers.  It’s clear that we are in the last days before you return. Lord Jesus, it’s easy for me to fall into a way of thinking that forgets we are at war.  He wants to lull me into a false sense of security and complacency. And when he has lulled me to sleep, he will come like a lion crouching in the tall grass, ready to pounce.  It’s that dangerous for me to fall into false sense of safety.  And it happens so easily when things in my life are going well.  When things in life are smooth, it’s easy to think that things in the spiritual realm are smooth too.  But it just isn’t so.  The Devil is furious and he is off to make war on those who follow Jesus – that’s me!  Lord Jesus, keep me always alert, awake, and aware of the devil’s schemes. He is at war with me and he wants my soul. Also, keep me always alert as a watchman.  The devil isn’t just after me, he is after all of the people in my life.  You’ve given me to them to sound the battle cry, to rouse them for battle, the battle that is coming to us because the devil hates us.  At the same time, Lord Jesus, help me to rest my soul and my head on the ultimate victory that you won on the cross.  That victory is mine.  The devil can’t have me.  Let this confidence live in my heart and give rest to my soul.  Amen.

Listen, Lord.

Proverbs 30:11-23, Psalm 140-143

Psalm 141:2 – Let my prayer rise before you like incense, the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.

Lord God, your ears are open to my every prayer.  It amazes me every time.  That you would hear me.  That you would even care to hear me. That you would pay attention and not just smile and nod.  Lord Jesus, I owe God’s ear to your blood.  His ear is tuned to me because your blood opened the way.  Father, that you would hear me, slug that I am is a gift of your grace and that you would consider it a pleasing aroma is grace upon grace.  Almighty God, that I can enter your most holy place with my prayers is just plan astounding.  Lord God, I beg you, hear me when I pray.  Receive my prayers like incense.  Make it a pleasing aroma in your sight.  Answer me. Direct my footsteps.  Guide me.  Grant me peace.  Grant me more – your Holy Spirit, the greatest of all your gifts.  Amen.

The Good.

Revelation 10-11, Micah 4-7

Micah 6:8 – He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Lord God, sometimes we make serving you so hard.  We want to do the great things, to do the things everybody notices.  We want to accomplish great things for you, things that will matter, even things that will last.  But here, God, you make it so simple.  What is the good that you want?  You want me to do justice.  You want me to love kindness.  You want me to walk humbly with God.  That’s it.  Lord, I pray, first help me to grasp your astounding, justifying, cleansing and saving love for me like never before.  Let your love overflow the rim of my heart so that it flows out into my life.  Fill my heart with the certainty of your love so me that is over the moon. Then, as I live my life, keep me from worrying about doing the so-called ‘great things’ in your sigh.  Keep me gaze on the simple things: doing justice, loving kindness and walking in humility with you.  This is the good you have given me to do.  Help me to do it and to do it in faith.  Amen.

Broken and Contrite

Revelation 8-9, Micah 1-3

Psalm 51:17 – The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Lord God, as I read through the prophecy of John and of Micah I notice a sad refrain.  As often as you came to the people, as often as you disciplined them, as often as you preached to them, they did not repent.  It shows up again and again on the pages of Scripture.  Lord God, my prayer is two-fold. First, as your servant, make me bold to be a preacher of righteousness like Noah was in this wicked and evil age.  Give me a forehead of bronze to call out sin, to call for repentance, and to call for faith.  But, more importantly than all this, Lord God, I need your Spirit to break my heart and to lead me to repentance.  It is too easy to grow hard to the rebuke from others about sin. It is easy to excuse and rationalize.  It is way to easy.  Lord God, keep my heart soft and broken to hear your rebuke and to receive your discipline.  Lead me to repent of my sin, all of it. Show me the sin in my blind spots.  Uncover them all to me, Lord, that I may be healed.  Amen.

Marked

Revelation 6-7, Obadiah 1

Revelation 7:3 – I saw another angel ascending and saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of God on their foreheads.”

Father, today, I thank you for my parents and those other servants whom you used to bring me to baptism.  I didn’t come by own own horse power.  They brought me because they knew that I needed this gift. Father, thank you for baptism.  There you adopted me as yours and I became your child, wholly and dearly loved.  There you claimed me as your own.  Since that time, Father, you have been at work in my heart and life by your Spirit to raise up faith in me, to transform me by the gospel so that I might be a servant in your kingdom.  Lord, I pray let your name continue to be tattooed on my head and on my heart.  Continue to mark me with your cross so that I may end my days in faith.  And while I wait for your appearing, help me to use the time that I have to reach more and more people and to make the most of every opportunity.  These are the days you have given me by your grace to serve and to share you.  Amen.

Don't! Please, don't!

Revelation 4-5, Amos 5-9

Amos 8:11 – “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD God, “when I will send a famine on the land – not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.”

Lord God, take anything else form me, just not that. Take my goods, my reputation, my property, even my health; take even my family away from me, Lord.  Just don’t take your Word.  Lord, if you take away your Word from me by false teaching or by my own neglect or even by taking away my access to it, then how will I know what you have said?  Then how will I be lead to repent?  Then where will I find forgiveness, peace and hope?  Then where will I get guidance and direction for my life?  Lord, if you take your Word away from me or anyone else, then who can be saved!?!  Lord, don’t!  Give your Word to me, to my family, to al the world.  Let it be taught purely, truly, rightly. Let law and gospel be given in the truth and purity.  Give us your word of peace and forgiveness, of rebuke and repentance, of guidance and direction.  And Lord, especially give us the Word about Jesus, the Savior of the world, even of me.  Let your Word remain, Lord, so that I may be saved. Amen.

Prepare to meet your God.

Revelation 3, Amos 1-4

Amos 4:12 – Therefore this I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!

Lord Jesus, keep me from being slow to learn the lessons of love you want to teach me.  When in mercy you send discipline and rebuke, help me to hear it and to quickly turn back.  Keep from excuse making and from rationalizing, even justifying myself.  Send your Spirit on me so that my first reaction is, “Lord, you are right; I’m sorry.”  Break my heart with your Word so that I receive your rebuke.  Heal my heart with your Word so that I am refreshed and restored to serve you again.  Exalt me by your Son so that I can lift up my head with joy and confidence, a joy and confidence that comes from you alone.  Amen.

Just the Right Amount.

Proverbs 30:1-10, Psalm 137-139

Proverbs 30:8 - Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” Or lest I be poor and stand and profane the name of my God.

Lord God, Solomon is so wise.  He shows me that both poverty and riches pose a danger to my soul.  The one leads me to praise myself, the other leads me to curse God. I pray, give me and give my family just the right amount so that we are left to rely on you and on you alone. Give us just what we need so that’s we call on you for daily bread and trust you to provide it. Give us just what we need so that we don’t become self-reliant or boastful. Give us a contented heart whatever provision you give us so that we are happy, thankful, and content in whatever season or blessing you give us.  God, I pray, continue to give us daily bread, each day.  Most of all, dear Lord, help us always to have our hearts fixed on you and full of joy to worship and honor you.  Do whatever it takes in our lives to keep us close to you and believing in you.  Amen.