I am sanctified.

Genesis 17-19, Psalm 2

And/or

Further up and further in: Romans 8:28-30, Acts 17

Verse: Acts 17:27 – He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. CSB.

Prayer: Lord God, you have carefully arranged all my days to carry out your plans for me.  Nothing is outside of your control or your guiding.  You put me when I am, in this particular time of history.  You put me where I am, in this family, in this community, in this church.  You even put particular people in my life to impact me and so that I might impact them.  Lord Jesus, help me to see your hand in all of this.  Use me when and where you will so that others might be made holy by your Son, Jesus, through faith.  Use them when and where you will, so that I will be found in Jesus and be saved by him.  Most of all, Father, I am thankful for your plan that has brought to this day in the faith.  Thank you for the people that you put in my path, who have told me about Jesus.  Thank you for the people, whom you place in my path that I can tell them about Jesus.  Keep on working in my life and through my life so that many more people might be saved.  Amen.

I am foreknown.

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Genesis 14-16.

And/or

Further up and further in: Matthew 10:29-31, Hebrews 4:13, Psalm 139.

Verse: Psalm 139:16 – Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began. CSB.

Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, as I look ahead at the year that is in front of me I like to think that I have a grasp on what this year will bring.  This year is full of hopes and dreams for me.  It is also full of uncertainties that creep into my heart and are bringing fear into my heart.  It sometimes feels like all the balls of my life are thrown into the air all at once and I am left dashing back and forth trying to keep them from hitting the ground.  Father, I can’t handle that. It’s too much.  What hope you give me when you tell me that you knew me before I was born, that you have written the story of my life before it began!  It’s amazing that you would care so much about me that you would lay out a plan for my life, that you would use everything in my life for my eternal good.  Lord, thank you for writing my story and for including me in your story of salvation.  Set my heart at rest knowing that you have good plans for me, plans to save me, to give me hope and a future.  Amen.

I am chosen.

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We’re taking it nice and slow as we walk through 1 Peter.  We’re only going to meditate on and contemplate the first two verses this week: 1 Peter 1:1-2.  As we get to know Peter’s audience, we also learn to hear Peter comfort us in his opening “hello” of 1 Peter.  He is writing to you!  He is writing to me!  This week, we find comfort in this radical identity that we have from our: chosen, foreknown, sanctified, scattered exiles, who are in constant need of more grace and more peace.  In this our identity from our God, we are safe. Enjoy your time with your Savior this week as he comforts you and solidifies you in your identity.                

Genesis 12-13

And/or

Further up and Further in: 1 Peter 1:1-2, Ephesians 1:3-9

Verse: Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. CSB.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I can’t believe it. It seems to be good to be true.  I know well my failures and my flaws.  I know well how I have sinned against you and against so many other people. But you chose me to be yours.  You redeemed me with your own blood.  You made me holy and blameless through your blood and perfect life.  You picked and chose me to be yours.  What a precious choosing!  Lord Jesus, now I pray, keep me in this faith to which you have called me. Keep me from falling away from this grace you gave me.  Keep me from wandering away after my own devices.  Lord Jesus, just as you chose me in love to be yours, so in love keep me safe in the faith until I reach eternity with you.

Following Jesus in 2018.

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Genesis 10-11

And/or

Further up and Further in: Psalm 1-2, Ephesians 2:1-10

Verse: Psalm 1:1-3 – How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.  He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not whither.  Whatever he does prospers. CSB

Prayer: One thing is needful; Lord, this treasure, teach me highly to regard.  All else, though it first gives pleasure, is a yoke that presses hard.  Beneath it my heart is still fretting and striving, no true, lasting happiness ever deriving.  This one thing is needful; all others are vain – I count all but loss that I Christ may obtain.  Amen.

Inspired.

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Genesis 8-9; Psalm 12

And/or

Further up and Further In: 1 Peter 1, 2 Peter 1:16-21, 2 Timothy 3:14-17, Ephesians 2:19-22; Matthew 7:24-29

Verse: Ephesians 2:19-20 – So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. CSB

Prayer: Lord Jesus, you have given me such a foundation on which to build my faith and to lead my life.  You have inspired them to write your Words for me and for my salvation. They aren’t making stuff up out from their own imaginations.  It’s not coming for a smoke-filled room.  Their words are your words, and they are perfect, good in every way.  Every word of the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Help me to open my ears and my hearts to listen carefully to every Word that you have given.  Teach me to lead my life and build my faith on the sure and certain foundation of your Word.  Amen.

Emboldened.

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Genesis 6-7

And/or

Further up and Further in: Acts 3-5

Verse: Acts 4:20 – We are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard. CSB

Prayer: Lord Jesus, when you conquered death and appeared to your disciples, when you poured out your Holy Spirit on your disciples, they lived and preached with a whole new boldness and confidence.  Where they were previously timid and afraid, now they were unafraid and unabashed in their preaching and ministry.  Lord Jesus, let your resurrection fill me with the same confidence.  Let your Spirit give me the same boldness.  I am yours!  You bought me and I belong to you.  I cannot lose since you conquered death and defeated all my enemies.  Your message is true and powerful whether people believe it or not.  It will never return to you empty or void, but is like the rain that pours down from heaven.  Set me on fire with resurrection and Spirit-given swagger to keep on living.  Let these words of Peter be mine: “I can’t stop speaking about what I believe!”  Amen.

Abandoning but not abandoned.

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Genesis 3-5

And/or

Further up and Further in: Matthew 10:32-33, 16:13-28, 26:36-46, 26:69-75, John 21:15-19

Verse: John 21:19 – After saying this, he told him, “Follow me.” CSB

 Prayer: Jesus, after all the ways in which Peter betrayed, abandoned and failed you, these last words you speak to him are amazing to hear.  Even after all the ways in which he had abandoned you, you never abandoned him.  In fact, even after all the ways in which he had failed you, you still wanted to use him for the kingdom; you even touched my faith and life me by his writing and his teaching!  God, this inspires so much hope in me.  Your compassion and mercies are new for me each day. This day, Lord, forgive me as this day begins.  Cleanse me and create in me a new heart, O God.  Your calling to follow you is new this day too, Lord Jesus.  Help me to follow you as my Lord and God, today.  Wonder of wonders, you still call me to follow and you still desire to use me. Help me make the most of my moments today.  Amen.

Discipled

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John 1:1-3; Psalm 8; Psalm 104

And/or

Further up and Further in: John 2:1-12, Mark 5:21-43, Mark 9:2-13

Verse: John 2:11 – Jesus did this, the first of his signs; in Cana of Galilee.  He revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him. CSB.

Prayer:  Lord God, the Bible is full of accounts from your ministry and life that demonstrate your power and your glory, your grace and mercy, your compassion.  Each story presents you to me as my Savior.  Each story shows me what you are like and how deeply and dearly you care about me.  Each story drives me to believe in you and to put my trust in you.  As I follow you this year, and dive into your Word, show me who you are that I may believe in you and be saved by you.  Amen.

Peter: Called

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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!

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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.