For the past couple of weeks, my focused time in the Word has been fast and furious and far less focused than I would like. I've read His truths in passing and voiced urgent prayers on my commute to work, but I mourn the loss of my summer schedule when I had time to sit in expectation of His revelation for hours. Today, I realized that I am already less in tune with the spirit. I have already fallen prey to Satan's lie that quick, unfocused moments are sufficient to sustain intimate fellowship with my Savior. They are NOT! If I am to walk in the supernatural steps of the Spirit, my time with HIm must be my top priority. Forgive me for falling short and becoming sidetracked with the ways of the world. Jesus, correctly point my life on You and Your word!
Week 5 - Day 3
- Pray - Invite God to transform you through the renewing of your mind.
- Read 1 Peter 5 - Choose a different translation today. Read it slowly and with lots of expression, as if you're reading it publicly. Pay attention to the structure of the chapter.
- Reread 1 Peter 5:5-11 - Make a list of all of the directives of these verses. Find one of the instructions on which to meditate.
- Apply - How will your life change as a result of these verses? Will it change?
- Comment - Tell us what the Lord is prompting you to do.
Happy studying! Thank you for your patience with me as I readjust to the working world!
Sometimes I think I forget what the devil's intentions are towards the believer. I fall into this "can't touch this" mentality. Verse 8 is a good reminder for me: "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour."
ReplyDeleteLindsey, your transparency is admired. Realizing this will help you lead this study more efficiently as you are not only leading a "laid out study" so-to-speak, but also leading by example a way of life we should live. Thank you for your honesty on where you're at. It encouraged me to keep my time with Him my top priority as well.
ReplyDeleteMy footnote explains something interesting about vs. 8. The translation I'm reading today is the NLT and it refers to the devil as "like a roaring lion." My footnote said that lions attack sick, young, or straggeling animals and that they choose victims who are alone or not alert. Vs. 9 then instructs us to "take a firm stand against him." This immediately inspired me to read Ephesians 6 regarding putting on the armor of God, so I did. That helped even more to emphasize the reality of the spiritual battle that we war against every day.
I liked how vs. 10 put our suffering in perspective by Peter referring to it as "a little while." It is easy to feel like suffering will never end when I let my emotions have a pedastal to speak on. They can be just ridiculously discouraging and completely dramatic to say the least. I was encouraged when I read Peter's reminder that our time here of suffering is but only a short, brief time when compared to eternity.
So note to self: Think during times of suffering from a non-emotional, practical, eternal perspective AND from a grateful perspective, knowing that anything I'm suffering right now, here in America, does not even come close to what the people whom Peter was addressing were walking through in terms of the word "suffer."