Tag: called out
Chosen to proclaim!
Scripture reading for October 13th: 1st Peter 2
Key Scriptures: 1st Peter 2:9-11 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
Peter is writing to believers who were undergoing persecution from Jews on one hand and the government of Rome on the other. Peter encouraged them with truth concerning their true identity and calling. They had been chosen by God to be a royal priesthood, representing man to God in prayer and intercession. They were also a holy nation, set apart by God to live a holy life of obedience and faith shining as light in the darkness of this present world. God had called them out of the darkness and flooded them with His glorious light of truth and salvation. They were especially a people that God would dwell within and call His own because of the grace He had lavished on them. In response to their identity, these believers were given the opportunity and calling of proclaiming the surpassing greatness of God and to live on this earth as strangers and exiles while awaiting the King and His eternal kingdom!
1st Peter 2:20-21 “For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps.”
Faith confession and prayer: Father God, thank You for choosing me and giving me a new identity in Christ. As a part of the royal priesthood, help me to faithfully pray for those in need and the lost. Help me to hold this world loosely and proclaim Your excellencies passionately in worship and proclamation as I follow the example of Christ Jesus My Lord.
1st Peter 2:24-25 “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but now have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
Thankful to belong to God!
Scripture reading for December 20th: 1st Peter 1-5
Key Scriptures: 1st Peter 2:9-10 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
Peter wrote to the Jewish believers to encourage them that God had indeed chose them to belong to His family through faith in Jesus Christ. Believers are “chosen people” and a “royal priesthood” that continually offers praise to the One who called them out of the darkness of sin and fearful religion to a glorious holy people! “How wonderful! How marvelous, is my Savior’s love for me!”
Praising the Lord our God: “To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the Lord set His affection on your forefathers and loved them, and He chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today. . . . Fear the Lord your God and serve Him. Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His Name. He is your praise; He is your God, . .” (Deuteronomy 10: 15, 20-21)