{"id":424,"date":"2017-06-29T06:32:05","date_gmt":"2017-06-29T14:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=424"},"modified":"2017-06-29T06:32:56","modified_gmt":"2017-06-29T14:32:56","slug":"424","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=424","title":{"rendered":"Devotions\u00a0\u00a0 1 Peter 1:3-9 \u00a0\u00a0Come In And Rest, All Is Ready\u00a0 Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Peter 1:3-9<\/strong> – 3\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!\u00a0In His great mercy\u00a0He has given us new birth\u00a0into a living hope\u00a0through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,\u00a04\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>and into an inheritance\u00a0that can never perish, spoil or fade.\u00a0This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>who through faith are shielded by God\u2019s power\u00a0until the coming of the salvation\u00a0that is ready to be revealed\u00a0in the last time.\u00a06\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>In all this you greatly rejoice,\u00a0though now for a little while\u00a0you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.\u00a07\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>These have come so that the proven genuineness\u00a0of your faith\u2014of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire\u2014may result in praise, glory and honor\u00a0when Jesus Christ is revealed.\u00a08\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him\u00a0and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,\u00a09\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.<\/span><\/p>\n

They mysteries of God are never ending.\u00a0 Here we see that we have received new spiritual birth only by the great mercy of God.\u00a0 To that we heartily and thankfully echo the opening doxology of verse 3.\u00a0 As in Ephesians 2:8-10a<\/strong> we are saved entirely by the grace of God.\u00a0 Yet, we have our part in it, we must have faith.\u00a0 These verses in Ephesians clearly state that we are saved by the grace God has extended to us.\u00a0 John 3:16 <\/strong>clearly states that this grace was extended to the whole world, but John 3:18-21<\/strong> clearly show that not all will receive this grace because of unbelief.\u00a0 Because of a lack of faith.\u00a0 So this grace from God is freely given to all who will come.\u00a0 All are invited, but not all come (Matthew 22:1-14<\/strong>).\u00a0 How could all not come if we are all invited.\u00a0 Obviously man has a free will that God has chosen to not overrule.\u00a0 The fact that believers have a free will is manifest.\u00a0 If man does not have a free will, if believers do not have a free will, then why do we sin?\u00a0 We have a choice to sin or not.\u00a0 We are not automatons that merely act and speak as programmed.\u00a0 There is no true love and no true beauty in that.\u00a0 In fact, thinking that we have no free will, but are preprogrammed robots makes God to be a being who is either not confident that He will be loved by a free-willed people, or it means that He is an egotist who merely desires the words of praise regardless of their sincerity.\u00a0 But we know that God lacks no confidence (not arrogance but sure knowledge) because He is omniscient and being omniscient means that is also fully self-aware and that would mean that He knows He is omnipotent and that with Him, all things are possible (Mark 10:27<\/strong>).\u00a0 God is not proud but is humble.\u00a0 He has revealed to us that He hates pride, it was the first sin in the devil, and we are called to eschew it at any cost (Proverbs 6:16-17, Isaiah 14:13-15, 1 John 2:15-16<\/strong>).\u00a0 Our God has no unrighteous pride, but rather a sure self-awareness.\u00a0 God knows who He is and is confident that Believers will step forward and love Him purely because of who He is.\u00a0 In Job, the devil challenges that knowledge of God (Oh liars think everyone else lies! How detestable and disrespectful the enemy is to our God.\u00a0 His time is coming!).\u00a0 The devil says that Job will not love God purely for who He is.\u00a0 The devil claims that Job only serves God because He loves the blessings that He receives from God. But God knows better (as always!)\u00a0 After the devil strips Job of all earthly blessings, except life itself, the love of Job for God, and His trust in Him, remains strong.\u00a0 In fact, Job was stronger afterward than he was before.\u00a0 The devil, unbeknown to himself, was tool of God to prove Job\u2019s love for Him and thereby strengthen and deepen Job\u2019s love of, and faith in, God.\u00a0 Oh, the Lord is so beyond anything and anyone else!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n

God is confident that He can give man free will and that men (not all) will love Him rather than all that the world (and the devil) has to offer.\u00a0 And here is the mystery, if we have a choice, does that mean that we have a part in our salvation, because we have chosen to respond in faith.\u00a0 No! Not at all!\u00a0 Remembering that Ephesians 8:8 <\/strong>states that we have been saved by grace, through a faith, that is not of ourselves, but is a gift of God.\u00a0 A parent calls his child into the living room of their home and gives his child a bicycle with training wheels.\u00a0 The parent teaches the child how to ride the bike.\u00a0 Though the bike has training wheels, the parent runs beside the child to make sure the child is not hurt and does not give up. The parent knows that he can teach the child and that the child will learn to ride, and that by learning to ride the child will be blessed by it.\u00a0 Soon, with the training wheels on, the child can ride the bike with confidence.\u00a0 After a period of time, the training wheels come off and the parent runs beside the child again.\u00a0 Soon, the parent lets go and the child is riding on his own.\u00a0 The parent called the child.\u00a0 The child responded to parents call.\u00a0 The parent gave the bike as a gift.\u00a0 The child accepted the gift but didn\u2019t know how to use it.\u00a0 \u201cNo worries\u201d said the parent, \u201cI will be with you and teach you.\u201d\u00a0 The parent was always at the side of the child, with a hand steadying the child, and trained the child.\u00a0 The child learned to ride the gift the parent had given.\u00a0 Similar to this, God has worked in our life to prepare us to respond to His call.\u00a0 He called us and we responded to His call.\u00a0 He offered us a free gift of love, Himself.\u00a0 He taught us to get on this gift, trust Him and enjoy the gift.\u00a0 The child takes no credit, he was called to receive the gift, shown how to ride and enjoy the gift, and protected and encouraged all along.\u00a0 This is an example of an infinitely more profound truth.\u00a0 God knows who He is, He knows how He made us, He knows that His creation needs Him, and those who respond He calls His own.\u00a0 He knows that free-willed people (not all) will love Him.<\/p>\n

We want to completely understand everything.\u00a0 We expect to understand everything.\u00a0 Yet we are not capable of completely understanding the ways of God, and even of our salvation.\u00a0 We look deeply into the endless that our eyes and understanding are incapable of fully viewing or knowing.\u00a0 Yes, we have a free will.\u00a0 The will is a gift from God.\u00a0 Yes, we have faith, it also is gift from God.\u00a0 The mercy and grace we received from God are a gift that come from His love, grace and mercy that are part of His love, are a part of Him.\u00a0 We have done nothing for our faith, we have been called, welcomed, and had everything provided.\u00a0 In appreciation for who God is, we gradually learn to love God solely for who He is.\u00a0 In appreciating the wonder, the beauty, the love, and the eternal superiority of God we praise and glorify Him as we bow our heads to God while looking up and adoring who He is.\u00a0 Job did this.\u00a0 Oh how the devil must have been furious and angry that Job did what he could not do.\u00a0 Job loved God for being God and trusted Him without fully understanding.\u00a0 So are we called!\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u00a0 How awesome is our God!\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/strong> – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/strong> – But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/strong> – He has shown you, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 Peter 1:3-9 – 3\u00a0Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!\u00a0In His great mercy\u00a0He has given us new birth\u00a0into a living hope\u00a0through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,\u00a04\u00a0and into an inheritance\u00a0that can never perish, spoil or fade.\u00a0This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,\u00a05\u00a0who through faith are shielded…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[1850,1843,177,1847,1848,1844,1841,1838,92,7,43,1836,815,103,1849,100,1834,93,101,1835,94,1840,1845,1846,1204,90,9,87,88,17,1839,26,1502,126,643,1837,1851,882,1842,445],"class_list":["post-424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-appreciation","tag-automaton","tag-birth","tag-detestable","tag-disrespectful","tag-egotist","tag-ephesians","tag-fade","tag-faith","tag-god","tag-grace","tag-hoe","tag-inheritance","tag-isaiah","tag-job","tag-john","tag-lord-jesus-christ","tag-mark","tag-matthew","tag-mecy","tag-micah","tag-mysteries","tag-omnipotent","tag-omniscient","tag-perish","tag-peter","tag-praise","tag-pride","tag-proverbs","tag-psalm","tag-ready","tag-rest","tag-resurrection","tag-salvation","tag-spiritual","tag-spoil","tag-superiority","tag-trials","tag-unbelief","tag-understand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=424"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":426,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions\/426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}