{"id":427,"date":"2017-06-30T15:37:41","date_gmt":"2017-06-30T23:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=427"},"modified":"2017-06-30T15:37:41","modified_gmt":"2017-06-30T23:37:41","slug":"devotion-1-peter-13-9-a-plan-comes-together-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=427","title":{"rendered":"Devotion\u00a0\u00a0 1 Peter 1:3-9 \u00a0\u00a0A Plan Comes Together\u00a0 Part 2"},"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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In His mercy He has given us a spiritual birth.\u00a0 John 3:3 records Jesus telling Nicodemus \u201cVery truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.\u201d\u00a0<\/span> The word that Jesus used may more aptly be translated as \u201cfrom above.\u201d\u00a0 It is not worth quibbling over, but it does give us insight.\u00a0 If we are \u201cborn again\u201d it is because we have been born \u201cfrom above.\u201d\u00a0 But as we consider both translations, what Jesus was explaining was that while all are creatures of God, since He created all things (Colossians 1:16<\/strong>), yet not all people are His children.\u00a0 That is the reason He said that \u201cno one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0 Obviously we have all been born into human bodies, but those who seek after and love Jesus have a birth that gives them new life as a member of the family of God.\u00a0 It is at this point that the Holy Spirit comes to reside within a person.\u00a0 The person who does not know Jesus as Savior, and does not follow Him as Lord, does not love Him and therefore does not belong to Him.\u00a0 The Bible is clear that the only way to heaven is through Jesus (Acts 4:12, 1 Timothy 2:5<\/strong>).\u00a0 The only way to have the Holy Spirit within is through Jesus (John 20:22<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Born again.\u00a0 Genesis 2:7<\/strong> \u201c\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Then the\u00a0Lord\u00a0God formed\u00a0a man\u00a0from the dust\u00a0of the ground\u00a0and breathed into his nostrils the breath\u00a0of life,\u00a0and the man became a living being.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0 When God first made man He breathed life into Adam.\u00a0 The NIV here translates man as becoming a living being.\u00a0 The KJV, perhaps more accurately, translates this as man becoming a living soul.\u00a0 So what happened here is that God made the material man and then He breathed into man and man came alive.\u00a0 God breathed life, His life into man.\u00a0 It was only then that the man that God designed came alive.\u00a0 The essence of a man is spiritual and not physical.\u00a0 The physical body was inanimate until the Spirit of God was breathed into Him.\u00a0 It was at that time, when the Spirit of God was placed within the man that the spirit of the man came alive and he became a living soul.\u00a0 We see another example of this in Ezekiel 37<\/strong>. Therefore the man is only alive once the Spirit of God has been breathed within.<\/p>\n

After the man rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden, they were driven away from the communion they once had with God.\u00a0 Fellowship, or friendship with God had been severed.\u00a0 Man had become an enemy of God (Romans 5:10, Colossians 1:21<\/strong>).\u00a0 God had told Adam and Eve that they would die if they ate the forbidden fruit.\u00a0 God does not lie, immediately they spiritually died and their bodies began to die.\u00a0 So it is that we, all of mankind, have inherited the sin nature, from our common parents, Adam and Eve.\u00a0 The Bible relates spiritual separation from God as spiritual death.\u00a0 Because of the sin of Adam and Eve we all come into this world with inherited spiritual separation from God.\u00a0 We come in, with living bodies, but dead in the spirit.\u00a0 This was a dilemma for God.\u00a0 It was a dilemma because of His great love for us.\u00a0 That is why He sent Jesus to, by His suffering and dying as a man, pay the full price for our sins.\u00a0 He offers this a free gift to all who come to the Father through Jesus His Son (Ephesians 2:8-9<\/strong>).\u00a0 When we receive this gift of Jesus Christ into our life, the Lord once again breathes His Spirit into us, and once again life is imparted to mankind.\u00a0 Eternal life.\u00a0 Spiritual life.\u00a0 Now, we still have bodies that have the curse of sin upon them, so these bodies shall perish.\u00a0 But our born again, or born from above, spirits live forever.\u00a0 After our earthly lives are over, we will be given new bodies, eternal bodies that will never get sick or old, but shall live forever, our spirits being united with God for eternity.\u00a0 Adam may have rebelled against God, but God\u2019s love and faithfulness for Adam and Eve have never waned.<\/p>\n

So, we have received a living hope through Jesus, who was the first to permanently rise from the dead.\u00a0 He leads the way for all of us who would desire to belong to God.\u00a0 We come to a \u201cliving hope.\u201d\u00a0 Meaning that it is not something, like the manna the Hebrews ate, that brings sustenance and life but must be replenished lest the man perish.\u00a0 God, through Jesus, puts eternal life within us.\u00a0 He puts Himself within us.\u00a0 Just as He did breathed into Adam and Eve to give them life.\u00a0 The Spirit of God lives eternally and that is who is within the child of God.\u00a0 This is the inheritance that belongs to all of God\u2019s children who come to Him through Jesus.\u00a0 This is what we receive, \u201can inheritance\u00a0that can never perish, spoil or fade.\u00a0This inheritance is kept in heaven for you.\u201d\u00a0Who is the keeper of this inheritance, none other than God Himself!\u00a0 He gave it to us and He stands guard lest someone, or something, should try to snatch us from Him (John 10:28-30<\/strong>).\u00a0 He gives us this free gift and then protects and grows the gift as He lives within us.\u00a0 He never leaves or forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5<\/strong>).\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n

God surely must have been the first one who said \u201cI love it when a plan comes together.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, His plans always do.\u00a0 So we are safe in Jesus.\u00a0 Don\u2019t hope that you are going to heaven, know the reality of your destiny (1 John 5:13<\/strong>) and live a life of gratitude for love and grace of God that He has given us.\u00a0 Is God good, or is He good!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/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

 <\/p>\n

 <\/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":[1864,82,107,319,177,1867,1866,1863,1852,1854,566,1841,37,1838,92,23,277,1859,1241,1442,1865,354,1862,1860,7,78,1855,114,901,104,62,61,1861,815,100,535,1834,13,1868,95,1856,383,1204,90,9,17,575,1502,1130,10,126,1853,1857,779,643,1837,1858,882],"class_list":["post-427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-1-timothy","tag-acts","tag-adam","tag-bible","tag-birth","tag-breath-of-life","tag-breathed","tag-colossians","tag-communion","tag-dilemma","tag-dust","tag-ephesians","tag-eternity","tag-fade","tag-faith","tag-father","tag-fellowship","tag-fire","tag-friendship","tag-garden-of-eden","tag-genesis","tag-genuine","tag-glorious-joy","tag-glory","tag-god","tag-gold","tag-gratitude","tag-grief","tag-ground","tag-hebrews","tag-holy-spirit","tag-honor","tag-inexpressible","tag-inheritance","tag-john","tag-kingdom","tag-lord-jesus-christ","tag-love","tag-material-man","tag-mercy","tag-michah","tag-nostrils","tag-perish","tag-peter","tag-praise","tag-psalm","tag-rebelled","tag-resurrection","tag-revealed","tag-romans","tag-salvation","tag-separation","tag-shielded","tag-souls","tag-spiritual","tag-spoil","tag-suffer","tag-trials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427","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=427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":428,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions\/428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}