Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #90

Belonging to God

1 Peter 2

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 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." (v. 12) "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

My Thoughts

Paul reminds us that we belong to God. We are a people under God and for God. God brought us out of the darkness that we had been covered in, and brought us into his wonderful light, through His Son, Jesus. We have all received mercy, we need only accept it.

As God's people, we are called to Him. He has a great many things for us. Tasks for us to perform, blessings to give, lessons to learn and even to teach. It can never be a dull time with God, because either He has something for us to do or He has something to give us or to show us.

How cool would it be for those that don't know God to praise Him, to come to know him, through us? Especially if it just based on what those people see us do, how we act, what we say, even if we rarely mention God. That would be like seeing the attitude and respect of someone who was in the military, and knowing that they were in the military, without ever actually having any proof of it. You just know by their attitude and you say, "He has sure straightened up, he must've been in cadets," or, "You can tell she was in the army, she is so respectful of her elders."

When people know that you belong to God just by observing you, then you are doing a great job and God is surely pleased by that! If not, that doesn't mean that you are any less. It just means that you may need to take a look at yourself and spend some time in prayer. You may not even need to change.

Think of a theatre production. You have all the people on stage that are seen. Some people may even not be seen, even while on stage. There are also people who are not seen or not even on stage. They are still a part of the production, right? They are also important, are they not? The production could not be successful without those people behind the scenes. Same thing goes for us in God. Some of us are behind the scenes people for God.

Being behind the scenes does not mean hiding your faith. It just mean s that maybe you aren't as outward or forward. You still pray, you aren't ashamed, you tell people, but it's not something that you tell everyone you meet. Being behind the scenes, you support those who are on stage through prayer and communion with them.

God's plans involve you no matter what, whether you are on stage or behind the scenes. He needs you and you are important no matter what. We each belong to God, we are each a part of the production, and the end result is dependent on each one of us.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #82

Empty Life Filled

1 Peter 1

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 18-19) "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."

My Thoughts

Life without Christ is an empty life. That's really harsh to say,now isn't it? It certainly is the way I feel. I feel that my life would have no meaning if I didn't have Christ, because what would happen when I die? I can't take anything with me, I go out the way I came in, essentially. Jesus is eternal and through Him, I have eternal life. You do as well, through Jesus.

People try to fill their lives with a great number of things. Emotions, people, things, activities, knowledge. The list could probably go on longer. Do any of these things, or anything you can think of that doesn't include Jesus, actually give you lasting joy? Oh, maybe, as long as the things themselves last. Jesus is the only one who can give me lasting joy.

Our lives can only be filled by Christ. No matter how much you try to fill your life with other things, they will never truly give you purpose, they will never fill you to the top. The reason why is because, if you lose any of it, it's gone. All purpose that it gave you, all meaning it had to you, everything to do with it would be lost. It's not possible to lose Jesus though, unless you choose to. Jesus will never leave and because of that, your life will never be empty with Him.

Jesus gives us purpose in life. A far greater purpose than we could ever know without Him. That purpose is to live like Him, join Him in life and in death, and to introduce Him to others so that they can share in all of this. That is my purpose in life and that is what I hope to gain above all.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #44

Suffering for Doing Good

1 Peter 3

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 9) "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing." (v. 17) "It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than or doing evil."

My Thoughts

If you're going to suffer or doing good things, or the good that you do gets thrown back in your face, then what's the point? Why not just go along with the crowd and not care about trying to good things or trying to be nice to people or help them? There is a very important reason why you don't want to do that. That reason has to do with the kind of suffering you will have to endure.

When we sin; when we do any kind of evil act, not only do we usually end up answering for it here on Earth, but later on, after we die, we will have to answer to God. To suffer at the hands of men is nothing like the kind of suffering you would endure at the hands of God. God has the power to create life, to take life and to restore it, all in an instant. He is the One we should fear more than any other.

What can you possibly endure at the hands of men? Embarrassment, rejection, insult, injury, betrayal. Worse, torture and even death. Why is this a better consequence? These things only affect us as we are alive in this world. Death, obviously, cannot be recovered from, though afterward, when we die, we can spend eternity with God in heaven. If we value a good life over a God life, we will likely spend eternity apart from God. That is not at all what we want.

Even though people may hurt you in someway, always try to be the bigger person. Do not retaliate to them, do not grow spiteful and do not seek vengeance. God does not promise a good life or an easy life, but He promises eternal life. We need only accept His Son Jesus and follow in His ways. Any kind of suffering we face in life should be for Him, just as His suffering on the cross was for us.

No matter what evil you face in life, if you are following God and you are faithful to Him, your suffering is not in vain. You don't have to let people walk all over you; stand up for yourself always, but be respectful and do so with the love of God. By you standing up for yourself in this way, people will see that you are strong, and also that you are respectful and they may just see Jesus in you. Defend yourself for sure, but do not fight back; do not do what they do. Let your words and your actions in those situations show who you are in Christ.

Previous PostNext Post

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!