EXPAND TO READ: 1 PETER 5 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 5b): This has probably been one of the biggest struggles of mine since coming to faith. I do struggle with pride and not in a good way. I often dig into my pride when I feel attacked, put down, not respected, or even rejected. Digging into my pride like this often leads me to irritability, anger, and even rejection of others. I ask that You forgive me for my fleshly pride, Father. Forgive me for often dwelling and living in a prideful manner that is not the pride You expect of me. Help me to live more in humility, but also to know when it is my fleshly pride arising versus my spiritual pride. I am a proud follower of Jesus Christ, but I do feel that I far too often allow my fleshly pride to take over me instead of allowing my spiritual pride to lead the way. Continue to convict me of my faults, Father, but also to continue to teach me lessons on Your ways of living so that I can slowly but surely continue to embrace Your ways to replace my fleshly ways.
PROMISE (verses 8-9): I really do love the promise You give us here as well as the warning. You tell us to be serious in our faith and alert at all times because the enemy is always prowling; this is the warning. Then You continue on by promising us that we are not alone in our sufferings. You promise us that there are other Christians in this world suffering just as we are. I came to know and understand this promise far more in my heart after joining the Real Men 300. I realized that I was not the only one going through difficult times in my faith, in my marriage, in my parenting, in my friendships, and in life and general. Thank You for revealing to me multiple times that the difficulties I face in this life are not unique to me; that I am not alone in this world. Thank You for providing other Godly men in my life to combat the enemy and my flesh on a daily basis.
ATTITUDE (verses 6-7): Not only do You tell me to humble myself, but You also say to cast all of my cares onto You, because You care about me. Help me to fully embrace an attitude of humility in this life, Father. Humility so that I do not feel prideful over the things that happen or that I feel in this life. Humility so that when I do struggle, I do not feel like I shouldn’t “burden” You with my issues. Humility so that I can go to You through all things and release those burdens in my life to You. Humility so that when I try to be a Godly man in this life for You, for my wife, for my children, and for those around me that I am never too proud to ask for help, take advice, or even do things that I wouldn’t normally do so that Your kingdom is glorified through me. Help me with walking in humility and with consistently allowing myself to cast all of my cares onto You always remembering that You care about me more than I could ever fathom.
COMMAND (verse 5a): Quite simply, You command us to be subject to our elders in our faith. I have struggled with this quite a bit because I often think to myself that their “old-fashioned” ways are not ways that I should be living. I often think to myself that the words they’re saying don’t apply to me and that I should just seek revelation and wisdom elsewhere. This is not what You’ve called me to do and through experience I’ve found that this is simply the enemy trying to deceive me. The enemy is very slick in his deceptions and I’ve found that had I listened to my elders in those moments I would’ve made much wiser choices in my life. Had I listened instead of being deceived, I would be much further along in my faith right now instead of going through all the struggles I went through for almost a decade. I am still learning to release my previous, immature, and rebellious self, Father, but I know You are always there for me to teach me a better way of living this life. I know that You are always there to push me in the right direction even though I have been quite immature and rebellious in my life thus far. Thank You for never leaving me, Father.
EXAMPLE (verse 10): The example You’ve given here is one that I really need to be better at embracing fully in my life. You tell me that You called me to eternal glory in Christ Jesus. You tell me that You will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support me after I have suffered a little. I have found this to be amazingly true in my spiritual journey. You have allowed me to suffer in my life, but most of that suffering was self-inflicted. It doesn’t mean I can’t learn from it, be restored from it, and come out stronger in the end than I ever was. This is what the power of Your grace gives to our lives. This is what the power of Jesus’s blessings on my life allows me to experience. Thank You for allowing me to suffer at times, Father, even though most of that was self-inflicted. Thank You for always sharing with me a lesson to learn from those experiences, even if I was extremely immature and rebellious going through those experiences.
*DAILY NOTE: Today’s conversation definitely harps heavily on humility and leaning on You through all things, which I needed at this time. I do struggle with living a humble life for Your kingdom. I do struggle with casting all of my cares onto You. I even struggle at times with truly embracing how endless Your love and grace are towards me. Thank You for the reminders today, Father. Thank You for reminding me about my prideful ways, so that I do not dip back into them. Thank You for reminding me that You are always there for me, no matter what I’ve done. Thank You for reminding me that Your love for me is more powerful than anything I could fathom and anything I can experience in this life from the world. I have struggled with truly embracing the love from others and even from You throughout my life, often going into a rebellious mindset. I ask that You help me with this as well, Father. Help me to truly receive Your love into my heart fully, so that it overwhelms anything negative that I am holding up in there. Help me to embrace Your love so much that it overflows out of me to others on a daily basis. Thank You for 1 Peter, Father. Thank You for all the amazing conversations we’ve had the last several days in this book as well as all of the lessons You’ve taught me.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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