1 Peter 1:1-25 KJV 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. 13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. 17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: 18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. 22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. This site really is not a biog but at times I guess one could say I do share from my own life and so it makes it a type of biog. Yet it usually only to share testimony of faith as well. Despite how much Bible a person has in their lie, it does not mean they will always do it God's way. God's protective hand is always on the life of a believer, but there are times in life when a believer will rebel against the things of God or the word of God. Some might consider their rebellion going a little to far from God and yet I find in my own rebellion God never left me. What I mean is despite my mistakes God was still trying to reach into my soul to quiet the pain that caused the rebellion. What causes rebellion is often never discussed much. In fact one talks about faith as being only good and warning against evil. When the devil attacks the young in faith, it as if the devil snuck into the sheep fold and carried the lamb off only for the shepherd to come running after the devil that stole the sheep. When the shepherd finds the sheep, many wounds are found from the teeth marks of the devil. Rebellion can begin with emotional pain within. One has to deal with it sooner or later, if later then their going to be other garabage and wounds as well. Yet despite the rebellion whose sheep are we? We are Christ sheep. He is going to come after us. The devil knew he stole a marked child of God and so he can not hurt him the same way he can unmarked child. He can toss the sheep up in the air and it can land on its feet. He might be tossed in the air land on his back, He might even play with it as a cat does a toy, but the sheep is still Christ's. Any harm the devil does the Lord can heal, but the scars might remain for proof of what Christ has healed. What does a rebellious sheep need, but a reminder of what Christ has already done for them, Who they are as Christ dear children. Reminded they have a call on their life to be holy. To act as children of God. Not pretended act, but to live according to scripture, those scars and pain will remain until the healing comes, but the rebellion of being tempted and failed is not acceptible behavior as a child of God. What then can I say, why remember who child we are, why remember if we are only going to fail at times in our life. Did Christ die in vain. Did he die for us to forget the cost of his sacrifice. Of course not. After my rebellious streak I can always remember how fresh God's word always seemed to me. It not only brings one to their knees but it waters the thirstiness of their soul. Rebellion is like being in a hot desert and not even being able to find oasis, yet when one is found it is like being in heaven. It like have a drink of pure water and pouring it in only to be reminded of one's mistakes for repentance and one's hungry of knowledge of God's word. There is always water to be found in the desert one has to know how to look for it. If you look to the cactus you find water but your going to get pricked. See the devil knows plenty of scripture but not as much as the oasis. The oasis is that watering hole for all God's creatures that live in the desert. Most of us live in the desert, seldom do we live on the mountaintop of faith, but if you can live on the mountain or valley, their enough greeny unless their a severe drought. Why do people live in the desert, if not much water or fresh crop there, because in truth many lost are needing the oasis and need people to bring them to the oasis once found. God takes the desert hike and uses it for his glory to get people out of the desert. Did he allow the devil to take you out of the sheep fold. Did the devil lurer you out of the pen by telling you can climb the fence or did he reach in and steal you. If you climb the fence then you found yourself in the desert where yes their are some waterholes. In fact you went and got a refreshment of water only to run back into the desert. What am talking about you personally, no not necessarily, you being pronoun used to demonstrate maybe the author, maybe someone else or maybe you. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God, many saved sinners fall short of God's glory and sit in pews. They live on sunday in church only to go out on monday and find the biggest sin out there to commit, and lets not forget those small infactions. Then one comes back to the water hole in the church. Only to discover sin is not being discuss but who we are in Christ as a believer. God is going to speak to our hearts either by telling about our sin, or telling us whose child you are now. God rather pump you up with the knowledge of whose child you are and how you were saved then to tell you, you are still sinning. Why because are sin is covered by Christ blood, no longer visible to God. That sin is covered, then why speak of it. The answer is simple, God wants us to live by his grace, but wants us to strive to be more like our Savior in obedience to Him. Devil can not steal the sheep if they listen to the Shepherd. The sheep is not going over the fence if he is obeying the Shepherd. God wants to heal our hearts and our diseases. He wants to heal the emotional baggage we carry. It more then laying it at the cross of Calvary but coming to terms of what left there at the cross so we no longer have to visit the garabage heap. You are going to mess up your relationship with God and the reason being it is the perfect relationship. The most perfect relationship gets messed up if we fail to do our part. How do we learn to do our part, through the sanctification process, through the correction process of what is of God and what is not. The understanding process that God did not cause the pain you are feeling, but it part of the emotional baggage one carries and lays at the cross. God wants to give you coping skills as his child, he wants your hurt to go. He wants the stumbling blocks in our life to be removed. Yet first we need to lay them at his feet. Second we have to wait on Him. The teachers and ministers at the time after Christ resurrection and during Christ ministry looked into the things Christ did and taught. Did the story of the cross match the prophesy of the Messiah. They researched it to find truth. God desires us to understand his truth to obey His truth and to know HIs truth. God desires us to live holy. God desires us to follow Him. God desires to purify us with fire. Fire that purifies us is like the refiner soap that cleanses all the filth off our skin, but also cleanses our soul. Christ comes to live in our hearts to purify us. To cleans us to make us holy before God the Father. To make us shine because we are his child. He desire to take our abilities and give us also new abilities to transform us into people worthy of being called his child and called to be holy. To be his child is to be called to holiness. Now that shepherd hook that keeps you feet from slipping, well is there to teach us not only how to live but how to obey the truth. At the teenage years, the sheep kind of wants to do his own thing and often thinks it just doesn't matter but in truth it effects you the rest of your life, because it helps you grow up. With failure comes knowledge of wrong and with success comes knowledge of accomplishment and achievement. Achievement that one was created for success and not failure, despite what life brings our way. That the stumbling is faith is so we learn to watchout for the stumbling stones of faith and rely on the rock of salvation Jesus. Don't sweat the mistakes just fix your eyes back on Jesus, He will enable. Remember when Peter walked on water and he took his eyes off Jesus because of the huge waves around him. He began to sink, but when he look back to Jesus he was no longer sinking but walking. Walk, don't sink. Keep yours eyes on the foundation of your faith built on Christ Jesus. Dear Heavenly Father, keep us from sinking, and hold us our gaze on your Son so we will be the successful in faith for you. In Jesus precious name, Amen. http://www.turtle30cshell.com