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.

1 Peter 2

We are part of something big...very big and we are to act as if we are part of something big.

⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood...

...

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ 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.  

...

¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 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. 

...

¹⁵ For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.

Peter here says it all in both verse 12 and 15 - it MUST be clear to others that we are special so that others may want to be part of God's kingdom and His plans.

My Prayer: Lord, You are beyond reproach is You are perfect, blameless and holy - and I am not.  Yet I want to better Lord, much better.  Thank You for all that You are and what You have done for me.  I pray Lord that You will prepare me, purify me, and transform both my heart and my life so that I can appear as a foreigner and an exile in this world...that I may be accused of doing wrong according to worldly standards...that others may see my life and then come to You through worship and acceptance of You as their savior also.  Prepare me, purify me, transform me, and take me Lord Jesus...use me.  

17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.

1 Peter 1

¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. ¹⁸ 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 ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

 ²² Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. ²³ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ²⁴ For,

   “All people are like grass,
   and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
 

 ²⁵ but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

   And this is the word that was preached to you.

In the New Testament, you don't read much about a God that is full of wrath but the truth is that we should still fear God.  As Peter writes here, God:

- judges each person's work impartially
- is mightier than all forces in live, including death

For these reasons - and of course other reasons - we are to, as Peter implores us, to fear God, and in so doing, live a life accordingly.  In other words, live a life that it is clear we are for God.   It should be so apparent that we appear as "foreigners".

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are mightier than all and I have seen Your might and ways work in my life and I am in awe.  I confess also that I need You in my life desperately because I am so full of sin, including laziness, unwholesome thoughts, and disobedience.  Thank You for all that You have done for me as I don't deserve it - please forgive me for my sin today and please rid me of my sin.  Purify and transform my heart and my life and help me live with reverent fear of You and in so doing live a life that it is clear I am not of this world but for You - Jesus Christ.

15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

1 Peter 1

¹³ Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

The question for me is - how am I to be holy?

A key answer I believe is found in Romans 12:2 where Paul says:

² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

The renewing of the mind is accomplished through scripture, prayer, worship, and fellowship.   Moreover, a balanced approach as I have read here seems an even better approach.

My Prayer: Lord, You are pure and holy like no other - and despite my failings You love me, have died for me, and chose me (before the beginning of time).  I am not worthy of this love and focus for I am broken and will continue to be broken and imperfect as sinful as I am.  I am thankful for all that You are and do for me and I am deep need for You to continue to be in my life as my Lord and Savior.  Lord Jesus, help me be holy and help me renew my mind and in so doing transform my heart and my life to be more like You.

These [trials] have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1 Peter 1

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 

First, I am to be filled with joy through the hope of an inheritance provided to me through Christ and this inheritance will never perish, spoil or fade...indeed!

Second, although I am to experience trials, I am to demonstrate great joy to prove and provide witness to the genuineness of my faith...so that Christ is to be praised, glorified, and honored.

These are piercing verses as many times I lack joy or I lack the demonstration of joy to the extent that Christ is glorified.

My Prayer: Lord, I KNOW that You have provided a rich inheritance that will never perish, spoil, or fade.  Yet I confess to You that this is not something that I make myself aware of on a daily basis or on a basis that enables me to be joyful as You call us to be.  I thank You for Your great mercy that you shown to me and once again today and in need of such mercy - please forgive me Lord Jesus for my lack of joy and failure to demonstrate a faith the glorifies Jesus Christ.  Please purify me of this sin and transform my heart and my life and make me Yours Lord Jesus.

16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

James 5

¹³ Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 

I am well aware that I am to pray.  This is a reminder for me to pray.  And not just to pray but to pray WITH each other and FOR each other.

My Prayer: Lord, You are SO worth of praise for You have answered my call every single time and You have blessed me beyond what I deserve.  That You are always there for me and that You love me as You do is amazing - because Lord Jesus I am broken without You.  I slander in my heart and I am lazy and disobedient.  I thank You for the blessings You have bestowed upon me and of course because You died for me but again I am no deserving.  Please once again forgive me for my sin today and please purify and refine me Lord Jesus.  Help me pray in earnest on all occasions WITH my brothers and sisters and FOR them.

As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.

James 4

¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.  

In addition God says this about worrying:

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:25-27

Earlier in James I also read:

Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. James 1:14

Bottom line: Fill your heart with the Lord such that your desires are driven by the Holy Spirit and not by earthly influences because otherwise you will be drawn to worry and then sin.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, YOUR plans are perfect and glorious.  I have seen them not only in my own life but also in the lives of others.  Your plans are evidence of how great You are and  how great Your love is for me and all of Your children.  Yet I am not deserving of such love because I am prone to evil desires and I act on these evil desires.  While I am thankful for Your forgiveness I am once again in need Your cleansing power.  Forgive me and then please help purify and refine me such that my heart and my life is transformed.

Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another.

James 4

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? 

I sit in judgment often, not seeing others as God sees them.  In addition, God says this:

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Col 3:12

,,,

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.  1 Thes 5:11

In fact, I often sit in judgment with those most close to me, including my wife Lisa and my sons Zach and Dustin. 

My Prayer: Lord, You are awesome just because You love me - I say this because I am full of sin and deeply broken.  I slander often.  I thank You of course for Your love but also for the many blessings that You pour out to me and over me...again and again and every day.  Please forgive me for my slander and purify me of this wicked sin.  Purify and transform both my heart and my life.  Help me be more like You.

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.

James 4

¹ What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴ You adulterous people,^[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

   “God opposes the proud
   but shows favor to the humble.”

 ⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. 

All of these words speak to my desires - which are earthly indeed!  I am guilty of becoming a friend of the world so I have sinned greatly against God as in the words of James have become an enemy of God.   I need to humble myself, submit to God, "grieve, mourn and wail" out of desperation to have God give me more grace that I don't deserve. 

My Prayer: Lord, You are awesome in all that You are and all that You do.  Your creation is incredible, Your love is boundless and so is Your grace.  I confess to You now that I am guilty of laziness and of being a friend of this world and an enemy of Yours.  I know you have previously forgiven me Lord Jesus and You have blessed me beyond imagination - for all of this I am thankful.  Yet I come to You now empty handed with nothing I can say or do but to beg for Your forgiveness.  I also ask of You to purify and transform my heart and my life - take my please as I desire to be fully Yours Lord Jesus.

17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

James 3

 ¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵ Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

 ¹⁷ But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸ Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

This is why I must fill myself with scripture - because I desire purity, peace, and wisdom that comes from God alone so that I can demonstrate fruits of the spirit.

My Prayer: Lord, Your words and scripture are pure, holy, and life giving - beyond any wisdom I can attain on earth.  I confess to you now that I often either live a live avoiding scripture or I seek wisdom that is earthly - more so than seeking scripture than is heavenly.  Thank You for providing Your scripture and of course Your Holy Spirit so that I can filled with both.  Please help me Jesus - forgive me for my selfish, lazy ways and for my desires to seek earthly matters first before Your word.  Purify me of these sins - transform both my heart and my life so that I can be more like You.

9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

James 3

³ When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴ Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵ Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 

 ⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, ⁸but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

 ⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. 

This is a deeply piercing set of verses to me as I curse with my tongue far more than I praise or encourage.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are full of both encouraging and caring words designed for Your glory and for me to become more like You.  You are the standard for which I should strive in terms of my tongue and how I use it for Your glory.  I on the other hand, as James says, am full of harsh words and other unwholesome talk.  I thank You Jesus that You have blessed me, died for me, forgiven me - because I am clearly not deserving of such love.  I pray of course that You forgive me for my harm that I do with my tongue and I pray Lord Jesus that You will help me tame my tongue and use it solely for Your glory.  Purify and transform my heart and my life Lord Jesus.

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?

James 2

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 

I do serve this begs the question whether I am serving enough or whether I am doing what God intends for me.  Clearly I can always do more and I can always be questioning and seeking in prayer to understand God's will for me to serve.

My Prayer:  Lord Jesus,Your deeds are great as I see them both in the world and in my own life.  You work miracles and You are full of grace and love. I am not deserving of such grace and love as I am selfish Lord.  I thank You for how You have blessed me and forgiven me.  I am also thankful that You are in my life.  Please forgive me Lord Jesus for my selfishness and help me focus on You and others as I want to be more like You.  Transform both my heart and my life Lord Jesus and do with me as You wish so that I can be more like You.  Help me also understand Your will for my life - write a message on my heart and help me obey and follow You with all of my heart.

1 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.

James 2

¹ My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. ² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. ³ If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

At first glance I don't see favoritism in my relationships and in my life but upon closer inspection it is there:
- there are people in my life with whom I choose not to share the gospel, including my immediate family
- there are people to whom I choose not to display love as Jesus directs me to

It's not a matter of how someone looks - for me it boils down to how I feel, and very often I don't feel like it - how selfish is that!

My Prayers: Lord, You are of course a great God that does NOT show favoritism as you welcome all, especially those in need!  I on the other hand, do show favoritism and it is my own selfishness that is the cause (there may be more reasons why and this could be just the tip of the iceberg).  I thank You Lord Jesus how You extend Your welcoming arms to me at ALL times despite what I do - I am clearly not worthy.  Please forgive me for my selfishness and my self-centered-ness.  Please rid me and purify me of this sin Lord Jesus and help me focus more on You.  Transform both my heart and my life and do with me as You please as I truly desire to be Your servant with all of my heart. 

26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.

James 1

²⁶ Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

I am pierced once again by God's word as I have NOT kept a tight rein on my tongue with regards to encouraging words.  I often speak discouraging words to my own family and to others.

My Prayer: Lord, I know You love me and You forgive me and for this I am in awe - because by a long shot I do not deserve it  Please forgive me for my neglect of You and for my discouraging words that I speak to others.  I am not only deeply thankful for Your love but also for how it is demonstrated by the many blessings you have bestowed to me.  Again I am not deserving.  Help me draw closer to You Lord Jesus and help me live a life pleasing to you.