Thursday, November 5, 2015

I Peter 1 - "From The Inside Out"


During the night the Lord had me praying for a few different people. I also had a dream that I am trying to figure out which one(s) it goes with. All of the ones I was praying for were for them to allow the Lord to be King of Kings in their lives. The words to "From The Inside Out" came to my mind as I prayed...

My heart and my soul, I give You control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise, become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Your will above all else, my purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame


Oh how I pray more people will know these words as their daily mantra. In order to fully receive Him we must fully surrender to Him. We can't keep anything from Him. As I was teaching the children last night the idea that not only does He know what we do but He knows what we think came out. The children seemed to grasp that idea quite easily but I know of some adults who don't get it. It saddens me to see/hear people who pretend to be right in their relationship with the Lord yet blatantly are not. He knows our thoughts. He knows our thoughts. We cannot just go through the motions of being a Christ-follower. We must allow Him to work in and through us. It is not enough to accept the Lord, one must also follow through in living for Him. 

I Peter reads about the idea of being holy. If we truly want to have a transformation in our spiritual life, we need to realize it starts in our mind. We have to learn how to think differently, do life differently, etc. It is through the changes we take in all we do and think  that we will draw closer to the Lord. As we draw closer to Him, we will be able to hear from Him. We will gain a whole new intimacy with Him as we seek to live a holy life. Matthew Henry writes:

"Holiness is the desire and duty of every Christian. It must be in all affairs, in every condition, and towards all people. We must especially watch and pray against the sins to which we are inclined. The written word of God is the surest rule of a Christian's life, and by this rule we are commanded to be holy every way. God makes those holy whom he saves."

It is pretty cool that one of the things the children mentioned last night when I asked them what we can do to not sin was "read our Bible." Once again, the kids get it. Oh how I pray for their little hearts to be protected from evil things. I pray they will be strong in their faith to stand up against the things that can tear them down. I also pray for more people to read and let the words of I Peter 1 sink in...especially verses thirteen through sixteen...


Dear Jesus,
Thank You for loving me so much. Thank You for empowering me to live a life of holiness. Lord, I pray each and every day for Your words to be my words. Lord, fill me to overflowing to where You ooze out of me. The desire of my heart is for people to see You in me. Lord, I pray for those who are pretending. I know You know all and they can't fool You. But I also know they are fooling themselves and trying to fool others. Lord, genuineness must be in their spirit. Lord, come down upon all who call themselves Christ-followers and convict them of anything that is in their life that is not of You. I pray for You to reveal to all of us anything that can separate us from You. Thank You Jesus for being My Holiness! Amen.

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