1 Peter 1

1 Peter 1:3, 7 "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," "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:"

God has begotten us each individually by His indwelling spirit. His spirit gives us hope by His resurrection
Our trials work in us towards greater hope, towards greater faith, towards perfect peace. The trials we are sure to face provide but the choice is ours to allow them to work in us towards the greater good that God is lovingly trying to bring about in our lives through the trial.

1 Peter 1:12-13, "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. 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;"

Our trials are not for us alone, "which things the angels desire to look into" Our trials and responses to them are observed by the angels, among others, through our trials and proper response to them the angels are learning about the character of their creator and we too should be doing the same.
We are to prepare our minds "gird up the loins of your mind, be sober," We need to focus our minds upon the good of God having self control and hope in our thought life, Knowing that all things work together for good when we love God and are called according to His purpose.

1 Peter 1:15-16, "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."

Our personal holiness has exceeded the scribes and Pharisee’s in that we have Christ and His holiness indwelling us, living in us, and accounted too us. What we could not do for ourselves God has done for us through the finished work of His son.

1 Peter 1:18-19, "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; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:"

We have been redeemed by what God values, God has no value in gold or silver his value is in the holiness & obedience of His Son, which He willing gave to us out of His endless compassion and love. His Son was worthy and we are worthy in Him. God’s Values are found in the trials we face, we need to find the value and focus on what God wants us to know of Him as we struggle in our trials.


LOVING EACH OTHER

1 Peter 1:22, "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:"

As a result of what we have freely received we need to love others from the abundance of Christ in us. How is this sincere deep love for others expressed for our brother? In order to Love others we need to make the conscious choice to do and say what communicates love to them. In order to do this we must know and care enough about them to know how to communicates love to them.

Making Decisions

Acts 17:11

Making Decisions

1. All Decisions should be made in prayer.

Ephesians 6:18, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit”

2. All Decisions should be made in wisdom

James 1:5, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

3. All Decisions should be made in Faith.

James 1:6-8, "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."


TEST: We make decisions daily, all day from what we think about to what we do. When we make decisions we should make them as quickly as possible and move forward on the decision made, when made in faith. The test of a decision made in faith is found in our mental reaction after the decision is made if we are unsure and wavering; if we are tossed concerning our decision like driftwood we need to reflect whether a decision has been made in faith. Decisions made in faith are made believing.

Romans 8:28, "And we know that all (Decisions) work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (MPV)

Any decision we make in faith (Faith is the God pleasing factor) will work together for God’s Good and according to His purpose. We must Decide and Do moving forward, looking to see God work based upon the choice we made.

Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."