1 Peter Devotional | Week 10: July 4 - July 8

Read 1 Peter 3:8-14a, focusing on what it looks like for Peter’s readers to “keep their conduct among the Gentiles honourable” (1 Pt. 2:12).

• What are the things that Peter wants his readers to know about…
  • The kind of things they should have –  v. 8
  • The kind of things they should do – vv. 9-11

Peter turns his attention to consider the kind of lives Christians should live as “sojourners and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11).  Pray today in Repentance and Supplication, asking God to forgive you for where you haven’t lived like this, and for help to live in these ways.

Read 1 Peter 3:8-14a again. Today as you read, focus on the responses Peter says Christians should expect as they “keep their conduct among the Gentiles honourable” (1 Peter 2:12).

• What kind of treatment should they expect from the world – vv. 9, 14
• What kind of treatment should they expect from God – vv. 10, 12, 14

Peter wants his readers to understand the two extremes they will experience; suffering at the hands of the world, and blessing at the hands of God.  Pray today in Thanksgiving and Supplication, thanking the Father for the blessings he gives, and asking that the Holy Spirit would encourage you when you face suffering.

Peter calls Christians to live in such a way that will enable them to receive what God has promised them. Let’s look at a few examples where God called his people to:

• Read Leviticus 20:22-26.  What was Israel to expect that God would do for them as they obeyed His commands?
• Read Psalm 34:12-22. What did God promise to provide for His people?
• Read Jeremiah 16:11-13.  What is warned about for those who do not obey God?  What will happen to them when they turn away from him?

Pray today in Supplication, asking that the Holy Spirit would show you how you might no longer forget God and his ways, and would bring to your mind these things throughout your day.

Yesterday we read that, in the Old Testament, God’s people were to live as God had called them to live, that they would receive God’s blessing. Today we will look at the New Testament to see those same things that Peter is reminding his readers of.

• Read Matthew 5:10-12 – Which other people have experienced difficulties for their faithfulness to God?
• Read 2 Corinthians 4:16-17 – How are we to view our present difficulties?
• Read Philippians 1:27-30 – How are we to live in the midst of present difficulties?

Pray today again in Thanksgiving and Supplication! Worship God, who has counted us worthy to suffer like Jesus did, and ask God to remind you of the great hope you have because of Jesus!

Read 1 Peter 3:8-14a and focus on the exhortations that Peter gives.

• 1 Peter 3:8 – How is it that we are to live towards one another?
• 1 Peter 3:9 – How do we respond when we are opposed by the world?
• 1 Peter 3:10-14a – What do we anticipate as we live faithful lives, even as we suffer?

Pray today in Repentance and Supplication, asking that Holy Spirit would convict you of the ways that you have not lived well, either towards other Christians or towards the world, and asking that God would fill you with His Spirit so that you would love and live the kind of life you are called to as one who belongs to Him because of His Son.