The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 3:1-7 (day four)

Peter points out a fatal flaw in the argument of false teachers who claim that Jesus is not returning. These false teachers, and other scoffers, look around and see no evidence of God’s intervention. In their view, the days, months, years, and generations pass by without even a wink from the divine. They see no evidence to support the claim that Jesus made – that he will return to rule the earth and restore all things – so they live unconcerned with God and his kingdom.

Peter reminds us that our very existence, the planet on which we stand and the galaxies we see each night, are proof that God’s Word is trustworthy. It is by God’s Word that the heavens were made, it is by God’s Word that the flowers bloom, and it is by God’s word that you and I exist today. Nothing happens apart from God’s Word.  It was the Word of God that took on flesh, died, and rose again. Everything in history has occurred just as God said it would. When we look around, we see abundant evidence that God’s Word is true, and that Jesus will return at exactly the right time, just like he said he would.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 3:1-7 (day two)

…that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. v. 2

Peter has railed against false teaching for much of his letter. The passage this week provides our path through the jungle of misinformation. Our constant companion throughout our faith journey is God’s Word. As we grow in our faith, we will better understand the mysteries of faith. It is our duty to weigh everything we hear, even by people we trust, against the Word of God. As you ask questions and begin conversations, you strengthen those muscles of discernment so that you may more easily recognize truth and falsehood. Be on guard, be in the Word, ask questions.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 2:17-22 (day seven)

For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. vs 21

Will there be false teachers in heaven? To say yes is to diminish the importance of teaching sound doctrine. To say no is to deny that these pastors or teachers ever knew the Lord at all. There are some false teachers who vehemently and un-repentantly are leading people astray. Others appear to have known the Lord at some point and have found themselves straying off course. It causes us to reframe the question: is it possible for someone to stray in their faith so far as to lose their salvation?

To put it bluntly: can you lose your salvation?

My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. John 10:29

When you make Jesus the Lord of your life, and the Holy Spirit regenerates your soul, there is nothing anyone can do to steal your salvation. Not even the devil himself. If you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, you will never be the same again. It is possible to slip up. It is possible to fall into sin, but a person who has truly tasted the goodness of God will never forget that taste and will always be drawn back for more.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 2:17-22 (day six)

Peter describes the false teachers as “springs without water.” They looked life-giving, but when thirsty souls came close, there was nothing to drink. Their words promised wisdom, but they delivered only emptiness.

Kingdom life, on the other hand, flows with the living water of Jesus. It’s the life that refreshes, restores, and gives hope to weary people. When the Spirit fills us, we don’t just speak truth—we become channels of His grace.

The question is not whether you look like a spring, but whether living water actually flows through you. Are people left thirsty after encountering you, or do they taste something of the goodness of God?

Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me… rivers of living water will flow from within them.” Let’s live as people whose lives overflow with His presence.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 2:17-22 (day five)

 “These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness.” 2 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Don’t you just love Pastor Peter’s heart?  We see that fiery emotional personality that first appeared in the gospels. Early as he just started following Christ, Peter was always ready to jump out, call out, and leave out- impetuous, reactive, and often uninformed. “Ready, Fire, Aim!!”

Yet God has redeemed his will, his heart, and his emotions. So that Peter’s passion and energy are used for God’s glory and effective ministry. Instead of being just an attacker, Peter is now also a protector. He is looking out for these new christians. He is caring for them as they begin to grow in the gospel. His attention is on both the false/fake teachers as well as the vulnerable christians. God has grown and shaped Peter’s heart and life. May The Spirit do that same refining work in us that we might be honed and shaped for service and ministry in the Kingdom of God!!

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 2:17-22 (day four)

…promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

A common mark of false teachers is that they portray their teaching, their way of life, or the product they’re pushing, as one that will bring you freedom. It might be the freedom to do what you want without consequences, the freedom to pursue worldly things without constraint, the freedom of sexual expression, or the freedom from the restrictions of traditional morality.

Americans might be especially susceptible to this. Freedom is kind of our whole schtick, isn’t it? If something is painted as a constraint to our freedom, we naturally want to cast it off.

Peter reminds us that Jesus also taught about freedom, but the freedom we see him offering looks very different from the false teachers described here. The freedom we’re offered through Christ is the freedom from sin, the freedom to serve, the freedom from fear, the freedom to approach the throne of God with boldness, the freedom to pursue a holy life, clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

This is true freedom. Be wary of messages that promote a kind of “freedom” that looks and sounds different from that of Christ, whatever the source. Galatians 5:1, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 2:17-22 (day three)

…the last state has become worse for them than the first.

Few things visit wreckage upon a soul more catastrophically than religion. (And to say that religion is not needed, only Jesus is needed, is to make enemies of two that are not enemies. Religion rightly experienced is that necessary involvement of persons of faith in a common life with one another. Jesus lived within a religion; his disciples dare not eschew it.) When religion is power, when religion is guilt, when religion is self-hatred, when religion is perfectionism, when religion is exclusivity, when religion is suspicion, when religion is contempt, when religion is judgmentalism, when religion is litmus test, when it is any of these things rather than a community wearing Jesus’s easy yoke and carrying his light burden together, it will destroy the person who would have otherwise come alive.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 2:17-22 (day two)

 These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. v. 17

Promises given by false teachers will always be what you want to hear. They will always guarantee success, happiness, or gain. That is why they are so popular. We don’t want to hear about struggle, about sacrifice, or about self-denial. Those things don’t get votes, they don’t excite the masses, and they don’t fill seats, but they are often the reality of any believer’s journey. I don’t want to paint a picture of a dire strife-filled existence in Christ, but I want my teachers to be honest about what it means to put your faith in something eternal rather than something temporal. We may not get the brass ring we are reaching for here on earth, but each follower of Christ WILL achieve the eternal glory of life with Jesus. Is your faith dependent upon whether you get wealthy? Are you needing some material gain in order to serve the body of Christ? This kind of thinking will only end in disappointment. Our gain is Jesus. This will be sufficient.