The Everyday Prayer

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

It can be easy to identify false teachings that others believe in. It’s not too hard from where we sit to say “such and such church” or “such and such pastor” has fallen prey to false teachings. And it is good to recognize them as false. What is harder, though, is to engage in personal reflection and ask the question, “Where am I vulnerable to false teachings? What have I taken as fact that is actually a cultural influence, not a biblical truth? Where have my own bents towards sin allowed me to believe something untrue?”

Peter calls us to recognize our own vulnerabilities and asks that we pray in the spirit of Psalm 139, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”

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

There will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them…

Whatever system denies that the created physical realm is good; whatever system denies that the human being is very good; whatever system that, like the world, oppresses women and calls it the natural order; whatever system leads one to believe that doubt must be repressed instead of vigorously investigated; whatever system supports and furthers injustice in the name of the law; whatever system seeks favor in the eyes of the power structures of this world – that system is a destructive heresy. That heresy’s power arises from the fact that it’s so very hard to see.

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

…just as there will also be false teachers among you…v. 2b

There are a lot of good speakers in the world. However, not all good speakers are speaking what is good. Discerning the difference is the responsibility of every believer. As we are bombarded with reels, memes, and sound bites, we must ask ourselves what is being said in the larger narrative. Every speaker has talking points that re-emphasize their agenda, but they are so often couched in language that is inflammatory or exaggerated to get maximum coverage. Whether from the pulpit or in politics, this is a technique that we must be wary of. Yes, it is good to trust your pastors, but it is also incumbent on each of us to pray, read, listen to the Holy Spirit, and to ask questions. Even the best of us can make mistakes; it is whether we acknowledge them as such that separates us from the world. Don’t fall victim to people that always say what you want to hear. Don’t stop asking questions. Don’t stop trusting God’s Word.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 1:16-21 (day seven)

I write this post from the ocean view patio of Port Royal Resort near Port Aransas where our High Schoolers from FBCSA have spent the weekend retreating in God’s creation and resting in His Word. Our theme for weekend has been relationships. We have talked about our relationships with friends, authority, parents, and even dating. Most importantly, we have tried to highlight that if our relationship with God is not our primary focus, then our other relationships will struggle to fulfill our needs.

We are created for relationships. God designed us with a desire to have deep relationships, but he designed us so that we need relationship with Him. When we fix our eyes on Jesus and run after Him with everything we have, God will provide us the needs we have for relationships through the Presence of His Holy Spirit and through the other people that we have found to be running along side us.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 1:16-21 (day six).

These words of Peter are both personal and profound. They are personal because he is asking the churches to trust his testimony. They are profound because they show us how to discern truth, a message as relevant as ever in the tsunami of voices we face in today’s digital world.

Some in Peter’s day had lost confidence in Jesus’ return. Their cynicism was spreading, influencing the church. So Peter gives two reasons to listen to him: he personally witnessed the glory of Jesus, and the Old Testament prophets confirm his testimony. His appeal still carries weight for us today.

So, what voices are you listening to? Do they distort your view of Jesus? Are you testing what you hear by the testimony of the apostles and prophets?

Peter says: you must.

 

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 1:16-21 (day five).
It’s one of the things I love most about FBCSA- the regard and affinity for the scriptures. Re:Verse is just one example. Peter had this same perspective. This written message from the prophets and apostles was and would be of the utmost importance AND authority. I found these comments from Charles Spurgeon this week very enlightening:

“Do not say that you would accept (God’s) call if it was spoken with a voice rather than written; you know that it is not so in daily life. If a man receives a written letter from his father or friend, does he attach less importance to it than he would have done to his spoken communication? I reckon that many of you in business are quite content to get written orders for goods, and when you get them, you do not require a purchaser to ask you in person, you would just assume that he should not; in fact, you commonly say that you would like to have it in black and white. Is it not so? Well, then you have your wish, here is the call in black-and-white: and I do but speak, according to common sense, when I say, if the Lord’s call to you be written in the Bible, and it certainly is, you do not speak truth when you say, ‘I would listen to it if it was spoken, but I cannot listen to it because it is written.’ The call as given by the book of inspiration ought to have over your minds a masterly power, and if your hearts were right before God that word spoken in the scriptures by the Holy Ghost would be at once obeyed.”

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 1:16-21 (day four)

The longer we live on this earth, the more we long for the return of Jesus. With each passing day, we become more fully aware of the darkness of this world and long for the day where “there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.” (Rev. 22:5)

Peter reminds us that though that day is still in the future, we’ve been given a great light now. Through the testimony of the apostles and the prophets, which is the Word of God, we have been given a lamp to shine in a dark place. When we encounter this light, it awakes something in us to respond. We want to share this light with anyone who will see it. When we encounter the Word, we become like David, who proclaims in Psalm 57, “Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.”

Awaken the dawn in someone else’s life by sharing this light with them.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 1:16-21 (day three)

…until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts…

Dietrich Bonhoeffer used to talk about “religionless Christianity.” What did he mean by that? Concepts employed by theologians often leave room for debate. But this particular phrase almost certainly envisions a world in which Christ’s presence has so totally influenced and formed the lives of his disciples that the forms of religion are no longer necessary; the systems of governance and commerce and societal interaction shall exude justice and compassion and humility and service. For now, we experience these world systems as an extension of the individual will to power over others, leading to marginalization and poverty and war. But there is coming a time when religion will no longer be necessary, when faith shall be sight, when the morning star arises within. Peter foresaw that it must be so.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Peter 1:16-21 (day two)

So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. v. 19

I was once at a conference where Michael W. Smith was talking about how his friend, Amy Grant, wrote the song “Thy Word.” She was at a retreat and she had been out walking long past sunset; and as she made her way back to her cabin, she was in complete darkness. She fumbled around for a while in frustration, but then spotted a lamp that was in a cabin window that led her back. That lamp may not have illuminated the entire landscape, but it gave her enough to take one step at a time. This is how prophetic words work in our lives. In the midst of a world walking in darkness, these words offer a step by step path to follow until we get to a place where the day dawns and all the truth is made clear. May we cling to the Word of God as our lamp for each step we take today.