Tag Archive for 1 Peter 2:9

Hear God’s Higher Call

2019-08-30 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. (1 Peter 2:9-10, NASB)

See your God for who He is and
all He is.
He is the Father of the entire human family.
He lovingly formed them all to be His very own.
He invested Himself in each and every individual.
Now realize that we are children of this Father,
this loving, universal Father.
He is so much greater than
our self-centered perspective and
limited minds.
He is grander than
our immature faith and
our love, still growing.

This Father is calling us beyond our
small,
fearful,
sectarian ways.
He is calling us to share
His broader mind and
larger heart.
He is urging us toward prayer that believes
He is all He says He is and
does all He says He will do.
He is leading us toward a faith that is simpler,
a vision that is higher, and
a love that is as universal as He is,
a love that is
boundless and
fearless and
free.

In this lost and needy world, He is calling us to live as
His children,
His Body,
His divine life made flesh and bone.
His compassion for His lost children is
calling us and constraining us to be
the light of the world,
the salt of the earth,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation.

His love is compelling us and empowering us to be
the People of God.

Father, as we follow Your Spirit,
we are many members
all working together as one Body.
We are the Body of Jesus Christ Himself,
living and loving in this world.
What an amazing reality!

Hymn: We Will Be Your People

His Treasured Possession

2015-12-17 Devotional, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Deuteronomy 7:6-11; 14:1-2; 26:16-19

God makes clear throughout scripture that He wants us to fear Him. That is, He wants us to believe that He is all He says He is, and to respond to Him accordingly. He is our Creator. He is holy, almighty, and all-wise. He is transcendent and sovereign, unbounded by matter, space, or time. How can we not trust, obey, and worship such a God?

But He also wants us to know how much He cares for us and how much He values us. He longs for us to glimpse how wonderful it will be for Him to be truly, fully with us.

“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:4-6, NASB)

The word translated above as “own possession” is a fascinating and meaningful one. Generally, it refers to personal property.

It can also be translated “special treasure”. For example, it is sometimes used to refer to the vast personal treasures of a king. Ecclesiastes 2:8 says that accumulating such treasures is sheer vanity.

But God repeatedly states that His people are “His special treasure” (see Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2; 26:18; Psalm 135:4). In Malachi 3:16-18, He says that those who fear Him become His personal possession, His special treasure, and He will never forget them.

These passages are the original inspiration behind several familiar New Testament scriptures:

[Christ] gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. (Titus 2:14, NASB)

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9, NASB)

When we trace this term, the inescapable truth is this: the greatest wealth is not anything we possess. It is being possessed by God.