October 6, 2022
1 Peter 2:4-5
Take Time to Pray
Psalm 46:1-3
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah
Examine
4 As you come to Him, the living Stone - rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him - 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Notice
God
God is our rock - immovable, solid, and powerful.
God is a living Stone - not an inanimate rock.
Lesson
We are living stones - not inanimate rocks.
We are meant to work together for God.
Every believer is critical to God's plan.
Priests in the OT made animal sacrifices. As followers of Christ, we make living sacrifices of ourselves.
Do
May 25, 2023 - My original response under this section was a very, very personal journal entry that I do not feel is appropriate to be shared here.
I did recently have a bit of Bible study/devotion that focused on Jesus as "the rock". I have decided to share that instead. This is taken from Red Letters by William J Petersen and Randy Petersen
The question was based on Matthew 7:24-25
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock."
One of the questions was: "Why is this such a popular theme?" "This" referring to Jesus as "the rock."
Rocks are solid things. The really big ones are immovable. They are good to use to build things like buildings and monuments. Just like a rock, Jesus is solid and immovable. Faith in Him is the foundation on which to build our lives. Rocks are also familiar things that we are well acquainted with. We should become well acquainted with Jesus so that He is a familiar part of our lives. But like with a rock, we must never forget His power. He must not become so familiar to us that we take Him for granted.
I just took a second look at the Psalm that I chose for a prayer this day. It was randomly chosen as I worked my way through the Psalms, but it seems to fit well with this particular study.