2/01 Psalm 125:1-2
A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. Those who trust in the Lord are as secure as Mount Zion; they will not be defeated but will endure forever. Just as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, both now and forever.
TRUST
You are living in the midst of God’s watchcare and concern. Trust Him with all your heart. When we trust the Lord we live differently. Today, think about your relationship with Him and purpose to trust Him in your daily life.
2/02 Psalm 125:3
The wicked will not rule the land of the godly, for then the godly might be tempted to do wrong.
TRUST
Trust the Lord with all of your heart. Take Him your problems and your triumphs. Let Him have control of you. Be careful when you are walking in high places. Pride rises quickly and dissipates slowly. The Lord is with you.
2/03 Psalm 125:4
O Lord, do good to those who are good, whose hearts are in tune with you. But banish those who turn to crooked ways, O Lord. Take them away with those who do evil. May Israel have peace!
PEACE
Peace is a gift from God. He knows what we are doing at all times. Surrender your thought life, surrender your actions and know that the Lord is on your side. Stop doing evil. Doing good is a choice. His peace will go with us if we will let Him have control of us. Walk in the Lord and do what He says.
02/04 Psalm 126:1-2
A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream! We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said, “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.”
TRUST
Trust the Lord. He will do amazing things in your life. Trust the Lord for He is worthy of all of our devotion and trust. Trust the Lord for when you do others will look at you and declare “what amazing things the Lord has done for them.”
02/05 Psalm 126:3-6
Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy! Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert. Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.
ACTIONS
When we trust the Lord we will do things His way. Some times what we are doing will seem to be a burden. Trust the Lord and know that what He calls us to do will bring joy. When we follow the Lord and trust in Him we can have confidence that the end result will be joy. Do the next right thing. Trust the Lord.
02/06 2 Peter 3:1
This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory.
FOCUS
Think about the Lord. Read His Word. Sing Christian songs and hymns. Pray aloud in your prayer closet. Talk with Jesus. This will cleanse your mind and heart and will refresh your thinking. In all things give praise to Jesus.
02/07 2 Peter 3:2
I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.
REMEMBER
Memorization is important. If you have a hard time memorizing Scripture write it on a 3 by 5 card and carry it with you. Read it several times during the day and meditate on the Scripture. This will help you to renew your mind and will equip you to grow in the Word.
02/08 2 Peter 3:3-4
Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
TRUTH
Truth is timeless. God is not limited by time. His timing will be perfect and on-time. Give this kind of argument to the Father and He will show you the truth. You can’t argue belief with unbelievers.
02/09 2 Peter 3:5
They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water.
TRUTH
Jesus is the Creator of all things. Give yourself to His rule and guidance. Do not doubt the Word. Do not fear the world. These two truths will stand you in good stead as you seek to grow in Christ. Read His Word, apply its truths and you will grow.
02/10 2 Peter 3:6-7
Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the Day of Judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
RETURN
There will be a day of return. Christ is coming back. When He comes back it will be in judgment. His return can happen at any time. We are encouraged to live our lives as if He were coming back today. Be prepared. Today is the day of salvation.
02/11 2 Peter 3:8
But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.
SOON
God is not limited by time. We count minutes, days, and years-time. God is focused on His plan which He developed before there was anything. His plan unfolds not with the passing of time but with the accomplishment of His will. Be prepared.
02/12 2 Peter 3:9
The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
TIME
Time fools us. It makes us function fast or slow. It compels us to do foolish things at time and at other times ignore obvious things we should do. God isn’t fooled by time. He is always on time. The universe functions at His pleasure. Don’t be fooled by time, God is always on time.
02/13 2 Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
END
The Lord has decreed and it will happen, one day the end will come. The message of Scripture is that it will come soon. That message to us is an encouragement to keep our life focused on Jesus. Jesus is Lord. Live your life that way.
02/14 2 Peter 3:11-12
Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames.
HARSH
This Word is a harsh word to the world. This world is passing away. We are passing through. It is important that we live focused lives. Pray for the lost. Pray that Christ would come and come soon. Be ready. Live your life. There is real joy in the journey.
02/15 2 Peter 3:13
But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
HOME
There will be a day that we will leave this world and go home. Christ is there waiting for us. He will meet us at the divide and take us home. This world is not our home as much as we might love where we are and what we do it is not our home. Heaven is going to be a great place. It is our home and we can rejoice in each day that we will soon one day be at home with the Lord.
02/16 2 Peter 3:14
And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.
NOW
Now is the time that we permit Jesus to have control of our life. Now is when we change. Now is the only time that we have. Do what you must do now to be what the Lord is calling you to be. Today is the day that we will serve Jesus.
02/17 2 Peter 3:15-16
And remember, the Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him—speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.
TRUTH
Truth comes from the Word of God. Jesus and the Holy Spirit guide us in understanding that Word. Those that incorrectly interpret the Word using the world as their guideline are wrong. They will suffer destruction. They have chosen their own way. We surrender to Jesus and to the truth of His Word doing those things that He calls us to do. He is Lord and we serve Him.
02/18 2 Peter 3:17-18
I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.
DAILY
We grow in Christ daily. We pray, spend time with Him and apply the truth He teaches us to our life. We grow in Christ in the midst of our life. Learning to live under His tutelage is critical for our growth. His grace equips us to apply the knowledge He gives us. Strive each day to live for Jesus.
02/19 2 John 1:1-2
This letter is from John, the elder. I am writing to the chosen lady and to her children, whom I love in the truth—as does everyone else who knows the truth because the truth lives in us and will be with us forever.
TRUTH
God is in charge. I’m not. Everything is going to work out in the end. That is the truth. For those that name the name of Jesus as Lord and Savior, there is no condemnation nor is there anything that can conquer them. We are God’s property. God is good, all the time.
02/20 2 John 1:3
Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ—the Son of the Father—will continue to be with us who live in truth and love.
DAILY
His mercies, grace and peace are ample to cover our life each day. He is able to make our life a pleasing aroma unto Himself. His plan for our life is available if we will ask Him for it. Ask and listen, the Lord will speak to you.
02/21 2 John 1:4
How happy I was to meet some of your children and find them living according to the truth, just as the Father commanded.
OBEDIENCE
Obedience isn’t an optional part of the Christian lifestyle, it is the Christian lifestyle. Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey Him. Surrender your life to Christ. Focus on Him and He will walk with you. The Christian lifestyle is the act of living our life like Jesus.
02/22 2 John 1:5
I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning.
LOVE
Love issues out of obedience. If we obey Him we will act like Him. If we act like Him we will love one another. If we love one another we are obeying Him. The Christian life is simple. We either walk with Jesus or walk away from Jesus. Your choice.
02/23 2 John 1:6
Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.
COMMAND
His command is simple. Love one another. No options. No details. Do it. We never complete the task of following Jesus this side of heaven. Then that day we will see Him face to face and we will be like Him. Choose today to become more like Jesus.
02/24 2 John 1:7
I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist.
TRUTH
Truth never masquerades itself as something else. The truth is as the Word of God says that Jesus came as fully God and fully man. On the other hand a half-truth, Christ really came as a only a divine being only seeming to have a body, takes away the power of the Word of God unto us. It strips us of our power source, the truth-Jesus is Lord and He is Lord of all-here and now and eternity. Speak the truth and let it have its way with your life.
02/25 2 John 1:8
Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward.
REWARD
I’m sure that I don’t fully understand this idea of reward in heaven. I cannot grasp it. What I can grasp is that I want everything Jesus wants for me. I want it all. I want it so that I will know Him fully and please Him with my life. Lord help me to be useful and usable. Strengthen me that I might live a life that is focused on You and not me.
02/26 2 John 1:9
Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.
CHOICE
We cannot control our world. We can control our self. We surrender to Christ. We give Him authority over us. He wants what is best for us. In surrender we find control. Christ is Lord and He will lead, guide and direct us in the way we should go. That is the only sure way for us to control our life.
02/27 2 John 1:10-11
If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement. Anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in their evil work.
CAREFUL
We are called to be careful the way we live. If we walk with Jesus He will make clear to us the truth of a person’s life. We dare not put our self in harm’s way. It is so easy for us to get off the right track. Sickness, life, misfortune and every other way will try its best to sidetrack our life. Keep you focus on Jesus. Make sure that those you are following are of the Lord.
02/28 2 John 1:12-13
I have much more to say to you, but I don’t want to do it with paper and ink. For I hope to visit you soon and talk with you face to face. Then our joy will be complete. Greetings from the children of your sister, chosen by God.
ONE DAY
One day you will go to be with Jesus. You don’t know when that day is. Prepare now for that day. Know Him better each day. Spend time with Jesus. Ask Him to teach you. Seek His grace, mercy and peace. Live as Jesus did. Care for those around you.
