1 Peter 1:1-9 is a powerful passage. We know none of us is without pain, struggles and trials. Sometimes we even have to force-feed ourselves when we get down and hurt. Make yourself worship if you don't feel like it. Open your mouth and speak the Word, then your heart gets into it. "Faith that can't be tested can't be trusted." Christianity is not always a bed of roses. We need to pay attention, focus on the Lord, and get involved in the scriptures. Satan WILL come to you with his wicked devices, but God wants to set us free.
We have to apply the Word to our lives and be consistent, because there are so many attractions in the world to compete with the things of God. Right now, we are reaping the generation of unchurched youth. Many people try to run from their troubles, but the greater One lives within us. Verse 6 tells us that our faith will be tested, but we can stand our ground and be stable. These temptations and troubles are not a 'forever thing'. It is for a season and one day the sun will shine again. Be patient with God and He will bring about a better, brighter day in your life. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it!
In verse 16, He tells us "Be ye holy, for I am holy." Once you come to the knowledge of sin, you aren't ignorant anymore. The word holy means "pure, morally blameless". We don't have the ability to be holy on our own-we must have a holy God living in us and helping us stay separate from the world.
Proverbs 4:20-22 teaches us that our Father's words are life and health. John 6:63 says the words are spirit and life. They bring us to awareness and understanding of the Lord. It's important to read these words out loud-that way, they are put into the atmosphere and they enter the heart and the spirit. Satan hates that the spirit of God is in us. He HATES that! But he can't stop it. Jesus defeated death, and it is vital that we recognize that the Greater One dwells in us.
Read the Word. Meditate on the Word. Replace the things of the world with the Word. Read and pray for revelation so that we can then give it to others-it's not to be kept to ourselves.
