1 Peter 1:6-9

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1:6-9

It seems rather backwards when you think about it, have joy while you are enduring many trials. Joy is not something we generally associate with trouble or difficulties. Rather joy is the thing we expect to be feeling when everything is going great. But Peter reveals just the same things Jesus taught him about the source of joy and peace, is Christ.

For many in the early days, the Apostles spoke of Jesus having had the firsthand experience of working alongside Him. Many watched Him throughout his ministry up to the cross and witness His resurrection. Peter writes to those who never saw Him, which includes every believer today. We believe with a faith that was different than the Apostles for we believe in whom we have not seen walking around healing people and raising dead men to life. Our faith stems from His work in our own lives, walking us through difficult times, and restoring broken things around us.

When you go through difficult times, and you will go through them be sure, have faith even more. Write down your journey with the Lord, even when you do not see Him in the circumstances. After you have been pulled through the storm you will not want to forget the lessons He was teaching. All glory belongs to Him, and He will be glorified in all things. The trials you endure are testing your faith but they are also evidence you have faith first in which needs to be tested. Strengthen yourself by this knowledge that you are counted worthy to suffer and deal with worldly trial so that His work will be made seen in your life. To Jesus Christ be the glory for doing all things well with you.

1 Peter 1:3-5

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
1 Peter 1:3-5

Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ there is no hope. It is through the death of Christ we have been saved from the punishment of sin, and through his resurrection we have no life in Him. He executed the covenant between man and God by dying on the cross. And He returned to enforce that same covenant and to ensure us of our future inheritance. 

Every believer who has come to the saving cross of Christ and died with Him, also rises with Him into new life. There is a promise here of an eternal reward we will all receive in heaven. Notice Peter gives us insight into what heaven will be like when he says there is no change or decay. Heaven will not be like the earth, a place outside of time and the laws of disorder, chaos, and destruction. It is a place all of us should long for, and even those who do not realize it, desire.

 

God is the protector of our souls and will watch over us in this world. He is the one who is in charge of our future and hope. Not only do we have a purpose to fulfill here on earth, but there is also so much more waiting for us in heaven. He knows and we can trust Him that one day it will all be revealed. The future salvation of our souls when we pass from this life into the life prepared for us by Jesus. Praise be to the Lord who has died to set us free, and risen to keep us free indeed.

1 Peter 1:1-2

This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
May God give you more and more grace and peace.

1 Peter 1:1-2

You have been known, chosen, and made holy by God the Father. Peter begins writing his letter to the Jewish people scattered around the nations. He begins by reminding them of their position and God’s choice to set them apart from the world they live in as strangers. All believers fit into this category for we are all citizens of Heaven, temporarily placed on this earth for service to the King.

Being known by the God of the universe is no small matter. Imagine someone in leadership you highly admire. Now what if that person invited you to lunch, wouldn’t that be amazing? Then what if they gave you their cell phone number and told you to call them whenever you had a question or just wanted to talk? You would feel wonderful if this happened, you wouldn’t feel so alone in this big world just because you were noticed and considered highly valued. Your heavenly Father, the one who created everything including you, has called you by name and given you his own personal line to talk anytime. To Him you are a highly treasured!

Apostle Peter knows firsthand what it feels like to be called by the Lord. When he was still a fisherman in Galilee, Jesus walked along the shore and invited him to be a disciple. From that moment on Peter was in the company of the King of the universe, even though he probably did not realize it at first. When we know the Lord desired fellowship with Fishermen, tax-collectors, notorious sinners, why wouldn’t he want to also have us? He does, and desires us greatly every day and every minute. Allow these words to fill you with the same grace and peace Peter prays for over the chosen of God.