Astray: 2 Peter: Prayers and Poetry

2nd Peter 2:14-16: "They are addicted to adultery, with eyes that are insatiable, with sins that never end. They seduce the vulnerable and are experts in their greed--they are but children of a curse! They have wandered off the main road and have gone astray, because they are prophets who love profit--the wages they earn by wrongdoing. They are following the example of Balaam, son of Beor, who was rebuked for evil by a donkey incapable of speech yet that spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's madness."

Astray

Too often we all wander off His main road and sometimes we don't even  recognize how far we can slip. Until the world's definition of craving things turn into consequences.

Addictions we may not even recognize as danger. And personal greed's we consider acceptable.

And when we do recognize our dangers and failures we feel we can never escape the evil or be restored.

Yet that is another lie too--maybe one of the deepest--to not believe the impossible.

Yet there is nothing impossible in His hands. Whether we are seen as useless or useful, damaged or broken,He promises healing.

Lord, please teach us how to stay on Your main road and how to recognize the sins that pull us away. May our hearts grow only into Your choices and actions.

May we walk with You each day in trust. In faith. In restoration.

Your thoughts,

Trap: 2 Peter: Prayers and Poetry

                Trap 

                Too often so easy

                to not recognize.

                False paths

                fueling wrong decisions.

                Seems harmless

                seeking pleasure.

                Instead a trap

                into destruction.

                Only His light can

                open honest actions.

Psalm 89:43: "Thous dost also turn back the edge of his sword, And has not made him stand in battle."

                

Reflection: Lies: 2 Peter: Prayers and Poetry

 Reflection Questions

        1. When have you been deceived by lies that led you to dismay and failures?

        2. How did the truth get twisted?

        3. What insight enabled you to recognize the danger?

Share: How do you filter potential lies now through the Lord's guidance?

Lies: 2 Peter: Prayers and Poetry

2nd Peter 2:11-13: "Yet even angels, who are greater by they in power and strength, do not dare slander them before the Lord. These individuals are nothing but brute beasts--irrational creatures, born in the wild to be caught and destroyers--and they will perish like beasts. They are professional insulters, who slander whatever they don't understand, and in their destruction they will be destroyed.

    For all the evil they have done will come crashing down on them. They consider it their great pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. When they come to your love feats they are but strains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions as they feast with you."

Lies

Slander so easily twists truth's purpose and strength. Sometimes it seems considered mild when we don't understand correctly and we reject negatively. Sadly also caught up in deliberate lies when under attack.

Any seed of anger or abuse brings harshness and lies.

When we are faced with any lies we need to immediately turn to His truth and attitude in the slander. He will protect us both within and without. And show us when our own false information can pass lies unto others.

False choices create more destruction. Even in seasons of loss and tragedy.

Lord, please open our eyes to the lies and self-centeredness so that we may not follow deception through ignorance and instead learn to reveal Your truth and light to any who have become trapped.

Your thoughts,

Daily: 2 Peter: Prayers and Poetry

                Daily

                So caught up in ourselves

                our wants and choices

                often lured into

                sin entering our hearts.

                Do not see a danger.

                Do not realize our abandonment.

                Do not acknowledge self-centeredness.

                So His ongoing mercy

                opens a door of release

                offers grace and forgiveness

                sin recognized and dissolved.

                Daily protects.

                Daily prays for each one.

                Daily present.

Psalm 89:42: "Thou hast exalted the right hand of his adversaries; Thou hast made all his enemies rejoice.

                

                 

Reflection: Rescues: 2 Peter: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

        1. What situation have you experienced that you realized your need for escape? 

        2. How did the Lord rescue you?

        3. What insight do you now follow daily?

Share: Has the Lord shown you how to pray for others too?

Rescues: 2 Peter: Prayers and Poetry

2nd Peter 2:9-10: "If the Lord Yahweh rescued Lot, He knows how to continually rescue the godly from their trials and to reserve the ungodly for punishment on the day of judgement. And this especially applies to those who live their lives despising authorities and who abandon themselves to chasing the depraved lusts of their flesh. They are willfully arrogant and insolent, unafraid to insult the glorious ones."

Rescues

His ongoing rescue. Daily.

And forgives us for allowing fear to be our first response instead of trusting first and our not recognizing His way regardless of the circumstances.

He will guide throughout all situations big or small, minor or dangerous. Daily.

And show us how to walk with purpose and plans throughout His words. To learn to trust wherever He sends us.

He will catch us when we are caught in our own trials. Daily.

And dissolve our excuses and the costs of our actions within our souls.

He gives us mercy instead--healing--forgiveness--and a new life.

His ongoing love. Daily.

Your thoughts,

Intervenes: 2 Peter: Prayers and Poetry

                Intervenes 

                Righteousness lived

                in the middle of

                lies and selfishness

                lawless beliefs attack.

                Rescue of heart and soul

                illuminated by truth

                love everlasting

                intervenes with protection

                leads a path to follow daily.

Psalm 89:41: "All who pass along the way plunder him; He has become a reproach to his neighbors."

                

Reflection: Ruins: 2 Peter: Prayers and Poetry

 Reflection Questions

        1. When have you found yourself in the middle of attitudes and purposes that you knew were not acceptable to God's words?

        2. How did you navigate the lures and/or ridicules because you would not engage?

        3. When have you not recognized a lie that then pulled you into a sin of action or in your heart?

Share: How do you process "worldly" viewpoints now?

Ruins: 2 Peter: Prayers and Poetry

2nd Peter 2:5-8: "And He did not spare the former world in the days of Noah when He sent a flood to destroy a depraved world (although He protected Noah, the preacher of righteousness, along with seven members of his family). And don't forget that He reduced to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, condemning them to ruin and destruction. God appointed them to be examples as to what is coming to the ungodly.

    Yet He rescued a righteous man, Lot, suffering the indignity of the unbridled lusts of the lawless. For righteousness Lot lived among them day by day, distressed in his righteous soul by the rebellious deeds he saw and heard."

Ruins

Lord, too often we continue to forget to seek Your help and guidance when misuse of any kind appears. We need to look into Your words instead of letting attacks or cruelties become an answer. We also need You to keep us from being lured into even the smallest lure.

Please help us to keep Your words and Your truth as our armor and not accept any false lies that can lead us away from You into any destruction. To ourselves or to others.

When we are confused please give each of us insight. May we only hear Your words and act upon them as You lead.

Your thoughts,                      

Restored: 2 Peter: Prayers and Poetry

                Restored 

                Lies can often

                hide within

                ourselves waiting

                for the opportunity

                to turn us from

                honesty into appearance

                need His light

                moment by moment

                and remember

                Truth.

Psalm 89:40: "Thou hast broken down all his walls; Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin."

                

Reflection: Condemnation: 2 Peter: Prayers and Poetry

 Reflection Questions

        1. Has there been a season in your life where you only looked for your own desires? Why?

        2. How did that affect your relationship with others--especially those you loved?

        3. Where or how did you see God's offer to escape from soul destruction?

Share: When have you been lured into a lie that went against the Lord's truth? How did you be restored?

Condemnation: 2 Peter: Prayers and Poetry

2nd Peter 2:3-4: "They are only out for themselves, ready to exploit you for their own gain through their cunning arguments. Their condemnation has been a long time coming. But their destruction does not slumber or sit idly by, for it is sure to come. Now, don't forget, God has no pity for the angels when they sinned but threw them into the lowest, darkest dungeon of gloom and locked them in chains, where they are firmly held under the judgment of torment."

Condemnation

Often we are all too absorbed in ourselves instead of being centered in the Lord and seeing others through His truth and mercy.

Then we often 'use' others instead for our own benefits.

Yet the Holy Spirit recognizes when we have become self-centered and will help us to release it all through His cleansing presence. We can ask for guidance.

By His heart He will nudge us to see our selfishness and help us to let go and replace darkness with light and love and forgiveness instead.

Will we accept?

Please be Lord of all of us as each Your child and recognize Your gift of life daily.

Your thoughts,