Hello Mornings - Day One

Our Hello Mornings Challenge begins today! The challenge is designed to provide accountability for women desiring to spend time with God before the day begins.

My goal was to wake up around 6:30 AM to have time to read and get the day going before the kids got up, but Emily had other plans as she didn't go to sleep until past 11:30 PM. So when the alarm went off, I just decided to turn it off. God graciously woke me up just early enough so that I was able to do the little Bible study before the girls woke up..

This challenge we're studying 1 Peter, and we're looking to see how Peter's faith was matured from the gospels to his epistle.

Here are my thoughts on Matthew 26:30-35, 69-75:

On the night of Jesus' betrayal, Peter was passionate about his love for Jesus and secure in the knowledge that he would be willing to die for him. However he clearly did not know the weakness of his faith until he was tested. We know that God allowed this test of Peter's faith, and that He did not do it out of bitterness but love, so it must be that Peter needed to see himself fail his own standards catastrophically.

Peter and the other disciples had healed and cast out demons in Jesus' name. They had seen His power over storms and even death. Yet God chose to begin the new chapter of His kingdom on Earth by showing Peter how utterly powerless he was on his own. Matthew 26:75 says that Peter wept bitterly after his denials of Christ. God led Peter to a place in his life where he could not mistake his overwhelming need for forgiveness and grace.

And later we'll see how the character of Peter is refined so that his passion and leadership will be qualities that God uses to bless His people through the power of the Holy Spirit acting in and through Peter. I often forget when I see men and women of amazing faith that their faith is a gift from God forged in the flames of testing and trial. I pray that God will graciously preserve me in the time of testing that I too might know even more the power of Christ in me, the hope of glory (Col 1:27).