Mark 8: 27-33,  Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi.  On the way He asked them, “Who do people say I am?”  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”  “But what about you?” He asked.  “Who do you say I am?”  Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”  Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about Him.  He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law and that He must be killed and after three days rise again.  He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.  But when Jesus turned and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” He said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Oh, dear!  Have you ever had someone decide they were going to set you straight on something that either they knew nothing about or they were really not in a position to even question you about it, maybe at work or in your family?  I don’t know about you, but that can really stir up some feelings that I have to get a grip on quickly!  That just irritates the fire out of me for some reason and I have to really stop and pray.  I had a lady message me the other day, who did just that because it totally caught me off guard ~ I didn’t know her and she sent me a lengthy message telling me that if I really wanted a relationship with God it was time for me to start spending time in His Word every day and was I ready to make that commitment?  My first thought was, “Seriously? This must not be real”. But then I realized that even though I messaged her back and assured her that I literally spend hours every day studying the Word of God, she wouldn’t stop and I had to block her.  I almost laughed but the sad thing was, she was from another religion and she didn’t want anything to do with truth.  In this case, in these verses, I have to admit that when I was reading them and saw the words “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him” Anger stirred up in me as I thought, “Who on earth did he think he was?  Peter just got finished saying that Jesus was the Messiah and he still thought it was ok to “rebuke Him?”  Then I stopped and thought…. How often do we do that?  How often do we see something going on in the world or we want an answer to our situation and we want it right now so we treat Him as though He somehow isn’t handling it right?  Ohhhhh be careful little tongue what you say!  

We need to trust Him!  He has a plan, His timing is perfect, and if we knew all that He knows we would be praying differently.  Since we don’t know what He knows we must trust Him with it all!  Again, Jeremiah 29:11-13, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  If you want God’s plan for your life then you need to seek Him with your whole heart and allow Him to guide you in all you do! Peter grew in His walk with God after that and a full understanding of who Jesus is and he became one of the most devoted disciples Jesus had all the way through to Peter’s death! Let’s choose our words carefully and ask Him to help us to trust Him when we can’t see what He is doing and we don’t understand. We need to question Him less and trust Him more! Let’s pursue Him in a way that will make a difference not only in our own lives but in the lives of all those around us!  The world desperately needs Jesus!  Let’s be that light that shines in the darkness because we are pursuing Him on such a level that He shines in and through us!

Quote:  “To pray, ‘thy will be done,’ I must be willing, if the answer requires it, that my will be undone.”  ~ Elisabeth Elliot

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