Patsy4Him

Q4. (2:21-23) How does Christ's example speak to your situation? How is your behavior going to be different because of what you see in Jesus' character in this passage? All I can say is if He can do it for me, then I will give my very best to obey. I know my "Father knows best" and I am honored to suffer and endure as He did for me. Thank you Jesus for being the most wonderful, perfect example for us the follow. I love you and give you glory. Love to y'all, Patsy in Idaho

Q3. (2:18-20) How does being an employee "conscious of God" affect the way we act and react to injustice in the workplace? Can a conscientious Christian be a complainer? Why or why not? How do you usually react to prolonged, unfair treatment at your work? I don't believe a Christian can be a complainer. If we look at our Example "Jesus", He did nothing. He could've, but He didn't, and He brought honor to God. Because they knew that because of how He acted, they had crucified an innocent man. If He can submit and endure all that for me....then I can certainly endure willingly anything the world can dish out. I am proud to be called His. And if I was being a jerk I wouldn't want the world to know I was a Christian. It is denying Him and I won't do that. I pray I won't ever do that anyway. How do I react to unfair treatment at work? First of all, I pray for certain individuals and situations and I pray for myself. I try to remember that ALL things work for the good for those who love God. So, no matter what is going on, I can endure it. I trust my God and I know my life is in His hands. He loves me and will protect me if it gets too bad. Love y'all, Patsy in Idaho

Q2. (2:18) If we are to submit to our employers and respect them, what is that saying about God's expectation that we do a good job? In what sense do we dishonor God when we don't give our full effort to our jobs? If we submit to our employers and show them respect, God is pleased with us. In the same way, if we do not submit to our employers and show them respect, we are bringing dishonor to our God. If we are going to be called by His name, and follow Him, we must act like it. We can't act like the people of the world, because that makes us the same as them and no different at all. We need to have our employers look at us like we are definitely a different breed, and they are pleased. This brings honor to God. Love y'all, Patsy in Idaho

Q1. (2:15-16) In what way is God's glory dependent upon us living submissive, obedient lives? How is God hurt when we get rebellious? When we live submissive, obedient lives, we are bringing God glory. If we are not living submissive and obedient lives, we are doing Him a dishonor. It sheds a negative light on God. I believe He is hurt because we are obviously not understanding or obeying His commands. When we are submissive and obedient to God, we are showing we love and respect Him. To God be the glory for all the good done in me, by me. And if I am acting badly, please don't attribute that to God. The thing is...it is all attributed to Him if we are called by His name. So it is only right for us to be submissive and obedient to God. This is the right way to live. Love to y'all, Patsy in Idaho

Q5. (2:12) How can the good deeds we commit by living openly as Christians increase God's praise. How does our "blending in" detract from God's praise? I think this means that no matter what they say, they can find no wrong. That is the kind of life we should live. They can accuse us, but our fruit is saying something different. So we must be afraid to stand out and be different and be that peculiar people. When we don't conform to the rest of the world, you can bet there is someone watching and noticing. Later when the chance to talk comes, and you can tell them about your God, it is He that gets the glory for your good works, because it is Him in you that is responsible for the good works. It isn't us. It is all about Him. I am nothing but a filthy rag, but with Him, I am a Royal Priesthood and I am washed clean by His blood. Just a side note here....Don't forget to go see "The Passion of the Christ" when it comes and if you can, buy an extra ticket and take a friend. This is one powerful film. Mel Gibson is going to be interviewed about it on Dateline tomorrow (Monday 2/16). This movie will bring many to Jesus and bring God praise. God Bless!

Q4. (2:11) Read 1 Peter 2:11 carefully. The world tells us (1) to conform and (2) that sin won't hurt us. What does Peter tell us to combat these lies? How can this reminder help us? Peter tells us to abstain from sinful desires. I think an important part of this scripture is the fact that evil desires DO and ARE warring against our souls. Satan is not taking a vacation or a nap. His goal is to seek us out and kill and destroy us. And he will try to get to us however he can. So we must be aware of this and realize that we are not of this world and it is our responsibility to teach our children and the next generation the truth. Our Pastor at church used the frog in hot water story to explain his sermon called "The Superbowl Peep Show - A Christian Response" I think a lot of us let sin "happen" in our lives and we are so accustomed to it, we aren't shocked and we don't do a thing about it. It isn't just how we act in our lives, it is how we react (or conform or not conform) to this world and the sin in it. If we tell a little white lie to our boss to make up for our 20 minutes late, if we cuss at the guy in the car who just swerved in front of us, if we get angry at our husband and tell him he just doesn't understand and roll our eyes at him like he is stupid. This is Satan working at your soul. Saying, it's ok, it's just a little thing. But those little things add up and pretty soon we are watching the Superbowl half time show and this thing with Janet Jackson means nothing. It doesn't offend us, we don't write to the FCC, CBS, MTV, Viacom and the NFL. We just let it slide and laugh with the rest of our friends. We are not of this world. We are aliens to this world. When people look at us, they should be seeing someone that is different than most people they know. We can't conform to this world and live like the natives do. Who is our King?

Q3. (2:9) What actions and attitudes should this idea of being part of God's own people inspire in us? We belong to the family of God. We are His children. To me that means I should live my life worthy of His Name. Live a life that always honors Him in all I do and say. Live a life of gratefulness for all He has done for us. We should love one another and be merciful with one another. Forgiving each other as He has forgiven us. Behave as Kings children should behave, not just any King, but the KING of Kings! Wow!

My praise is offered up to God in many different ways. My Obedience - My heart focused on Him and His Holy Awesomeness and my desire to want to do His will. In Tithing - We give to give back to Him for all He has done for us and all He has given to us. In Praise and Worship - One of the best ways I fellowship with God is through praise and worship music. In Reading His Word - I honor Him and give Him praise when I am in His Word. In living my life as an example of Who He is. Jesus living in me, so that He gets the praise.

I see a Priest of God as a humble person who sacrifices his life to obey God and do His will. So we as "the priesthood of believers" should be humble, with a heart of sincere sorrow for what our sin caused - His sacrifice on the cross. We should sacrifice our life to follow and obey our God.

As I was growing up in my abusive home, my dad called me 3 things. Ugly, Stupid, and Whore. We have all learned the damage "words" can do to another human being, (James 3:5-7) and especially when a father speaks these words into the life of his young daughter. I was only 9 when it began, I left home at 14. But it took me 30 years to get over those words and there are times I still feel the affects of them. But God has so graciously loved me and healed me. He made me a promise and told me He would "give me back the years the locust has eaten" (Joel 2:25) and He has. To God, I am worth everything, because He paid for me with His Precious Life. I am bought and paid for and my long term investments will not be of this world, for my citizenship is not of this world, God is my Father and my home is in Heaven. So my investments are to live a life of love for Him. And spend my time here loving others and living a life that honors, gives praise, and worships Him in all I do. I truly want my life here to bring Him glory and to bring others to Him. Love to you all, Patsy in Idaho

I believe people want to live by their own rules. They don't want to have an absolute truth to go by. They would rather do it "their" way. The nicest people will even argue absolute truth, just because it is so absolute. But if we don't have absolute truth, it is like not having gravity or a plumb line. We don't have anything to go by or to start with. Where do we get the rules to play the game? It just sounds very unorganized to me. I would really much rather have absolute truth so I can have something to go by in my life. Maybe that is because it is easy because I am a woman, and then again, maybe that is just my personality. I can easily reconcile final judgment with God's love because I can see it so simply. He wants me to be holy and pleasing. I want to be pleasing to Him. He loves me so much, He has done so very much for me, and not just in a general sense. I came from a sexually abusive home where my father and mother were alcoholic. All of us kids were physically abused, I was the only one sexually abused by my father. I grew up in this world feeling very damaged and worthless. But God came to me one day and He redeemed me. He told me it didn't matter if my parents didn't love me, HE loved me and that is all that matters. And He has loved me like a little girl ever since that day. He delights my heart with the simplest little things, like having a friend come visit that I have been missing, or playing a song on the radio that I had thought I had not heard in a long time. Voila! There it is and I know without a shadow of a doubt that it is HIM. He gave me a new life that day and taught me how to love and forgive my parents. I'm getting carried away with my answer here, but I just needed to explain why it is so easy for me to obey God and be the best little girl I can be for Him. He loves me, He died for me and I will do everything in my power to live a life of love for Him...I'll do whatever He wants me to. Yes, judgment is part of it because God is Holy and this isn't a game. When men ignore His Holiness and ignore the KING of Kings....and live a life of sin, they will face Him on judgment day and God will say "Why?"... and especially to the redeemed. My gosh, HE DIED FOR US. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not just about love, love, love. You have to come to Him, repent and admit your sins and ask forgiveness, and then live a life worthy of His love and His sacrifice. If you were to go off and continue sinning when you know what He has done for you, you make His death on the cross for your sins nothing. It is like throwing dirt in His Holy face and saying "No thanks, it means nothing to me". It isn't milk toast. God is Love. God is Judgment too. Love to you all, Patsy in Idaho P.S. You guys are AWESOME!

Q1. (1:13) What about Christ's coming should get our undivided attention? Why should it inspire hope? Why should it inspire self-control and soberness? What happens in our lives when we don't really expect Christ to come soon? He should get our undivided attention because we know that we will be judged for our actions as Christians. We are called to be holy, as He is holy. His coming also inspires hope because we know because of Jesus, and His perfect sacrifice, we have salvation to look forward to. So we must live our lives as chosen ones, worthy of our calling, live in self-control and soberness, live a life of thankfulness for what He has done for us. When we don

Greetings y'all from the Great State of Idaho! I am originally from Pensacola, Florida and miss the ocean very much, but Idaho is an extremely beautiful place to live (if you like sub zero temps and lots of snow and icy roads to drive on and....oh sorry) Anyway. My name is Patsy, I am 53 and married to a very wonderful, spirit filled Christian man for 17 years now. We have 2 children age 34 and 25 and 2 grand children, both girls age 2 and 6. I work for the government and work 4 X 10's at a govt site 100 miles away from home. I get up at 3:45 am and catch a bus and get home about 7:00 pm Monday thru Thursday. I'm off on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So the timing of this bible study is perfect. We attend a Spirit-filled "Church of the Nazarene" (www.ifnaz.com) that we are really enjoying. My husband's "gift" is intercessory prayer and mine is worship music and hospitality. We have only been attending this new church a few months so have not yet gotten involved with any ministries. I am very excited because God has me into His Word more than I am used to. We do a bible study at Sunday School at Church in James, we are doing a group bible study on Thursday nights on Ephesians and now this in 1 Peter. I am looking forward to learning more about our Awesome Saviour with all you folks. I pray that God will open our eyes to what He wants us to see and open our hearts to receive His message to us. I have read some of your posts and you all sound very interesting and God led and anxcious too to what He has in store for us. So, I look forward to sharing this journey with you. God bless you, Patsy

Just knowing I am saved. To know how much He loves me. To know He chose me! To know how faithful He is. I have learned through the years so much about Him and am so in love with God my Saviour. Just the fact that He died on the cross for me and that my sins are forgiven, because of Him...that is pure, true joy in my heart. Counterfeit joy is temporal, like the joy of catching that big fish, or seeing the ocean if you haven't seen it for a long time. Real Genuine Joy is the Joy of the Lord and it is ETERNAL! It is all about His Love, His Grace, His Salvation. It is permanent and stays in my heart and in my entire being forever. The Joy of the Lord is my Strength. Thank You Jesus. Patsy

My husband is in construction. A few years ago he was layed off. At the time we had no savings stored up because we weren't expecting this. And at the time we lived paycheck to paycheck. He applied for unemployment and they give you a portion of what you earn. I truly did not know how we would make it. My husband is a very strong man of God, a Promise Keeper and he keeps my faith going at times. We prayed about out circumstances and trusted God to provide for our needs. He was layed off for 4 months. We lived on 1/2 his salary and all of my salary. Every single month our bills were paid in full and we always had food on the table AND we always paid a full tithe. Ask me how we did it physically and I will tell you I don't know. But I will tell you that our God is Jehovah Raphah, the God who Provides and He provided all of our needs. When I wondered how he would do it, it always happened. God blew me away that winter and He did a real work in building my faith in Him. Today my faith is so strong. I know I could move that mountain if I ever needed to. With GOD ALL things are possible, not SOME, but ALL. He is Awesome and I give all glory and honor to Jesus. Patsy