Way of The Warrior- A Daily Devotional

And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech betrayeth thee. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly. -Matthew 26:73-75 KJV

Warrior;
Peter walked with Christ, talked with Christ, was the leader of those closest to Christ- boy, o boy did he mess up! Peter was more interested in his survival, than speaking the truth concerning his relationship with Christ. Peter cursed and swore- “I know not the man”. When we read this we should see ourselves, our humanity and our shame. When we properly read the Bible we must see ourselves, and our life and use it as a compass to guide us and to give us hope. Some of us think that we are so messed up, we have done too much for God to love us. That is a lie from the pit of hell. Jesus loves Peter, even with his foul mouth, pride and ego- Peter was loved by Jesus and so are you!

Leader, the Christian band, Tenth Avenue North, wrote a song called, ‘No Shame’. In the intro the lead singer says that we should have NO SHAME. He differentiated from HEALTHY shame and TOXIC shame. He said shame that makes us realize: We are not God, that we need people and that HE IS IN CONTROL- that’s healthy. However the voice that cries over your life that you are too pathetic, you have messed up your life, and God could not possibly love you; In other words, “A voice that cries our over your life-IRREDEEMABLE- that is TOXIC SHAME. God is in the ministry of reconciliation; ‘Bringing a fallen man BACK INTO union with a HOLY GOD’. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19a)

Conduit, you can’t be GOOD ENOUGH for God! JESUS PAID IT ALL! If we have to do anything, outside of accept what CHRIST DID on the cross, then CHRIST’S death on the cross was ABUSE! In the garden Jesus prayed to his Father three times, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will”—the KJV says, “Let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39). A little later, Jesus prays, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done” (Matthew 26:42). Jesus wanted to know if there was any other way. God’s silence was Jesus answer, “There is no other way”. Jesus was referring to what was needed to redeem mankind, to RECONCILE, man and GOD. All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. (Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:10) Today, BECOME free from the chains and the TOXIC SHAME of the LAW and live in the healthy SHAME of the LAW OF LIBERTY! BE FREE- to serve GOD with all your HEART, BODY and SOUL. Jesus gave it all- for you, are you willing to do the same for HIM?!