“Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:12).

The Living Bible states this about today’s verse: “Be careful how you behave among your unsaved neighbors, for then, even if they are suspicious of you and talk against you, they will end up praising God for your good works when Christ returns.”  We must let our light shine in our sin-darkened world so when slanderous charges are brought against us, no one will believe what is said against us. If we have to be criticized for anything, let it be for our good works.  May we only be guilty of showing grace to the world.

Sue Winchester
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for the Laughter and Latte event scheduled this evening at the WNAC Convention in Tampa, Florida.

“You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail”  (Proverbs 19:21 NLT).

If a time-travel machine were real and available to me this morning, I’d like to take you for a quick jaunt back in time.  I’d set the dial for 10, possibly 20 years ago and we’d zoom off to where you were at that time in your life and sit for a spell.  For some of you it might be just after high school.  Maybe early newlywed.  Would we settle ourselves into a nursery where you’re holding your firstborn?  Filling out W-2’s for your first job?  At the bank signing papers on your first home?

We’d discuss how things had changed.  We’d nibble on the delicacy of the time.  We’d giggle at the clothing considered all the rage.  And?  Before we headed back to 2013, I’d have to ask, “Are you where you thought you’d be?”

Are you living the life you’d hoped to have?  Have you experienced all the joys you’d hoped to enjoy?  Do you have the material possessions you’d put on your When I Grow Up list? Are you married to the man/woman of your dreams?  Do you have the one, two or six children you’d decided you wanted to have?

Or are you in a different place?  Somedays, maybe even a different world?

Do you catch glimpses of the reason God has you where you are today?  Oh, I’m not expecting you to understand completely, but have you seen how the brushstrokes of His plan are coming together to make a beautiful masterpiece?

Has He changed your priorities?  Do the things you’d hoped for in the past make you laugh?  Do the dreams you’d dreamed fade in comparison to what He’s actually blessed you with?  Are the knights-in-shining-armor you’d waited and primped for rusting in someone else’s castle—and you’re very glad?

I’m not sure where you are today, but rest assured, it’s just where God needs you.  You are who you are because of the life He’s chosen for you to live, good or bad.  You have a testimony because He has allowed you to experience life, life as you know it.  You are where you are today, standing on the edge of something wonderful, because His purposes always prevail.

Malinda Edgell
Illinois

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for an outpouring of God’s Spirit upon the Lord’s Day services at the National Association of Free Will Baptists in Tampa, Florida.”

“They cried out to God during the battle, and God answered their prayer because they trusted him”  (1 Chronicles 5:20 NLT).

I have to be reminded of verses like this on numerous occasions.  You see, I tend to take things into my own hands, rely upon my own strength and depend upon my planning and organizational abilities.

And then the bottom drops out of what I’m doing.  Or the battle escalates.  Or my plans go awry.  Or I fall and cannot get up.  Or my organized chart is missing a very important step.

God answered their prayers because of absolutely nothing they did other than trust Him.  I can do that.  I can trust He knows.  I can trust He has my best interests at heart.  I can trust that He sees and knows the future.  I can trust that His strength is sufficient.

I can trust.  That’s my part; that’s all God asks of me.

Malinda Edgell
Illinois

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for Impact Tampa events happening today. Ask God to bless volunteer efforts, give participants a servants’ heart and produce spiritual fruit in both the givers and receivers.

“Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:9).

The NIV Bible reads this way, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”  We can’t take the world’s attitude and wonder what’s in it for me? We must be willing to do what is good because it is the right thing to do.  Though it is often misused, the question, “What Would Jesus Do?” is good to use as we show grace to other believers.  In fact, it’s also good to remember as we show grace to an unsaved world (our topic for next week).

Sue Winchester
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray that women attending the WNAC Convention next week would leave positive testimonies with the Marriott hotel and wait staff as well as within the city of Tampa.

“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings” (1 Peter 2:1).

If we are going to share grace with other believers, we will have to strip away all the evil things mentioned in today’s verse.  Failure to do this shows other believers our lives hasn’t changed.

It also shows we are pretending to be something we are not. Worst of all, we become a stumblingblock to new converts.  Christ died to free us from the chains of sin. To continue in sin obviously means His grace means very little to us. Repent and be reborn. By His grace, we can become genuine Christians.

Sue Winchester
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for Marilyn Chirino and Peggy Clyatt along with other Florida participants in the WNAC Convention in Tampa next week.

“As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10).

William Barclay states “The Christian must always be under the conviction that nothing he possesses of material goods or personal qualities is his own, it all belongs to God  and he must ever use what he has in the interest of God to whom he is always answerable.”

This could also mean we must be willing to show grace to other believers. Where would we be if not for the grace of God?  Can we do less than to show it because we know it?

Sue Winchester
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for music coordinator Jenny Donoho and pianist Karen Owen as they prepare for the WNAC Convention next week in Tampa, Florida.

“Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.  Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God  resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).

To keep unity, we all need to look after one another with a humble spirit.  We’re all different and won’t always agree. However, we should be gracious and humble in our dealings with other believers.

Jesus was our greatest example of humility. He did not come to be ministered to but to minister to others. The last part of our verse should motivate us to daily clothe ourselves in humility.

Sue Winchester
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for WNAC Administrative Assistant Phyllis York as she oversees WNAC Convention materials packing and shipment and as she travels to Tampa later this week.